In the spring, Dan and others from the brewery head off to a forest just west of town. The trees must be a certain height to harvest, and they can’t pick too much of the new growth. “We bring a load of grain bags out with us—it’s beautiful,” he said. “I love it.” It takes more than one visit to collect 200 pounds of tips.
Read MorePortland is inarguably one of the country’s great beer cities, but which breweries are the jewels in Beervana’s crown? In my annual feature, I offer the ten breweries doing the best work right now, with descriptions to guide any explorers to a perfect pint.
Read MoreIn the annual tradition of year-end lists, I bring you my idiosyncratic, highly individual list of the best beers I had last year. Even writing the post made my mouth water!
Read MoreIn the finale of Portland Travel Week, I offer you my annual list of Portland’s best breweries. This should be a handy guide for visitors—and, given how many breweries the city has and how few days in the year, possibly locals as well. See who made the list this year!
Read MoreI had tried to avoid going straight to a lager brewery when I walked into Wild East, thinking even then I was on target. I planned on seeing Finback and painting my tongue green with hops. But beer cares nothing for my plans. It has its own agenda.
Read MoreWhen we talk about great beer cities, the name Atlanta rarely comes up. After a visit to five excellent breweries in town—New Realm, Bold Monk, Monday Night, Halfway Crooks, and Elsewhere—I was convinced it should.
Read MoreI carved out three days in San Diego to catch up on a city I’ve neglected too long. I saw old classics and fascinating new upstarts. Here’s a report.
Read MoreThe last stop on my swing through the Midwest took me to Chicago, where I visited Half Acre, Middle Brow, and Dovetail. I managed to finagle a tour of Dovetail, and witnessed the old-world processes seemingly transplanted from Franconia to North Chicago.
Read MoreI am midway through the first leg of my book tour and I have some reports. Unexpectedly, cask ales have been the early stars of the show.
Read MoreAn exceptional new brewery opened in Bellingham a year ago, and they specialize in rustic styles, including Franconian lager. But my fave was a Polish lager.
Read MoreA quintuple IPA arrived in my mailbox and promised to answer a question I’ve long wondered about: is there a point of diminishing return on IPAs, where hop intensity can no longer increase with the strength of a beer? The answer lay within.
Read MoreThis annual list began as a way of giving visitors to Portland a place to land when they were searching for breweries to visit. It includes the best breweries working in a number of different styles, so any beer fan will find at least one or two recommendations for breweries they’ll love.
Read MorePortland has so many breweries that many get lost in in the scrum. Yet while they may not be as buzzy as Great Notion or Breakside, some of these lesser-known breweries have a lot to celebrate. Here are seven of the best underrated breweries you should check out.
Read MoreAs my perambulations take me around the beautiful sort-of post-Covid City of Roses, I have been finding a number of great beers to try. Today we have a look at stouts at Assembly, hoppy wild ales at Little Beast, and cask summer ales at Upright.
Read MoreBits and bobs as Portlanders brace for a heat wave that may well melt half of us.
Read MoreOne of the country's best breweries continues to turn out incredible beer in relative obscurity. Taste Midnight Reflection, however, and you'll see why Portland's Upright really is that good.
Read MoreHazy IPAs are the style that launched a thousand breweries. Yet their fusty old predecessors haven’t been banished entirely, and Fremont’s new release, Ollie, shows why.
Read MoreWhat can we learn from Hopworks’ new beer, Beestly? It’s a porter, it’s organic, and it’s made with honey in an effort to help save the bees. In all ways, it seems like a project out of step with current trends—or maybe that makes it ahead of its time? Plus, look how Germans are appealing to the Yanks.
Read MoreToday I offer three beers that really impressed me. But they also made me aware of the trajectory their breweries are traveling. With Squeezy Rider, Neon Lights, and Bird-Day #1, we have liquid metaphors for where Deschutes, Ommegang, and Pelican are heading.
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