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Portland, Oregon: Beervana

by Logan on August 9, 2010

As one of the great beer capitals in the world, Portland, OR is known as Beervana.  With an amazing craft beer culture and an environment that provides the perfect conditions for growing hops, and a high quality water supply, Portland is a beer lovers paradise.

With that being said, we’ll begin with some must have beer in Portland, Oregon lists.

The Best Bars & Brewpubs in Portland, Oregon

  • Alameda Brewhouse
    An amazing brewpub in the heart of the Beaumont Village in Northeast Portland.  All beer is brewed on premise.
  • Hopworks Urban Brewery
    Portland’s first Eco-Brewpub to offer all organic handcrafted beers, fresh local ingredients, and a sustainable building with a relaxed and casual atmosphere.
  • Laurelwood Brewing Co.
    With multiple locations, Laurelwood serves a great selection of handcrafted beers, along with a great menu for dining.
  • Tugboat Brewing Co.
    Downtown Portland’s oldest microbrewery.   “Nice beer for nice people.”
  • McMenamins
    With locations all over Oregon and Washington, McMenamins is a legend.  No matter if you visit one of their hotels, movie theaters, or restaurants, there is always an excellence in their beers.
  • New Old Lompoc
    Great selection of handcrafted beers and good food.
  • Lucky Labrador Brewing Company
    With 4 locations, Lucky Lab is a great place to hang out with friends and drink some great ales.

Portland, Oregon Breweries

Portland, Oregon Homebrew Supply Shops

Other Portland, Oregon Local Beer Must-Haves

If there is something you’d like to see on this page which isn’t here, please email me and I’ll get it posted.

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Beer Lovers Guide to Serving a Gourmet Cheese Course

by Luke on May 4, 2010

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post by Sara Kahn. If you would like to contribute a guest post to BlogAboutBeer.com, please contact me.

Imagine my surprise at the results of one of our recent surveys of gourmet cheese lovers: men overwhelmingly preferred wine (73%) over beer when enjoying cheese. I suppose this shouldn’t be so shocking given how much attention wine is paid when discussing food and beverage pairings in the media and at restaurants. Besides, haven’t we been culturally conditioned to embrace wine and cheese as a copacetic culinary combination much like we have peanut butter and jelly? Perhaps cheese eaters don’t realize that beer just may be the better beverage choice.

Beer, like wine, has something in common with cheese. All of these products are pastoral and crafted using traditional methods that date back centuries. Wine, beer and cheese speak of a particular culture, a place and a time. The connection between beer and cheese is particularly strong since the animals milked for cheese ate the grains used for brewing beer. It’s possible that your nose and palate may pick up similar flavor profiles. Putting aside their natural affinity, perhaps the most important reason to pair beer with cheese is that the carbonation and brisk qualities of beer refresh the mouth and wash away the tongue-coating richness of the cheese. Simply put, they taste good together.

We have all heard of wine and cheese parties but what about beer and cheese parties? As a beer lover, I am sure you’ll want to join me in spreading the gospel of this pairing perfection but may not know where to begin when it comes to selecting the right combinations. Take a look at the Gourmet Cheese and Beer Pairing Guide below for guidance. You’ll see how easy it is to serve a cheese course with your favorite brew. For best results, just add friends and family.

Gourmet Cheese and Beer Pairing Guide

A cheese course is about observing and enjoying contrasting and complementary flavors. For a foolproof cheese course, select 3 – 5 cheeses that vary in texture and flavor (see the list below). Add some crusty bread, fresh or dried fruit, olives and nuts and voila!

When choosing the right beer pairing, there are no hard and fast rules. It’s important that your selections don’t overwhelm the cheese and vice versa. Essentially, you’ll want to match beer and cheese of the same intensity level. Just remember “like for like”.

Fresh and Bloomy Cheeses – Fresh cheeses are not aged and usually are white and light in flavor, smooth and sometimes tangy. Try chevre (goat cheese) or feta. Encased in a whitish, edible rind, bloomy cheeses are often velvety, gooey with a mild flavor. Add Brie, Camembert or Pierre-Robert to the cheese board for a decadent treat.

Beer Pairings – The light citrus character of White and Wheat Beers marries well with the lactic tang of fresh cheeses. Pilsner, with its balanced flavor and mildly bitter finish, washes the palate of creamy, bloomy cheeses.

Washed Rind – AKA “Stinky Cheeses”. During the aging process, washed-rind cheeses are usually bathed in a brine or washed with liquor such as wine, beer or a spirits. It’s this brining process that gives the cheese an aromatic quality. Almost all have orange or reddish hued rinds. Not mild and not sharp, washed rind cheeses are full-flavored. Give Taleggio or Epoisses a taste.

Beer Pairings – India Pale Ale and Trappist beers have enough gusto to stand up to the power of these cheeses.

Aged, Hard Cheeses – As cheeses matures, it hardens and concentrates in flavor. Look for 2 Year (or older) Cheddar, Aged Gouda and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Beer Pairings – A pint of English ale is the traditional beverage of choice for Cheddar. The nutty and caramelized flavors of aged Gouda and Parmigiano match well with brown ales.

Blue – The bluish-green veins give blue cheese its punch. Listed from strong to strongest in pungency are creamy Gorgonzola, nutty Stilton and salty Roquefort.

Beer Pairings – Intense cheeses like blues can be tamed with sweet, fruity beers. For a unique treat, try a raspberry flavored beer like Belgian Lambic with blue cheese for dessert.

About Sara Kahn:

Even though her passion for gourmet cheese was undying, Sara Kahn found shopping for it to be overwhelming, time consuming and confusing. She established The Cheese Ambassador to offer a simple way to select and serve the world’s finest cheeses either for home entertaining or as a unique cheese gift. By providing the perfect combination of exquisite cheese along with a comprehensive cheese course guide, enjoying gourmet cheese is now a deliciously enriching experience.

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The Top 10 Gifts for Any Beer Lover This Holiday Season

by Luke on November 30, 2009

Since today is the first day back to work for many after the long holiday weekend and is also what many have now come to call “Cyber Monday“, I thought it would be fitting to write up a fun post to get you in the holiday spirit. And one which would hopefully prove helpful to some. Without further adieu, here are (only in some sort of order; it’s not exact) the Top 10 Holiday Gifts for the Beer Lovers in Your Life:

10. Cornhole sets. I’m not a huge fan of most drinking games. Sure they can be fun, but they more often than not require guzzling, not savoring, large quantities of mediocre beer. And I’m obviously an advocate of quality over quantity. One game which I do love, though, and which goes great with a good brew (since there’s no need to rush your drinking while you play) is Cornhole. Cornhole.com has a great “Holiday Gift Set” which includes everything you need to play cornhole, including your choice of white or natural finished cornhole boards, 8 regulation cornhole bags, cornhole scoreboards, board and bag carrying tote bags, and 2 drink coozies. All for only $160. And it looks like right now, if you enter the coupon code: xmas10 at checkout, you’ll get 10% off your order!

9. Beer of the Month Clubs and Beer Gift Baskets. More often than not, these clubs and gift baskets are kind of a crapshoot in terms of what beers you’ll get with your order. But lately, with the continued increase in attention craft beer has been receiving from the mainstream world, clubs and gift baskets have been getting better and better with their offers. They know that a bottle of Bass Ale no longer passes as “gourmet”. If these are gifts you’re considering, check out the Beer of the Month Club from Clubs of America and the Beer Gift Basket from GourmetGiftBaskets.com. Order before December 31, enter the coupon code Brew5 and enjoy $5 off your order.

8. Craft Beer Clothing. There are some great options out there to clothe the beer fan in your life. Most every brewery has at least a decent collection of threads, often on their website. Or check out craftbeerclothing.com and the awesome beer-related shirts (see that picture over there for an example) they’re delivering on at great prices. Plus, now through December 25th, enter the coupon code: “holidaybeer” to get 15% off your entire order at craftbeerclothing.com!

7. A Brewer’s Weekend. Here in New England (and probably elsewhere in the country but I don’t know about them personally ) there are a few options for so-called “Brewer’s Weekends” which include weekend stays at inns which double as breweries and include a brewer’s dinner, hands-on brewing experiences and, well, a whole lot of beer in general. Local examples: The Woodstock Inn in N. Woodstock, NH, which has packages ranging in cost from $200 to $300 for the weekend; and The Norwich Inn in Norwich, VT, which doubles as a brewpub. Rates are $70-$150 a night, not including beer and food.

6. Beer Magazine Subscriptions. Mutineer Magazine, Beer Advocate magazine, All About Beer, Draft Magazine, Beer, Brew Your Own, Zymurgy — the official magazine of the American Homebrewers’ Association — and Beers of the World; the list goes on. But needless to say, there are lots of magazines out there to satisfy your monthly need for fresh written words on the world of craft brew.

5. A Kegerator. There are great sites out there — including KegWorks.com and Kegerators.com — which offer lots of options, from conversion kits (to make better use of that ugly old fridge sitting in your garage) to single or multi-tap pre-made kegerators. If you know someone whose been homebrewing for awhile and is finally ready to make the leap from bottles to kegging, nothing says “I love you AND your beer” like a new kegerator.

4. Stock. Oneshare.com offers single shares of stock in many big name national brands (from Apple Computers to Krispy Kreme to Playboy) including the largest American-owned brewery, The Boston Beer Co. (makers of Sam Adams) who thankfully still produce some great beers of their own. Why not show a loved one you care with a custom-framed stock certificate (The scrollwork on the Boston Beer Stock Certificate is uniquely etched with pictures of barley and hops) signed by Jim Koch.

3. Beer books. The list of great beer books out there which every beer fan should own is almost never-ending (and constantly expanding), but some must-haves for every Christmas stocking are The Brewmaster’s Table by Brooklyn Brewing’s own Garrett Oliver; He Said Beer, She Said Wine by Marnie Old and Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head; The Beer Book (Hardcover); Tasting Beer: An Insider’s Guide to the World’s Greatest Drink (Paperback); The Naked Pint: An Unadulterated Guide to Craft Beer; for the entrepreneurs on your list, Brewing Up a Business and Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery; and any number of homebrewing books, including How to Brew, The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, and Brew Like a Monk.

2. Beer. When all else fails, there really is no gift better than a bottle of beer itself. If you’re traveling for the holidays, maybe bring a bottle of beer your family can’t get in their home state or pick up a bottle otherwise outside of your price range for a rare holiday treat. And remember just how important pairing beer with your holiday meals is. A nice bottle of beer is “the new wine” when it comes to housewarming presents and holiday get-togethers.

1. Homebrew supplies. In my humble opinion, the single best beer-related gift you can get someone this holiday season is homebrew supplies. A homebrew starter kit and one of the how-to books above if the recipient has never brewed before, or a new supply kit or even gift certificate if you know a homebrewer. I have long maintained that nothing gets someone into beer, into appreciating better beer like knowing what it takes to brew your own. If you don’t have a local homebrew supply shop you can buy from, check out northernbrewer.com, austinhomebrew.com and the Brooklyn Brew Shop (see my write-up of their awesome business here).

Happy holidays and happy (beer) shopping! What would you add to the list?

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The Beer-Lovers’ Airport Guide: For the Beer-Savvy Business Traveler

by Luke on March 10, 2008

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I received an e-mail tip this evening alerting me to a new service from cheapflights.com called the Beer-Lovers’ Airport Guide. The guide, which is available in either PDF text or download-able podcast form, shows where to find the best brews in 15 of the country’s busiest airports. Some of the highlights from the guide include,

  • Gordon Biersch in Terminal D at McCarran International in Las Vegas serves up the best Pilsners.
  • Laurelwood Brewing Company just beyond the security locations at Portland (Ore.) International pours a famous, award-winning chocolate malt.
  • Find the biggest Irish beer on tap collection at Boz O’ Brien in Chicago Midway, which carries an endless collection of Irish ales from Guinness to Harp and Smithwick’s.

The podcast seems like a very handy tool for the beer-and-new-media-savvy business traveler. If you find yourself with an extended lay-over in one of the biggest airports in the country and in need of a beer, it really seems like a great idea. Cheapflights.com says the guide & podcast will be a mainstay of their site and they plan to update it regularly.

[tags]beer, air travel, travel, travel guide, craft beer, new media[/tags]

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Carlsberg DraughtMaster Hits Shelves Later This Month

by Luke on September 15, 2007

The DraughtMaster, the latest in a recent line of self-contained home beer-dispensing unit (this time from Carlsberg), hits retailer’s shelves this month and features a number of new features that help to deliver a cooler pint with the perfect head.

An advanced pre-cool function and twin-speed fan allows consumers to initiate a quicker keg cooling process, so freeing up valuable fridge space even quicker!

The stylish unit is designed around Carlsberg’s patented one way keg system, which uses breakthrough PET technology to ensure that the beer maintains its freshness for up to 3 weeks after first pour. Simply insert the pre-cooled keg, connect the beer tap and pour your perfect pint.

The contemporary black and chrome DraughtMaster has been designed in partnership with award winning Scandinavian design house CBD A/S, and looks equally at home in the modern kitchen or bachelor pad. Darran Britton, Marketing Director from Carlsberg comments:

“Our latest DraughtMaster not only looks stylish, but ensures each pint poured is at the perfect temperature ensuring a fresh, draught quality pint, making the DraughtMaster the ideal Xmas gift and must have item for lovers of quality beer everywhere”

The unique ‘plug and pour’ unit is simple to use, and is free from complicated tubes and pumps. The 9 pint kegs are bought separately and each of the components are recyclable. Each DraughtMaster comes with a chrome tap, drip tray, and Carlsberg’s approved guide to pint pulling.

The Carlsberg DraughtMaster will be available across the UK (no word of a release in the U.S. as of yet) from Comet, John Lewis, The Next Directory, Littlewoods Direct, and Argos at the recommended retail price of £129.99, with 5 litre kegs of Carlsberg Export costing £13.99 each, available from selected Tesco and Thresher stores.

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