Sunday, October 5, 2014

Bye our Portland...

Super sad to leave today, but also ready to come home.  There's a reason why you can't live every day like you are on vacation.  You would die.

Drove up to Seattle and waiting for MS and family to arrive for lunch! 

Leave in a few hours, but already concocting some potential options for PDX 2015 with JH and KK!!

How much charcuterie can two people eat?

Turns out, a great deal.


Lunch and The Commons

Had a great pizza lunch at Double Mountain Brewery in Hood River, and then headed back to Portland to hang out at The Commons.

SUPER fun, just relaxing and I think Chris tried about four different beers.  Happy happy happy day!!!



White Salmon, WA

Well, no one told me I was going to have to drive over this fucking bridge and back to get to a brewery on the other side of the river!!!

There is NO ROOM on either side of the lane, and it was a grate and the car kept shimmying all over the place.  NOT FUN.

And, to add insult to injury, the brewery was...eh.


Day 4, Final Day - From the Top

We headed out about 9:30, stopped at Target for mailing supplies, then hit the road to head to the Columbia River Gorge!  GORGE-OUS, is what I say.  It was a beautiful day to drive up to Vista Point, and then we stopped at Horsetail Falls.  Fabulous way to start the day.




Saturday, October 4, 2014

Day 4: Hood River!

We are getting ready to head out for a beautiful drive along the Columbia River Gorge and out to Hood River to visit some breweries.   It should be an absolutely perfect day for it!!

I know I should feel bad for all of you at home in Minnesota, dealing with blustery cold weather, but I don't.  And I'm not sorry.

I can tell you that after three days packed full of drinking and eating (and drinking and eating and drinking and eating), I'm ready to be done.  In the immortal words of Richard Hayden in Tommy Boy, "Ugh, I can actually hear you getting fatter."

I'm glad to be driving today (and thanks to my DD Chris for driving to wineries yesterday!) so that I can maybe just have a Diet Coke or a club soda.

Stopping at Target on the way out of town for bubble wrap and packaging tape for the, not one, but TWO shipper boxes of wine and beer we'll be checking!!

I think we have a problem.


Friday, October 3, 2014

Olympic Provisions

Oh, man.  What a great meal. 

One of the best charcuterie plates I've ever had...and I've had alot.

The burrata salad with heirloom tomatoes was savory and lemony.  And amazing.

But the best thing by far was the vanilla pots de creme with huckleberries.  Kicks creme brulee's ass, hands down.

Lovely end to a great day.

Beaux Freres

How do I love thee?  Let me count the glasses....

Seriously we love this winery.  Small, not pretentious, just really goddamn good wine.  Glad to end our day here!!

We don't need no water...

...let the mother fucker burn.

Thanks!!

To my liver.  After two days of conditioning with copious amounts of beer, you've been prepped and are responding well to copious amounts of wine today.

I couldn't have done it without you.

BTW

I bought two salamis at Red Hills Market and they are in my purse.

Argyle Winery

Ok, these guys always show us the best tasting.  You could ask for anything as a wine club member, and they would give it to you. 

Forgot to taken a phone selfie, will try and remember to post that later with the picture from the camera. 

Now high-tailing it to Beaux Freres for our 3:30 appointment.

I'm actually not as drunk as you would think.

Red Hills Market

Och!  Never let's us down.  Salad, half sandwich, pizza.  Amazing.

We didn't get our warm bread and olive oil, but that is TOTALLY fine.  We are stuffed!!

Now we are going to head across the street to Argyle for another wine tasting!


White Rose

Hysterical.  We've totally been there!  A few years ago, and we remembered once we were there.

Funky bathroom, good pinot, bought two. 
Now heading to lunch at Red Hills Market!!

Sokol Blosser

Treated very well today...got an early 2012 bottle of Pinot before they could officially sell it.  Shhhhh...I said I wouldn't tell...

They really do make amazing wine here...

Cristom Vineyards

Wonderful tasting, wonderful wines, and a gorgeous day!!

Hops and Vines...

Lots of hop farms where we are!

Little Ferry

We just had to take a little car ferry across the river on our way to Cristom Vineyards.  How fun was that?

Day 3: Wineries!!

Well, if you can stand it, today is going to be even more beautiful than yesterday.  After a nine stop beer tour yesterday, today we are switching our attention to wine.

Heading to five wineries today:

  • Cristom
  • Sokol Blosser
  • White Rose Estate
  • Beaux Freres
  • Argyle
Stopping in the middle for lunch at the Red Hills Market, as is our tradition!  And tonight we are going to try Olympic Provisions, a new restaurant for us.

Super excited about today!!

And...scene!

I'm done, spent, kicked, toast, licked, potted, fried, hammered, and wicked tired.

Nine beer stops, two restaurants, lots and lots of walking, and a 70 degree sunny blue sky day.

We love Oregon. Unequivocally.

Dinner...amazing!

Had dinner at Trifecta, was wonderful!! Started with the Potted Foie Gras,  then the wedge salad, then I had the braised beef sandwich and Chris had the sausage plate.

Aaaawwwweeeesssoooonmmmmeee.

For real.  But we had to bug out quickly to catch the streetcar to our train, so that was a drag.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Ok...

NOW I'm officially hammered.  Brian at The Commons was so nice, we got a free bottle of beer when Chris mentioned he works at Northern Brewer.

Love them!

Now at Trifecta...can't wait to eat...

So happy...

At The Commons Brewery...

Stop 9: The Commons

Good God we love this place!!!  Bringing a shit ton home.

'Nuff said. 

Stop 8: Baerlic Brewing

We were walking right by, and had planned on skipping, but come on...they were playing the Cocteau Twins "Heaven or Las Vegas" and it was like it was meant to be. 

Then we realized they were playing the whole CD!!  We like them.

Good beers, for a newby. 

Stop 7: Apex!!

God I love this place...I really do. 

Drinking a Blind Pig IPA and a Crux Outcast IPA.  It's nice that they aren't fresh hopped...getting sick of that.

We had to eliminate two places from our list of ten.  LET ME BE CLEAR.  Not because we are hammered, but because we ran out of time!  For reals, we actually both feel great, not too drunk, the weather is perfect for walking from place to place. 

Stop 6: Belmont Station

Enjoying a lovely fresh hop Workhorse IPA from Lauralwood, while Chris has a Destihl Gose. 

I'm sure we'll buy in the bottlenshop, then schlep it around with us for the rest of the night.  Remember people...we have 4 more stops after this.  And dinner!!!

Stop 5: Cascade Barrel House

So tasty!!  Charcuterie and cheese plate and awesome sour beers!! 

On our way to Belmont Station now!!

Alright, game on.

We've got six more stops before dinner.  Can we do it?  I think we can!

I believe that yesterday primed our livers for maximum alcohol intake!!

So tomorrow at the wineries we should be pretty much sober all day.

Good work, Patty and Chris.  Good work.

Stop 4: Base Camp Brewing

Enjoyed a simply wonderful half hour walk over here.  This place is so great!  Feels like we are in an REI that sells beer.

Getting the ten sampler:

- Lost Meridian Wit
- Northwest Fest
- Stephen's Dark Wit
- Hop in the Pool Helles
- Ripstop Rye Pilsner
- CTRL + ALT + DEL
- Saison de Chetco
- In-Tents IPA
- Bohemian Rip City IPA
- S'more Stout

Very tasty so far!!  Great recommendation from Owen!

Full disclosure

I'm not happy about lunch.  I mean the calm chowder and the oysters were good, but those big Sea Cow ones left me a little freaked out. 

Then our sandwiches were ... meh.

The oyster po-boy had the biggest fucking oysters on it, and it was a bit much.  Then Chris's fish sandwich tasted like...nothing.

Big.  Drag.

Won't be going there again.

Stop 3: Migration Brewing

I'm not kidding, the weather is GORGEOUS today.

And so is this sampler!!!  It features:

- PDX Kolsch
- Clem's Cream Ale
- Fresh Hopped Belgian Pale
- Migration Pale Ale
- Glisan Street Dry Hop
- Blood, Sweat, And Red
- Luscious Lupulin IPA
- Old Silenus Strong Ale

So far, so good.  Very good.

Stop 2: Bailey's Taproom

Always my favorite, never let's me down...

Had:

- Four by Upright
- Brett Berliner Weiss by Wingman
- Supergoose IPA by Hale's Ales
- East Ryeder India Session IPA with Rye

First three were good, last one...not so much.

Northwest vs. Cape Cod

So last night we had Tillamook oysters, and Wellfleet's were better.  Score 1 for Cape Cod oysters.

(BTW, no picture because the Blogger app sucks.)

For lunch we got a half dozen, all Northwest oysters at Dan and Louis Oyster Bar:  2 Blue Pool, 2 Sea Cow, and 2 Tork. 

The Blue Pools were briny and salty and tiny little delicate bites. 

The Sea Cows were big, big!  Lots of chewing, I told Chris not to eat them as he has an oyster texture thing.  However, I wish he would since he is better about picking out flavors than I am.  Kind of more minerally?  I liked them. 

The Yorks weren't that different from the Blue Pools.  Very tender. 

I would still say that Wellfleets score better. 

Northwest 0, Cape Cod 4.

That voodoo that you do...

Couldn't resist the old fashioneds - glazed and chocolate.

There is no other.  And by that I mean those assholes at Glam Doll that think they are original.

Day 2 - even more outrageous!

Yesterday our list was seven places long. Today it is ten.  No one ever said we weren't dedicated.  We did quite well yesterday, I was proud of us.  We will see about today.

MS at work told me to bring home overindulgence and shame.  I think today we will check those off our list.

It's absolutely gorgeous weather today, couldn't be better.

Day 1 - Recap

Suffice it to say it was a great day yesterday.  Had great weather, lots of great beers, lots of great food, about a 3.5 mile walk through Portland, and a spirited Twitter discussion with some of the beer guys.

New breweries:

  • Stormbreaker
  • Ecliptic
New beer bars:
  • Prost!
  • Hop & Vine
  • Interurban (which also was a new restaurant for us!)
  • Hopworks (well...new to this location anyway)
Oldies but goodies:
  • Saraveza
Day 2 will prove to be another great weather day - even better than yesterday!!  Lots more beer bars as well as breweries, but today it's more oldies than new stuff.  Except for dining!  Two new restaurants on the docket today - can't wait!

Time to get moving if we want to be drinking by 11:30!


No, really...put a bird on it.

Picked up a new handbag and laptop bag at Queen Bee, a great little shop I have gotten great things from before. 

I did not get this one...but Chris liked the fact that, yes, it had a bird on it.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

STOP 7: Hop & Vine. Final round...

At 7:41pm.  I just can't do anymore...i can't wait to be passed out by 9:30.

Stop 6: Interurban

Wowsa!  This place was awesome!!

Oysters,  chicken pate, great salad, and an amazing pork sandwich.