April, 2016 - Cascadian Abroad

If you’ve followed Cascadian Abroad for the last couple years, you know we missed our Oregon craft beers during our time overseas. We did our best to fill the gap. We explored Japan’s growing ji-biru scene. We visited Prague with its world-class Pilsner and London, where IPAs, porters and stouts reign supreme. We bellied up to the bar in Brussels where wild yeast defines most styles. We even stumbled on two separate craft brewpubs in the hutongs of Beijing.

Yet, I can honestly say nothing tops the creativity and quality found here in Cascadia where the process is just as important as the product. Homebrewers with a dream have started some of the Pacific Northwest’s most successful small breweries. Obsessive detail is paid to everything from the ingredients used to the origin of barrels and other materials used in the brewing process.

Living the good life on the Oregon Coast with Bend, Ore.'s GoodLife Descender IPA. — Living the good life on the Oregon Coast with Bend, Ore.’s GoodLife Descender IPA.

Over the past month, we’ve revisited a few of our favorite places, tried a few new breweries and have even been treated to some unexpected tours. Here’s a small sample of some of the best Oregon has to offer.

Santiam Brewing

Salem’s Santiam Brewing started with a group of buddies experimenting in a small room in the back of an industrial park. Four years later, they’ve taken over most of the park, opened a large tasting room and are in the process of expanding even more.

We visited on the one day a month co-founder Matt Killikelly happened to be behind the bar and were treated to a tour of the operation. It’s a beautiful harmony of professional brewing and DIY ingenuity. Gleaming stainless steel fermenters fill one room while the large storage cooler—hand-built by staff—takes up another. Original equipment made from picnic coolers and fish tank parts now sit in the warehouse like museum artifacts.

Santiam—named for the North Santiam River that provides the brewery’s pristine water source—now has an impressive barrel-aging warehouse. Rum barrels from Jamaica give the amazing Pirate Stout its distinct sweet flavor. Other beers are aged in Tennessee whiskey barrels while Santiam’s new line of sours with their strains of wild yeast are tucked away in the back.

Must-try: Pirate Rum Barrel Aged Coconut Stout, Ecotopia IPA

Rogue Farms

Rogue Ales and Spirits is one of Oregon’s most successful craft breweries. Its flagship beers have wide distribution (we easily found bottles in Japan), but the real spirit of Rogue can only be found close to home.

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Fresh from the farm bottles and kegs at Rogue Farms in Independence, Ore.

The Rogue Farms 8-Hop IPA at the farm in Independence, Ore. Rows of Rogue's proprietary hops can be seen growing in the background. — The Rogue Farms 8-Hop IPA at the farm in Independence, Ore. Rows of Rogue’s proprietary hops can be seen growing in the background.

Rogue's latest collaboration with Stumptown Coffee Roasters, the Cold Brew IPA. — Rogue’s latest collaboration with Stumptown Coffee Roasters, the Cold Brew IPA.

Nestled along the banks of the Willamette River in tiny Independence, Ore., Rogue Farms is the core of the brewing operation. The long road to the tasting room is lined by acres of proprietary hops with names like Rebel, Freedom and Newport. Further in, groves of hazelnut trees, jalapeño plants, marionberries and pumpkins appear. Bee hives sit in the fields.

All of these are used as ingredients in Rogue’s specialty beers, brewed about an hour away on the Oregon Coast. We visited the farm on a beautiful sunny day in the middle of the week and enjoyed their farm-special IPAs at the picnic tables that surround a grassy square filled with lawn games.

While we played bean bag toss, two farm employees approached and asked if we’d be interested in a tour. The guide was a trainee and encouraged us to ask a lot of questions. We learned about the history of the farm, which has been growing hops since the 1860s, and walked through the hop processing facilities. We met the pet pigs, Voo and Doo, named for Rogue’s partnership with Portland’s Voodoo Doughnuts.

We left with a bottle of Rogue’s latest collaboration, the Cold Brew IPA featuring 200 gallons of Portland’s Stumptown Coffee Roasters Cold Brew Coffee.

Must-try: 7-Hop and 8-Hop IPAs, Chipotle Ale. Many of the taps are farm-only offerings, so sample the seasonals!

Around Oregon

Oregon’s Willamette Valley has earned international acclaim for its pinot noir grapes, but the prime agriculture land also yields excellent aromatic hops and resilient rye that can be found in the numerous IPAs, red ales and more in Oregon’s 220-plus breweries. Here’s a few off-the-path breweries not far from I-5.

The spring tap list at Deception Brewing in Dundee, Ore.

Deception Brewing, Dundee: The small town of Dundee has exploded in the past decade thanks to several vineyards in the hills above Highway 99W. Deception is a nano-brewery offering a break for wine-soaked tourists. The small taproom features 10 of the latest brews. Try the award-winning Apricot Cream Ale or the 80 Shilling Scottish Ale.

The spring tap list at Grain Station Brew Works in McMinnville, Ore.

Grain Station Brew Works, McMinnville: Sharing space with a coffee roaster in a restored barn, Grain Station embodies the agricultural spirit of its hometown. In addition to seven flagship beers, a handful of seasonals are available on draught and a large food menu draws in the locals. Try the unfiltered Sprout Hefeweizen, CDA-esque Hank’s Dark Ale or the complex Barnstormer Double Red.

Enjoying the Redside Prophet Imperial Red Ale and Proxima IPA on the patio at Hop Valley Brewing Company in Eugene, Ore.

Hop Valley Brewing, Eugene: Located on the outskirts of downtown Eugene, Hop Valley’s taproom will be packed with local beerphiles any night of the week. Thanks to a growing on-site bottling/canning process, Hop Valley beers are now available in retail around the Northwest, but getting seasonal choices fresh at the brewery is the way to go. My favorite is the VIP Vanilla Porter, but also try the Proxima IPA and Redside Prophet Imperial Red Ale.

For more reviews, check out the Cascadian Abroad Beer Journal featuring craft beers from around the world.

If You Go

Santiam Brewing
2544 19th St SE, Salem. See website for tasting room hours.

Rogue Farms
3590 Wigrich Rd, Independence. See website for tasting room hours.

Deception Brewing
1174 OR-99W, Dundee. See website for taproom hours.

Grain Station Brew Works
755 NE Alpine Ave, McMinnville. See website for brewpub hours.

Hop Valley Brewing
990 W 1st Ave, Eugene. See website for tasting room hours.

The experience of a sunny spring day in downtown Portland, Ore. can compete with any city in the world. Rain-weary locals come out of the woodwork, decked out in shorts and flip-flops despite temperatures only reaching the upper-50s. Local markets and food carts sprout from the ground like tulips, dotting the city with a colorful garden of activity.

When touring your own city, you can choose to eschew the touristy things that bring visitors to your hometown or embrace them with open arms. We did the latter and took in all that Portland has to offer in one, long Saturday.

The year-round Portland Farmers Market at Portland State University in the South Park Blocks will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2017.

We started out at the Portland Farmers Market. For 25 years, the year-round market lining the South Park Blocks near Portland State University has drawn both tourists and locals alike for produce, flowers, food and entertainment. We met up with Viktoria’s high school journalism teacher who lives in the area.

After scoring some fresh locally-grown vegetables and a cup of french-pressed coffee from Nossa Familia Coffee, we sat down for lunch at nearby East Side Delicatessen. The small deli has an awesome vegetarian menu, including custom-made sandwiches. The Veg-Italian sandwich on dark rye bread is pure joy.

A t-shirt featuring Portland's various nicknames hangs above the Clever Dork Shirt Co. stand at Portland Saturday Market on the banks of the Willamette River. — A t-shirt featuring Portland’s various nicknames hangs above the Clever Dork Shirt Co. stand at Portland Saturday Market on the banks of the Willamette River.

With our parking meter nearing expiration, we moved toward the Willamette River to visit Portland Saturday Market. Once a counter-culture haven, the largest open-air market in the U.S. has grown over the last 40 years to take up a significant section of Old Town/Chinatown. The market has lost a bit of its edge over the years, but has firmly held onto its hippie ethos.

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The unofficial city motto, "Keep Portland Weird," painted on the back of Dante's on the edge of Old Town Chinatown. — The unofficial city motto, “Keep Portland Weird,” painted on the back of Dante’s on the edge of Old Town Chinatown.

Voodoo Doughnut is a Portland institution, now just as famous for the long lines of tourists as it is for its tasty, unique doughnuts.

A Unipiper sighting! Unicyclist Brian Kidd is famous for rolling around town in a Darth Vader helmet playing occasionally-flaming bagpipes.

Looking east over the Willamette River toward the Steel Bridge, Moda Center—home to the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers—and the glass towers of the Oregon Convention Center. — Looking east over the Willamette River toward the Steel Bridge, Moda Center—home to the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers—and the glass towers of the Oregon Convention Center.

The Sternwheeler Portland docked along the Willamette River at the Oregon Maritime Museum. It is the last operating steam-powered sternwheel tug in the U.S.

Old Town/Chinatown has seen significant change over the past decade-plus, establishing itself as a must-visit for many out-of-towners. The world-famous Voodoo Doughnut is a big part of that. Portlanders have a love/hate relationship with Voodoo in the years since tourists and television foodie shows discovered it. Weekend lines often stretch 100 deep down the sidewalk of SW 3rd Street and it’s not unusual to wait upwards of 30 minutes to get inside.

Embracing the full tourist experience, we hopped in line behind a couple visiting from Calgary, Alberta in Canada. Acting as surrogates for the Chamber of Commerce, we answered all of their questions about the city and even talked them into waiting in the doughnut line. Once we arrived at the front, they bought the classic Voodoo Doll, Bacon Maple Bar and cream-filled Cock-N-Balls. We opted for the head-sized Tex-Ass glazed doughnut and the Elvis-inspired Memphis Mafia, a banana fritter covered in chocolate and peanut butter.

Waterfront Park is the perfect place to walk off those extra-large doughnuts. Named for former governor Tom McCall, the 30-acre park was built in the 1970s to reconnect downtown Portland to the Willamette River. We even spotted the Unipiper, a Darth Vader-masked unicyclist who can often be seen spewing flames from his ever-present bagpipes.

To Oregon With Love, a mural by Blaine Fontana, is part of the Forest for the Trees mural project on Albert St. in NE Portland.

Part of a mural on the side of the Black United Fund of Oregon building. The 100-feet-long mural features iconic women of the civil rights movement, including Coretta Scott King, Ruby Bridges, Ruby Dee, Angela Davis and Maya Angelou.

Part of a mural on the side of the Black United Fund of Oregon building shows Ruby Dee, an actress as equally famous for her civil rights activism as she was for her art.

A mural of a mermaid on Alberta St. in NE Portland painted by local artist Pablo Garcia.

Keep Your Chin Up, a mural by Blaine Fontana, Zach Yarrington & Jun Inoue, is part of the Forest for the Trees mural project on Albert St. in NE Portland.

Next, we headed to Northeast Portland. While downtown gets all the attention, the eastside is where Portland’s “weird” culture truly lives. As the craft beer capital of the world—Portland is home to 61 breweries in the city limits, 91 in the metro area—it’s easy to find a place for a cold one. We stopped in at Breakside Brewery and Great Notion Brewing, then proceeded down NE Alberta Street.

The Alberta Arts District was once the heart of Portland’s African-American community, but gentrification has pushed long-term residents out while bringing in new shops, restaurants and housing focused on a higher-income market. As a result, Alberta Street is the subject of many national studies on the effects of gentrification.

Ignoring the cultural impacts, the street is a vibrant and lively mix of old and new Portland. The street is brightened by murals, some from the non-profit Forest For The Trees art project and others from local artists.

One of the most impressive is the recently-completed mural of female civil rights leaders painted on the side of the Black United Fund offices. The mural features portraits of Coretta Scott King, Ruby Bridges, Ruby Dee, Angela Davis, and Maya Angelou amongst powerful images of change and evolution.

We waited in one last line at the Salt & Straw artisanal ice cream shop for Portland’s best ice cream. Famous for collaborations with local chefs, brewers and more, the current menu features flavors created by neighborhood school children. The Elementary School Inventor Series has yielded some interesting flavors, including the Bean and Cheese Burrito featuring sweet red bean paste, cream cheese and soft tortilla strips.

If You Go

Portland Farmers Market at Portland State University
SW Park & SW Montgomery. Open Saturdays year-round.

Portland Saturday Market
Tom McCall Waterfront Park, 2 SW Naito Pkwy. Open Saturdays and Sundays from March through December.

Voodoo Doughnut
22 SW 3rd Avenue. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Breakside Brewery Dekum Pub
820 NE Dekum St. See website for hours

Alberta Arts District
NE Alberta Street from NE 7th Ave to NE 15th Ave. Hours vary by shop.

Salt & Straw
2035 NE Alberta St. Open 11 a.m.-11 p.m. daily.