Brewpub Bus Tour

Saturday was probably the nicest weather we've had since last September. It got close to 65* and sunny. The topper was that was the re-scheduled day for the magical mystery tour of Portland brewpubs my wife planed for my birthday. I have gotten a few things done on the bus, but I'll post on that later this week.

Brew Bus
Jim has been running a bus tour of the breweries and brew pubs of Portland since the mid 1990's. His knowledge of beer is vast, and his connections in the Portland beer community deep. As a patron of his bus tour, you are treated to a guided tour of at least one brewing operation, and a visit to a number of brew pubs (locations where beer is brewed on-site, and served to the public). Our tour consisted of a number of my friends as well as a few folks that became friends along the way. It was a great time, and we're going to try to make it an annual tradition. There are over 40 microbreweries in Portland, marking Portland as the home to the largest number of microbreweries in the world. Each bus tour visits up to 5 in a 4-5 hour tour, so you could take these tours over and over again, and never get the same tour twice. Sounds like fun eh? http://www.brewbus.com/

Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB)
First stop: Hopworks at 2944 SE Powell in SE PDX. We were treated to a walking tour of the brewery operation, and were treated to a few typically unavailable brews down in the brewery. The lager was very fresh and clean, but much richer than the mass-produced American lagers. Very tasty. We were also treated to a really nice bock beer. We were walked through the downstairs operation by their brewmaster (whose name I forget) through the maze of kettlers, fermenters and the huge cooler, and then upstairs to the main brew pub. If you haven't been to HUB, it has a heavy cycling theme, with bicycle frames hanging over the bar and bike seats mounted to the walls of the restroom. Hopworks is all organic - their hops, yeast, everything is organic, and their waste products are sold to a rancher to feed his hogs, so they produce very little for the landfills. It was at HUB that I sampled my favorite beer of the tour - the deluxe organic ale. Very tasty. I'll definitely be going back.

My reviews:
HUB Lager- clean, fresh & tasty. Remembered it at the end of the tour.
Bock- sharp. started well. bad after taste. not full pint worthy.
Crosstown Pale Ale- Hoppy. bitter after taste, but good.
Deluxe Organic Ale- very tasty.
Hopworks IPA- good nursing beer. great last beer of the night.
Survival Stout- like an ice-coffee. clean front and back, with a flavor hesitation in the middle where it switches from stout beer to coffee.
Seasonal Galactic Imperial Red- "wow" bitter.
Velvet ESB, Fresh Hop/ALT- unavailable.

Amnesia
Next stop: Amnesia at 832 N. Beech in North Portland (NoPo). By the time we got to Amnesia in North Portland, the beautiful day had pulled most of the city onto the streets. Portland Saturday Market was jammed, and it was standing room only at Amnesia. So, the 14 of us (including Jim) clambered out of the bus to an outdoor standing bar next to the barbecue. I think the smoke and smell of the BBQ altered our ability to really judge and appreciate the beers at Amnesia. None of them really reached the heights of a number of the beers at HUB, and the large crowd made the whole experience less pleasant. Amnesia has a neighborhood / industrial feel to it that is consistent with the vibe in NoPo, though. Seated at the picnic tables were an array of 20 and 30-somethings, enjoying the beautiful day, and the on-site brewed fare. We had a bus to catch to our final stop, so we quickly tried everything on the beer menu, and dashed back to the bus.

My reviews:
Dusty Trail Ale- tasted like it would go well with BBQ sauce.
The ESB- carmel, malty. little bitter for an ESB.
Desolation IPA- fair 'accidental pint' where you ordered the wrong thing, but you'd finish it anyway.
Copacetic IPA- fruity or citrusy for an IPA. cloudy.
Slow Train Porter - sweet and rich. Like a good dark chocolate.
Goldi-hops- unavailable.

Pyramid
Final stop: Pyramid. Pyramid Brewery was recently purchased by a mid-western company, and I had heard that the quality of their product hadn't suffered. They are changing names of some of their oferings, and I suspect they are changing recipes as well. The same thing happened when Bridgeport was purchased - they stopped making my favorite beer, and changed the recipe of my second favorite. As a result, I rarely buy Bridgeport beers anymore. Anyway, back to Pyramid. We had our only fruit-beer and Hefeweizen there. I enjoyed the Hef' much more than the Widmer Brothers that gets so much local attention. At this stop, we had some food, and the happy hour offerings were very tasty and extremely inexpensive. I had a couple of chipotle chicken tacos and my wife had a Scottish pie. Yum.

My reviews:
Audacious Apricot- like a wine cooler, buttery apricot.
Haywire Hefeweizen- summer afternoon in a glass. very fresh. only sample I drank top to bottom.
Fling Pale Ale- little hoppy, kinda weak, though
Ale House Amber- smooth, buttery, good everyday beer
Lipstinger Farmhouse Belguian, Juggernaut Red, Hum Bugr Porter- unavailable.

I'll post on my bus next time. Riding around town with 13 friends, some old, some new was one of the most fun things i've done in a long time. I couldn't recommend it more. I know someone had a camera, so I'll post pictures eventually.