Gonna be in portland from march 5th-8th. What breweries are must hits?
Gonna go to Cascade for sure, anywhere else? I hear good things about commons/hair of the dog. Wouldn’t mind IPAs or sours
Pretty out of the way, but De Garde makes world class beers. You might be able to get some limited beers at Hair of the Dog depending on what they’re selling. My buddy went to Deschutes, said it was fun.
def not de garde, can’t even persuade kathy to go 30 miles to wine country 
FYI: Ramirez liquor, just east of downtown, has an incredible selection of Cascade bottles — the selection (and even pricing) varies a bit between their two locations.
yah. City Tavern in DTLA has a bunch of cascade bottlings for $32 a btl. Cheaper than most liquor stores so we’ve been raiding them. But at the brewery the same beers are $22-25. Doubt I’ll buy anything though to bring back, probably not worth the hassle of checking in a box on the plane.
$32 ea. is generally better than Ramirez’s pricing, but they do have some that start at $24. I got a bottle of the 2013 Apricot for $27, for example. Some of the priciest ones were in the $40 - $45 range, iirc.
Not a brewery but I always try to stop by Horse Brass Pub (horsebrass.com). Great tap list that rotates quickly.
Breakside, Laurelwood, The Commons.
From a beer perspective, there is almost no reason to leave the area of southeast Portland bounded by Glisan on the north, Division to the south, the river on the west and 45th St to the east. Within this rectangle (probably 1 mile by 2.5 miles), you have Hair of the Dog, the Commons, Cascade Barrel House, along with numerous other breweries (Migration, Natian, Coalition, Lucky Lab, and Burnside come to mind off the top of my head). Also within this rectangle you have Horse Brass Pub, Belmont Station, Beer Mongers, Apex, and the Green Dragon - all top notch beer bars.
Other breweries to think about in Portland are Upright (near the Moda Center), Gigantic (further out in the SE part of town and tough to get to without a car), and Ecliptic (at the south end of Mississippi and tougher to get to without a car).
IMO, Horse Brass has the best/most complete list in Portland. From half a dozen of the state’s best IPAs to a little bit of every kind of beer there is. They have a lot of taps, but they seem to turn pretty quickly. Several other bars have a ton of taps, but they don’t tend to turn as fast. Also, Belmont Station is only two blocks away and has an excellent bottle selection and interesting beers on tap as well.
Outside of that “power rectangle” you also have Bailey’s Tap Room (Downtown) which usually has a good list and Saraveza (North Portland and tough to get to without a car) has a shorter tap list but is a must visit if you are a Packers fan or come from Wisconsin.
Keep in mind that many of these places don’t have parking lots and street parking can be dicey at times.
Yeah The Commons. Upright can be good if you like Belgian-style. HotD is excellent but in a very idiosyncratic way, one good IPA but generally a much maltier or funkier style. Bar-wise Apex has a nice beer list (can look live on their site for current) and nice bottles, but no food, and definitely some attitude there. Horse Brass is classic and Belmont Station and Baileys also very good for bars.
This repeats some of Ricks post that just appeared btw.
K&L has a good selection of Cascade and the prices are not horrible.
If anyone here is interested trying de Garde then my house is the place. Tried 5 different ones so far and they are very interesting with some being truly compeling.
If you are up for a great drive along the Columbia River head out to Hood River and visit Pfriem and Double Mountain. Really enjoyed the beers at both places and the drive is awesome. Some great places to stop for waterfalls, with many accessible with a short hike.
I’ll add Occidental, you need a car.
I won’t be driving at all, so I won’t have to worry about street parking 
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I’m hoping to hit up Burnside while I’m waiting for a seat at Le Pigeon Thursday Night. Then saturday after Pok Pok for lunch I’ll go to Commons, Cascade, Hair of the Dog in that order (seems to be a total of a 1 mil walk between the three) then head back to the hotel. I might also go to Fat Head’s since it’s only 8 blocks or so from Hotel Lucia. Figure I can do a walk
I think that should be enough without my wife killing me.
p.s. Rick, where can I find your beer near where I’m staying? I’ll be right next to Bailey’s Tap room!
If you head toward Fat Head’s and want to do a mini-pub crawl: Deschutes and Rogue are within a few blocks. Bridgeport is maybe 5 blocks away and interesting from a history POV.
Charlie,
Sometimes Bailey’s has us on tap, sometimes not. In Downtown, our beer (Pils) is on tap at the Heathman, Clyde Common, and Henry’s. We may be on tap right down stairs at Imperial as well, but they haven’t ordered in a couple of weeks…
Have fun! I like going to Deschutes especially if you are eating. I was there last week and they had some fun stuff on tap that I hadn’t tried. If you are at Pok Pok, you should walk around the corner to the SE Wine Collective.
When I went to Rogue in Astoria, I tried a bunch of beer that were limited or not bottled. They were pretty much lame. I know everyone loves them but I did not like a single beer at Hair of the Dog. FWIW
Too bad you don’t have a car. So much to do outside the city.
J
At least heck on Deschutes, they occassionly have library beers available.
Btw any good bottle shops? Would like to pick up some degarde if I xan
Belmont Station is the best bottle shop in town. SE 45th and Stark. If you’re only looking for Degarde you may want to call first. Degarde doesn’t make very much beer.