Portland Homebrew meetup?

January 11, 2004 5:34 PM

In response to the answers I got in the Axme Thread here, who here lives in Portland, OR and wants to meetup to talk about homebrewing?
posted by Keyser Soze to MetaFilter Gatherings at 5:34 PM (25 comments total)

my boyfriend is a brewer for mcmenamin's, and while he's not a homebrewer, he always wants to talk about beer. believe me. :)
posted by pikachulolita at 5:55 PM on January 11, 2004

Portland? That explains a lot...
posted by five fresh fish at 7:09 PM on January 11, 2004

How about Mcmenamins?
posted by Keyser Soze at 12:30 AM on January 12, 2004

I'm going to make myself unpopular ... but I don't like McMenamen's beer or food. How about New Old Lompoc or Bridgeport?
posted by SpecialK at 10:38 AM on January 12, 2004

Has anyone been to a geeky bar called the tugboat? (I think that was the name) It's off broadway, downtown and was where I wanted to have a PDX meetup someday.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:42 AM on January 12, 2004

honestly, i think of mcmenamins as the perfect place to take out-of-town visitors when you want them to be distracted by Imposed Style. other than that, it has completely worn out its welcome for me. their beer isn't as good because they put such cost and time restrictions on their brewers, and some of their breweries have pretty basic equipment - not even glycol systems at some of them! they have basically perfected the Cheap Microbrew, and it doesn't really hold up to some of the other heavyweights in town.

of course, i'm not 21 yet, so you know, grain of salt.
posted by pikachulolita at 12:11 PM on January 12, 2004

I'm one of the losers who missed the PDX meetup last summer.

Sorry Ignacious! My bad.

But, I'd be hip to meet up in a bar, just to shoot the breeze and put some faces to names. Meeting in a bar relieves everyone of any responsibility beyond showing up and may be the easiest way to go about MefiConPDX.

The Tugboat while small, is very, very cool and if I do say myself, represents Portland better then any McMenamen's.
posted by elwoodwiles at 12:47 PM on January 12, 2004

How about friday night, Jan 23rd for a meetup then? Say 6pm?
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:55 PM on January 12, 2004

I used to be a Sewickley's/Bar of the Gods/SpaceRoom man myself. I miss those dives.

/former Portlander
posted by dhoyt at 3:21 PM on January 12, 2004

hmmm... I'll have to find my way up from Eugene for one of these PDX meetups some time. If we ever have one on a Sunday, I could probably bike up and then take the Amtrak back. Or I could just take the Amtrak both ways, I suppose. hmm.... Anyone else from Eugene up for a trip North?
posted by kaibutsu at 3:28 PM on January 12, 2004

I'll check my schedule and bookmark this thread.

dhoyt: I'm a Bar of the Gods man myself. I've been drinking there since Biddy Mcgraw's moved off Hawthorne. Things have changed though, BOG has liquor now and has expanded into the space next door. Still cool, just different.
posted by elwoodwiles at 3:32 PM on January 12, 2004

Jan. 23 works for me. Never been to BoG. Am willing to make a sacrifice.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 3:52 PM on January 12, 2004

Me, my brother-in-law, and a good friend of ours homebrew all the time. The guy who runs the brew shop (open weekends only for the duration of the winter) in Oregon CIty has provided us with many, many recipes. Just go in there, tell 'em what brand you want your next batch to taste like and he'll set you up.

And there's a McMennamins down the street from his shop.
posted by Tacodog at 4:13 PM on January 12, 2004

Oh, as for bars, I wouldn't know. We brew our own and imbibe at home. Although I like Rogue's brews and there's a Rogue Public House in the Pearl with lots of room that I used to frequent when I worked in that neighborhood.
posted by Tacodog at 4:16 PM on January 12, 2004

I have some beer swag for the meeting - including a several year old small bottle of Fred, some old Celebration (vintage unknown) and a few other very choice beers from all over the States. The Tugboat is fine and cozy - are we sticking to downtown? I'm partial to the Lucky Lab; the Rogue is excellent as well.
posted by TomSophieIvy at 6:43 PM on January 12, 2004

I offered the Mcmenamins because I (being 20) can go without being carded.
posted by Keyser Soze at 7:28 PM on January 12, 2004

The two times I've been to Portland in the past year, I've enjoyed going to the Yamhill Pub. Don't know if they have "microbrews", but they do have Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Note: I fully anticipate having a new baby within a day or two, so it's unlikely I'd be able to make it down. Feel free to disregard this snarky comment. Now if anybody wants to come up to Olympia...
posted by Captain_Tenille at 7:51 PM on January 12, 2004

maybe they'll do a shoutout to the new baby? : >
posted by amberglow at 8:32 PM on January 12, 2004

Let's all lift a pint in praise of the new baby!
posted by five fresh fish at 9:17 PM on January 12, 2004

I brew regularly during the winter months and happen to live in PDX. I'm cool with meeting wherever, but I'm just plain awful at remembering things like looking at MeTa regularly or going to things I saw I will (ie. the last meetup... I'm lazy).

I'll make some comments over in your Ask Mefi thread and try to remember to come back to this thread to see where it all settles out.

Matt... a few years ago I sobered up enough to realize where I was at in the Tugboat... not sure of the series of events that led to that, but it was a pleasant evening all the same. Glad to see you've moved to the great NW. You sure picked a hell of a winter to start off here. ;)
posted by togdon at 9:20 PM on January 12, 2004

yes yes yes keyser soze, represent! i am also only 20, and i'm sick enough of being left out of every social event. it's hard to be 20 in portland.
posted by pikachulolita at 9:41 PM on January 12, 2004

Damn straight. Lets do a meetup at a place where all the members can go.
posted by Keyser Soze at 11:25 PM on January 12, 2004

Aren't most brewpubs/restaurants open to "minors" before 8 or 9 or something? A la Bridgeport, McMenamins, etc?

How about the Horse Brass? Technically not a brew pub, but they have one of the best beer selections in town.
posted by turbodog at 12:27 AM on January 13, 2004

God, I was going to suggest St. Johns Pub, but that turns out to be owned by McMenamin's also. Is there anything they do not own in Portland?
posted by Danf at 9:13 AM on January 13, 2004

Wow. A Portland meet-up where everyone is excited to go, and I too am about to pop with baby (Cheers, Capt. Tenille!)...

BOG is good, and before 9:00 pm, Dot's is good (with a restaurant too, where the under 21-er's can go). But my favorite place to grab a drink on the eastside became La Cruda because it was always empty later on and had a good jukebox. Another good jukebox (and some of the finest greasy food you'll find, including a really deadly Monte Cristo) is Holman's on 20th and Ankeny, just south of Burnside (clearly, I live on the eastside).

But Beulahland makes for a fabulous beer-drinking evening as well, and I believe you don't have to be 21 if you go earlyish. If you go on Tuesday, they have the best trivia night ever. The prize? A pitcher of beer and the admiration of all your beer-swillin' peers. They are also the sponsors of the Portland Adult Soapbox Derby, a suicidal mission down the side of Mt. Tabor every year in a homemade contraption. Fun!

All these places are more or less hole's in the wall. I'm not so much into glamour or fussiness when it comes to drinkin' the beer. Would that I could imbibe with all y'all, but I'll be embarking on a new, weird adventure of my own...
posted by readymade at 12:01 PM on January 14, 2004