Portland Rogue Distillery and pub

Visited the Rogue pub in Portland’s Pearl District on April 29th. Every available space in this pub is covered in Rogue goodies – t-shirts and flags line the walls and hang from the ceilings, shelves of bottled beer surround the interior, boxes of bottles are stacked on the floor and the bar has so many taps it looks like it could tip over. The bartender and waitress were friendly and knowledgeable, the beer and food fantastic. I’m describing a beer lovers’ paradise here and that’s pretty much what it is.

I was tempted first by a guest ale from another Portland Brewery, Amnesia ESB, a lovely malty biscuity brew with some hops, and also tried the Juniper Pale Ale, a sweet pale ale that’s delicious (although I didn’t really notice a Juniper taste).

Portland certainly has some fantastic pub and breweries, and is the most welcoming, friendliest city I’ve had the pleasure to visit in the USA.

Thankfully, I can now get Rogue Beers in England from Bachanalia, Cambridge.

As a footnote, we later visited the Rogue pub in San Francisco’s North Beach and, although the Triple Jump Pale Ale was nice enough, the bar lacked the friendliness and atmosphere we found in Portland and really brought home what a friendly city Portand is and what great pubs it has. Cheers!

McMenamins Bagdad Theater & Pub

Portland – Headed east of the Willamette river over to the Hawthorne District for a beer in McMenamins Bagdad Theater and Pub. Had a nice pint of their Golden Ale, clean with a bit of citrus hop. The bar opens out onto S.E. Hawthorne Blvd and it was the setting more than anything that made this such a pleasure, watching people walk by in the rain with thunder and lightning – I notice nobody really cares about umbrellas here the way we do in England.

The building is also a movie theater that opened in 1927. We sneaked a look at the wonderful interior as people outside joined the long queue for the show.

Later that evening had some MacTarnahan’s Amber Ale at the Mississippi Studios, another great beer full of those local Cascade hops I love so much.

Portland Deschutes Brewery and Pub

The Deschutes brew pub in downtown Portland is a big busy place, but the beers are served fast and friendly and it has a great atmosphere. Helpfully, they list the alcohol content of their beers, so although I was tempted by the name ‘Hop Henge IPA’, a few pints of an 8.75% would probably lead to a shorter evening, as i’m not one to sip at beers.

Tried a few beers there last night, and all of them were superb. I kept returning to the Bachelor Bitter 5.2%, something about the balance of hops and malt make it very moreish. However, had I tried the Twighlight Ale earlier in the evening I’d have surely had more of that – a light 5% ale that I’d like to spend all summer drinking. Also tried the Cascade Ale 4.5% and the Mirror Pond Pale Ale 5% – they even sell bottles of this in our hotel lobby! So that’s breakfast sorted…