Today’s news brought us yet another ranking.  Oregon placed 5 breweries in the top 50 breweries in the country according to the Brewer’s Association – Widmer (known as Craft Brewers Alliance); Deschuttes Brewing; Full Sail Brewing; Rogue Brewing and finally Bridgeport Brewing.  This list is based on 2008 beer sales volume.  I’m so glad the list is from all over the state and includes one completely employee owned brewery – Full Sail.  All of these brewers make great beer and support local brewing efforts – Rogue has its own Hop farm.

One thing I should note.  The news broke via the Portland Business Journal whose headline was “Oregon places 4 breweries on list of ….”  As you can see, I point out 5.  The original list from the Brewer’s Alliance has Craft Brewers Alliance in Woodenville, Wa, instead of Portland.  If you go to their site, you will see they state they are headquartered in Portland.  The Portland Business Journal just repeated what they read and didn’t realize that CBA is a result of Widmer and Red Hook merging. I will give them the benefit of the doubt here.

Now for the question of the hour – or should it be questions?  How many of the top 50 breweries have you had a beer from?  How many have you actually visited?  Me? I’ve sampled from 29 of the list and visited 7.

Another list was also published-  top 50 Craft Brewers – defined as producing less than 2 million barrels.  Oregon placed 5 breweries on the list, replacing Widmer from above with McMennamins.

Related Posts

• October 29, 2008 -- A Blogger’s craft brew crawl – Saturday (6)
• February 18, 2009 -- Say No! to the new beer tax (2)
• November 12, 2008 -- Men’s Fitness mag. hates good beer! (3)
• May 15, 2009 -- Burgerville + Beer + Twitter = Excellent (4)
• March 6, 2009 -- How ’bout a pint of Bitter Bitch (0)

I got an email yesterday pointing me to this article in Men’s Fitness naming “America’s five best bars for beer lovers.”  Holy Fuck.  Kennedy School?  Jeebuz people, did the writer just get off the plane, ask some middleaged soccer mom from Gresham where to get beer and went to the first place she suggested?  While I give McMenamins kudos for their properties and do love what they do with them, their beer is something else.  Further, they only sell their beer at their pubs, leading to a very limited selection. Also, have you eaten there lately?

If the writer came to Portland, I would personally show them at least 3 different locales that “turn beer drinking into a true art form.”  Green Dragon in SE – you know the place.  Usually they have 15 different beers on tap, good food and a great atmosphere.  Bailey’s Taproom in SW downtown – again, a locale with at least 15 micros on tap (usually hard to find items.)  Bailey’s is also just a hop, skip and a jump from 3 highly rated taphouses – Deschuttes, Rogue and Bridgeport.  Lastly, to get a neighborhood feel, I would take them to the Horse Brass.  Portland’s premiere beer joint.  The early pioneers of Portland’s microbrew credit the Horsebrass for giving them taps to showcase their first beers.

I wish when national publications want to do lists like this, they would do some research or just drop me an email.  Too bad the article doesn’t have a byline or I would give the writer an earful.  They even point out at the end of the article that Deschuttes and Rogue are some of the best microbrews in the country, and yet they pick Kennedy School as the beer drinkers mecca.  Sheesh

Related Posts

• October 29, 2008 -- A Blogger’s craft brew crawl – Saturday (6)
• April 14, 2009 -- Oregon places 5 breweries in top 50 for the country (1)
• March 6, 2009 -- How ’bout a pint of Bitter Bitch (0)
• July 17, 2008 -- Beer lovers- look at the list! (4)
• June 23, 2008 -- A good beer question – Who is number one? (1)

Amnesia Brewing, Portland

Originally uploaded by dieselboi

As you know, we have a ton of craft breweries here in Portland. At last count, there were 15 within the downtown and close-in eastside area. As you know, I am a beer guy and love to talk about beer. Last spring, I had the wonderful opportunity to show a fellow blogger some of Portland’s best and then we both took in Vancouver BC craft brew scene. Well, Wayan of WeloveDC is coming back this weekend and wants a brew tour and believes I’m the man to do it. So I’ll try….maybe with your help.

We’re gonna do a brew tour Saturday and would love to invite you along for the journey. We’ll hit up breweries in NE, SE, NW and North – probably in that order. Hopworks, Laurelwood, Roots, Bridgeport, Lucky Lab, Rogue, Deschuttes, New Old Lompoc, Widmer and Amnesia to name a few.

Want to join us? if so, here’s the scoop. We’ll be starting out on Saturday afternoon around 3 or so @ Hopworks. From there, we’ll hit some SE breweries and then hit NW. We’ll finish out the night in North. I can’t predict where we’ll be at any given time, but I will be updating my Twitter (dieselboi) with locations throughout the day. I may even post here.

Come along and have a brew or two at some of Portland’s finest craft breweries.

Related Posts

• April 14, 2009 -- Oregon places 5 breweries in top 50 for the country (1)
• November 12, 2008 -- Men’s Fitness mag. hates good beer! (3)
• March 6, 2009 -- How ’bout a pint of Bitter Bitch (0)
• September 16, 2009 -- Le Tour de Chien 2009 (0)
• May 15, 2009 -- Burgerville + Beer + Twitter = Excellent (4)