Last week, a group of local Twitter users arranged a meetup at the Salmon Creek Burgerville. Part of the motivation was just to meet some folks in real life, but the other reason for this particular location is that it’s the pilot location for beer and wine sales at Burgerville.

Don’t fear the beer. When Burgerville announced they were venturing into alcohol sales, some folks were concerned that the “family friendly” atmosphere would change, or that suddenly that pepper bacon Tillamook cheeseburger would be accompanied by an abusive drunkard. During our dinnertime meetup, I saw no evidence of any issues. Apparently there is a two-drink limit (per four hour period) so I don’t think anyone is going to end up drunk at Burgerville.

As part of the pilot program, they’re serving local brew (I had a Widmer Hefeweizen) from bottles (although it’s poured into a glass). I chatted a bit with one of the managers who indicated that he’d prefer to be serving draught, but at this point they’re trying to gauge interest and sales.

Burgerville “gets” social media. Shortly after starting to tweet about the meetup, the @BurgervilleUSA account joined in the discussion. When we arrived at the restaurant, the manager made us feel welcome, stopping to chat with us several times. Another manager who runs two other Burgerville locations was there as well, talking with us about Twitter, his usage of it, and the value of Twitter to businesses. It sounds like the meetups might turn into a monthly thing, meeting on the first Thursday at 6pm.

If you enjoy your local delicious Burgerville food and also enjoy some local beer and wine, drop by the Salmon Creek Burgerville and buy a glass. Hopefully the beer and wine sales spread throughout the Burgerville chain.

Related Posts

• July 31, 2009 -- If This is Church’s, Call Me Atheist (4)
• June 14, 2009 -- A Chat with Burgerville (1)
• April 14, 2009 -- Oregon places 5 breweries in top 50 for the country (1)
• December 2, 2008 -- Will social media kill the local pub? (6)
• October 29, 2008 -- A Blogger’s craft brew crawl – Saturday (6)

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)

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)