Self-Guided Beer Tours
Craft Beer Tour 2021: Klamath Falls, OR
These photos were taken over the course of two days, September 16 and 17, days two and three of my Craft Beer Tour 2021, or the quest for the best fresh, wet hop IPA in the land; no judgement though. Anyway, as the title suggests this takes place in and around Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Blame it on old age or whatever you want, but for some reason I thought I had been to Klamath Falls back in 2018, but when I got into town nothing looked familiar and when I looked through the list of breweries I had visited in Oregon, I realized I was thinking of Grants Pass and I had never been here before. As I thought about it, I remembered I never traveled to Bend, the eventual destination, from the south. I was on the other side of the state. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2021: Sacramento Area
So, I am on the road again; this time for the Craft Beer Tour 2021, which I considered calling the COVID Beer Tour, but let’s keep our fingers crossed. This is the first road trip I have done without Buddy in a very long time, so please forgive me if I forget to mention whether or not the location is dog friendly or not. This is also the first time that I am trying out using AirBNB, which as of this writing, has been okay.
These photos were taken September 15, day one of this adventure. Now, to be honest, I was not exactly aiming for Sacramento as my destination for day one; I wanted to go to Roseville, but AirBNB figured it was close enough, and they don’t really tell you where you are going to be until you make the reservation, but the price was right, so I ended up spending the night in Sacramento. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2019: Winters, CA
These photos were taken Sunday, October 20, day 21 of Craft Beer Tour 2019; my annual craft beercation taken before and after the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver. These photos were taken at Berryessa Brewing and Hooby’s Brewing in Winters, California.
When I arrived in Chico for the Hop Harvest Festival at Sierra Nevada, I had some decisions to make; primarily, where would I go from here? Do I hang out in Northern California, or head home? I sent out some messages to friends in the general area, and then I headed to Sierra Nevada. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2019: Weed, CA
These photos were taken Friday, October 18, day 19 of Craft Beer Tour 2019; my annual craft beercation taken before and after the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver. These photos were taken at Mt. Shasta Brewing Company and Weed Ales & Lagers, both of which are located at the same location in Weed, California.
When I left ColdFire Brewing I still had a 6 1/2 hour drive to Chico, and that was just not going to happen. When I do these trips I try to avoid driving at night because I cannot see this new landscape in the dark. I knew if I stopped in Weed it would only be a 2 1/2 hour drive to Chico, and the Hop Harvest Festival didn’t start until 2:00 PM. I also knew that Weed Lager & Ales was located there; so I head south for four hours to Weed, CA.
I know I have driven south on I-5 through Mt. Shasta before, but I must have gone through at night because I do not recall ever seeing the view I had of Mt. Shasta before. It was truly magnificent with its snow caps and the cloud of snow above it; I had to stop and take a couple photos, but it was cold and windy as heck so I didn’t spend a lot of time there. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2019: Eugene, OR
These photos were taken Friday, October 18, day 19 of Craft Beer Tour 2019; my annual craft beercation taken before and after the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver. These photos were taken at Falling Sky Brewing House and ColdFire Brewing Company, both of which are located in Eugene, Oregon.
I bid farewell to Matt and Dom on Friday morning and began my drive south to Chico where I would be attending Sierra Nevada’s Hop Harvest Festival on Saturday. After a couple hours of driving I realized I would be going through Eugene. I visited Eugene last year when I went to Ninkasi. I knew I was arriving in Eugene too early to return to Ninkasi, so I pulled over at the next rest stop to see if Eugene had additional breweries, and whether or not they would be open. As luck would have it, they had two that were open and not too far from each other. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2019: Redmond, OR
These photos were taken Thursday, October 17, day 18 of Craft Beer Tour 2019; my annual craft beercation taken before and after the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver. These photos were taken at Initiative Brewing, Wild Ride Brewing, and Porter Brewing, a few of the breweries you can find in Redmond, Oregon. The first few photos were taken on the drive from Oregon City to Redmond.
Those of you that follow my travels closely may recall that last year I stayed with Matt and Dom like I am doing this year. Last year they drove me all over the state to different breweries, and they don’t even like beer! They like me, and they like ciders; and Matt really likes to opportunity to show off his home, Oregon. This year Matt and Dom were getting ready to leave to country; so Matt could only spare one day to show me the state. When I arrived at his home he asked me if I was familiar with Central Oregon; I wasn’t sure what that consisted of. He responded by asking if I had visited Bend or Redmond. I spent a couple days in Bend last year so suggested we try Redmond. While he had a friend he needed to visit there anyway he was okay with it, but he didn’t think Redmond was big enough to have a brewery. I had a feeling they might have one, or two. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2019: Oregon City, OR
These photos were taken Wednesday, October 16, day 17 of Craft Beer Tour 2019; my annual craft beercation taken before and after the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver. These photos were taken at McMenamins Oregon City, and Shattered Oak at The Hive Taphouse, both of which are in Oregon City, Oregon.
I awoke to a wet and dreary Oregon morning, so any plans I had of returning to Portland went down the drain; walking for blocks with a dog just wasn’t as enticing a proposition as you might think. I decided that I would do a little more exploring of Oregon City, which is where I have been staying with my friends Matt and Dom. Since Matt and I are planning a mini road trip tomorrow, I used today as an opportunity to get lunch as a group so we headed to McMenamins. Continue reading
Craft Beer Guy 2019: Portland, OR
These photos were taken Tuesday, October 15, day 16 of Craft Beer Tour 2019; my annual craft beercation taken before and after the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver. These photos were taken at Breakside Brewery and Great Notion Brewing, both of which are brewpubs in Portland, Oregon.
Unlike my last visit to Oregon, the friends I am staying with are taking care of business before taking their own vacation, so I am guiding myself for the first couple of days here. I asked on my Facebook page about dog friendly breweries, but it seemed every recommendation was for places that specialized in sours. While I enjoy a good sour as much as the next guy, I am here for fresh hopped IPAs. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2019: Camas, WA
These photos were taken Monday, October 14, day 15 of Craft Beer Tour 2019; my annual craft beercation taken before and after the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver. These photos were taken at Grains of Wrath (GOW) Brewery & Restaurant in Camas, Washington.
I decided I was going to visit Grains of Wrath as I was walking from the GABF Awards ceremony to the morning session of GABF. On the way, I ran into Michael Hunsaker of Grains of Wrath Brewery, who had just won a silver medal at GABF for their Vienna lager. We had only met once before, in February of 2017 at their collaboration release with El Segundo Brewing of Super Beer Bros, but we both immediately recognized each other. I knew he was somewhere in Oregon or Washington, but wasn’t sure where relative to Portland it was. When he told me they were just across the river, it became my destination. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2019: Yakima, WA
These photos were taken Saturday, October 12 and Sunday the 13; days 13 and 14 of Craft Beer Tour 2019; my annual craft beercation taken before and after the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver. These photos were taken at Hop Nation Brewing, Bale Breaker Brewing, and Single Hill Brewing.
After leaving Side A Brewing, I continued up I-84 to Yakima.
After getting my room in Yakima I took a look at Facebook and saw a post from a long time friend that was enjoying a fresh-hopped IPA at Hop Nation, so that is where I headed. Continue reading