Portland Craft Beer Tour 2021

These photos were taken Tuesday and Wednesday, November 16 and 17, in Portland, Oregon, where I joined some friends for a 36 hour whirlwind craft beer tour. The breweries we visited included Von Ebert Brewing, Deschutes Portland Public House, Backwoods Brewing, 10 Barrel Brewing, Upright Brewing, Rogue Eastside Pub & Pilot Brewery, Cascade Brewing, and Deschutes Brewery PDX. As half of our crew had never been to Portland before, there were also some tourist stops, such as Pine State Biscuits, Voodoo Donuts, The Big Legrowlski, Kelly’s Olympian, and Poet’s Beach.

So yeah, this trip was a little (okay, a lot) different than 99.99% of the articles I have written about my travels, because this time I had zero say in what we did or where we went. My only decisions for two days were what beer I wanted, and what did I want to eat. I have not had so little responsibility since I was 17. Continue reading

Craft Beer Guy Visits Huntington Beach

These photos were taken Friday in Huntington Beach, where I did a small craft beer tour with my friends, Jeff and Yurany. We visited Riip Beer Company, Flashpoint Brewing, and Beachwood Brewing.

Those of you that were following my Craft Beer Tour 2021 may have noticed that it had a pretty abrupt ending; as a result, I decided that instead of driving thousands of miles to visit new breweries, I would try to fit in a few day trips to breweries that were a little closer. As Jeff and Yurany had the day off, we decided to venture out together to Huntington Beach. Continue reading

Photos of the Halloween Hootenanny at MOLAA

These photos were taken Saturday at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, where they hosted the inaugural Halloween Hootenanny, which was presented by LB Obscura, an event production company created by LB Craft Beer and Festival Obscura. The Halloween-theme event featured an advertised 45 breweries, wineries, cideries and various vendors with everything from books to burgers and beyond. A portion of the proceeds went to the Museum of Latin American Art.

Since this whole pandemic thing started easing up, I have had the opportunity to attend a few public events, but I would venture to say this was the biggest event I have attended since 2019. The venue was spread out in such a way that I never really noticed any out of control lines. Continue reading

Long Beach Beer Lab 4th Anniversary Photos

These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at Long Beach Beer Lab, where they celebrated their fourth anniversary and Oktoberfest. The festivities included live music by The Bodleys, face painting by Liza May, one liter steins of their Oktoberfest beer, and soft pretzels from Long Beach Bread Lab.

I ran into Long Beach Beer Lab founder/Chief Investigating Scientist Levi Fried shortly after I arrived and had to comment on how much growth there had been since my last visit; Levi responded that they had been busy the last two years. I knew it had not been two years since my last visit, but admittedly my last couple of visits had been for to-go purchases so I had not seen just how much they have grown. Continue reading

Craft Beer Tour 2021: Medford, OR

These photos were taken Thursday evening, September 30, day 16 of my Craft Beer Tour 2021, when I visited Medford, Oregon. My reasons for visiting Medford were pretty simple; I do not really enjoy driving in the dark when on these trips for the simple reason that I cannot see and appreciate the country I are driving through, this pretty much guaranteed I would be spending another night in Oregon. Since I had already visited Grants Pass in 2018 I decided that Medford would be my home for the night.

I don’t know if you have ever visited Medford, but it is not an easy town to navigate for a first time visitor; at least in my opinion.

As I have mentioned before, when I do these trips I pretty much fly by the seat of my pants, and Medford was a perfect example of that as I had zero clue where I would be staying and the name of one brewery that may, or may not, still be open according to rumors in Eugene. Since I really had no idea what else to put in my GPS, I aimed for Opposition Brewing Company. Continue reading

Craft Beer Tour 2021: Eugene, OR

These photos were taken Thursday afternoon, September 30, day 16 of my Craft Beer Tour 2021, when I revisited Eugene, Oregon. This time I spent my time at Hop Valley Brewing Company and Manifest Beer Company. I had planned on leaving Oregon City on Wednesday, but my presence was an asset for my friends, so I hung out another day.

I set my sights for Eugene as I wanted to visit a friend I had not seen since my visit in 2018; our plans were to meet for lunch and a beer at Hop Valley Brewing. When I pulled into their parking lot I noticed a text message suggesting I would be doing this visit solo due to illness. Continue reading

Aven Turns Four

These photos were taken Saturday, October 2 at King Harbor Brewing Company where they held a birthday party for AJ’s son, who turned four.

For those that are unaware, AJ is the manager at King Harbor Brewing Company and he is my nephew which makes his son my grand-nephew, and for that he gets his birthday party photos on my website.

Happy birthday Aven, I hope you have the best year yet. Cheers! Continue reading

Craft Beer Tour 2021: Vancouver, WA

These photos were taken Tuesday, September 28, day 14 of my Craft Beer Tour 2021, when I visited Trap Door Brewing in Vancouver, Washington. Yes, you read that right, I am in Washington.

Hopefully you have been following along and recall that when we left off, I was planning to drive to Boise in the morning. Continue reading

Craft Beer Tour 2021: Yakima, WA

These photos were taken September 25, day 11 of my Craft Beer Tour 2021, and I must admit, I was looking forward to what this day would bring. Actually, I had a very good idea of what this day would bring because I was headed to Yakima, Washington; home of Bale Breaker Brewing Company, one of only two breweries I consider to be one of my destination breweries.

A destination brewery to me, is one that if I am within 200 miles of it, I must do all I can to get there. As I was staying a mere 193 miles from them, I don’t see that I had much of a choice in the matter. I knew I was going to find fresh hop beers there. Continue reading

Craft Beer Tour 2021: Grains of Wrath Brewery

These photos were taken September 24, day 10 of my Craft Beer Tour 2021; a day that started off innocent enough, but resulted in a couple unexpected surprises. One surprise I should have remembered, but 2020 must have screwed with me; the second was totally unexpected and the fact that everyone was wearing masks made it totally mind-blowing.

So, it was Friday morning and I had arrived the previous Saturday, it was time to go before I bored them; I announced I would leave for Yakima, Washington in the morning. As I sat down to Google Maps to figure out how long it would take to get there and whether or not there were any breweries along the way, I remembered Grains of Wrath in Camas. When I put it as a destination I discovered it was only 30 minutes away; and I knew they would have the fresh hop IPAs that I was looking for. Matt was game and we had a few hours before we could pick up Dom; game on. Continue reading

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