These photos were taken Friday, October 25 at Oregon City Brewing Company and Arch Bridge Taphouse in Oregon City; and Sunday, October 27 at Belmont Station and Great Notion Brewing Company in Portland.

So yeah, Thursday morning I left Novato for the 10 hour drive to Oregon City. Would flying be easier, perhaps even cheaper? Perhaps, but you cannot bring as much beer on a flight as I was planning on bringing back home.

Friday I headed to Oregon City Brewing Company, which is pretty much my first brewery stop when I go to Oregon City, I guess because it is the closest to my friend’s home, and they can be counted on to have about 30 brews of all varieties on tap, including several fresh hop versions. On this particular visit I enjoyed their Elevator IPA (for the Citra), and the Pacific Northfresh Pilsner (for the fresh hops). Both were quite enjoyable.

Oregon City Brewing Company is located at 1401 Washington Street in Oregon City as is open seven days a week. They have a dog friendly patio and offer cans, bottles, and crowlers to go.

As I am prone to do, while there I chatted with the brewer and beertenders about where I should look for Citra IPAs and fresh hop brews. One of the recommendations was Arch Bridge Taphouse, a craft beer bar and bottle shop that opened in 2025; and it was only a few blocks away.

When I arrive at a new location, I take a photo so I remember the name of the place. As I was doing that a customer walked out and engaged in conversation with me. When he found out it was my first time there, he insisted on walking back in with me to introduce me to the co-owner, Gene.

After meeting Gene, I headed to the bottle shop portion and picked up a few 4-paks; including what I consider a beer unicorn, a black IPA made with Citra hops; Coldfire Brewing’s Citra Solstice. After my shopping was done, I settled down for Fresh Hop Dino which is a collaboration between Living Haus Beer Company and Ghost Town Brewing.

Talk about timing, that day was the day that Arch Bridge was putting all the rest of their fresh hop beers on tap; my only regret is that I was there solo, so I had to be a responsible guy and only have one, but I could have spent a few hours there with no problem.

Arch Bridge Taphouse is located at 205 7th Street in Oregon City. They are open at 2:00 PM six days a week, closed Mondays. They have a kitchen that is open Tuesday through Saturday, and offer packaged beers to go as well as crowlers.

Saturday was the Halloween party that I supposedly drove to Oregon for, so while my hosts were recovering on Sunday, I headed up to Portland because the breweries and bottle shops on my list were closed on Monday and Tuesday.

My first stop for the day was Belmont Station, a pretty large bottle shop that also has a food truck and a taproom with about 30 taps pouring craft beer, cider, and wine.

Belmont Station opened in 1997 and advertises that they have well over 1,000 beers available in the bottle shop portion of the establishment as well as 35 taps in their “bier cafe.” I had not picked up on the fact that the bottle shop opened a couple hours before the bier cafe, so I had plenty of time to shop around and fill up my coolers prior to being able to get a freshie off one of the taps; but it was worth the wait.

Belmont Station has a food truck set up out back, Monster Smash Burgers, and they have a very nice patio set up out back. I imagine that if it is not a cold and rainy day, it is probably a nice place to hang out and enjoy some craft beer.

After my beer shopping and photo taking, the taproom/bier cafe opened up and I was able to have my first fresh Citra Hop IPAs of the day, Fresh Hop Sculpture Garden from Obelisk Beer Company; yeah, I brought some home.

Belmont Station is located at 4500 SE Stark Street in Portland. The bottle shop is open from 10:00 AM until 10:00 PM seven days a week, with their bier cafe opening at noon.

My next and last stop for the day was Great Notion Brewing, in the Alberta section of Portland. I will admit, part of the reason for this particular visit was that they had a sale going on for their canned, to-go beer.

I have to admit, this was not an easy location to find. I parked in the general vicinity of where my GPS said they were located, but I could not spot the location and none of the neighboring businesses acted like they had ever heard of Great Notion Brewing. Perhaps it would be easier if you searched for Matt’s BBQ Tacos as they share a space.

I eventually found Great Notion Brewing, and I have to admit, I was a little surprised. Online it is described as a brewpub and I really was not expecting to find a brewhouse there, but sure enough. As brewpub implies that they brew beer and make food, that might be a little misleading as the only food I noticed came from Matt’s BBQ Tacos. I didn’t try the food, but the guy sitting next to me at the bar said it was very good.

On the day of my visit they had close to 20 beers on tap as well as a few can pours. While I was definitely seeking west coast style, Citra, fresh hop IPAs, a vast majority of the fresh hop, Citra IPAs I found were hazies; Great Notion was no different. I enjoyed their Ripe IPA and their ever popular Blueberry Muffin. Yes, I found a few to-go beers that came back to California with me.

Great Notion Brewing – Alberta is located at 2204 NE Alberta Street, STE 101, in Portland. They are open seven days a week at 11:00 AM and sell 4-paks to go. Cheers!

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