Washington
Craft Beer Tour 2024: I Return to Yakima
These photos were taken Tuesday, October 29 at Bale Breaker Brewing and The Outskirts Brewing Company in Yakima, Washington. While I may suggest that I hit the Pacific Northwest at this time of year for all the fresh hopped brews available, ever since 2018 the real reason is that I want to visit Bale Breaker Brewing.
Bale Breaker Brewing is one of my two “destination breweries” which is a brewery that if I am within 200 miles of it, come hell or high water (or pissed off girlfriend), I am going to do my best to get there. For those wondering, the first brewery that made the cut as a destination brewery for me was 3 Floyds Brewing in Munster, Indiana. 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
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
Craft Beer Tour 2018: Western Oregon
These photos were taken on the western side of Oregon on Monday through Friday, October 1 through 5, days 15 through 19 of my Craft Beer Tour 2018. I guess if I want to be specific, this part of my journey took me from Vancouver, Washington to Grants Pass, Oregon, all of it on the western side of the state.
When I left Bend I headed to Oregon City to visit my longtime friends, Matt and Dom. As someone that believes that anyone who says they don’t like beer just hasn’t tried the right beer yet, I had attempted, several years ago to find a beer or style that Matt would like. I was unsuccessful; however, Matt continued his quest and discovered that he did enjoy ciders. The point being, that while Matt and Dom did take me around Oregon, we spent a lot of time at brewpubs because of the ciders that are usually found; oh, and they both enjoy new culinary delights. Luckily, Matt and Dom are self-employed and insisted they needed some time off; I visited places I never would have considered as a result. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2018: Yakima, Washington
These photos were taken in Yakima, Washington on Thursday and Friday, September 27 and 28, days 11 and 12 of my Craft Beer Tour 2018.
To be completely honest, when I started this journey, I kind of figured that my Portland area friend might take me into Washington, but it would probably be a border town like Vancouver; but things have a way of changing when you try to juggle multiple friends, and their schedules.
The night before I left Boise, I contacted my friend Jon Urch to let him know that I would be meeting him in Bend, Oregon the following day; that is when he notified me that he would be leaving Bend pretty much as I arrived, and I should consider going to Yakima, Washington instead. When I contacted my Portland area friend Matt, I discovered he was going to be working a show over the weekend. That sealed it; I headed off to Yakima instead. Continue reading