Beer Around Town

Ahhh, it feels so good to have the holidays over and be back in snow-less Portland. For the holidays we headed down to Southern Oregon to visit the soon-to-be inlaws for the Holidays. Using some Jedi mind tricks I was able to tie in two brewpub visits into the trip.

First on the list was the Wild River brewpub in Grants Pass. Since we head down pretty regularly, I’ve had most of their beer, and sadly their quality has seemed to decline over the years. The first beer I tried was the only one I hadn’t had before, a blackberry porter, watery and bland porter, focusing more on a sweet blackberry flavor instead of a good base porter with a complimentary fruit note. Their Double Eagle imperial stout was decent, but seems to lost a bit of body and is a bit cloying in the finish. They always have a barleywine on the menu, but I’ve never found out when this actually goes on tap. At least their pizza is excellent.

Next we took a quick trip down to Ashland and dropped by Standing Stone. This was my first trip to Standing Stone and it was a great experience. They had an affordable sampler plate for $5.00, which included a cream ale, hefeweizen, amber, ipa, stout, imperial ipa, and barrel aged barleywine. The beers were all pretty solid, the hefe, amber, double ipa, and barleywine all stood out. The food was really well prepared, although a bit on the pricey side. The jazz music and modern/industrial decor makes this place feel a bit like the new Bridgeport or PDX Deschutes pub, a touch classier then the norm. Overall great experience, I will definitely be back.

I wish I had a chance to stop in Medford and check out a few pubs there, maybe next time.

Anyway, good to be back, time to catch up on work and fixing my snow-busted gutters.