The most interesting man in North County poses with his beer. Ladies, feel free to swoon.

It’s Sunday, I’m on my way back to San Diego, and I’d like to leave you with some final thoughts on my visit to Portland and the Oregon Brewer’s Fest. 

First, if you plan to go and want a chance to taste most if not all the beers, then go Thursday and Friday.  I was able to taste all but nineteen of the beers in those two days.  Here’s the full list of beers:  http://www.oregonbrewfest.com/breweries_2008.htm

Saturday and Sunday have big crowds (read: long beer lines) and the festival turns into more of a social event. Because the lines were so long, most people were getting a full glass of beer (4 tokens-16 oz) rather than a taster (1 token-4 oz).  Thanks to Charlie Scollard from Stone and Phil “the rubber chicken guy” Farrell both for the advance notice about the Sat/Sun crowds. 

Of the beers I did not try, many were because it was a style I was not fond of.  It seemed to me that there were a lot of summer ales, lagers, pilsners, and Kölsch’s represented.  A few regulars from the fest that I talked with said that it was out of the ordinary to have so many summers and Kölsch’s.  My summer beers are usually a good ESB, a pale, an IPA, and a Belgian Blonde (Devotion). 

 Of the other beers I did try, here’s my top twelve list (sorry, I couldn’t get it down to ten) in alphabetical order:

21^st Amendment                                              Hell or High watermelon

Amnesia Brewing Co                                        Copacetic IPA

Bell’s Brewery                                                  Bell’s Porter

Boulder Beer Co                                               Hazed & Infused

Deschutes Brewery                                          20^th Anniversary Wit

Fearless Brewing Co                                        Clackamas Cream Ale

Grand Teton Brewing Co                                 Bitch Creek ESB

Lagunitas Brewing Co                                     Lagunitas Hop Stoopid

New Belgium Brewing Co                               Mighty Pale Ale

New Holland Brewing Co                                Dragon’s Milk

Ninkasi Brewing Co                                         Total Domination IPA

Russian River Brewing Co                               Pliny the Elder

I didn’t take copious tasting notes, just whether I liked it or not at the time I was drinking the beer.  Also, the only one of the above I’ve had before was Pliny the Elder.  I grabbed full pints of food friendly beer when I ate and these were:  Hell or High Watermelon, Copacetic Ale, Clackamas Cream Ale, and Trumer Pils. 

Overall, this was a great fest, well organized, good local and out-of-town patronage, and good local support.  Volunteers were very friendly even when getting slammed with people.  Special thanks to the folks I met over at Rogue (John, Geneva, and Mikey the bartender) for all of the info you gave me.  And a quick thanks to my buddies/old roomies in Hillsboro, Fonzie and Orlando, for the awesome ceviche, spectacular fresh grilled oysters, incredible habanero salsa, and picking me up at the airport.