Last week we took a look at
our favorite beers being brewed in PA, in honor of Philly Beer Week. Well another one of our favorite food and drink cities, Portland, Oregon, is in the midst of their own PDX Beer Week right now.
Portland is often called Beervana or Munich on the Willamette, and boasts more brewpubs and craft breweries than nearly any other city in the nation. It is tied with Denver as the top microbrew market in the U.S. and has was only recently bumped out of its position of the city with the most breweries in the world — by neighboring Bend, Oregon. Oregon has the 4th highest percentage of beer draft sales in the US and 37% percent of all draft beer consumed in Oregon is brewed in Oregon. (Oregon is also the No. 2 hop growing state in the country.) There's a lot of great stuff being brewed, but here are some of our faves. Let us know yours or what we are missing!
Deschutes
Deschutes Brewery is nestled in Beervana central, the picturesque mountain town of Bend. The brewery makes bold batches like The Abyss dark stout, the award-winning Mirror Pond Pale Ale and some of the craft world's most beloved brews, like the Black Butte Porter.
Rogue
Brewing since 1988, Rogue is best know for their iconic and award-winning ales ales, porters, stouts, and lagers, including Dead Guy Ale, Yellow Snow IPA, Voodoo Bacon Maple Ale, and Dad’s Little Helper. They also produce an awesome root beer and distill small batch spirits — dark, white and hazelnut spiced rums, pink and spruce gins, and a Dead Guy Whiskey.
Cascade Brewing Barrel House
Capitalizing on the abundance of wine barrels and local fruit from the Portland area’s wine region, Cascade focuses on wood and barrel-aged, Lactobacillus-laced sour beers, like the Bourbonic Plague, Vlad the Imp Aler, Nightfall Blackberry, and Kriek, which the New York Times named the No. 1 sour beer in America.
Occidental Brewing Co
Occidental brews traditional German style beers like alts, hefeweizens, kölsch, dunkelweizens and doppelbocks.
Ninkasi Brewing Company
Ninkasi, which takes it's name from the Sumerian goddess of beer, is one of the fastest growing beers in Oregon, with beers like Tricerahops Double IPA, Believer Double Red, Oatis Oatmeal Stout and seasonal brews like Spring Reign and Sleigh’R.