Funny the difference one trip can make. In Belgium, the Missus discovered that She really loved beer after all. And now, after all these years, I have a beer buddy….my wife! Anyway, the Missus loves Her sours and our good friend Candice, strongly recommended a visit to Cascade Brewing's Barrel House. We'd had some of the Cascade's Sours before, some of which a ridiculously pricey, that we thought this would be a fun visit…..and of course, we needed to walk off lunch. So if you're keeping score, add another half mile to our walk.
Even though it was just after noon, the place was pretty busy.
We decided to head on up to the bar and have a seat.
I had been taking quick photos and sending them over to my friends; Blue Star Donuts, Tasty N Alder, Olympia Provisions, and now Cascade. Candice texted back writing, "you're doing Portland's greatest hits…."
The list was just absolutely huge…..it was the "Tart Fruit Festival". The Missus was caught in the clutches of analysis paralysis and just couldn't make a decision.
We decided to do tasters, but while I kept searching for styles the Missus would enjoy, basically anything like a Flemish Red, She kept ordering some pretty strange stuff.
So in case you want to see what we tried…..
Our favorite by far was the Sang Noir(far right), fruity, tart, with nice body, but missing that deep almost prune-vinegar sour richness of a Flemish Red. We were told that Cascade uses Lactobacillus which gives it a nice tartness, but not wild yeast which is crazy hard to control. The Missus was obviously missing Cantillon. Still that sang Noir was quite good.
The Missus did enjoy the Cheri D'Amour (left), while I was surprised that I enjoyed the Gingersnap (to the right).
All of this stuff has a pretty high ABV, so we pretty much stopped here. The Missus is still a bit of a lightweight. Still, this was fun and I'd gladly go again.
Cascade Brewing Barrel House
939 SE Belmont St
Portland, OR 97214
**** Hair of the Dog Brewery and Tasting Room has closed
Still, the Missus wanted one more Brewery stop. We'd been thinking of Upright, but they didn't open until 430pm. So we decided to head back (another half mile) to Hair of the Dog Brewery which was close to the Morrison Bridge which we had to cross anyway.
This nice little bar with the sliding industrial doors was doing pretty good business as well.
I loved the names of the beer. The Missus had two tasters; a "Little Dog" and "Greg", which She really enjoyed; made with winter squash and no hops tasting fairly grassy to me.
I had a "Fred", which I enjoyed, slightly sweet, perfect amount of hops, mild booziness. I would gladly have another…..
and since this was Hair of the Dog (which donates a percentage to Guide Dogs for the Blind), you know there had to be a dog, right? This faithful sweetheart was left on the porch faithfully waiting for her master. Whom she obviously adored. You can read her body language….
Oh, he's getting up and walking this way!
Yay, here he comes….we're going for a nice walk home! Maybe I'll get a treat!
Bummer….he was just going to the restroom…..
Hair of the Dog Brewery and Tasting Room
61 SE Yamhill St
Portland, OR 97214
The one thing I wish I took a photo, actually a video of, was the young, thin, well dressed hipster, wearing a Viking helmet who was dancing while doing the edge of the curb "tightrope walk" on the Morrison Bridge. Great hand movement, decent pirouettes, and sadly, we were both too stunned, and entertained to think about taking a photo. Though I can't help but wonder what tune was playing in his head? "You stay weird Portland!"
We took the nice mile and half walk back to the hotel, for a well deserved nap. After all, we'd be walking back this way (sort of) for dinner!
nice beer crawl!
Thanks Kat! It was fun.