The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [10]
Find a reason, if you need one. James Beard Award–winning chef Greg Higgins and co. will cook your socks off. You could, for example, head there after a concert, or an art opening at the Portland Art Museum, a couple of blocks away. You don’t need a reservation to walk into the bar on a random night, and you’re likely to meet a local brewmaster refreshing at the bar, talking shop with the knowledgeable—and ultra courteous—staff.
PHILOSOPHY
As ambitious and eco-minded as they come. Higgins is an ardent champion of local purveyors, and that includes brewers, of course. Long before it was fashionable, Higgins worked with Hair of the Dog brewer Alan Sprints on a beer made with organic kabocha squash (4.5% ABV and called Greg), and promoted a series of elegant beer and brewmaster dinners with the likes of Pike Brewing Company.
KEY BEER
Beer steward Jason Button looks after the 10-tap, 100-bottle list, packed with unusual domestic and European choices. But sometimes an easy local sipper is the way to go. “Come summer, with sweet corn and peppers coming in, we like to steam clams in Kölsch,” he says. “Double Mountain in Hood River makes a nice one. So: steamed clams, sweet corn, peppers, and a Kölsch for yourself. Always hits the spot.”
GOOSE HOLLOW INN
1927 SW Jefferson St. • Portland, OR 97201 (503) 228-7010 • goosehollowinn.com • Established: 1967
SCENE & STORY
Of course, Portland’s love for craft beer runs so deep that a light-hearted tavern keeper with a thing for the good stuff got himself elected Mayor from 1984-1992, coinciding with the Rose City’s embrace of microbreweries.
Former Portland Mayor Bud Clark did a lot of great things for the city, not the least of which was opening Goose Hollow, a thoroughly unpretentious and cozy little spot in the neighborhood of the same name.
Inside is a timeless tavern with old-timers (and Clark himself, some days) chatting amiably and an excellent pub menu as well, with dishes. The patio outside is one of the best outdoor drinking spots in all of Portland, ideal for a pre-Portland Timbers game warm-up, as it’s no more than five minutes by foot from the soccer stadium. Clark brags Anheuser-Busch honored the Goose in the 1970s for serving the most beer per square foot in America, which seems about right.
PHILOSOPHY
Old school, with better beer. Today the tavern still has its old wood beams and bric-a-brac charm, but the beer list has considerably evolved.
KEY BEER
Sip on the latest local brews from Hopworks Urban Brewery, Terminal Gravity, and Deschutes, for starters. With a Reuben sandwich to eat and the sun dappling over your picnic table, you might just miss the first half of the game. Wait, what game?
Astoria
FORT GEORGE BREWERY & PUBLIC HOUSE
1483 Duane St. • Astoria, OR 97103 • (503) 325-7468 fortgeorgebrewery.com • Established: 2007
SCENE & STORY
Astoria, positioned at the mouth of the Columbia River as the Oregon Coast’s northernmost town, began as an outgrowth of Fort Clatsop, the settlement established by Lewis and Clark upon reaching the Pacific. For years, Astoria was a roughneck port—in the 1920s it was deemed the most dangerous town in America because so many unsuspecting tavern goers were shanghaied onto fishing vessels never to be seen again. Today, the town is still a bit gritty, a mosaic of nineteenth-century canneries, warehouses, and craftsman homes but with an indie rock appeal. Visitors should check into the eighteen-room Commodore Hotel, which was recently renovated with a Wes Anderson–like attention to detail, plus, it’s walking distance to Fort George Brewery.
Brewery founders Jack Harris and Chris Nemlowill, too, have a near-obsessive attention to detail, and took over the derelict Fort George building they’d first toured in late 2005, which was built on the site of the city’s old fort