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By Root 1231 0

of time. The bars might serve only McMenamins’ beer—often uninspiring—but the quirks and design are worth celebrating. Edgefield, a sprawling 74-acre Works Progress Administration compound built in 1911 just outside of Portland—is the jewel in the crown, with a 100-room inn, brewery, distillery, winery, movie theater, multiple bars, concert stage, and rambling grounds complete with gardens and a par-3 golf course. (What else? Oh, yes, a resident glassblower, naturally.) On a warm summer night, you can’t do much better than strolling around the grounds with a beer in hand, ducking into the cigar-friendly Little Red Shed, a tiny, candle-lit ten-seat hide-away built in the farm’s former incinerator, now covered with creeper vines.

PHILOSOPHY

“Welcome to The Kingdom of Fun.”

KEY BEER

On a hot day, the raspberry sweet-tart 4.4% ABV Ruby does the trick, getting plenty of zing from 42 lbs of berries in every small batch.

BEST of the REST: OREGON

THE 5th QUADRANT and SIDE BAR

3901 N Williams Ave. • Portland, OR 97227 • (503) 288-3996 • newoldlompoc.com

The 5th Quadrant is one of New Old Lompoc Brewing Company’s four locations, all of them worth a stop. The late Don Younger (of Horse Brass fame) was an early partner, and at the original NW 23rd Avenue location, now called the New Old Lompoc, the sun deck is an ideal spot for one of their ultra-hoppy, assertive beers like Proletariat Red (6.2% ABV). Meanwhile the newer 5th Quadrant has a bigger brewery system, slicker dining area, and an attached barrel-tasting room.

THE VICTORY BAR

2509 SE 37th Ave. • Portland, OR 97202 • (503) 236-8755 • thevictorybar.com

A diminutive but perfectly thought-out beer bar out in neighborhoody southeast, Victory (established in 2007) has six taps and sixty bottled selections from Oregon and around the world. Food options go the tapas route, from soup to clams, burgers, and some very tasty spaetzle. A recent gem on tap: the funky, bready, and sour Moinette Brune (8.5% ABV) from Belgium.

CALDERA TAP HOUSE

31 Water St., No. 2 • Ashland, OR 97520 • (541) 482-HOPS • calderabrewing.com

Green-minded Caldera, which sold its first beer in 1997, was the first microbrewery on the West Coast to can its beer, starting in 2005, a line of fragrant whole-flower hopped beers best sipped on their huge, sun-dapped deck overlooking a creek right in the middle of Ashland. Head brewer Todd Kemp is going for “a clean, accurate representation of the style, and a true expression of the ingredients used to make it,” he says. His Caldera IPA (6.1% ABV) is excellent, deep amber-hued with a thick, eggshell white head of foam.

10 BARREL BREWING CO.

20750 High Desert Ln. • Bend, OR 97701 • (541) 585-1007 • 10barrel.com

In addition to Deschutes, the granddaddy in town, there are six or seven other breweries in Bend. Among the best of those is 10-Barrel, opened in 2006 with innovative beers like S1NIST0R Black Ale (5.4% ABV), made with special dehusked German black malt meant to impart color without astringency. Try this sleek, modern spot with polished cement floors and garage doors opening to patio seating for enjoying a pizza (pesto, chicken, prosciutto) and a couple light-bodied, fragrant summer ales by the fire pit, an idyllic spot on a clear, chilly night in Bend.

THE BIER STEIN BOTTLESHOP & PUB

345 East 11th Ave. • Eugene, OR 97401 • (541) 485-BIER • thebierstein.com

A central meeting place for Eugene beer fanatics since 2005, the Bier Stein has ten taps and over a thousand bottled selections from all over the world and a small menu of salads, sandwiches, and soups. Owners Chip Hardy and his wife, Kristina Measells, cultivate close relationships with breweries and distributors to get specialty bottles and drafts. The only thing you won’t find? B.M.C. (meaning Bud, Miller, Coors) and 40 oz’ers.

CHATOE ROGUE

3590 Wigrich Rd. • Independence, OR 97351 • (503) 838-9813 • rogue.com

Independence, Oregon, was once known as the Hop Capital of the World, and the land there is still embroidered with huge stands of trellised hops supplying brewers in Oregon