We had a great time last week in Portland and Seattle. Aside from the standard tourist spots in each place, we visited a bunch of breweries, bottle shops, and taprooms. We tried almost 70 new-to-us beers via pints, flights, or bottles over the course of the week. I brought a few back to save for later, but we sure as hell enjoyed ourselves on the trip.
In Portland we visited the Cascade Barrel House, Hair of the Dog, and Lucky Labrador breweries. Cascade was amazing. We had their non-sours just because, but by far our favorites were the Vine flight (2011, 2012, & 2013) and Sang Royal. Lucky Labrador had their stout on nitro and in cask, both very tasty. We sampled as much as we could at hair of the dog, and finished with a bottle of Adam from the wood. Holy ****. We hit Belmont Station and picked up Ninkasi ground control, Double Swingline, Mjolnir IIPA, Heretic's Evil Twin and Hazelnut Porter, and DFH American Beauty. We also stopped at Deschutes taphouse (a little too corporate feeling, but the Stoic, GD) and Rogue' tasting room. Rogue had a great neighborhood feel to it. We sat through 3 flights there and I tried pretty much everything I had never heard of. Their Marionberry braggot was f'ing killer.
In Seattle, we visited Fremont and Pike breweries. Both pretty good, although Pike is meant for tourists. We also stopped off at Mammoth for sandwiches and beer, and we got to try Abraxxas, 10 Barrel's Raspberry Crush and German Sparkle Party. We visited Chuck's Hop Shop and tried a bunch more Washington and Oregon beer as well as Hell or High Watermelon and Wander's Raspberry Millie Sour.
I wanted to thank y'all for the tips and recommendations. We had a great anniversary trip thanks to your suggestions. I wish we could have spent more time up there, but I'm glad we got home with great memories and more than our fair share of great beer experiences.