#96 Brewery Tours!

Hops

My family was in town this past weekend and we part took in the event called Zwickelmania!! In short, over 40 breweries in the Portland area open their doors to people for tours, tastings and a question/answer sessions with the brew masters. My dad started home brewing a little over a year ago and I thought this would be a perfect outing for him. Plus, who doesnt like a good brew?

We started at Widmer which was amazing! We got to meet both Widmer brothers Kurt and Rob, got 10 or more samples of brews and had food pairings all along the way. The brews we tasted were ones I had never tried before; some even were experimental beers. My favorite of the whole group was the Columbia Common Spring Ale. I have been on several brewery tours before, but the one at Widmer was probably my favorite. It was well put together featuring their entire plant, highlighting the brewing process and sampling all throughout the tour. Plus we got to keep the little sample glasses.

Bridgeport Brewery

Our second stop was at Bridgeport Brewing Company. This little craft brewery opened in 1984 (same year as Widmer and the year of my birth) and was one of the first breweries in Portland. It is quite a bit smaller than Widmer and is highly committed to sustainability. The tour was short due to the brewing plant being so small, but it was cool to hear how much length they go to in order to be sustainable.
It is located in the heart of the Pearl district
and their restaurant features some great local
 flavor. My favorite brews are Kingpin, Ropewalk
and Summer Squeeze.



Our last stop was Deschutes Brewery (also located in the Pearl) where we met up with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew. In my humble opinion, the mac and cheese at Deschutes is the best this side of the river and I recently started adding bacon to it which has been delightful. The main brewery is located in Bend OR, which we went to last Spring. My favorite brews at Deschutes are Mirror Pond, Great Lakes and Chainbreaker. Overall, great weekend with my family and a chance to check two brewery tours off my list!

Deschutes Brewery