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Well, you could go where the national beer magazines send you, enjoying Rogue's carpet-flavored beer then heading over to Apex for musty IPA from past-their-prime kegs, something you'll learn only after paying cash, because there are no complimentary tasters and the brusque bartenders have no time to answer your questions.
But here's the thing about Portland: Our beer scene is better than gimmick beers and crappy imitations of Toronado. Our best beer experiences, in fact, are things you won't find anywhere else in the world. Here are seven only-in-Portland experiences for the discerning beer geek.
Slurp dan dan noodles at the nation's only Szechuan brewpub...
BTU Brasserie (5846 NE Sandy Blvd., 971-407-3429, btupdx.com) is a "traditional Chinese restaurant" with a seven-barrel brewing system. I recommend the Szechuan chicken or the Ants Climbing a Tree, a big bowl of slightly sticky cellophane noodles that delivers a huge umami punch thanks to ground pork, tree ear mushrooms and a roasty soybean sauce. (If you want Szechuan spiciness, be pushy about asking for it.)
Catch a flick among the nation's largest concentration of beer theaters...
Blame it on the rain: Portland loves sitting indoors with old movies and beer. As far as we can tell, with 15 theaters that will serve you a pint, this city has more places where you can drink while watching a big-screen movie than anywhere else in the country—New York and L.A. not excepted. There are a bunch of great theaters to choose from, but the best experiences are east of the river at Hollywood Theatre (4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 493-1128, hollywoodtheatre.org) and Laurelhurst Theater (2735 E Burnside St., 232-5511, laurelhursttheater.com). Both have popcorn, pizza and, of course, beer. The Laurelhurst charges just $4 a ticket.
Bask in our wealth of beer books at Powell's...
Portland must have the largest concentration of professional beer writers in North America, which you'll see if you go to our square-block, three-story independent bookstore, Powell's City of Books (1005 W Burnside St., 800-878-7323, powells.com). We're not going to bullshit you: WW's annual Beer Guide magazine, a tour of every brewery within an hour of town, is the best resource available. But you might also want to flip through books by Lisa "Beer Goddess" Morrison, Brian Yaeger, Pete Dunlop and Lucy Burningham. Or pick up one of Fred Eckhardt's classic tomes on homebrewing. Or pre-order Jeff Alworth's magnum opus, The Beer Bible, which finally hits shelves in August.
Pucker up at the House of Sours...
The nation's most extensive and ambitious sour beer program resides here at Cascade Barrel House (939 SE Belmont St., 265-8603, cascadebrewingbarrelhouse.com), where you'll find seemingly endless explorations into spiced and fruited blends such as honey, lime and ginger. It gets spendy, but treat yourself to the tasters. Just think of it like wine, which is what brewmaster Ron Gansberg was making before getting into the beer biz.
Boneyard and Barley Brown's IPAs at Sassy's...
Two things Oregon does better than anyone: casual, fully nude strip clubs and IPAs. There are a handful of clubs worth checking out, but Sassy's (927 SE Morrison St., 231-1606, sassysbar.com) is a must-hit, especially because two beloved Oregon breweries, Boneyard and Barley Brown's, have permanent taps. There's also going to be a great party there.
Give your beer money to charity...
The nation's first and so-far only nonprofit brewery, Ex Novo (2326 N Flint Ave., 894-8251, exnovobrew.com), has come a long way since it opened last summer. The 10-barrel brewery donates its proceeds to supporting Syrian refugees and mentoring underprivileged kids. Try new brewmaster Jason Barbee's just-released double IPA, Dynamic Duo, which has a light, bright body and a big citrus punch from Citra and Chinook hops.
Taste obscurities at a far-flung cart pod...
More than any other large U.S. city, craft is king in Portland: Every bar, restaurant and food-cart pod accepts delivery of nanobrew from a guy brewing it around the corner. About half of the inner city's cart pods now have beer bars. But if you want to see what Stumptown is all about, go out to Pod Bar (5205 SE Foster Road, facebook.com/cartsonfoster), which is run by Steve Woolard, who also operates the Spring Beer & Wine Fest. Woolard is obsessive about finding beers from the smallest, newest breweries in town to put on tap. "People look at the list and say, 'Wow, I don't know anything on there," he said a few weeks ago. "And it's like, 'Yeah!'" That, folks, is what Portland's all about.
WWeek 2015