That tweet was from one of Portland’s newest breweries, Gigantic Brewing. A brewery which happens to have selected a site only six blocks from where we live. A brewery which, up until now, has not been open to the public. It was a temptation too strong to resist.
It’s currently a non-descript grey building with a red panel, no sign. Had it been any other day it would have been all too easy to miss. Yesterday however, by the time we arrived, there were already folks inside and more making their way in. (Not too many however to induce a fear of having to wait in line for beer.)
For Zwickelmania they were pouring two collaboration beers: Collabo Wabo, brewed at Oakshire, and Schwarzenfreude, brewed at Pelican. Collabo Wabo appeared to be unfiltered and tasted of a hopped up red. Schwarzenfreude, a Baltic porter, was a balanced version of the style. Both were tasty brews and I hope to try more of their collaboration beers until they are up and brewing on their own.
After taking a look at the brewing space and having a chat with Van, who estimated the tasting room should be open by the end of March; we finished our beers and headed out. The visit was inspiring and we decided one more stop wouldn’t kill us. We made the return “trek” home, retrieved the car and made the short, two mile drive north to The Commons.
As we walked in Josh’s friendly face greeted us and directed us to one of the corners of the brewery to start with some zwickel. Set up in front of fermenters holding 3-day old Flemish Kiss, 9-day old Urban Farmhouse and 26-day old Biere de Garde, Mike was pouring samples of each. After trying all three we headed back to the front and moved on to full pours – The Gods Must Be Crazy for Mag and Madrone, a tart Saison that I had desired for the last few days since it was put on, for me. 
We might have actually continued on to a few more places, but we were due back at the ranch to have a repair done. That’s probably for the best since after all my huffing and puffing about what a clusterf$%# I expected the day to provide, I might have had a coronary upon finding even more places with reasonable crowds. As it stands, I’ll eat my crow like a good girl.
Funny, I read your post yesterday and almost posted a comment agreeing with you about the lines and crowds. But we finally got out as we did want to make down to Gigantic Brewing. After that we too ended up at The Commons (our first time there). I'm glad we did even though the crowds and lines were rather large at both spots.
ReplyDeleteTasty tasty crow. Ha, I agreed with your last post when it comes to crowds and enjoying one location to get cozy in but have to admit the options sounded lovely at the places you stopped by. The Saison in particular.
ReplyDeleteI guess, Charles, that it was a good thing we went early in the day. I'll have to keep that in mind for next year.
ReplyDeleteAnnie - when you and your hubby make it out here you'll have to put The Commons and Gigantic on your list of places to visit.