Saturday might have been wet

But we finally got a chance to spend an afternoon at Town Hall after missing the last three for one reason or another (and we'll be missing again next week to attend the Stillwater Brewers Bazaar). After being out of the loop for so long I was pleased to see 4 seasonals on tap- ESB, Patio Pale Ale, Maibock and Heffeweisen- none of which I had tasted yet. Not being a Mai or Heffe fan I passed on those, starting off with an ESB, sort of. Mag had the first sip of my ESB and then I somehow managed to, instead of grabbing the glass, dump it right over! I managed to salvage about ¼ of the beer while spilling the rest on and behind the bar. What an embarrassing start to the afternoon imbibing! So the ESB I had was good but more grainy than I was in the mood for so for the rest of the time it was Patio Pale Ale for me. That’s one nice, easy drinking beer.

After that we headed over to Mac’s Industrial for a bite. As had been the case on most of our other visits the place was pretty dead for a Saturday night although “our” table had a reserved sign on it so we had to settle of a different one. The beer selection seems to have gone downhill slightly from when we were first there but it’s still not half bad especially when you consider their great happy hour deals. Add to that a kitchen that turns out some pretty great food for a sports bar and you’ve got a place that I’m more than happy to continue visiting.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Portland

Yeah, it's a bit late, but whatever. Here's my take on our recent trip to Portland.

The Good

• Phenomenal weather, 17 breweries/brewpubs, friendly people and plenty of antacids. I'd guesstimate that I ranked 75% of the beers I drank at 3 or higher on my little beer-rating scale (1-5) and really, I don't think we had any major stinkers. Portland delivers once again. Rogue was, yet again, probably one of our favorite places to visit. And as usual, many of the places you think aren't going to be worth visiting end up being homeruns and those for which you have high expectations end up disappointing a little bit.
• I do not think you can beat sitting in a strip joint (Mary's Club) where you are recognized, eating doughnuts and drinking beer. Voodoo doughnuts (which were as good as expected) and craft beer, nonetheless. Hell, even the decor was cool, what with a Pacific/sailor kind of theme. Did I mention the place had strippers? Nimble ones too.
• I enjoyed the heck out of our little tiki adventure. It would have been nice if Alibi had been a little brighter so as to see the decor and all the funky lamps, carvings, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed Thatch as well. The drinks were awesome, and I'm not much of a rum guy.

The Bad

• Pukers on both the outgoing and return flight as well as a severely terrified man sitting next to me on the return flight...never pleasant.
• We saw the worst looking quesadilla, ever, made by an ugly and toothless cook, served by an ambiguously aged and apathetic server, while sitting in an unwanted booth placed next to the kid play area, in a restaurant who's bathrooms were a trainwreck. That's appetizing! Laurelwood gets this honor (well, Laurelwood's evil twin anyway, Laurelwood on Sandy Blvd).
• Driving a brand, spankin new Cadillac...*shiver.* It was like flying the Space Shuttle, only more complicated. We didn't have to worry about our heat shields or anything, but the damn thing kept auto adjusting seats and mirrors and the left rear door was possessed. This experience could almost have made it into the Ugly category as we were on fumes when we returned the car to the rental office. Man, it was close.

The Ugly

• Seeing someone, who shall remain nameless, stand up, vigorously spank himself while saying "Oh yeah!" in a loud voice in a crowded restaurant. I must mention that this was after a long day spent drinking beer at three brew pubs and rum concoctions at two tiki bars. The only reason I'm not going to have a separate bullet for the "peeing in the woods" adventure which really consisted of peeing in someone's yard is that there were no witnesses to that lewd act.
• I loved seeing the sea lions and hearing them hoot and holler. Hearing THAT LADY hoot and holler like a sea lion...not so good. See if you can tell which is which.

The Black Helicopter Has Landed

A quick departure from the details of our Portland trip is warranted. Last night we went to the newly named Ugly Mug (formerly Harvey’s) to give Flat Earth’s latest creation, Black Helicopter, a try. According to Jeff’s email, Black Helicopter is a coffee oatmeal stout made with locally roasted Columbia coffee beans from Paradise Roasters. I love both coffee and coffee beers so this one had me drooling in anticipation. No surprise, I wasn’t disappointed. This beer is fantastic! The coffee aroma is heaven, the taste clean and full but without being too filling. I could drink a lot of this one and if last night is any indication, I’m off to a good start. If coffee beers are your thing (or maybe even if they're not) get out there before the Helicopter flies away.