One of my goals for 2020 was to do one Hop Trip per month. However, COVID-19 seems to have put the kibosh on that idea, at least for awhile. Since I can’t go anywhere, I figured I should finally post about the two I did go on before everything became weird all the time (hooray!). With that in mind, here’s the first one: my short excursion to the beer capital of the Columbia River Gorge: Hood River.
Day 1
After a couple hours drive north from Bend, we arrived in Hood River. After checking in at the Best Western (a really nice hotel btw) we headed over to Ferment Brewing.
Ferment Brewing is a relative newcomer on the scene in Hood River and built a really nice brewery and tap room along the water, just a stone’s throw from Hood River heavyweight Pfirem Brewing. I have visited Ferment previously but the quality of the beer on offer made me eager to visit again. Their core beers focus primarily on British styles which have mostly fallen out of popularity in the craft beer world. I, however, love a good bitter or ESB, so their tap list made this beer nerd very happy. I started off with their ESB, while my husband enjoyed the Biere de Gard. We took our beers outside since it wasn’t raining (a pleasant surprise in Hood River in January) and sat around the large fire pit on Ferment’s patio. For our second round, I continued on my British theme and ordered the British Half & Half, which is a mixture of their nitro dry stout, pale ale, and ESB. Three beers, one glass, all delicious. This combination was amazing and I probably could’ve drunk five of them. Matt went with one of their barrel-aged beers, called The Sentinel. When I tried it, I immediately considered stealing it from him because this mixed culture saison was a masterpiece of terroir and I was INTO IT.
Next up was a place I have been a few times because it is one of the beer loves of my beer life: Pfriem Family Brewers. I was especially excited about this visit as I had seen that they had just put a Rauchbier on tap, and when a good brewery makes a smoked beer there is a 100% chance that I will try it. I can blame this on Stone Brewing, whose Smoked Porter introduced me to smoky beers very early in my beer drinking career, and I’ve been into them ever since (And if anyone from Stone is reading this-please make your Smoked Porter with Chipotle Peppers again!). Anyways, I ordered the Rauchbier and it was delicious, riding the line between too smoky and just smoky enough. I should also note that this is pretty much a sipping beer. You could try to crush a few of these since they’re fairly low ABV but you may lose all of your taste buds in the process.
Once we got our table (because if you go to Pfriem on the weekend you will almost always be waiting for a table) I ordered the Druif Blanc which is an amazing beer and was perfectly paired with the scallops I ordered (I know fuck-all about beer pairings but I like to think I know a good one when I taste it).
Before heading back to the room we made a stop at Camp 1805, a small distillery about halfway between the two breweries, because I was feeling pretty good at this point and when I’m feeling pretty good I usually want whiskey. I’d also never had their whiskey so that was a bonus. And they had brownies. And ice cream. You get the picture. A solid end to the evening.
Day Two
The next day we started at one of the OG Hood River breweries Full Sail. Anymore, Full Sail is primarily known for their Session brand and more recently for their hard kombucha brand Kyla. For me however, this visit was more about nostalgia than anything else (This old lady can tell you kids all about when Full Sail WAS craft beer in Hood River). I feel like craft beer often falls victim to drinkers seeking out whatever is the new, hot thing, while often forgetting entirely about the breweries who allowed those new, hot things to exist in the first place. This has especially run true in the last year or so with the closing of Bridgeport Brewing and the shuttering of Widmer Brewing’s tap room in Portland, OR. What I’m saying is don’t forget your roots y’all. Therefore, Full Sail.
Now that I’ve given you the why and the wherefore lecture, let me say this: Full Sail still makes really good beer. I may just feel this way because I like a good amber and Full Sail makes one of the first and the best, but I’ll stand behind that statement. As we started drinking around 10 on a Sunday morning, I started with their Beermosa, which is their Blood Orange Hefeweizen topped with champagne.
Next up, we headed across the Columbia River into Washington and the small town of White Salmon, home of Everybody’s Brewing. I have been a fan of their beer for a long time but this was my first visit to their taproom. It is a pretty impressive space. The town of White Salmon is perched in the hills above the Columbia River Gorge so pretty much the whole town has an amazing view. Everybody’s Brewing does as well, with a large patio overlooking the river. However, it being January (i.e. cold and raining off and on), we sat inside, which has a lofty, open feel with lots of wood and big windows.
I first sampled Pitter Patter, a rye porter (it is also a truth universally acknowledged that if a beer description has the word rye in it I will at least be tempted to try it). It had a nice rye flavor and was a good beer to drink on a rainy day. I also partook of a beer called The Devil’s Science Fair, a hazy IPA which was a collaboration between Everybody’s and Stoup Brewing out of Seattle, WA (side note: they have started canning this and I’m pretty excited to have it again sometime soon). Two other things of interest to note about Everybody’s Brewing: their food is really good (especially their ridiculous nachos-trust me, order them) and unlike many breweries I have been to the ladies’ room smelled really nice. A weird thing to notice, I know, but I did and now I am sharing it with you. You’re welcome.
Anyways, that was Hood River and it only took me three months to post about it. Next up: February’s Hop Trip to Astoria and one of the best beer fests around: Festival of the Dark Arts. Prost!
