More beer writing

I just realized that is has been an entire month since I last posted, on the eve of my 40th birthday. Due to my work schedule this year, I chose not to spend countless hours hopping around town, trying to take advantage of all the birthday freebies on offer. I did enjoy a delicious free lunch at Pastini Pasteria on NE Broadway, since that's a short walk from the house. Mostly, other than working, Greg & I stayed home that weekend and watched the World Cup Final. Other than the good ol' USA, I was rooting for the Netherlands to win it all. No such luck but the majority of matches were quite entertaining throughout the tournament and I was happy to be able to enjoy them at home during the day since I was here either cleaning the rental units or writing about beer anyway.

seasonal special fresh asparagus ravioli for my free birthday meal at Pastini

Speaking of, I have now had a total of five articles published in the Oregon Beer Growler magazine (see below for issues & page numbers). I feel like it's finally becoming more natural to write in a journalistic style with a target word count, something I don't have to think about here on my blog. I am proud of this accomplishment and appreciate the corresponding paychecks. Here's to meeting many more interesting people and drinking lots of great Oregon craft beer in the months to come (and writing about it)!

getting my first look at the July issue while enjoying a beer at Pod Bar at Carts on Foster

In addition to writing, I've also been volunteering at and/or attending some of the many beer festivals over the past couple of months. From Spring Beer & Wine Fest in April, to Portland International Beerfest this past weekend, along with the continual opening of new breweries and brewpubs around town, tastings, beer-pairing dinners and other events, it is always a challenge to keep up with all the goings-on in this great state for beer. Not that I don't try!

blind Double & Imperial IPA tasting at Concordia Ale House with my friend Laura

I also inadvertently discovered a sort of beer mecca recently. Greg & I hiked the Triple Falls trail in the Columbia River Gorge on a beautiful Sunday the weekend after my birthday. We finished the trek around 4pm, which still left us plenty of time to drink a couple of beers at new-to-us breweries in the area. We started out at Thunder Island Brewing in the town of Cascade Locks, OR. Then we crossed the Bridge of the Gods to Stevenson, WA where we had dinner at Walking Man Brewing. We had originally planned to head home from there, but while perusing a local magazine as we waited for our food, I discovered we were just a couple of miles from yet another new brewery - Backwoods Brewing Company in Carson, WA. So of course we had to go check it out and I'm so glad we did. All of the beers we sampled were fantastic! While driving to Backwoods, I spotted a couple of small signs for two more breweries. Keep in mind that Carson is an unincorporated town of around 2,000 people and it has THREE breweries, the aforementioned Backwoods, along with Acadian Farms and Barnstormer Brewing. It must have the highest number of breweries per capita of ANYWHERE in the world! Unfortunately we were running out of time and still needed to make our way back home to Portland, so we did not stop at Acadian or Barnstormer. We decided to continue west along the Lewis & Clark Hwy (thus staying on the Washington side of the river). Of course, then I remembered that we still hadn't been to the new location of Amnesia Brewing in Washougal nor had we tried Mill City Brew Werks in Camas. We managed to make it to both before closing time and got home just after 10pm. So, yes, that's five breweries in two states in six hours. Not for amateurs!!!

me at Triple Falls

Here's the link to my Facebook photo album featuring our hike and beer drinking adventure: Triple Falls & breweries

Here is the list of issues and page numbers for my articles. All can be read at http://www.oregonbeergrowler.com/magazine.html

May - page 11

June - page 11

July - 2 articles, pages 17 and 19

August - page 4