Suds city

With all those guys walking around Portland sporting potbellies, shaved heads and bushy beards, a beer geek might just suspect that there are brewmasters in their midst. They’d be right. This Pacific Northwest Mecca for that which is weird and that which is tasty boasts more than two dozen breweries, more than any other American city. Where to start? Try our picks for Portland’s top five beer experiences.

1. If you’re looking for ground zero of Portland’s craft brewing scene, start at Horse Brass Pub. Plenty of local breweries were born over pints in this 33-year-old Brit-style tavern, and owner Don Younger remembers them all. Younger, who resembles the love child of Willie Nelson and Jerry Garcia, gets repaid for his years of fatherly consulting by getting limited-edition brews, early releases and even exclusives. After a couple cask-conditioned local ales and a proper fish-and-chips, you’ll want Younger to adopt you too. 4534 SE Belmont St (503-232-2202)

2. If you’re the type that takes an hour at 31 Flavors, do not go to Henry’s 12th Street Tavern. With 100 taps, many in constant rotation, you could very well turn a night out drinking into a week out drinking. Like any good Portland beer bar should, Henry’s focuses on seasonal and local, and offers up a list with quality descriptions to help you narrow down your choice. If you’re still overwhelmed, put it in God’s hands—that is, the beer God behind the bar who contributes a “pick of the week,” usually a rarity with enough wow factor to keep the beer geeks drooling. 10 NW 12th Ave (503-227-5320)

3. Mention the McMenamin brothers to a Portlander and you’ll see reverence close to what Catholics reserve for the Pope. An integral thread of Portland’s nightlife scene, the duo have opened 55 venues since entering the biz in the ‘70s. Music venues, pubs, movie theaters and hotels are their thing, and they’re particularly keen on combining it all into one fantastically unique space. Take the Kennedy School, an elementary school built in the early 1900s that the McMenamins renovated to create a working brewery, a bar with a killer beer list, an ornate movie theater, a saltwater soaking pool and even guestrooms fashioned out of former classrooms—the perfect enabler for drinking yourself to sleep. 5736 NE 33rd Ave (503-249-3983)

4. Many of the Pacific Northwest’s best beers never make it out of the area, as there’s just too much demand locally for unique craft brews. Even Rogue, a brewery so popular nationwide these days that you can find their beer at Trader Joe’s, holds back special brews just for the locals, with most of them ending up on the taps at the Rogue Distillery & Public House. Smack-dab in Portland’s Historic Brewing District, the Pearl neighborhood, this pub formerly housed both Portland Brewing and Bogart’s Brewing, but these days the main thing being cooked up on site is Rogue’s rum. Tour the distillery, snag a shot or two, and settle back down at the bar to wash it down with a proper pint. 1339 NW Flanders (503-222-5910)

5. If you’re going to sample some of Portland’s best beers, your inner beer geek might just be tempted to find out how they’re made. If so, you need to catch a ride on the BrewBus, where 40 bucks gets you a half-day tour to three to four different breweries and, of course, samples at each. A few snacks are offered along the route to keep you from turning into Sammy Shit-faced, but don’t be surprised if at the end of the day your “sampling scorecard” looks like abstract art from a chicken with Tourette’s. (brewbus.com, 503-647-0021)

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