Portland, Oregon - Day 3: Sugar Overdose, Books Galore, and Drinking Wisconsinibly
For our third day in Portland, we had our sights set on one thing: beer. However, the breweries we wanted to visit did not open until lunchtime, so we needed to occupy our morning somehow. We decided to take the MAX Train downtown and see what we could find. We wandered by Voodoo Doughnut, which days earlier had lines snaking around the block, and were pleasantly surprised to find it empty on a Monday morning. We ordered what ended up being an obscene amount of doughnuts for two people.
We ordered (from top left, clockwise), a peanut doughnut, the pot hole doughnut (cream-filled and covered in Oreos), the Portland cream doughnut, and the Mexican hot chocolate doughnut (chocolate cake doughnut dusted with cinnamon and cayenne pepper). The peanut and Portland cream were mine, and the other two were Aaron's. They were good doughnuts, but I wouldn't call them the best in the United States. They were relatively cheap, and definite sugar bombs. My stomach not-so-kindly reminded me that this is not normally how I eat breakfast.
After our terribly unbalanced breakfast, we walked to Powell's. I'd said I had no reason to visit the world's largest independent bookstore because I didn't need any books, but hey—we had time to kill. I've gotta say, Powell's is pretty amazing. They have over a million books. The store is divided into about a dozen color-coded rooms that house specific genres. While Aaron poked around the science fiction room, I made a beeline for the travel room.
Behold, an entire aisle of travel memoirs. Just memoirs; this is not the guidebook section.
I couldn't help myself, and I bought three books—a memoir from a man that had traveled most of the world throughout his life, a selection of stories from Vietnam, and a collection of women's travel writing that features a story by my cousin-in-law.
Upon leaving Powell's with our purchases, it was still just 10:30 a.m., not yet time for beer. We decided to walk a bit to kill time (and calories), and we ended up at Salt and Straw at 11:00, just as they opened. Many people had told us that this was the best and most unique ice cream in Portland. My tummy wasn't quite ready for ice cream, but we were there, and there was no line. We each ordered a flight, which was billed as four small servings of ice cream. This was what we ended up with.
Each of these dishes held a very generous half cup of ice cream. Yikes. Mine is on the right, and from top to bottom was freckled woodblock chocolate, strawberry rhubarb pie, olive oil, and honey lavender. Aaron's tasting, from top to bottom, was Stumptown coffee, sea salt with caramel ribbons, double fold vanilla, and essence of ghost (a special October flavor). My favorite, surprisingly, was honey lavender—a flavor Aaron did not care for at all. It was definitely very floral, but fresh and delicious as well. My least favorite was the olive oil. The essence of ghost was fun and surprising—it included Pop Rocks.
Neither of us could finish our ice cream. You could hardly tell that mine had been touched. Our stomachs (and teeth, and dentist if he'd known how we spent our morning) were rebelling. But it was still too early for breweries! So, we hopped a bus and did what anyone would do in this situation... play underground pirate mini golf!
We also arrived at this establishment just as they opened. Located in a basement, there are 18 pirate-themed mini golf holes lit only with black lights. It was a great way to kill 45 minutes, even though Aaron beat me mercilessly. Our underground selfie was an interesting experiment.
It was finally time for beer! One quick bus ride and we were at Cascade Brewing, the brewery that was Aaron's must-visit on this trip. Cascade specializes in sour beers, and they had 27 of them on tap. So, of course, we tried all of them. Seriously. If you don't believe me, check out my Untappd check ins. They were all 3-ounce tasters, but we tried each and every one. We also purchased 6 bottles of cellared sours to take home and share with friends.
So, after 27 samples we..... went to another brewery! Just a few blocks down the road was Basecamp Brewing Company. 10 more beers to taste, while drinking steady amounts of water, of course.
After trying 37 beers, we figured we should hit up another brewery before calling it a night. It was nearing dinner time by now (yes, we were pacing ourselves), and we ended up at Burnside Brewing. We sat at the bar and chatted with a friendly waitress, who asked what we had been up to. After telling her we'd tasted 37 beers and would like to taste every single one they had on tap, she looked at us with amazement. Not only were we still walking, but we were only mildly intoxicated. We explained to her that we were from Wisconsin, and everything suddenly seemed to make sense. She promptly brought us 4-ounce samples ... of 16 beers. Yikes.
As an insurance policy, we ordered some food. The menu was pretty fantastic, especially for a brew pub.
We chose the roasted carrots, crushed potatoes, and pan seared deviled eggs. Everything was fantastic. We were seated right in front of the open (tiny) kitchen, and asked who appeared to be the head chef where he learned to cook. His response? Jacque Pepin (of PBS fame). Whoever you are Mr. Chef, you deserve your own restaurant. Well done.
While each of us tried all 16 beers, we did not feel compelled to finish them all at this juncture. 53 unique beers was quite the accomplishment.
While waiting for the street car to take us home, Aaron used his 6 bottles of Cascade to do some drunken squats.
By this time I think it was about 8:30 p.m., and we were done for the day. We went back to the hotel and I caught up on Grey's Anatomy. Beer tasting was a success, and we drank quite Wisconsinibly.
We ordered (from top left, clockwise), a peanut doughnut, the pot hole doughnut (cream-filled and covered in Oreos), the Portland cream doughnut, and the Mexican hot chocolate doughnut (chocolate cake doughnut dusted with cinnamon and cayenne pepper). The peanut and Portland cream were mine, and the other two were Aaron's. They were good doughnuts, but I wouldn't call them the best in the United States. They were relatively cheap, and definite sugar bombs. My stomach not-so-kindly reminded me that this is not normally how I eat breakfast.
After our terribly unbalanced breakfast, we walked to Powell's. I'd said I had no reason to visit the world's largest independent bookstore because I didn't need any books, but hey—we had time to kill. I've gotta say, Powell's is pretty amazing. They have over a million books. The store is divided into about a dozen color-coded rooms that house specific genres. While Aaron poked around the science fiction room, I made a beeline for the travel room.
Behold, an entire aisle of travel memoirs. Just memoirs; this is not the guidebook section.
I couldn't help myself, and I bought three books—a memoir from a man that had traveled most of the world throughout his life, a selection of stories from Vietnam, and a collection of women's travel writing that features a story by my cousin-in-law.
Upon leaving Powell's with our purchases, it was still just 10:30 a.m., not yet time for beer. We decided to walk a bit to kill time (and calories), and we ended up at Salt and Straw at 11:00, just as they opened. Many people had told us that this was the best and most unique ice cream in Portland. My tummy wasn't quite ready for ice cream, but we were there, and there was no line. We each ordered a flight, which was billed as four small servings of ice cream. This was what we ended up with.
Each of these dishes held a very generous half cup of ice cream. Yikes. Mine is on the right, and from top to bottom was freckled woodblock chocolate, strawberry rhubarb pie, olive oil, and honey lavender. Aaron's tasting, from top to bottom, was Stumptown coffee, sea salt with caramel ribbons, double fold vanilla, and essence of ghost (a special October flavor). My favorite, surprisingly, was honey lavender—a flavor Aaron did not care for at all. It was definitely very floral, but fresh and delicious as well. My least favorite was the olive oil. The essence of ghost was fun and surprising—it included Pop Rocks.
Neither of us could finish our ice cream. You could hardly tell that mine had been touched. Our stomachs (and teeth, and dentist if he'd known how we spent our morning) were rebelling. But it was still too early for breweries! So, we hopped a bus and did what anyone would do in this situation... play underground pirate mini golf!
We also arrived at this establishment just as they opened. Located in a basement, there are 18 pirate-themed mini golf holes lit only with black lights. It was a great way to kill 45 minutes, even though Aaron beat me mercilessly. Our underground selfie was an interesting experiment.
It was finally time for beer! One quick bus ride and we were at Cascade Brewing, the brewery that was Aaron's must-visit on this trip. Cascade specializes in sour beers, and they had 27 of them on tap. So, of course, we tried all of them. Seriously. If you don't believe me, check out my Untappd check ins. They were all 3-ounce tasters, but we tried each and every one. We also purchased 6 bottles of cellared sours to take home and share with friends.
So, after 27 samples we..... went to another brewery! Just a few blocks down the road was Basecamp Brewing Company. 10 more beers to taste, while drinking steady amounts of water, of course.
After trying 37 beers, we figured we should hit up another brewery before calling it a night. It was nearing dinner time by now (yes, we were pacing ourselves), and we ended up at Burnside Brewing. We sat at the bar and chatted with a friendly waitress, who asked what we had been up to. After telling her we'd tasted 37 beers and would like to taste every single one they had on tap, she looked at us with amazement. Not only were we still walking, but we were only mildly intoxicated. We explained to her that we were from Wisconsin, and everything suddenly seemed to make sense. She promptly brought us 4-ounce samples ... of 16 beers. Yikes.
As an insurance policy, we ordered some food. The menu was pretty fantastic, especially for a brew pub.
We chose the roasted carrots, crushed potatoes, and pan seared deviled eggs. Everything was fantastic. We were seated right in front of the open (tiny) kitchen, and asked who appeared to be the head chef where he learned to cook. His response? Jacque Pepin (of PBS fame). Whoever you are Mr. Chef, you deserve your own restaurant. Well done.
While each of us tried all 16 beers, we did not feel compelled to finish them all at this juncture. 53 unique beers was quite the accomplishment.
While waiting for the street car to take us home, Aaron used his 6 bottles of Cascade to do some drunken squats.
By this time I think it was about 8:30 p.m., and we were done for the day. We went back to the hotel and I caught up on Grey's Anatomy. Beer tasting was a success, and we drank quite Wisconsinibly.
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