Among the many other things that it is best at, Oregon exceeds all other states in beer excellence – both in quality and quantity (at least breweries per capita). Here are my favorite breweries in our fair state.
10. Bridgeport (Portland)
9. Full Sail (Hood River)
8. Deschutes (Bend)
7. Hopworks (Portland)
6. Lompoc (Portland)
5. Amnesia (Portland)
4. Caldera (Ashland)
3. Ninkasi (Eugene)
2. Rogue (Newport)
1. Double Mountain (Hood River)
What’s your top ten? And, if you’re feeling foolish enough to try to represent another state, what are its top ten?
Alright, my favorite beer in the world is from Montana, so I’m going to be one of those foolish folks that makes reference outside of Oregon. But, Montana is small, so I think there really are only two worth mentioning:
2. Big Sky (Missoula, MT)
1. Kettlehouse (Missoula, MT–quite possibly the best beer ever)
Okay, back to my home state . . .
8. Lompoc
7. Rogue
6. Hopworks
5. Deschutes
4. Full Sail
3. Double Mountain
2. Roots
1. Amnesia
1 Rogue
2 Hair Dog
3 Ninkasi
4 Amnesia
5 Roots
6 Double Mountain
7 Laurelwood
8 Roots
9 Lompoc
10 Big Horse
Honorable Mention: Lucky Labrador. Great use of solar thermal to offset their heating energy use in brewing. And good beer too.
10. full sail
9. lucky lab
8. lompoc
7. rogue
6. laurelwood
5. amnesia
4. roots
3. ninkasi
2. hair of the dog
1. double mountain
yum.
I realized that I left out Bridgeport. That was bad form on my part. They would be in between Full Sail and Double Mountain.
My apologies.
Well, this is really good to know. I actually just tried Full Sail’s IPA for the first time last night and loved it! So, I gotta try the others now!
Glad to hear it R.O. Where is it that you’re living? Do you have access to any of their other stuff? If so, the Wassail will blow your mind – it’s basically like their IPA, just more hops and more malt. Also, once it warms up, their LTD Lager (which doesn’t seem to be very limited now) is a superb summer beer.
I’m more ambivalent about Bridgeport, Lindsay. The IPA is one of the best, but I’ve never had anything else from them that really impressed me.
I live in St. Paul and we’ve got good brew here. For the most part we have brewpubs, but we do have some decent microbrews. Check out Surly.
I’ll try the Wassail, if I can find it. I’ve got a liquor store near my house that has a bunch of Full Sail, I think.
Adam, the Beer Town Brown and the Ropewalk are both super yummy. I have a Beer Town at the house. Next time you’re over . . .
Beer Town is a fine beer, your right. But “yummy” should never be appended to a beer’s description.
Chris said, “yum.” Is that somehow qualitatively superior to “yummy?”
I can think of no more appropriate terminology than “yummy.” Mmm . . . yummy.
I can’t believe you left Hair of the Dog off this list.