Showing posts with label Columbia Gorge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Columbia Gorge. Show all posts

Sunday, October 20, 2013

There is a storm "brewing" in Cascade Locks

Brenda and Tandra at the grand opening of
Thunder Island Brewing
Guest bloggers Mark and Brenda, headed to Cascade Locks to sample new craft brews and report from the beer front lines:

After hiking in the Gorge on this beautiful fall day with our friend, Tandra, and our dog, Raymond, the whole crew found ourselves hungry and thirsty. We headed to Cascade Locks to enjoy some burgers and homemade veggie burgers at the Waterfront Cafe. The fries were crispy and the pear and apple salad was fresh and delicious. Then, it was on to the event that we had been waiting weeks, dare we say months, to attend: the opening of Thunder Island Brewing.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Full Sail and Double Mountain – An Ode to Summer

Well I can think about 10+ things that I’ve wanted to write about lately, but life has been keeping me busy, which is good. Today, I was browsing through my photos and came across a trip we made to the Columbia Gorge in August 2011. It involved (3) different brewery stops:

  1. Everybody's Brewing
  2. Full Sail Tasting Room & Pub
  3. Double Mountain Brewery & Taproom

At the time, my intention was to make this a three part series, but I only managed to get one part done. I covered our experience at Everybody’s Brewing. If you haven’t read it and would like to, check it out here: http://eyeluvbeer.blogspot.com/2011/12/everybodys-brewing-brew-venture-in.html

Full Sail and Double Mountain never received their due. Of course, by now and many beers later, I don’t recall much from our visit. The photos did remind me of a few things, but I realized that I either need to write a post soon after the experience or start jotting down the main highlights. I was great at taking notes as a scholar, but that knack has long slipped away into the cracks. So instead of trying to create a fictitious story, which might be more interesting than reading some variation of the truth, I thought I would just post the photos with a few brief captions about what remains imprinted in my memory from an excellent summer day.

First Stop: Full Sail Tasting Room & Pub

Thirsty humans.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Everybody's Brewing (Brew-venture in the Gorge, Part 1 of 3)

It’s frickin’ cold outside, so I thought I would reflect on a trip that we made out to the Columbia Gorge over the summer; a trip that involved a concert at Maryhill Winery, but more importantly, visits to three breweries. This is the first installment. When will the other remaining parts be written? That my friend, is a good question.

It was August 5th. The truck was packed to brim as if we were moving across the country. For some reason we always bring way too much crap with us camping. By camping, I mean car camping. It’s the only way to go, and it’s the only way that you can bring the kitchen sink. Anyway, we hit the road mid-morning and planned a stop at Everybody’s Brewing on our way out to Maryhill State Park. Everybody’s Brewing is located in White Salmon, Washington. White Salmon is an attractive, quaint town that sits perched above the Columbia Gorge. It sees it fair share of people passing through on their way to enjoy recreational actives, such as kiteboarding, sailboarding, hiking, camping, and white-water rafting.

White Salmon, WA
When we arrived in White Salmon we had a little trouble finding the brewery even though it’s basically located on the main strip. We parked our rig near a place that was close to Everybody’s street address. We asked a middle aged man who was sitting on a street-side bench where the brewery was. He pointed down the hill and said “right past the opening with the chain link fence”. He also said that he just came from there and how much he likes it. He was a friendly gent and looked to be a local.

We entered Everybody’s bar/restaurant area which was sparsely populated. We figured it just opened for the day and was getting warmed up. The fact that it was quiet inside benefited us though, because we didn't have to wait long for the ordered taster tray to arrive. Our server briefed us on every beer as she handed us a laminated card with beer descriptions that had a number assigned to each one. The number corresponded to one etched into the nicely crafted, wooden vessel that was used to transport our micro-pints. The taster tray design was actually part of the room, meaning it played off of the other attractive wood elements that were used in the interior. Oh, I did fail to mention that in addition to trying Everybody’s (9) standard beers, we also had (1) seasonal that day called Summer Lovin’. Some of that ‘Summer’ part sounds nice right about now.

8 holes, 9 standards and 1 seasonal.  Oh my!
Beer info. front.
Beer info. back.
We had tried Everybody’s Brewing’s beer before on tap at Laughing Planet in Portland, which actually inspired us to make the stop there on our way out to Maryhill. I will admit, being that we visited there over the summer, and the fact that I didn’t take any notes regarding what we drank, I have little to tell you about each beer or what we favored. On that note, my aging memory does recall that every beer we sampled was decent and worth a taste. Everybody’s food also impressed us. The quality of the ingredients and the way they were combined made for some tasty bites. I had the Greek Salad, which was by far the best I’ve had, and my Fiancée had the marinated grilled chicken sandwich that she raved about. Their web site says they “strive to use locally sourced and organic produce and are committed to serving naturally raised beef, pork, lamb and chicken”. I would say that’s not a lie.

We hope you enjoyed the beer, oh, like I mean the movie, eh.
We left Everybody’s Brewing feeling completely satisfied. We enjoyed everything; the service, beer, food, and atmosphere. We didn’t have a chance to visit the brewing facility, but we were able to peer in where all the magic happens from their back deck. The shiny, steel barrels can be seen through windows on the westside. You may miss them though if you’re there on a nice day, because the view south of Mt. Hood will steal your eyes and knock your socks off.

View off the back deck!
Superheros protect the brewery.
Shiny steel.
The facts.
Sasquatch and the taps.
Hops grownin' near the deck.
Vicious VW Bus watch dog