PDX Road Trip Pre-Blog... you have been given fair warning!

The time has come for me to head in a southern direction. If I'm not imbibing in the 253, you can most likely find me tooling around somewhere up in Seattle. Portland is a grand place so it's high time I paid them (& their beer) homage with a road trip.

Starting off on Thursday the 11th @ The Eastburn for a private Beer Belly Dinner. Every course is paired with a beer from Walking Man Brewing. It should be effing delightful! If the awesomeness of the staff is any reflection of the food, it's going to be epic. For more info on what's being served, check out my most recent blog on 'em.

A PDX sleep over shall take place, and the Big Daddy Kane (laid out so kindly by portlandbeer.org) shall commence upon sunrise the next day. Check out the nifty walking map below!

View Larger Map

Will most likely stay somewhere downtown which is where the tour ends if we want to start with 

'A'. As most great Christmas presents do... Cab it on up to Point A (Laurelwood) then work (stumble) our way back through the breweries to Point F (Deschutes) and our sleeping quarters.

Here's the lineup:

A - Laurelwood

B - New Old Lompoc

C - The Lucky Lab

D - Bridgeport Brewing

E - Rogue

F - Deschutes

Places on my hit list... you have been warned. :) We'll be there with bells on and ready to blog it up for the duration of the trip, take some pics, and hopefully meet some of the folks in charge.

Who knows where else this journey shall take us... T minus 8 days. Please don't worry folks, I will be under constant supervision during the trip. I'm dragging MGD along with me. Project in the works: music play list and CD options that we can agree on for the trip. I may have my work cut out for me if we want to enjoy anything other than Bob Marley in relative peace and harmony. I like my stereo dials where they are, thank you very much.


the pissed liBEERian

Another 'Damn it's great to be me" moment... pre-PDX trip kudos.

As I mentioned in my Novembeer Events blog, on the 11th, I will be attending a dinner @ The East Burn in Portland. Each course will feature a beer pairing by Walking Man Brewing. Sounds great right? Right. Until I perused the event menu and my little vegetarian heart fell. Not out of surprise, just a general dismay that so many recent beer/dinner events are centered around meat dishes.

It never occurred to me that I should just move on and find something else to do in Portland (I rarely pause when in pursuit of something I want) so I contacted the folks at East Burn to see if we could work something out with the menu. Please note that while I'm not afraid to ask for something when I want it, that doesn't mean I demand or expect everything to go my way. I would only want them to accommodate my dietary wishes as long as it wasn't inconvenient to the chef or a detriment to the event and attending guests.

I got nothing but love from owners Mike & Matt Bender, as well as the executive chef Joe Dougherty. They are stoked we are making the weekend trek to Portland on Mission de Beer Blog and excited to plan a special menu just for me, that still pairs with the evenings selection of beers. Take a peek at what's on the agenda:

Starter

Chanterelle Mushroom Bisque w/ Oregon Hazlenut Brittle. 

Paired with Hoptoberfest

Appetizers

Duck Confit with Braised Swiss Chard and Cranberry Puree on
Grilled Little T Baguette. (4 Me: Grilled eggplanty goodness)

Paired with Ramblin' Raspberry

Wild Boar Chili (4 Me: Same chili minus the boar) & Chipotle Ice Cream

Paired with Black Cherry Stout

Main Course

Fresh Herb Stuffed Porchetta with Roasted Squash and
Orange Infused-Toasted Almond Pilaf (4 Me: either veggie spaghetti & meatballz, or a seafood selection)

Paired with Walking Man IPA

Dessert

Artisan Cheese Selection with Hood River Poached Pear

Paired with High Road Scotch Ale

Dee. Lish. Us. 10 more days and that noise is gonna be residing in my mouth. Dinner should be taking place on day uno and an awesome start of a PDX adventure in brewery goodness. We're coming... watch out.

Thanks EastBurn, I'm super dee duper stoked! You guys are da bomb!

the pissed liBEERian