Last year my wife and I toured the Northwest Washington Breweries, including La Connor Breweryhttp://www.laconnerbrewery.com/ , North Sound Brewing http://www.northsoundbrewing.com/ , Chuckanut Brewery http://chuckanutbreweryandkitchen.com/ , Kulshan Brewing Company http://www.kulshanbrewery.com/ , Anacortes Brewery http://www.anacortesrockfish.com/brewery.cfm , Boundary Bay Brewery http://www.bbaybrewery.com/ , and San Juan Brewing Co. This year we thought we'd try the Bend OR breweries and a couple Portland breweries too. So on our bikes we hopped.

Day 1: Started out Thursday heading east along I-90. Managing to dodge the rain for most of the day. We turned South on 82 and followed along spotting a classic car tour outside of Yakima. Some how we managed to miss Hwy 97 and continued heading East. Right after crossing the bridge into Oregon the rain started. What started out as a light sprinkle quickly turned into thunder showers. After heading 70 miles too far East we turned back around and road through the same storm we just went through along I-84. Arriving in Biggs OR we realized that we were going to have to settle for a truck stop hotel for the evening. There was a Tornado reported in one of the towns we went through and a man had been struck by lightning on his motorcycle.

Day 2: The rain stopped about 10:30AM Friday morning. Our bikes were packed and fueled ready to go. South bound for Bend. Hwy 97 was a fantastic route. Amazing country and smooth riding. Arriving in Bend by 1:00 PM stopped off at the local motorcycle shop before checking into our hotel. Once we were settled we started our beer tour. Goodlife Brewing Company http://www.goodlifebrewing.com/brewery.html was first on our list. Just about a half mile from the hotel. We ordered food as well as a few pints. To me this was the best Bend had to offer as far as Brew Pubs. The beer is top notch as well as the food and atmosphere.

10 Barrels http://www.10barrel.com/agegate was just about 3 blocks away. That was our next stop. There was a half hour wait for seating, but we sidestepped that by going directly to the bar and ordering. The beer at 10 Barrels is fantastic. However we decided not to stay too long. The weird gray haired folks with their Botox, hair plugs and bad stories scared us off. Besides we were still on our bikes and wanted to get them parked.

Back to the hotel and into the hot tub. Hotel activities over we headed back out for dinner at Deschutes Brewery http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/ and more beer. We did the first Friday art walk and called it a night.

Day 3:Breakfast at the Victorian Café was both good and bad. The food was unbeatable but the yellow jackets swarmed and got rid of us in a hurry. We headed over to our last beer stop in Bend, Boneyard Beer http://www.boneyardbeer.com/boneyardbee ... _Beer.html This brewery had the worst tasting room but the best beer of the trip. It's also the hardest to find. Several bad directions and wrong turns went into getting there.

After Boneyard we headed North up 26 and 35. This was a must do drive. There was so much to see especially around Mt. Hood. Turning West on 84(again) we headed into Portland.

Checked into the hotel and headed off on foot to Cascade Brewing http://www.cascadebrewing.com/ Known as "the house of sour" they truly lived up to their name. They had the most sour beers of any brewery we have ever been to. This was also the best all a round brewery/beer experience we've been to yet. Cascade is worth the trip to Portland alone. After SEVERAL beers we decided to head over to Montage for dinner and follow it up with Hair of the Dog http://www.hairofthedog.com/ to end the night. We got there just before closing and were met with a fairly irritated bar tender. Looked as though he may have had Saturday night plans and didn't want us ruining them for him. The rest of the crew there was fantastic. We had one quick one and walked back to the hotel.

Day 4:Woke up, went to Voodoo Donuts and hopped on the bikes for home. There were several breweries skipped on this tour but we had a great time and our fill of beer. Here's a couple pics...

Man, that sounds AWESOME!!! What's in store for Next year?

Last year you were up in my neck of the woods. I am a bit of a beer nut and used to homebrew a lot as well. I still am huge fan of Boundary Bay for almost all their beers. I've drank myself around this state fairly widely and still am glad to have the ones I have around me.
Great trip though! I have never been able to make an actual trip out of it like you though. Very well done and nice write up.

More pics.

Not sure. It depends on how much time we have. Might do German breweries. My wife's sister lives there. Would be a great opportunity. Otherwise we might head down to California and visit Russian River and La Gunitas etc..




Jagerbomber35 If I lived up in your neck of the woods I'd be living at North Sound. They make the BEST IPA's ever. Could not believe how good they were.

pics of the bikes?................................

I looked through all the wife's pics and not one of either of the bikes. She was on her 75' R90/6 and I decided to take comfort over fashion and road my 2000 Voyager XII. I know, I know... Should have riden one of the Guzzi's or the Triumph but the Triumph and the Ambo are now in pieces and the 76 just wasn't feeling right. Besides there is something to say about cruise control on long trips and a fairing in the rain.

Jealous. I've been wanting to do a brewery tour for a couple years now.

Well it was that time of year again... We didn't have much time available to us this year so we just made an over night run to Portland on the motorcycles. My wife's BMW got hit last week by her coworker and was put out of commission so she ended up riding my F650 and I road my Aprilia RSV.

The ride down was pretty good. Just a straight shot on 5 due to the time crunch. Got into Portland at around 4:30. Hit the pool for a bit to cool down and relax. Got cleaned up and decided to hoof it to dinner. We decided on a restaurant called "The Screen Door". I have to say it was the best food I have had in a long time. Wife had the pork shoulder and I had the brisket. Both were so tender you could barely keep it on your fork.

The restaurant was only a few blocks from our favorite brewery in Portland, Cascade. So we decided to just keep our night rolling on foot and walked on over. The walk was needed to make room anyways. Cascade was no disappointment. Known as the " House of Sour" they had everything you could want to pucker your smoocher.

After several tasters we headed down to Common brewers. Unfortunately they had closed by the time we got there. Not to be deterred we kept heading South to Hopworks. This is a brewery that we had missed last year and was not going to be missed again. Well maybe it was because we started with Cascade, but Hopworks was some what "lack luster" by comparison. It wasn't bad but not particularly special. We had one and were done.
Walking back to the hotel we made one last stop at APEX. Not a brewery but is a must if beer drinking in Portland. With 30 taps and thousands of bottles everyone can find something to love.

Well that was 12 miles of walking round trip and the end of our evening out. It was back to the hotel for some fun and rest.

This morning we got up. Loaded our gear and checked out. With one last stop on our way out of town. Breakside Brewery. I almost talked my wife out of stopping but boy am I glad I didn't. Aside from Cascade, Breakside is my favorite Portland brewery this far. Check it out if you can.

Nice overnight trip!

Bimmer got hit? WTF???!!?!?

That sounds like a lot of fun. 12 miles ... wow!

Yeah, she's a little upset about it too. Her coworker is a complete twit and has been in complete disbelief about how much damage was done.

The 12 miles was total miles. Not each way. But yeah it was a walk...