Wednesday, August 01, 2007

A Great Beervana Beer Tour RunnerUp

Aaron J. Grier from Portland writes:
OK this is too late to be for the contest, and is a rediculous fantasy, as there's no possible way this would ever be feasable unless I were as rich as Richard Branson or Bill Gates to make the arrangements. it's quite possible some of these spur tracks have been abandoned or ripped up. but here it is.
"the 8 breweries BEER TRAIN"
start at Widmer.
take the tour, say hi to the bros, have a beer (with breakfast?), walk across interstate a couple blocks to the union pacific rail yard, and hop on a train. a few coast daylight pullmans being pulled by the 4449 would be the ultimate, but there are limits to the fantasy, and I'd settle for some RDCs with working toilets. Then take the train across the steele bridge, and north again through the lake yard, do a bunch of switching and end up right behind the next
destination:

Portland (Pyramid) Brewing.
have a Mac's, since it's been a while since you've had one, or maybe a krystalweisse, along with a sausage and a tour.
Hop back on the train, and head south, back over the steele bridge, and stop at the brooklyn yard to visit everybody's favorite local big-beer
brewer:
Hair of the Dog.
always a pleasure to visit Alan's. a big beer here is not a problem, because we'll continue heading south, off of Union Pacific, and on to Portland & Western track to our next destination:

Max's Fanno Creek.
Max's pilsner is the best I've had in Portland. (the other selections
aren't too shabby, either.) after Max finishes waxing proud over both
his brewing and dispensing systems, and having a pilsner, get back on the train, and continue heading west along 99W through sherwood and dundee, until we get to our next siding, which just happens to be two blocks from:
Golden Valley Brewing.
brewmaster Mark Vickery might even have some bottles of VS brut for us.
if not, the red thistle will do nicely!
time for a nap, because we're heading south to corvallis, four blocks away from:
Oregon Trail Brewing.
I hear they have some nice barrel aged stout.
while it would be absolutely wonderful to head west to newport and visit Rogue, the rail lines stop at toledo, which is a bit short, unless we have a boat lined up. instead, we'll head back north, but this time switching to albany, along highway 20, which will take us to:

Calapooia Brewing.
Calapooia just happens to be a block away from some siding on water ave.
some ESB, maybe? and start heading back north, making a final stop at:

Mt Angel.
handy, a block away from the appropriately named "railroad ave." I don't know if Mt. Angel is still brewing or not, but at this point maybe just getting food is the best idea.
if Mt Angel isn't brewing, we could go through Salem and visit:
Ram Big Horn Brewery.
either way, get back on the train and get back to the UP yards by Widmer.
take public transit home. (light rail, even?)

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