Golden Valley Brewery

I spent Christmas this year in Oregon with my family, and Michael came too. It was nice to show him my hometown and have him meet my friends. However, there is not much to do in Hillsboro. So we drove a few towns over to McMinnville. There is the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, home of Howard Hughes' infamous Spruce Goose.  While the museum itself is awesome, the cafe isn't anything special. So a quick check on Google Maps revealed a microbrewery nearby!

Golden Valley Brewery is located in the country side of the Willamette Valley. The building is a 1920s warehouse with huge local timber pillars. I felt like I was pioneer walking into the local tavern for a drink, a good way to represent Oregon.

It began in 1993 by Peter and Celia Kircher. I contacted Peter for more information about the brewery and he stated that "The key focus for our brewery is to produce consistent quality traditional style beers of great balance and rare complexity." Their aim is produce "more classic style" beers. 



The restaurant features a standard Oregonian brewpub food. For those of you not familiar with Oregonian cuisine, that means an eclectic mix of standard bar food, regional specialties, and anything else the chef feels like making. 

I had a Garden Burger, minus the cheese. It had sautéed mushrooms and nice crisp lettuce and red onions. No complaints! 

Michael got the Pastrami Reuben Sandwich. Rubens are his favorite and always orders one when he sees it on the menu. He said this was the best one he had in awhile!

Ok, now for the beer...

I knew it would be able awhile before we could be able to visit again, so we got a sampler to try them all.  The sampler has 10 beers, from lightest to darkest: 3rd Street Wheat, Perrydale Pale, American Pale Ale, Chehalem Mountain IPA, Red Thistle Ale, Exit 65 IPA, Atlas Elevator Bock, Tannenbomb, Dundee Porter, and Muddy Valley Oatmeal Stout.

All the beers are heavily loaded with flavor, but perfectly balanced. A good example of this is the Red Thistle, very malty but counterbalanced with the right kind of hops. This beer was interesting---in a good way!

I have two favorites. The first is the American Pale Ale. Slightly malty and a little citrus, very drinkable and smooth. This is a great beer to drink year round with any meal. My second favorite was the Muddy Valley Oatmeal Stout. It was so smooth, almost like drinking desert.

Michael liked the Atlas Elevator Bock. It is dark with a smokey/meaty taste. He collects growlers so I bought him one filled with the Bock.

I drove past by this brewery a million times,  I am glad we finally stopped in! They also have a pub in Beaverton if you do not have the time to drive to McMinnville. But I suggest you take the scenic route out through the Oregon countryside and get some good beer from Golden Valley Brewery next time you are in the Willamette Valley.

Sources:
http://www.goldenvalleybrewery.com/ranch.htm
Background information sheet provided by Peter Kircher, owner