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

Full Sail Brewing Company

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This is another brewery that has a special place in my heart. Full Sail Brewing Company is a local, employee-owned company in the Columbia River Gorge. Founded in 1987, it is one of the oldest microbreweries in Oregon. And the first in the Northwest to have commercial bottling success.

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The brewery itself is is located in charming town of Hood River, Oregon, just an hour from Portland. They bought the abandoned Diamond Fruit Cannery and transformed it into a place to pursue their dreams. The first beer they produced was a golden ale.  As business began to boom, they added more beers, including a porter, an amber, and a winter ale. They continued to grow and now feature two core beers, a few seasonal, special releases, and session lagers.

Photo courtesy of my boyfriend

Not only do you need to try the beer, but you need to visit the brewery as well. The Columbia River Gorge is one of the most spectacular sights in the world. It is located right along the Interstate 84, making it very hard to miss. You get an amazing view of the river and the surrounding landscape. The pub offers Pacific Northwest inspired food prepared with local ingredients. I usually get the Hummus Plate (just minus the feta). The Brewery offers tours everyday on the hour from 1-4 PM. The staff member are very nice and very knowledgeable. And, you get a free beer glass at the end!

Here are my two favorites beers:

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Full Sail Amber Ale: I love the chocolate malt in this beer. It has a unique taste---sweet and malty, but somehow a little spice too. It was very groundbreaking at the time-- just like the Oregonian spirit. This is one of the flagship brews and has won numerous awards. 

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LTD 03:This is a seasonal beer, only available from June to September (which is usually when I visit home anyways).  Full Sail calls it a pale-golden, I was argue it is more on the golden side. I do agree that it is a "thirst quencher", especially after a long, hot day. The hoppy/floral combination is what draws me to it.

You can find Full Sail Beers almost anywhere nowadays. If I can find them in a literal shack of a store on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island, you should have no trouble at all.

The reason (besides the awesome beer) this company has a special place in my heart is because it was the place my sweetheart and I discovered our mutual love for beer. He was in Hood River doing an internship with one of our geology professors. The first day he was there, I asked how he liked Full Sail. He answered, "How do you know where I am?"  I responded ,"You would be crazy not to be there!" Later he invited me to come join them for the day since I only lived an hour away. After a long and tortuous day of hiking to find a hidden fault, we were exhausted and thirsty. He suggest we get beer from Full Sail and I knew right then that I wanted to date this boy.

What I like the most about Full Sail is that it uses all local ingredients and is committed to being an active member of the local community. These are people who truly enjoy beer and want to make a good product.  As the bottle caps say, they really are just "stoked to brew."

Sources:
Full Sail Brewery Tour
http://www.fullsailbrewing.com/full-sail-story.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Sail_Brewing_Company