Sorry Denver, Portland gets my vote
I’m with Jeff Alworth on this.
He elegantly rebutts — with help from Brian Butenschoen of the Director of the Oregon Brewer’s Guild — an article in Time Magazine that declares Denver the best place for beer touring.
Doesn’t need any help from me, but I did have this additional thought when I first saw the article.
Denver has been “dubbed the Napa of beer.” Dubbed by who? Somebody in Colorado I suspect. And a PR person to boot.
Posted: April 15th, 2008 under Beer culture.
April 15th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
“Napa of Beer”, f* that. Rule #7.
Besides, Napa is overrated anyway.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
i’m putting together a portland beer trip with a couple of friends, thanks for the confirmation that i choose the correct destination.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
It was actually from a newspaper article that came out near the end of last year that called the entire state of Colorado “the Napa valley of beer”. The Time magazine author simply took that quote out of context and applied it toward’s the states largest city. If you look at the output from all of the breweries in the front range of Colorado, then ya, I can see why the Napa name would stick, but not just for Denver.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
why the Napa name would stick, but not just for Denver.
I’d take a close look at Jeff’s post. If Denver get New Belgium, etc. then Portland gets Full Sail, Rogue, Deschutes, etc.
I’d guess the newspaper author got an earful from the same PR person. I heard the “Napa of beer” phrase on the Today Show a couple of years ago.
April 15th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
The Rose City appreciates your unbiased judgment, Stan. I think the reaction in our corner of the country has a lot more to do with the article than the city of Denver–which we only occasionally begrudge.
April 15th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
There is one other aspect of the Portland beer scene that Denver lacks which is the number of pubs run by or partnered with out of town breweries like Rogue, Deschutes and Full Sail. OK, so you can’t tour the actual brewery, but you can sample the fresh beer.
But the key is in the comparison of the beers themselves. Both have many beers, Denver has a few good ones, Portland has one or two mediocre ones.
April 15th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Portland wins, hands down in my opinion. There are, what, 30 breweries/brewpubs in Portland? Throw in all the strip clubs and it’s no contest whatsoever.
April 16th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Despite my quibbles about PDX’s absence of late night food, there is no better place to be for beer than Portland.
also: I think Breckenridge Vanilla Porter is an an absolutely exceptional beer.
April 16th, 2008 at 10:28 am
[...] Worth a read though.Of course, coining anything the best has gotten several bloggers all up in arms because we’re all proud of the craft brew that comes from our home states. I don’t [...]
April 16th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Plus, don’t sheer numbers work in P’land’s favor? It’s got more breweries per capita than any city in the world, right? So if you want a brew tour, well, logistically, P’land oughta be the place to go.
Plus, Portland has the Willamette valley, and that beats the Rockies any day. (I know. I know. How can I prefer a mere valley to mountains?? What can I say? I’m a midwesterner. I prefer soft, rolling, and green, to hard, sharp, and white.)
April 16th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Portland Wins, I haven’t done due diligence on exploring the Portland beer scene, but I am soon to correct that oversight.
April 16th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
There is this stat, which absolutely thrills me (per the Oregon Brewers Guild): Portland consumes more craft beer than any city in the country, full stop. Not most per capita, most. It’s only the 23rd-largest, and beats out San Francisco by a nose. A lot of us in Portland are having to do heavy lifting to keep that stat accurate–drinking 2, 3, 4 times as much craft beer as our friends in other states. It’s a cross, but we bear it stoically and without complaint.
April 16th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Zak, you shouldn’t eat late at night anyway. Very bad for you.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:46 am
Denver!? Portland!? Weren’t you paying attention when Philadelphia declared itself the best beer city? 8^P
April 17th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I’m going to make my regional claim for Sonoma County. Napa can have the wine, we make the best beer in the country. Bear Republic, Lagunitas, Russian River and Moonlight highlight the breweries in the county with Marin Brewing just south of the county line and Anderson Valley to the north among others in Mendocino county.
Come to Santa Rosa and try my afternoon crawl and I find it hard to disagree.
http://brewedforthought.wordpress.com/2007/12/13/lets-take-a-walk/
I lived in the Willamette Valley for 2 years, and while there’s no doubt that Oregon has plenty to be proud of, it’s my opinion that Northern California produces the best brews.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:51 am
I’m delighted to see pockets of good beer establishing footholds in various regions of the country, and I’d like to make an argument that we shouldn’t try to identify the “best.” The thing that makes local brewing cool is that it is tailored to the tastes, culture, and history of the region.
Mario, the companies you cite all brew massive, hoppy beers (Pliny the Elder would be in my top five American beers). By contrast, Denver beers are lighter and less saturated in hops–which seems appropriate for a town that cherishes its sporty activity.
Identifying a “best” only reinforces the idea that they’re somehow comparable.
(All that being said, Portland is the best. Example #296: last weekend we had a “Cheers to Belgian Beers” fest, which is a friendly competition local brewers put together wherein they each brewed a beer with the same yeast strain–La Chouffe Ardennes this year–and then people come taste and vote on the best. Proceeds to charity, bragging rights to the winner, good beer to the masses.)
April 18th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
True, there are some very hoppy beers in the area, we do love our IPA and Imperial IPA, but Russian River also makes fantastic Belgian brews and does wonderful things with barrel aging. Also, Moonlight doesn’t fit into that label of massive beers.
And I appreciate your opinon (even thought you’re wrong, hehe), and since I mentioned Russian River, I want to say congratulations to Vinnie for winning the Brewers Associations Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Brewing. Cheers Vinnie!
April 21st, 2008 at 7:01 am
“By contrast, Denver beers are lighter and less saturated in hops”
Yikes. Tell that to Avery, Great Divide, Odell, Oskar Blues, and whoever else I’m forgetting.
April 21st, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Yikes. Tell that to Avery, Great Divide, Odell, Oskar Blues, and whoever else I’m forgetting.
It’s relative. No one believes that the mean IBUs in Denver beers begin to approach those in Portland. In fact, I’ve watched a heated exchange between a Portland and Boulder brewer in which the latter accused Oregon of having lost all sense of proportion with regard to hops. The Oregon brewer pointed out that ours was a regional proclivity, not a failure of brewing.
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:20 am
My point was that hugely hoppy beers (very well-made ones at that) are a staple of major Denver brewers.
But as for “mean IBUs” I have to agree you’re spot-on. Our average gets crushed when you factor in Coors, or even Fat Tire. And it falls even further when you include Sandlot’s lagers, the Odell porter Stan mentioned, and La Folie. Is that the point?
(Wait–don’t answer that. This is all the state pride I have energy for. Send me a case of very fresh Brutal Bitter to refresh myself, and I’ll keep up the fight. And maybe some of that Victory harvest pils would give me the strength to take on Philly after that.)
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:16 am
Baums - aside from Avery, which also sells a range of beers that are “big” in non-hoppy ways, I’d argue that Flying Dog, Breckenridge, Great Divide, Odell, Boulder are not nearly as hop-focused West Coast beers.
A few beers such as Titan get, and deserve, attention. But they aren’t the ones you routinely find on tap.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Happily, Titan IPA is surprisingly easy to find on tap these days, even at some of the boozers on East Colfax.
Anyway, I guess I’m not sure what distinction is being claimed. Rogue and Avery are probably in the same ballpark, and when you look at the product lines of Deschutes, Full Sail, BridgePort (much less Widmer or Pyramid) I don’t think there’s a pattern of massive hops, even on a relative basis. I see product lines that, like those of the Denver area brewers, are much more balanced than those of, say, Green Flash or Stone. What am I missing?
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Baums - I’m going to leave it to Jeff to offer a proper list, but I would say that the NW generally stands somewhere between Green Flash/Stone and Colorado. Part of that is the “other” breweries such as Hopworks Urban and Gravity.
That said, Portland doesn’t get my vote based on hops.
And deferring to Jeff’s later post perhaps this is a silly discussion to have. You know Portland might be the best beer city for the majority of people living in Portland (and one I prefer) but the front range is best for the population living there.
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Denver, probably not, but greater Colorado quite possibly. Fort Collins boasts Odell and New Belgium while various towns spread across the front range have some amazing breweries!
Still, as a resident of Denver, I have to agree that Portland wins out. I can’t say Denver is the mecca of beer while gems like Flying Dog move their operation to Maryland and franchise disasters like the Rock Bottom Brewery occupy prime real estate downtown.
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:25 am
Oh, I agree about the silliness of discussing whether Portland or Denver is “better.” The statement on Denver beer just didn’t quite ring true to me (though it has some merit if applied to Denver’s beer *drinkers*).
As far as which town is better, well… Belgium has about the same area as we’re talking about for Denver or Portland. Not everything is roses in Belgium but still, I’d say both Denver and Portland have a long way to go.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Most of the people who write up media stories on Colorado haven’t visited the brewery, drank the beer, climbed the mountain or rafted the river. Backpacker magazine isn’t any different on half its stories on Colorado…you see some story on backpacking through the wilderness with images taken from the highway 50 miles away of a mountain that isn’t even in the wilderness and maps that someone without a clue about avalanches draws up.
If narrowed down by city in Colorado, I would give up every brewery in Denver and keep those in Boulder and Fort Collins. I’ve yet to visit Portland, so I can’t make a head to head comparison…but, I do think it’s rather silly to compare an entire state to one valley…bad comparison by an un-credible media voice.
February 21st, 2009 at 5:06 pm
[...] Worth a read though.Of course, coining anything the best has gotten several bloggers all up in arms because we’re all proud of the craft brew that comes from our home states. I don’t [...]