This is a report of a recent vacation to Northern California, Oregon, and Washington during which many superior beer establishments were visited. [ see trip map ]

Note: Caveat Emptor! I do not claim to be an experienced beer judge although I have learned the tasting basics from Coby Glass and others at the Wild Wing Café beer tastings. My taste in beer runs towards porters, stouts, and brown ales, which of course affects what I choose to drink and how I perceive the many available products. I have not tried to describe the taste of the beers I sampled since I find that almost impossible. Please settle for a general assessment of “fabulous”.

Beer: Black Butte Porter from Deschutes Brewery in Bend, OR

Beer Bar: Horse Brass Pub in Portland, OR

Brewpub/Tasting Room: Just too hard to choose among many wonderful places, all with distinctive characters. Maybe a list of the six best would cover it. See notations in the chronological list below.

Brewpub Beer Sampler: Any McMenamins location – Great across the board.

Brewery: Sierra Nevada in Chico, CA – This place is a beer palace. See why below. Selecting from the merely mortal breweries, I liked Anchor Steam in San Francisco, CA.

Brewery Beer Sampler: Sierra Nevada - 14 samples, to my pallet the beer was much better at the brewery than in bottles, considerably less hoppy, which for me is good. Or possibly my taste buds were exhausted after so many good brews and in their well earned happiness could no longer detect hoppiness)

Nearly Indispensable Reference: The Beer Lover’s Guide to the USA – Brewpubs, Taverns, and Good Beer Bars. This book steered us to great places in practically every town we went through. Got mine at buy.com if anybody is interested.

Read More! - Complete Visit List with reviews.

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