Hopworks Urban Brewery

2944 Southeast Powell Boulevard

Portland, OR 97202
(503) 232-4677
http://www.hopworksbeer.com/

I was glad to have Hopworks as my last brewery visit before heading up to Alaska; these guys don't disappoint. Their regular beers are always tasty but it's the seasonal beers that truly impress me. This visit I had the Secession Black IPA and damn! that is good. (Plus the shirts dedicated to this beer are very awesome.) Black IPA seems to be a new trend with Oregon brewers and I have to say I am enjoying it. Here's another blogger's opinion of this trend: http://beervana.blogspot.com/2009/01/on-black-ipas.html. The other beer I had was also very very good, it was the seasonal RED but I can't remember the name and can't find the name of the seasonals anywhere on the website.
I visited the brewery with Jonah, my finance and Tommy, the man who will marry us. Actually it was here that decision was made. I am grateful to both of them - with their help I have visited all the Southeast Portland breweries! This picture is actually from California but I didn't take any photos while at HUB so this is all you get.

Now for the breakdown:
Year-round beers include
HUB Lager
Hopworks IPA
Velvet ESB
Crosstown Pale AleDeluxe Organic Ale
Survival Stout

They have a full dining area with delicious food.

Hours include:
Sunday - Thursday 11:00 am - 11:00 pm
Friday - Saturday 11:00 am - 12:00 am

Black Lotus Brewing Co.

1 East 14 Mile Road
Clawson, MI 48017
(248) 577-1878
http://blacklotusbrewery.com/

I love how much my family loves beer! What I love even more is that they like me enough to try to squeeze in as many breweries on my short trip. Black Lotus Brewing Company was the finale of my Michigan brewery tour and an excellent last impression.
I wanted to put stats on their beers but forgot to steal a menu and their website is getting revamped. Instead go check it out for yourself and make sure to bring your aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandma!

Kuhnhenn Brewing Co.

5919 Chicago Rd.
Warren, MI 48092
(586) 979-8361
http://www.kbrewery.com/

First impression: well impressed impression, daily beer list is always a good sign. Second, they have a tremendous about of beer, not all are on tap but you will be in for variety if you make this pub your hangout. And to round out the trifecta... you can brew your own beer here!
This brewery started as a hardware store run out of business by Lowe's but you can't see that know. It's a beautiful place with a steel horse-shoe bar and they have the beers to compliment.
My favorite is a contest between to very different beers. DRIPA is a double rice IPA, but don't shy away because of the rice thing this beer tastes like biting into a big dense hope flower and racks up a 10.5% alcohol stat. It's competitor for my taste buds is the Imperial Creme Brulee Java Stout. It's think and aromatic, you have to love a beer you can smell before it hits your lips. Keir liked the Classic American, and it lives up to it's name - a good ole fashioned session beer. It's hard sometimes to visit all these breweries, taste all the beers, try to stay sober enough to pass judgment. Ok, I know you don't feel sorry for me but a beer that's light and crisp sometimes just hits the spot.
For the rest of them the list of beers is too extensive to list here but you can find it here:
www.kbrewery.com/beer/beer.html.

Mon. - Thurs. 11am - Midnight
Friday - Saturday 11am - 2am
Sunday - Call for hours

They release new beers on Thursday - go check it out!

Dragonmead Microbrewery

14600 E. 11 Mile Rd

Warren, MI 48089

586-776-9428

Ugh, sooo disappointed: 25 minutes sitting there waiting to get helped then 5 tasters of boring beer. Take it I did only try 12.5% of the beers (5 out of 40, now you don't have to pull out the calculator), but those 5 did not leave me wanting more. I really wanted to like this brewery, I like that they had different styles categorized: Russian Ale, American, Scottish Ales, Barley Wine, Belgian Ales, Czech Lager (the only decent one I tasted), English Ales, German Ales, German Lagers, Polish Porter, then there's Mead and Wine. Hopefully with all those choices most can find something they like.

Somthing nice to say... the tap handles are cool and the sampler tray is hardy giving you 6oz of 5 beers.

Vertigo Brewing

21420 NW Nicholas Ct. ~ D7

Hillsboro, OR 97124

503-645-6644

http://www.vertigobrew.com/

Two of my favorite things came into play at this brewery: one I already knew topped my list of brewery favorites and that is warehouse breweries. I love when breweries are still small and therefore put their all into their brews and that shows at Vertigo Brewing. My newfound favorite is beer sampling. Jonah, my finance and I showed up at this warehouse brewery to sample for our wedding day beers. This is an important stage for us because well, to put it simply we love beer and want everyone to enjoy the beers we pick. Mike Haines, one of the brewers and owners, was awesome in helping us sample all these beers. We called ahead and he basically said to just come on over. We sampled all the beers and are now seriously debating getting all our wedding kegs through Vertigo Brewing, they were all delicious: my favorite being the Black Pearl Porter.

Other brews include:
Schwindel Alt
High Altitude Amber
T.B.D. Blonde Ale
High Dive Rye
Friar Mike's IPA
Friar Gone Wild (pumped version of the IPA, awesome!!!)
Apricot Cream Ale
Razz Wheat
Seasonal: Arctic Black Vanilla Porter


Although they don't have a pub, their website is very easy to use and has a list of bars that do offer their brews: http://www.vertigobrew.com/taplisting.html.

Talking to Mike while sampling he informed us that expanding is in the works. I sure hope so, I think every beer drinker would be able to find a favorite from Vertigo.

Mountain Sun Brewery ~ Vine Street Pub

Mountain Sun Brewery
Vine Street Pub
1700 Vine St.
Denver, CO 80206
(303) 388-2337

Mountain Sun Brewery is bringing some Boulder to Denver. After living in Eugene, OR for quite awhile it's places like these that make me feel at home; the brewery's motto is "Beer, Food, Music, Love What else Do You Need?" Don't head to this pub if you're looking to watch the game, you won't find a TV here. Although there is certainly entertainment, every Saturday night from 10pm - 1am there is live bluegrass and never a cover. You think this is a deal? There seems to always be a deal going on at Vine Street Pub.

Sat - Thurs 4-6pm ~ Kids Eat Free
Burger & Beer Mondays
T-Shirt Tuesdays
Taco Thursday 10pm- 12am

Happy Hours
Mon - Sat 4- 6pm, 10pm- Close
Sun 4- 6pm

Beers:
Colorado Kind Ale (Amber)
Isadore Java Porter
Annapurna Amber
Illusion Dweller IPA
Quinn's Golden AleBig Krane Kolsch
Hogback Dopplebock
Claymore Scotch Ale
Raspberry Wheat
XXX Pale Ale
Chazz Cat Rye
Belgian Dip Chocolate Stout
Cleveland Brown Ale

Orlando Brewery

1301 Atlanta Ave.
Orlando, FL 32806
407-872-1117
http://www.orlandobrewing.com/

I flew into Orlando, Florida with a list of breweries to go to but in the end there was only one: every other brewery on my list has closed within the list year. It's a sad event for Orlando but at least they were left with a damn good one, "Florida's only certified organic brewery" conforming with the German Purity Law in 1516.

It's kinda hard to reach in an industrial district off of I-4 but I think that adds to the ambiance. The taproom is in a corner of the brew-house, one of my favorite brewery set-ups. Every time I find myself in space like Orlando Brewery I think of the evolution. I like the idea of growing up with your beer; brewers starting small, just trying to find their inspiration then slowly growing up, carving a part of their brew-house into a taproom. Outside they have seating and a stage which they play music quite often.

Organic Brewing Blonde Ale
Organic Brewing Pale Ale
Organic Brewing Red Ale
Organic Brewing Brown Ale
Organic Brewing Blackwater Porter
Organic Brewing Eagle Stout
Organic Brewing Olde Pelican
Organic Brewing European Pilz
Organic Brewing Pompous Ass

Hours Open:
Mon - Thurs 3-10pm
Fri & Sat Noon - Late
Sun 3-9pm

Happy Hour: Open - 6pm $3 pints
Brewery Hours: Mon - Sat @ 6pm
Free Wireless
Tuesday 2 for 1
Thursday Ladies Night