June 9, 2016 by Steve Hill in Travel with 0 comments
Not only is Nate Doss a three-time Professional Disc Golf Association world champion, but he’s also an avid homebrewer and future craft brewery owner. So it only made sense, then, to reach out to him about his top watering holes on tour.
With that in mind, we present the third installment of Doss on Draft, a series where we talk with Nate about his favorite places to imbibe in and around the cities that host PDGA National Tour stops and other major events. On tap this week is Portland, Oregon. While Doss isn’t playing this weekend’s Beaver State Fling, he resides a few hours away in Bend and has plenty of experience in a town that has long been a stalwart of the craft beer industry.
Nate has decided to change it up for this installment. Since there are more than 80 breweries in the Portland metropolitan area, more of those will replace the usual restaurant suggestions that accompany this piece.
Doss on Portland: Portland’s an awesome city, and Oregon’s just a phenomenal state in general. The people are so friendly, and craft beer is kind of interlaced into the lifestyle. It’s really the king of corner brew pubs and little community breweries. You might be having dinner and there’s probably a brewery on the closest corner. For anybody who’s looking to have a beer in Portland, you don’t have to go too far.
Milo McIver State Park, the Beaver State Fling…There’s just no other word to describe it than awesome. It’s just such a special place. It’s almost like they took everything that makes a disc golf course perfect and put it all in the same place, and that’s really what Milo is. If whoever you believe in – I say God – if God came down here and said, “You can only play one disc golf course for the rest of your life. Which would it be?” I always say Milo McIver. That’s how great this place is.
Nate’s Best Brewery: Deschutes Brewery – In the state of Oregon, craft beer would not be the same without Deschutes Brewery. It is officially from Bend, Oregon, where I live, and it’s three hours away from Portland, but Deschutes has built a really, really cool brewpub in downtown Portland. That’s my number one pick, mainly because I just love what Deschutes has done for craft beer, what they’ve done for craft beer specifically in Oregon. They always keep the freshest brews inside the state of Oregon, and if you had just one place to go, that’s where I would send somebody. Deschutes is not necessarily screaming Portland, but it definitely screams Oregon, and that’s why I really love it. What to drink: Hop Henge IPA (seasonal), Fresh Squeezed IPA (year-round)
Top Taphouse: The Green Dragon Bistro & Pub – It’s on the east side of the river, just across the river in an area you can call the Burnside district. The Green Dragon is kind of smack dab in the middle of that. It’s also a brewery, but they carry a lot of really cool beers on tap. The Green Dragon does scream Portland; there’s people that have ridden their bikes there, there’s people with their dogs sitting inside with them, and it just a really cool, eclectic grouping of beers. The tap list is almost is never the same.
Beverages To-Go: Grab a growler – To anybody who’s looking for an authentic Oregon beer experience, you have to get a growler fill at the corner market or a gas station or one the breweries. Oregon is a full-service state, so when you go to get your gas filled up, you’re not allowed to fill your own tank; you actually have to let an attendant fill it. But generally, if you walk into some of the gas stations, you’ll find growler fills right at the gas station. In Bend we have about four of them, and there are 30 taps in one of them. That culture of having growlers is a part of being an Oregonian. Grab one – they’re usually five dollars for the glass bottle – and you can fill them with whatever beer you want.
Brewery Honorable Mention #1: Cascade Brewing Barrel House – If you haven’t had a fruity, sour beer before, you’ve got to go to Cascade Barrel House. They literally are the crème de la crème of that style.
Brewery Honorable Mention #2: Hair of the Dog Brewing Company – Hair of the Dog is very Portland. The guy that’s serving you beer might have tattoos and gauges in his ears and a nose piercing, but they’re just super knowledgeable beer people. The food there is very unique. You’re going to see a small plate of local Oregon cheeses and local Oregon sausages. You can sit back and have a Double IPA and have a plate of local, fresh stuff.
Brewery Honorable Mention #3: Hopworks Urban Brewery – HUB is a little bit further east, more into the fabric of the sprawling suburbia of Portland. They have a phenomenal list of beers that they make, including organic beers and a gluten-free beer. They make all these really great pizzas, too. But it’s cool because HUB is all about bicycles. You’ll go into the brewery, and the bar area is all these bicycle frames, and one thing that I love is that when you go into the men’s room and you go into the urinal, there is a head rest that is a bicycle seat. So you can be relieving yourself and resting your head on a bicycle seat. They support disc golf and have sponsored the Beaver State Fling in the past. Every time I’m in Portland and I’m cruising down the road and we pass Hopworks, Val and I usually stop in.
