In 1964, I moved from Seattle to Portland to try my hand as a photographer in business there with a friend. I had long been a student of photography and it seemed like a good opportunity to change careers at that time: after all, I could always go back to swim pool management and teaching... View Article
If I’d had any clue that it would actually take the better part of a month (back in May) for everyone to give up telling me that I really was eighty years old, I might just have stayed at 79 for a while, before sneaking quietly into 80. No such luck. But, now that I’ve... View Article
For some twenty-three years now, the McMenamin brothers, Mike and Brian, have been working their wonders across Oregon and Washington. And what wonders those have been.
Public transportation is mostly free in the downtown area. Beyond “Fareless Square,” Portland’s excellent public transport is modestly priced, and each fare is good in any direction (for at least two hours) and is valid on busses and trains. That’s enough time to visit, have a beer, and return to your hotel (www.trimet.org).
I may be prejudiced, but the Portland area is shaping up to produce some of the best beers and brewers in the world. Our pubs are interesting and well managed. They often serve a wide-ranging selection of draft craft beers, accompanied by good food. Craft beer sells well in these parts, with sales in the... View Article
The following list recommends good hotels in the Festival vicinity. From any of them, one can easily walk to catch FREE public transport anywhere in downtown Portland’s “Fareless Square” area, near our light rail (MAX) lines. Some of these hotels are across the Willamette River, which extends the Fareless Square light rail line to the... View Article
There seems to be some slight momentum out there (in a few states), to consider the prospect of maybe thinking about the possibility of actually lowering the drinking age for our adult, under-21 military survivors of our wars in the Middle East. Mind you now, they probably won’t actually manage it, but it’s a nice... View Article
I well remember the first Great American Beer Festival. It took place at the Hilton Harvest House in Boulder, CO. The time: 4:30 to 9:30 pm, on Friday, June 4, 1982. (I still have the T-shirt, although it no longer fits.) There were 20 breweries in attendance and between them they served 34 different beers,... View Article
Our nation had existed only 200 years, but 1976 was a banner year for American brewing. That’s the year the craft-brewing revolution began. Or was it?
