Perhaps the biggest question when planning beer travel, after where to actually go, isn’t which breweries to tour or how many cases you can realistically cart home, but where to stay. Best case scenario would be to drink as many pints as you like in the brewery’s tap room and pass out on the spot, but they wouldn’t let you sleep there, right? Wrong. Here’s a look at inns and other assorted hotels and taverns that provide beer pilgrims with fresh suds and comfy beds.
Chamomile-schamomile. Herbalists and those into homeopathic remedies will confirm that hops contains natural sedative properties and those with insomnia would do well to rest their heads on hops pillows. While it’s doubtful you’ll actually find such pillows, there are accommodations on every habitable continent that continue the centuries-old tradition of coach inns providing travelers with beds and beers.
McMenamin’s Edgefield, Troutdale, OR
2126 S.W. Halsey St.
mcmenamins.com/54-edgefield-home
There are a great many meccas of brewing in the United States these days, but beer pilgrims know that it’s all about Beervana, aka. Portland. The city is home to some 40 breweries and counting, so it might seem strange to stay in the suburb of Troutdale, but rest assured, this is the flagship hotel among the McMenamin’s chain of pubs with lodging attached. It not only features a brewery but also a winery a vineyard, distillery, soaking pool and spa, nightly live music, and for good measure, a golf course.
Each McMenamin's is different: The Edgefield, in Troutdale, OR, converted the county poor farm into a 74-acre resort.
Among McMenamin’s 24 brewing facilities across Oregon and Washington, nine boast hotels as part of their program to restore historic structures. One excellent option, the Kennedy School, was fashioned out of a converted elementary school in Portland’s Northeast quadrant.
Edgefield turns a former county poor farm and its 74-acres into a resort with more than 100 guest rooms starting at $70 a night as well as hostel-style rooms for the frugal traveler. Used as a hub for the craft-beer culture of Portland, it’s only a 20 minute drive to breweries such as Widmer Bros., the predominantly farmhouse style Upright, organic Hopworks, pooch-friendly Lucky Labrador, and foodie-centric Breakside.
Twenty minutes in the other direction is the breathtaking Columbia River Gorge offering hikes among Pacific Northwest waterfalls as well as the burgeoning brewery hotspot of Hood River which Full Sail Brewing calls home as well as Double Mountain and Logsdon Farmhouse Ales.
Having said that, no one would blame you for never leaving Edgefield’s grounds. There are 10 bars on site so a house-made beer (or wine or spirit) like the famous Terminator Stout is never far away. Visit in late July and you can participate in the Brew-Am golf tournament benefiting the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation, which pairs amateur golfers with local professional brewers.
