Beer Review Archives - Pechluck's Food Adventures

Grand Fir Brewing and Breakside Collaboration Dinner

February 17, 2023 by Pechluck Leave a Comment

I am a supporter of all things delicious – including craft beer, with special appreciation for those female brewers out there who make it in what is a male dominated field. Being a woman in engineering, I have to support and applaud their resilience, naturally. Whitney Burnside has been an award-winning Portland brewmaster that I have followed for many years and now she recently founded along with the other half of power-couple duo husband chef Doug Adams, the brewpub Grand Fir Brewing. Recently they launched a collaboration beer with longtime friend Ben Edmunds of Breakside Brewery a new collaboration brew called Chef’s Kiss! They decided to celebrate this launch with a five course Grand Fir Brewing and Breakside Collaboration Dinner.
Menu of the pairings for the Grand Fir Brewing and Breakside Collaboration Dinner

If you have not been to Grand Fir Brewing for Doug’s BBQ Wednesdays, you are missing out! Every Wednesday there is a new barbecue special on offer to enjoy with the refreshing and approachable beer lineup of Grand Fir, adding to the regular menu which offers a small curated list of a handful of small plates and handful of large plates. But a beer dinner with multiple courses that were created to pair with specific beers – yes, I was excited. And I was extra excited to see that there was smoked rib on the menu for this collaboration dinner – the 12 hour slow cooked beef rib with green sauce with tortilla was my favorite dish from the smoker from his previous restaurant Bullard Tavern, and I’ve really missed it.

Well, let me tell you this whole dinner met and went beyond my expectations.
Grand Fir Brewing and Breakside Collaboration Dinner Menu of the pairings for the Grand Fir Brewing and Breakside Collaboration Dinner

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Filed Under: Beer Review, Food and Drink Tagged With: beer and food, beer dinner, Breakside Brewery, Chef's Kiss coconut yuzu IPA, Doug Adams, Grand Fir Brewing, portland beer, Portland Beer and Food Pairing, Portland Beer Dinner, Smoked Spiced Beef Short Ribs, Whitney Burnside

Firestone Walker and Alto Bajo Beer Dinner

August 23, 2018 by Pechluck 1 Comment

You probably know that I enjoy all beverages – cocktails, wine, and beer. I’ve been a fan of Alto Bajo, a bright, airy restaurant specializing in regional Mexican cuisine and located in the newish Hi Lo Hotel – and I’ve written about it previously as a great hidden brunch gem that takes reservations. I also really like its bar which specializes in tequila and mezcal, also as a hidden gem for classy drinks in a chic atmosphere that is suitable for a nice party of friends or coworkers where you can actually hear each other talk and fit comfortably in the lounge. So when I heard they were hosting beer dinner pairing their modern Mexican food with the beers of an award winning brewery, I was in for the Firestone Walker and Alto Bajo Beer Dinner! If you are vegetarian or vegan, you should also know that Alto Bajo offered a vegan alternative for all the courses – I didn’t utilize it, but appreciated that they thoughtfully wanted to include non-meat eaters.

Firestone Walker and Alto Bajo Beer Dinner menu

Since I last wrote about it, there was a change of chefs, and now Chef Bryant Kryck leads the kitchen. Some favorites of mine still remain, like the Mayan Sikil Pak at lunch and dinner. Chef Bryant has also increased the protein options. So although my favorite brunch omelette of theirs no longer stars huitlacoche with corn, local mushrooms and poblano cream sauce, now you can choose from fillings for your omelette (or burrito, or rice bowl, or chilaquiles, or other taqueria options) with smoked chicken thigh tinga, brisket barbacoa, pork shoulder carnitas, smoked truffled mushrooms, or red chili shrimp. I’ve been curious about the new menu, and got to sample some of it at this beer pairing dinner, while also seeing some of favorites still remain on the menu.

The Firestone Walker and Alto Bajo Beer Dinner started off with a casual reception with Firestone Walker Pivo Pils, a German Pilsener, with Alto Bajo’s housemade chips and salsa roja and salsa verde at a central table where each person could help themselves. I am not ashamed to admit I went back twice. The chips and salsas are just as addictive as they were previously.
Firestone Walker and Alto Bajo Beer Dinner, reception with Firestone Walker Pivo Pils, a German Pilsener, with Alto Bajo's housemade chips and salsa roja and salsa verde

The first Course was a pairing of Firestone Walker Luponic Distortion #10 American IPA with Pivo Pils braised beef short rib sope. This is not normally on the menu – Alto Bajo did this special dish utilizing beef short rib braised in Firestone Walker’s beer just for this event – and I appreciated that they thoughtfully did something one-off to both highlight the Luponic Distortion while also utilizing another Firestone Walker beer too as a thoughtful partnership.
Firestone Walker and Alto Bajo Beer Dinner, a pairing of Firestone Walker Luponic Distortion #10 American IPA with Pivo Pils braised beef short rib sope

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Filed Under: Beer Review, Festival Event, Food and Drink Tagged With: Ahi tuna ceviche, Alto Bajo beer dinner, Alto Bajo dinner, Alto Bajo's housemade chips and salsa roja and salsa verde, beer and food dinner, beer pairing dinner, Chile and mushroom empanadas, Conchinita pibil, Firestone Walker and Alto Bajo Beer Dinner, Firestone Walker beer dinner, Firestone Walker DBA Double Barrel Ale English Pale Ale, Firestone Walker dinner, Firestone Walker Helldorado 2017, Firestone Walker Krieky Bones, Firestone Walker Luponic Distortion #10, Firestone Walker UnderCurrants, Guava and cream cheese sweet corn tamale, Pivo Pils braised beef short rib sope

Yard House Portland

July 11, 2017 by Pechluck 4 Comments

I am a proponent of visiting local taprooms and breweries and drinking local beers. This philosophy extends both to when I’m in my home city, or when I’m traveling for pleasure or work. But, I am also a big fan of The Yard House – and I have been for many years. It is a national chain – I’ll disclose that upfront, and owned by Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze) – restaurants you may recognize from suburban retail and tourist areas. However, there is still a place for it, even for a craft beer lover. Here is a look at why and what you can expect from Yard House and Yard House Portland.
Some of the taps (but not all of them!) at Yard House. This is likely the most taps you will ever see in one place - an average of 130 at each location. Yard House Portland offers 130 taps with a keg room holding over 5000 gallons of beer

The Yard House was founded more then 20 years ago in 1996 in Southern California, and since then the national chain has expanded to more than 66 restaurants and 23 states. Before I moved to Portland, Yard House was a major gateway for me to try beers besides the buckets of Bud and Corona of my college years, and for that I am still grateful. Plus, I know that for many just dipping their toes into craft beer, Yard House still serves that purpose of being an introduction to what is available in beer flavors, and that is something craft beer aficionados should give Yard House credit for, it’s nothing to sniff at.
Yard House Portland offers 130 taps with a keg room holding over 5000 gallons of beer. You can order beer in multiple sizes, including putting together your own sampler tray

There are 5 big things you can expect from every The Yard House experience, and which you’ll see some examples of from our local Yard House, Yard House Portland located on the first floor of Pioneer Place Mall (entrance is on on SW 5th and Taylor, a few yards away from the street level shiny Apple Store).
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Filed Under: Beer Review, Food and Drink, Restaurant Review, Sponsored Post Tagged With: beer, Beer restaurant, beer taps in PDX, Downtown PDX restaurant, Downtown Portland restaurant, fried mac and cheese, gardein, Gardein Torta, Gardein Wings, good for groups, good for large groups, most taps in Portland, PDX Beer, PDX restaurant, portland beer, portland restaurant, Restaurant good for groups, restaurant with sports, sports bar, Yard House, Yard House Portland, Yardhouse PDX, Yardhouse Portland

Portland Beer Week 2017 Highlights

June 6, 2017 by Pechluck 9 Comments

Portland Beer Week this year starts on Thursday, and runs from June 8 – June 18th 2017, 11 days of beer events happening all over Portland. This is not an exhaustive list of events – visit the Portland Beer Week website for all the events – but I wanted to highlight what I think are some unique events and my own personal take on Portland Beer Week 2017 Highlights.

This is just one of many events celebrating libations in June: I shared highlights for Negroni Week June 5-11 yesterday, and then for tomorrow I have a post about Sake PDX Festival, which is coming up on June 21. And there’s Oregon Cider Week (June 15-25), PDX Margarita Festival (June 17) and then the beer festivals of Portland International Beer Festival (June 23-25) and Kriekfest (June 24)! All these events are just running into each other back to back this month!

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Filed Under: Beer Review, Festival Event, Food and Drink Tagged With: #pdxevents, Beer Week Portland, June PDX events, June Portland events, PDX Beer, PDX Beer Week 2017, PDX Events, pdxbeerweek, Picks for Portland Beer Week, portland beer, Portland Beer Week 2017 Highlights

Imperial Session New England Beer Pairing Dinner

April 7, 2017 by Pechluck 4 Comments

This quarterly dinner series by Imperial Session duo Advanced Cicerone Ryan Spencer (Bailey’s Taproom) with dishes from Chef Spencer Watari (Clyde Common) pairs beers and food. Unlike many beer and food dinners, this pop up concept does not beholden itself to any particular breweries or restaurant so they can select any beer or dish to make an interesting pairing without worrying about representing or promoting any business. The last dinner focus was on beers from New England.
Imperial Session New England Beer Dinner