One of my big hobbies is beer brewing. It’s basically an extension of cooking which is something else I enjoy. Part of being a beer brewer is I love trying new microbrews. The good thing about this is there is almost an un-endless supply of microbrews available to try. Portland is one of the biggest centers for microbrews in the nation. I’ve got a lot to try but here’s what I’ve liked so far.

Jubelale is Deschutes seasonal christmas brew. A dark ale with a strong roast flavor makes this great with food. Not quite as flavorful as I had hoped, but still very drinkable nontheless

 

MacTarnahan’s Humbug’r ale is from a small local brewery. Their seasonal brew isn’t quite as dark as the Jubelale and a little smoother in my opinion.

Now this is a beer I could drink a lot of. Very smooth and has a great flavor. While falling under the style guideline of a “Winter Warmer” traditional English Ale, this doesn’t seem to me to be my example of a Christmas seasonal beer.

Having just driven 2000 miles from Kansas City, Missouri to Portland, Oregon, I bring you the changes I have come across.  While this will mostly be tempered by my love for good good food and drink, I will also write about anything else that strikes me as something that differs.

The city of Kansas City is quite spread out. Wikipedia lists the popluation density as 1,436/sq. mi. While it has been working on rebuilding the downtown as a tourist and trendy area, it still has a ways to go. Other then about an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening it is hard to find any issues with traffic mainly because there just isn't that many people trying to get one place at a time.

Portland, while only being a slightly larger population, has a much higher density; over 4000/sq. mi according to Wikipedia. This means the city is much closer together, and traffic congestion is a lot higher. Coming from the spread out midwest this is one of the first things I noticed. We live a lot closer to work then where I did back in Missouri, but it still takes about the same time to commute each morning due to just sitting in traffic. Portland, however, offers me working public transit system. Residents of Kansas City are aware of how pitifuly lax the system has become. While not perfect, the Tri-met is at least something to offset the rising gas costs due to sitting in standstill traffic quite often.The light rail here cuts across town and outside of that they have a massive bus system that covers almost any place you want to go.