Review: Double Mountain Brewery

This is a very cool place. It’s a cozy little brewery located off the main street in Hood River . It really has that small local bar feeling similar to one found in a ski or surf town. Everyone seems to know each other (Norm!), but the funny thing was, it was filled with tourists. The service wasn’t overly friendly, but I wouldn’t call it bad. Everything came in a timely fashion; we just weren’t served with a high five and a batch of warm fuzzies. We started with the Hop Lava and the hummus platter. The Hop Lava was a very hoppy IPA, but it was more on the florally smooth side then the bitter side for IPA’s. The hummus plate was tasty! The second beer I had was their strong golden ale, Devil’s Kitchen. This was an excellent beer. Mildly carbonated for a golden, this one was not on the heavy Belgian side of a golden ale, but it still had an excellent smooth fruity taste to it. It was an excellent choice on a warm summer day as opposed to milk, which would have been a bad choice. Double Mountain fits in perfectly with the casual vibe of Hood River and we’d definitely go back.

September 21st, 2009

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Tags: brewery, double, hood, hop, lava, mountain, oregon, river

Review: McMenamins Grand Lodge

So we head out to McMenamin’s Grand Lodge…my woman has some work to do there and I’m coming along to help her.  They have beer (McMenamins has their own brewery and they serve it at all of their locations), so it’s not like she had to twist my arm.   I was a little disappointed when we first arrived.  It didn’t look like a “lodge” to me but that was fine; the fact that they had beer on the premises helped me to remain open minded.  Shortly after entering I realized it had a much more lodgy feeling on the inside then the outside (the building is brick which doesn’t make me think lodge). Anyway, I wander into the bar area while the wife does her deal.  It’s a cool old craftsman style bar area. It’s called Ironwork Grill. It’s got a cool copper bar counter with lots of stained glass…typical Mcmenamins arts and crafts sorta feel.  It feels a little dank and musty, but it’s Oregon and it does rain a lot so that comes with the territory.  I order the Sunflower IPA and Cajun tater tots.  Not real exciting, but hey nothing about this place really is.  I figure if something is going to be good, it’s the IPA and some tater tots.  After savagely destroying  two IPA’s and an order of Cajun tots (yes I know they weren’t exciting, but I don’t call myself the Beerfather for kicks…put an IPA and pub food in front of me and you’re gonna see a show), the wife shows up.  We head into the restaurant and get a nice little McMenamins style booth by the window. We order a couple more beers and some hummus. It was Copper Moon (their seasonal) for me this time. It was pretty good as far as McMenamins goes. Kind of sweet and tasty. We sat there for a bit and watched the rain…it was definitely cozy!

The place was pretty cool overall; the beer wasn’t great (as it never really is that great at McMenamins).  The food passes as good but not fantastic (it’s your typical pub style); the wait staff speaks some sort of gruntish and apparently always has some place better to be.  But, the lodge itself has a lot of character.  The lawn out front is huge with a lawn bar (Yardhouse Pub) and Frisbee golf baskets all around.  Definitely a good place to hit up on a nice summer day, just don’t expect AMAZING things to happen.

September 7th, 2009

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Tags: forest, Grand, grove, Lodge, mcmenamins