Oregon Brewers Festival Recap
I was only there for about four days total. Thursday night through Monday afternoon. Wow. It seemed so much longer. We packed a lot of fun into that time.
So quick recap.
Thursday night, fun, food, drink. Yum!
Friday, fun, food, drink. Yum! LK falls asleep. <-- Is Lame. :)
Saturday, fun, food, drink. Yum!
Picking up on Saturday where I left off below. After Deschutes we headed back to the hotel to get changed and cleaned up for dinner. We met back downstairs in the lobby and decided to walk to Andina. Great idea since it was another beautiful night in Portland. Honestly if I thought the weather was always as nice as it was while we were there I'd seriously consider moving there. Anyway we arrived at the restaurant and were seated. Again this was a Peruvian tapas restaurant and while we all toyed with the idea of ordering personal entrees we ended up going the tapas route. Seeing as the whole weekend revolved around tasting different kinds of beer my memory is NOT perfect. Heh. I remember octopus, potatoes and cheese. A couple of Xingus with dinner and a nice port with the cheese plate for desert. The food was good and I'd definitely go back. Who knows how much it cost though. Best part of DINK I say. Heh.
We left Andina and on our walk back to the hotel we stopped by the Rogue brewery for another pint of something or other. I remember liking it, but that's about it. We picked a few more large bottles of varying varieties to take back to the hotel with us and wind down the evening. I'm pretty sure Cheeselover and I wound that evening down around 3:00AM, but I'm not sure. I managed to find my way back to my own room, miracle of miracles. Really. Crashed immediately and didn't wake up officially until around 10AM on Sunday morning. Mrs. LK had already evacuated from the room at some ungodly hour in the morning since she was heading to Vegas for work.
I was flying out at 8PM or so and around noon I cleared out of my room and went knocking on Rosanna and the Cheeselovers door. Cheeselover apparently wasn't doing as well as I. While I was feeling no ill effects from the night before he was. Much uncomfortableness on his part. We finally cleared out of there sometime around 1. Food was in order since we were heading back to the festival for last day tastes. I can't remember the name of the restaurant where we stopped, Mothers maybe, but we really just thought we'd check and see how long the wait was going to be. There were people lined up outside and inside and while Rosanna went inside to check on the wait Cheeselover and myself looked at each other and agreed we weren't getting in anytime soon. Wrong. Rosanna comes out, wags a finger at us and before you know it we're sitting at a table drinking coffee and ordering breakfast. Still not sure what she did and to who to get us in that quick, but thanks. Heh.
Lekfest taken care of we headed back to the tents. The crowds had definitely decreased from the day before and all lines were easily accessible. We wandered and sipped. We sat and sipped. We stood and sipped. Much sipping. Finally six o'clock rolled around and I realized I didn't want to leave. A quick call to the darling and beautiful Mrs. LK and after she worked big magic I was scheduled to fly out the next day about an hour before Cheeselover and Rosanna. We had already started back to the hotel in case my flight was doomed to leave that night and instead of me hopping in a cab to go to the airport the three of us headed down into the bowels of the hotel. Carnage was to ensue.
Carnage for them. Mwuhahahahahahahaha! I think they collectively beat me twice at air hockey. Something to be said for my Canadian blood I think. After the severe beating they took due to me we headed back out to find sustenance for the evening. Again I can't remember where we ended up, but I believe we were in the bar area of what looked like a nice restaurant. By this time the details have been smudged at best. I think I ordered an open faced pastrami sandwich smothered in cheese. It was good. Great in fact. I cleaned my plate while the other two intelligently ate until they were full and took the rest home for breakfast the next morning.
The rest of the evening was fairly tame I think. We went back to the hotel. Chatted a bit and then hit the hay. The next morning came much too soon, but that's how it goes. A quick Towncar ride to the airport and we were soon seated at the Gustav's in the terminal for sausages. Yes more food. Heh, heh. And beer. Can't have bratwurst without beer. Well you can, but it's just not right. As we're paying the bill I finally thought to check the time. Twenty minutes until my flight left. Ack! The bill paid I hustled my tushy down to the gate while Cheeselover and Rosanna kept trying to distract me from my goal. Thank you very much. Turns out the plane I was on was not what I was expecting. No jet engines. Propellers. !?!? No problem I guess. They boarded me. I had to leave my little tiny rolling bag that fits under the seats of big airplanes, but wouldn't fit under or over on this sucker, at the door of the airplane for them to stow underneath. Oh well.
Minutes later we're airborne and I'm asleep dreaming of next years festival.
So quick recap.
Thursday night, fun, food, drink. Yum!
Friday, fun, food, drink. Yum! LK falls asleep. <-- Is Lame. :)
Saturday, fun, food, drink. Yum!
Picking up on Saturday where I left off below. After Deschutes we headed back to the hotel to get changed and cleaned up for dinner. We met back downstairs in the lobby and decided to walk to Andina. Great idea since it was another beautiful night in Portland. Honestly if I thought the weather was always as nice as it was while we were there I'd seriously consider moving there. Anyway we arrived at the restaurant and were seated. Again this was a Peruvian tapas restaurant and while we all toyed with the idea of ordering personal entrees we ended up going the tapas route. Seeing as the whole weekend revolved around tasting different kinds of beer my memory is NOT perfect. Heh. I remember octopus, potatoes and cheese. A couple of Xingus with dinner and a nice port with the cheese plate for desert. The food was good and I'd definitely go back. Who knows how much it cost though. Best part of DINK I say. Heh.
We left Andina and on our walk back to the hotel we stopped by the Rogue brewery for another pint of something or other. I remember liking it, but that's about it. We picked a few more large bottles of varying varieties to take back to the hotel with us and wind down the evening. I'm pretty sure Cheeselover and I wound that evening down around 3:00AM, but I'm not sure. I managed to find my way back to my own room, miracle of miracles. Really. Crashed immediately and didn't wake up officially until around 10AM on Sunday morning. Mrs. LK had already evacuated from the room at some ungodly hour in the morning since she was heading to Vegas for work.
I was flying out at 8PM or so and around noon I cleared out of my room and went knocking on Rosanna and the Cheeselovers door. Cheeselover apparently wasn't doing as well as I. While I was feeling no ill effects from the night before he was. Much uncomfortableness on his part. We finally cleared out of there sometime around 1. Food was in order since we were heading back to the festival for last day tastes. I can't remember the name of the restaurant where we stopped, Mothers maybe, but we really just thought we'd check and see how long the wait was going to be. There were people lined up outside and inside and while Rosanna went inside to check on the wait Cheeselover and myself looked at each other and agreed we weren't getting in anytime soon. Wrong. Rosanna comes out, wags a finger at us and before you know it we're sitting at a table drinking coffee and ordering breakfast. Still not sure what she did and to who to get us in that quick, but thanks. Heh.
Lekfest taken care of we headed back to the tents. The crowds had definitely decreased from the day before and all lines were easily accessible. We wandered and sipped. We sat and sipped. We stood and sipped. Much sipping. Finally six o'clock rolled around and I realized I didn't want to leave. A quick call to the darling and beautiful Mrs. LK and after she worked big magic I was scheduled to fly out the next day about an hour before Cheeselover and Rosanna. We had already started back to the hotel in case my flight was doomed to leave that night and instead of me hopping in a cab to go to the airport the three of us headed down into the bowels of the hotel. Carnage was to ensue.
Carnage for them. Mwuhahahahahahahaha! I think they collectively beat me twice at air hockey. Something to be said for my Canadian blood I think. After the severe beating they took due to me we headed back out to find sustenance for the evening. Again I can't remember where we ended up, but I believe we were in the bar area of what looked like a nice restaurant. By this time the details have been smudged at best. I think I ordered an open faced pastrami sandwich smothered in cheese. It was good. Great in fact. I cleaned my plate while the other two intelligently ate until they were full and took the rest home for breakfast the next morning.
The rest of the evening was fairly tame I think. We went back to the hotel. Chatted a bit and then hit the hay. The next morning came much too soon, but that's how it goes. A quick Towncar ride to the airport and we were soon seated at the Gustav's in the terminal for sausages. Yes more food. Heh, heh. And beer. Can't have bratwurst without beer. Well you can, but it's just not right. As we're paying the bill I finally thought to check the time. Twenty minutes until my flight left. Ack! The bill paid I hustled my tushy down to the gate while Cheeselover and Rosanna kept trying to distract me from my goal. Thank you very much. Turns out the plane I was on was not what I was expecting. No jet engines. Propellers. !?!? No problem I guess. They boarded me. I had to leave my little tiny rolling bag that fits under the seats of big airplanes, but wouldn't fit under or over on this sucker, at the door of the airplane for them to stow underneath. Oh well.
Minutes later we're airborne and I'm asleep dreaming of next years festival.
Labels: Oregon Brewers Festival
posted by Little Kenny at 8/03/2008 05:47:00 PM
3 Comments:
Sounds like a blast, sorry I missed you! I hate prop planes, had to fly in one when I went to Texas, and also from LA.
A note on the air hockey: Yes, the Canadian / Russian kicked some ass (really high quality play) but it must be noted that the most serious injury WAS sustained by LK when diving furiously for an opening shot by Cheeselover. Something snapped out of place.... an elbow was grabbed... a look up to the sky and a yelp of pain. After summoning his "inner ice man", LK did continue play. No guts no glory!
- Cheeselover
"Much uncomfortableness" is an understatement.
I was destroyed. 3rd degree hangover.. and not just the sissy kind caused by one night of too many apple martinis. No chance of, "Oh I'll take two I-Be-Broken an a quart of water and this will all blow over.", No way I could, "Just have a bit of the hair, and I'll feel better." This was revenge for making booze 1/5 of my diet for 72 hours. But you know what? Even during the first gut-twisting session of reconsilliation, my thoughts were not, "I'll never drink again!!! Just make me feel better!".
But instead, "I have 4 hours until LK knocks on that door and we will be heading to the Brewers Fest. I must do all in my power to stabilize the situation knowing some of the best 9 percent beers in the world were sitting in a keg 500 yards from where I presently lie... and that those nutrients would soon be in my belly".
I had a mission. Straight down from Saigon. Everyone gets what they want, and I wanted to get one more day in of the best quality beer on the planet.
Damage be damned! Bring on the beer!
- Cheeselover
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