Two of my favorite beer spots in Portland, Belmont Station (4500 SE Stark) and Saraveza (1004 N Killingsworth) get prominent mentions (along with Eugene’s Bier Stein, and City Beer Store and Beer Revolution in the Bay Area) in a New York Times travel article about beer “tasting bars”.
The cultivation of gourmands is a common goal for the outfits, which put a premium on education. Belmont Station . . . stocks more than 1,200 different beers alongside a 26-seat taproom, offers one or two free tastings a week. “Over the course of the year you can taste well better than 500 bottled beers,” said Carl Singmaster, the owner.
Food and beer pairings play a central role at the brick-walled Saraveza . . . The kitchen turns out housemade sausages and a different special pasty, a savory pastry similar to a calzone, every few days. To accentuate the mildly spicy curried lamb and cauliflower creation on a recent menu, Sarah Pederson, the owner, recommended a lightly hopped pale ale from Amnesia Brewing in Portland. Then she said other pairings were possible: “It depends how you’re trying to drink and how you’re trying to eat.”
Read the rest: Tastings With Craft Beers
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