August 15, 20223 yr I will be going to Eugene, Oregon in mid-September for the BYU @ Oregon game and plan to visit some of the cool parts of town. Eugene has about 16 interesting craft beer breweries and I plan to spend the day before the game visiting a few of them as well as some of the sites and places of Eugene and around UO campus. Does anybody here have any recommendations? I'll post a review of each of the places I visit along with some pics. I might even throw in some pics of the UO "wildlife" (aka coeds and cheerleaders) for good measure.
August 15, 20223 yr Lower your expectations. It has been over a decade but when we went the tailgating was laughable and the bar scene wasn’t much better. Edited August 15, 20223 yr by 4th&Five
August 15, 20223 yr Author 1 hour ago, 4th&Five said: Lower your expectations. It has been over a decade but when we went the tailgating was laughable and the bar scene wasn’t much better. Bummer. Did you get a chance to visit any of the breweries?
August 16, 20223 yr Eugene is pretty meh. I’d spend time on the Oregon Coast, in the Bend area, or Crater Lake.
August 16, 20223 yr Author 16 hours ago, Sundodger said: Eugene is pretty meh. I’d spend time on the Oregon Coast, in the Bend area, or Crater Lake. What is Bend like? What spots on the coast? Edited August 16, 20223 yr by FartingDreamer
August 17, 20223 yr 7 hours ago, FartingDreamer said: What is Bend like? What spots on the coast? Bend is amazing. High desert, on the dry side with a collection of beautiful volcanoes to the west. Great collection of breweries, great restaurants, amazing outdoor adventures (Newberry Crater should be a National Park.) I’m sure there is a thread for Bend / Sisters / Sunriver here. The Oregon Coast I know has a few threads. Eugene sucks IMO. Game time only type of place.
August 17, 20223 yr How much time and what are you interested in? Eugene certainly isn’t Bend, but it sure as hell isn’t Manhattan, KS. You will definitely deal with a lot less tourists in Eugene than Bend in the plus column. There are plenty of outdoor adventures near Eugene, it just depends on what you want to do. Hell it’s not much further to Crater Lake from Eugene than it is from Bend if that’s your interest.
August 17, 20223 yr We went to the Worlds track meet last month and drove to Bend from Boise and then to Eugene the next night. I had been to Portland and Astoria before but this was my first time down in the southern part or Oregon. (I had never been to either Boise or Bend before, but each was exactly what I pictured the other to be. Boise is hot desert and very flat, kind of like Lubbock. Bend is supposed to be in the desert but felt a lot more alpine.) Bend was awesome and was one of the most scenic cities I've ever visited. Would like to go back there and spend more time in the future. Went here for dinner in Bend and it was great: https://www.yelp.com/biz/pacific-pizza-and-brew-bend The drive over the mountains to Eugene the next day was pretty cool. Lots more traffic on that road than I had anticipated, but very very scenic. Did not care much for Eugene but admittedly didn't spend a lot of time there. My immediate impression was that it reminded me a lot of Ann Arbor. Much more dense and urban and older than I expected. The portion right around the UO campus felt very much like an east coast college town.
August 17, 20223 yr 2 hours ago, crimsonlonghorn said: We went to the Worlds track meet last month and drove to Bend from Boise and then to Eugene the next night. I had been to Portland and Astoria before but this was my first time down in the southern part or Oregon. (I had never been to either Boise or Bend before, but each was exactly what I pictured the other to be. Boise is hot desert and very flat, kind of like Lubbock. Bend is supposed to be in the desert but felt a lot more alpine.) Bend was awesome and was one of the most scenic cities I've ever visited. Would like to go back there and spend more time in the future. Went here for dinner in Bend and it was great: https://www.yelp.com/biz/pacific-pizza-and-brew-bend The drive over the mountains to Eugene the next day was pretty cool. Lots more traffic on that road than I had anticipated, but very very scenic. Did not care much for Eugene but admittedly didn't spend a lot of time there. My immediate impression was that it reminded me a lot of Ann Arbor. Much more dense and urban and older than I expected. The portion right around the UO campus felt very much like an east coast college town. I don't know about Bend being the most scenic city, but it's definitely an outdoorsy city. I think Sisters is more scenic, and good for a stay. It has an old town aesthetic, with 3 mountains looking down. It's also not too far from Bend anyways.
August 18, 20223 yr 12 hours ago, next2naus said: Eugene is and feels like a small town. small college town? That'll work.
August 18, 20223 yr If you are flying into Portland and driving down to Eugene then stop in Corvallis and go to Block 15. You can probably find much better taprooms/bottles shops than breweries in Eugene. Edited August 18, 20223 yr by shnsajax
August 18, 20223 yr 14 hours ago, crimsonlonghorn said: (I had never been to either Boise or Bend before, but each was exactly what I pictured the other to be. Boise is hot desert and very flat, kind of like Lubbock. Bend is supposed to be in the desert but felt a lot more alpine.) Not sure you actually went to Boise. There are foothills and mountain surrounding the entire city. It is high desert just like Bend but calling it flat and like Lubbock is just plain stupid. Edited August 18, 20223 yr by shnsajax
August 18, 20223 yr 8 hours ago, shnsajax said: Not sure you actually went to Boise. There are foothills and mountain surrounding the entire city. It is high desert just like Bend but calling it flat and like Lubbock is just plain stupid. You mean this Boise? The Boise with those same buildings in your picture but without the ultra telephoto lens? The one that is dry and flat and abuts the mountains but isn't in the mountains itself? I'm sorry, you're right. You can see mountains from Boise, but you can't see them in Lubbock. Therefore it's a ludicrous comparison. Fucking shaggy. Edited August 18, 20223 yr by crimsonlonghorn
August 18, 20223 yr Yes, its a ludicrous comparison. I can be on Bogus Basin skiing from my house within 30 minutes. There are houses 500ft higher in elevation than my house less than 1 mile away. Sorry, you drove on a flat road for a couple mile stretch and make terrible assumptions.
August 18, 20223 yr 27 minutes ago, shnsajax said: Yes, its a ludicrous comparison. I can be on Bogus Basin skiing from my house within 30 minutes. There are houses 500ft higher in elevation than my house less than 1 mile away. Sorry, you drove on a flat road for a couple mile stretch and make terrible assumptions. I mean 84 is pretty boring till you get to Oregon.
August 18, 20223 yr 5 minutes ago, workswithseed said: I mean 84 is pretty boring till you get to Oregon. True the stretch betweem Baker City and Hood River is just dreadfully boring.
August 31, 20223 yr For breweries in Eugene, my 3 current recommendations would be: Coldfire Brewing: they have some quality brews and a collection of food trucks parked in the back. Each of the food trucks I have tried have been in the upper echelon for Eugene. Oakshire Public House: They have some of their regular selections but also some of their more experimental brews to try at this location on the edge of the Whitaker Neighborhood. A food truck or two can be parked their. The food truck schedule seemed to rotate and their quality could vary a little more. Ninkasi Brewing: They started smaller and developed into a large production facility. They built a patio and tasting room off one of their buildings but have recently built the Ninkasi Better Living Room which has their beer and also a nice restaurant. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Alesong Brewing. May not be open to general public but on a membership plan. They do some REALLY unique things. Aging beer in different wine or whiskey barrels, adding different fruits/flowers, using different hops. They are good at what they do, but do not go there expecting to get a straightforward lager, pilsner etc. There will be twists and turns. They are located in a rural area by some of the wineries. There are quite a few solid choices for taphouses to choose from. Some have a base that consists of their own product and then add other products. Other taphouses just carry a variety of beers and don't actually brew.
September 1, 20223 yr One I forgot about that is across the river in Springfield and criminally under-publicized. https://www.publichousehub.com/ A church that was converted to other uses. Partially a taphouse, partially a commercial kitchen space that leases to people who are starting their culinary business and an attached whiskey bar. I would spend a few hours here the afternoon or night before gameday.
September 1, 20223 yr Author There is an Alesong on 5th in downtown in the 5th Street Public Market. Think I'm going to make it one of my spots on our afternoon brewery crawl.
September 1, 20223 yr It's been a bit, but I did an Oregon lap from Portland to Hood down to Eugene to the coast and back up to Cannon Beach before heading back to Portland. I found the Willamette Valley (hey to lots of great red wine) and the coast absolutely gorgeous. Try one of the small towns like Newport that are maybe 90 minutes away from Eugene if for nothing more than an afternoon.
September 1, 20223 yr 30 minutes ago, orange dream said: try to avoid the dysentery Alcohol doesn't usually give you dysentery.
September 1, 20223 yr Just now, workswithseed said: Alcohol doesn't usually give you dysentery. I've gotten the shits something awful from booze.
September 4, 20223 yr Author On 9/1/2022 at 11:13 AM, workswithseed said: Alcohol doesn't usually give you dysentery. Beer really loosens my stools, but I usually drink lots of it at a time.
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