Zwicklemania 2020

Another Zwicklemania. This time we headed out of downtown Portland to the fringe areas off Sellwood, Milwaukee and Oregon City. I was not sure how they would handle Zwicklemanian out in this fringe area so this was and exploratory. We had planned on more of us going but a late season flue bug fell two of our members so it was just Mike, Audre and myself this year. Our first stop was at Breakside brewery. We had a little wait for our tour so we tried a sample tray of their beer. We only found one that was really notable. Unfortunately they were having some concrete work being done in the brewery so we could not do a full tour. We had a chance view it from afar but they made there warehouse the main tour. The warehouse crew went nuts with stringing light to make the place exciting and their black-light and old poster bathroom was a hit. Our guide gave us a tour of all of the support activities the warehouse gives the brewery.

Our next stop was to drive down to Oregon City and we made our first stop at Coin Toss Brewery. It was a small mom and pop operation that was keeping the spirit of Zwicklemania alive. The brewer was pouring two samples off the Zwickle. It was a nice simple set up, no crowds and a more mature group. The next stop was just a short distance away the Hive Taproom. The place has a brewery set up lining the back of the space where Shattered Oak is brewing. It was an interesting arrangement where small brewers come in and use the equipment and are able to put their beers on tap. They had two sample to try. After that we were off to Oregon City Brewery. We had some great barreled age beers here before so was excited to see there opperation. We tried some small pours of four of their forty beer they had on tap before our tour began. Their young brewer gave one of the best tours we all agreed we had ever had and was open to answering question after the tour. They do small batches just for their taproom so are always rotating what they are offering.

After this we were off to our last stop at Unicorn Brewery in Sellwood. This place has a taproom and home brew supplies up stair and a small brew yourself area in the basement. They do some of there own brews for the taproom and custom brewing for a few pubs around town. We finished up the day at Double Mountain Taproom with some pub grub. Overall they did a better job of keeping the Zwicklemania spirit going out in this area then we have been experiencing downtown.