Beer Guide 2014: Laurelwood

By MARTIN CIZMAR

Laurelwood

5115 NE Sandy Blvd., 282-0622, laurelwoodbrewpub.com. 11 am-10 pm Monday-Thursday, 11 am-11 pm Friday, 10 am-11 pm Saturday, 10 am-10 pm Sunday.

When did you fall for Laurelwood? Was it the exhilaration of landing a rare bottle of Megafauna Double IPA? Was it Vinter Varmer on cask just before Christmas? Was it a half-spilled pint of Workhorse IPA as Damian Lillard hit a last-second three at Moda Center? Was it, like me, when the airport location forgot to put two pints of Space Stout on your tab before closing the register and comped you before a red-eye? It's tough to find anyone without fuzzy feelings for something about this low-key institution. Laurelwood gets the details right on everything from peanut-butter pie (quite possibly the best dessert at any Portland brewery) to the Portlandia Pils labels that show Portlandia (they paid off the sculptor who trademarked the shape of the statue he was paid to build for our city). Founded in 2001, this family-friendly brewpub serves great food and even better beer—witness all the medals hanging behind the bar at Laurelwood's oldest extant location on Northeast Sandy. Or just ask around. Laurelwood is one of the only breweries in town above reproach. MARTIN CIZMAR.

DRINK THIS: Workhorse IPA, recently retooled with new hop varieties we prefer to the old (see page 14), is one of Oregon's best IPAs.

WWeek 2015

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