Zwickelmania 2019: Vagabond Brewing Portland

Once again, I happened to be in Portland for this great event.

Every year, on a single day in mid-February, breweries across the state of Oregon host free tours in an open house format. Participants take short tours and receive samples given directly from the conditioning tanks. The tap near the bottom of the tank is called a "zwickel," and hence the event name. This event takes in the Portland metro area on one weekend, and then in all other parts of Oregon state on the following weekend. This year, in Portland alone, 65 breweries participated.

Five of us went off across the city in search of some of the newer breweries, or some in cases newer outposts of established breweries: Vagabond Brewing Portland, West Coast Grocery, Ruse Brewing, Von Ebert East, Migration Brewing - Gresham, and Threshold Brewing & Blending.

First up was Vagabond Brewing Portland. This is a new brewpub location for Salem-based Vagabond Brewing.

They had a soft opening earlier in the month, and Zwickelmania was to be opening day.

... and indeed, the smell of fresh paint was in the air. The staff were busy unpacking merchandise and stacking it up. The menu beer board was just being created, as we entered.

We had samples of two beers, an IPA and a Pils, which were being poured out by brewer Dean Howes.

The pub is a wide-open airy space...

... made to appear more open and airy, in the mind, by the Cessna aircraft hanging from the rafters.