The Best Local Site You've Never Heard Of

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned Portlandbeer.org before, and it's been listed in the blog roll for months, but since they just finished overhauling the site I thought I'd take a moment and point out this great resource.

It starts off properly, with a clean layout and easy navigation. A well thought out design helps to make sense of what could otherwise be information overload, and off to the right is a continually updated list of daily beer specials:

Thursday's Beer Specials
Upcoming Specials:	Start:	End:
Alameda Brewing Company	3:00pm	6:00pm	HH
Laurelwood Brewery	3:00pm	6:00pm	HH
Raccoon Lodge	3:00pm	6:00pm	HH
Rock Bottom Brewery	3:00pm	6:00pm	HH
Laurelwood Brewery	9:00pm	12:00pm	HH
Raccoon Lodge	9:00pm	12:00pm	HH
Raccoon Lodge	9:00pm	12:00pm	HH

Pretty handy reference, especially given the rising cost of pints. (Note: HH stands for Happy Hour)

But that's just the front page, and there's a ton of useful info crammed into every corner of the site. Clicking on the BEER tab brings you to a comprehensive list of locally produced beers, with great little write-ups that pop up when you "hover over" the beer name. Similarly, you can click on BREWERIES to discover more about a particular place, or EVENTS to keep abreast of all the local festivities, or the PHOTOS page to whet your virtual whistle. After you've drooled all over your keyboard and decided to go out for a pint, consult the TOOLS page for some suggested pub crawls throughout the Portland area.

But wait, there's more! There's also a blog (of course), where Matt and Brett have been posting highly entertaining brewer interviews, in-depth beer reviews, and more. Check out this recent post about the opening of Hopworks; insightful writing, local color, plus some great photos of Christian and his new space. The ongoing series called "Ten Questions" is a humorous read as well. Take this excerpt from Van Havig's interview for example:

If you were stranded on a deserted island, and you could only choose one pound of either hops, water, barley, or yeast, which would it be, and why?

I'd take the barley, basically since you didn't mention if it was malted, so I'll assume it isn't. I could then plant it, grow more, and eventually start a plantation – have you seen the price of barley these days?

Still not convinced? Well, how about if they include a locally-focused forum in the package? Done and done. At this point the forums are sparsely populated and under-utilized, but if even a handful of people read this and join I'll consider my mission accomplished...

As one final enticement for all the wannabe beer writers out there; they're looking for volunteers to help cover beer festivals, write beer reviews, or pretty much anything beer-related. It doesn't pay well, but you get the glory of having your post read by thousands of people. Scroll down to the bottom of their main page for more info on the volunteer positions available.

Rumor has it they'll be having a couple of special things happening (like gift certificate giveaways) in the coming weeks, so now would be a good time to check them out and join the community.