Portland, Oregon, otherwise known as the Roe City, Stumptown, or the not very large city
in the Pacific Northwest that has come to dominate contemporary culture.
In the few days I was here, it was hard not to fall under the spell of the Portland lifestyle.
Whether it be its love of biking and creating a city that caters to its cyclists, its focus
on brewing amazing craft beer, its quality of life that fosters artistic independence
and entrepreneurship, or of course its food, Portland is like no other city in the world.
And given my tendency to wear sweatshirts, not shave and eat throughout the day, I was
welcomed here with open arms.
I started off my introduction to the city with Bruvana, the mostly woman led craft beer
tour company.
To say Portland is a city that loves beers, kind of like St. Los Angeles is a city that
makes movies.
It doesn't even come close to telling the whole story.
Let's be honest, your first impressions of a city are really molded by what you first
experienced when you land there.
I got into Portland about an hour ago and I'm already on a multi-stop brewery tour.
I love this city.
Portland, often referred to as beer vana, is ideally situated in a region perfect for
growing hops, blessed with fresh, clean water, and most importantly, full of people that
treat beer kind of like a religion.
The city itself boasts 53 breweries within its city limits, and plays close to about
a dozen beer themed festivals throughout the year.
I caught up with my friend Ashley to learn more about Portland's beer scene and why it's
taken off so much here.
I'm here with Ashley Rose Salvetti, she's the founder of Bruvana Brewery Tours.
We're outside of a side bar.
This is the fourth bar I've been on of my brewery tour, so everything's kind of a haze
right now.
So that's why I'm asking you these questions.
So you're the founder of Bruvana Brewery Tours.
Let me know what is Bruvana, why'd you start it, what's so different about it.
So Bruvana is the ultimate craft beer tour experience.
So we visit lots of different breweries introducing people that live here and people that want
to get more intimate with Portland's craft beer industry to talk to the brewers and learn
more about beer and have a really, really, really good time.
So I started Bruvana because there was a need for it in this town because it's the beer
capital of the world and people traveling from all over need to have some sort of guidance
as to where to go and how to get there and just somebody there to have a good time.
You're telling people these are some good spots you should check out, there's lots of
good options here at Portland, there's lots of good beer everywhere, but here's some really
good options to check out to start your tour, right?
So we're providing our guests with a really good experience but we're also doing so in
a way that really promotes and supports the breweries in town.
One of the things people think about when they think about Portland is beer, so why is
that?
Is it the culture?
Is it the location?
I mean, everywhere you go, people know beer and they love it and there's a ton of breweries
and small craft beer breweries here.
Why is that?
Well, first of all, you just said it.
That's why they come here for beer because we have so many of them.
We have a culture and industry and people that support it and drink it and embrace it
and the brewers here are really awesome and we have a lot of them, like more than any
other city in the world, so they're all doing something unique and special to kind of stand
out in the beer world.
Hops are a huge hop, so the Spice of Beer, the Pacific Northwest is known for the hop
production.
25% of the world's hops come from this area.
Yeah, so it's natural, there's gonna be a lot of beer here.
We visit 17 different breweries on a consistent weekly basis.
A lot of options.
Yeah.
If you want to come here as a visitor or if you want to come here as a theexperience.com
retreat or bachelor party called Brevon and you're gonna hook me up.
Absolutely.
That's awesome.
Thanks Ashley, that was great.
I appreciate it.
Thank you for that.
So good to see you.
Yeah, I'm glad I'm here in Portland.
Thanks again.
Thank you, welcome.
Hey, welcome to my crib here at the tiny house caravan.
This is the infamous tiny house hotel here in Portland in the Alberta Arts District
area.
So come on in, I'll show you around.
As you can see, this is a complex of tiny houses, they're on wheels, but they're all
different shapes and sizes.
The owner was actually telling me that these are all designed by different artists from
around the region and they're actually just renting them, so they'll be giving these back
eventually.
But each one of them has their own kind of feel and vibe to them.
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
As you can see, there's different sizes, there's five in this complex and they'll be adding
one more in soon.
There's grilled cheese, there's a grilled cheese restaurant next door, so you get grilled
cheese, you can bring that over as well and let me just show you this before we go into
my place.
So they actually have these little metal tins and it's like a do-it-yourself s'mores buffet.
So you've got marshmallows and kindling, ram crackers, and of course, chocolate, it's
not Hershey's, it's not really smart, but it's more to be.
So come on in, I'll show you my digs.
Alright, this is it.
This is the epitome of a tiny house.
Now, a tiny house, this one is actually 140 square feet.
Tiny houses are usually a little smaller, like maybe 100s, 120s, so it's kind of like
a mansion tiny house.
This is actually the only sink in the tiny house, so like this morning I took a shower
and when I was shaving, I had to like basically use the kitchen sink, go to the mirror in
the bathroom, shave, come back, rinse off, go back to the mirror, so I'd create some
extra work for you, but you just have to be creative.
Like a wave, in a fridge, everything's tiny, kind of like my fridge at home, embarrassingly
enough.
So come on up to the second floor here, so this is kind of the area where I really like
to come in on wine after a long day in the recording studio, kind of sit back, relax,
touch the reclaimed wood, just really get back to nature, yeah, look at that.
Bombs, I just like to settle up down here, yeah, come on down, so of course everybody
is curious what is a tiny house bathroom like, and yeah, it's tiny, but it's workable, so
come on back here, I'll show you, got a little sliding door, you can get a little privacy
toilet, always important for bathrooms, and of course a shower, so it's kind of your
all-purpose closet slash getting ready in the morning area, so you've got an umbrella
to Portland, so that's important.
Sponsoring today's house tour, edge, best shaving cream ever, as you can see, it was
a really good job.
This is actually the coolest part of the house though, so you've got to think, you're going
to have storage, how are you going to get around here, so this is their workaround, ladder,
and it kind of pulls out from the wall, and you climb up here, and this is how you get
to all your storage, it kind of just slides back up there, you don't want that falling
when you're in the bathroom on the toilet, but it's pretty secure, so that's really
it, I'll show you the one last area, this is the bedroom area, so it's pretty comfortable,
it's a full queen-size bed, what I like about it, it's kind of like this kind of Persian
harem feel, it's a lot of red, pillows, you just kind of get wherever you want and be
comfortable, and it just pass out, so it's great, I'm from New York, and people basically
live tiny house lifestyles already in New York, so this isn't that much of a change
for me, but I like it, this is a cool way to live, I'll just be in my pillow area, taking
a well-needed nap, actually no, you got to get out of here, get out of here!
Just down the street from where I'm staying in the new Alberta Arts District is the Tin
Shed Garden and Cafe, now the Tin Shed is probably the most famous place for brunch
in all of Portland, if you don't get here before 8am, you're probably going to be waiting
quite a line, now if you know anything about Portland or have seen Portlandia, you know
the Portlanders love their brunch, so I'm here at the Tin Shed, I ordered the Good Dog,
this is a amalgamation of potato cakes, pork sausage, jalapeno, bell pepper, onion, scrambled,
smothered with cheddar cheese, and an egg solid, so I'm going to try it here, it's good,
it's spicy, good breakfast.
Next stop I met up with Mona of the Portland Farmers Market to get a tour of the grounds
and to meet some of the vendors to make this market so unique.
So Mona we're here in downtown Portland, we're at the Portland Farmers Market, this is a
beautiful area, so tell me what is it about food in Portland, there's a lot of farmers
markets here and is it supported by the people, restaurants, everything?
Absolutely, I think it's so much part of the culture here and in a way that really informs
the food scene here, so yes there's customers that are really interested in fresh local
food and so we have over 40 farmers markets in the Portland metro area, which is extraordinary,
so that means you can find fresh food pretty much in every neighborhood on every day of
the week, and then chefs here are super dedicated in order to supporting local, making relationships
with farmers, there's a lot of synergy there and them thinking about different unusual crops
that they want to grow and then farmers will grow that for them, so I think everybody works
together in one big happy food family.
I think so many people visit Portland Farmers Market because it's kind of like a hub of
a community, I mean when you show up on a Saturday at the PSU market, there's anywhere
from like 12,000 to 20,000 people to come through here just on one Saturday alone.
It's not like you have to come here to get food to go cook at home, this is a great place
to come for lunch or snack or breakfast.
Without a doubt.
I just had breakfast an hour ago, so obviously it's time for me to eat, so let's go check
out some vendors, great.
So I'm here with Matt Choi of Choi's Kimchi Company, so Matt tell me about the company.
So we started about three years ago roughly, got our start here at the farmers market,
my mom happened to make some kimchi so I decided to quit my job and do this full time, eventually
the line just got longer and longer here at the farmers market and we picked up some
interest for some retailers and so that's pretty much how we got started.
My mom, she's been making kimchi her whole life so that wasn't the hard thing for her
to do.
As you were saying, like everybody would come to her for kimchi because it was hard to find
elsewhere in the city, right?
Not a big Korean population here in Portland obviously, I mean here in Portland it's kind
of scary so it's hard to find quality kimchi around.
Your mom was like the one dealer in a town of Attics, so she became a high demand, yeah.
She was like the kingpin drug dealer in terms of the kimchi they gave, so it was easy to
get kimchi in Portland.
She was the one that we call her, yeah.
Do you think we could try the bok choy, so that's the, yeah.
So this is our seasonal bok choy right now, as you can see, farmer's market exclusive
is the label says, so it's just baby bok choy, it's got some ginger, garlic, sea salt, scallion,
onion, apple I believe.
It's interesting, give it a little acidity and flavor, yeah.
How would you describe it, like if I was a sommelier kimchi, like what kind of adjectives
would I be using, like dry, spicy, fresh, spicy, it's more on the cabbage-y side, it's become
probably our most popular kimchi at the farmer's market though.
Oh, this is good stuff, man.
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah, these are great.
That's awesome.
Cool, thanks Matt, I appreciate it a lot, tell everybody to come here for sure.
I then had the opportunity to meet up with famed Portland chef and pickle empire and
presciario David Barber.
Hi, my name is David Barber and I'm here in Portland, Oregon at the Portland Farmer's
Market with our company Pickleopolis slash Bingo Sandwich and we do artisanal pickles
here in Portland.
You know, I don't know what it is about how food is taken off here, I mean a big part
of it has been people being able to handle the relatively mild weather with a smile on
their face, even though it rains a lot or it seems inclement, most of the time it's
never severe.
A lot of farmers here are small farmers and they like dealing first hand with customers
and vendors, we have a lot of relationships with small farmers and yeah, it's a good
climate for it.
I then headed to a garden.
Whoa, hold on, stay with me here, this is not your typical garden, this is a unique
Portland sanctioned urban park with mystical Chinese elements and a tea room.
Here in the northern part of Chinatown in downtown Portland is the Lansu Chinese Garden.
This 40,000 foot complex was actually built as a cooperative effort between Portland and
his sister city in China, Sun Zhao.
Now the park itself encompasses 40,000 square feet, uses 500 tons of rocks and was built
by 65 artisans that came over from China.
It's a really cool, peaceful oasis in the middle of an otherwise bustling, busy part
of the city.
Now the question, how to maintain serenity?
Must avoid urge to check social media.
When you think Portland, you shouldn't just think the city, you should also think about
its jaw-droppingly scenic surrounding areas.
Local Matthew Domingo and I took an early morning road trip to the Columbia River Gorge
area to explore the accessible trails, visit the nearby farm region, and to stand under
several thousand tons of rushing water.
Perfect conditions for an exposed DSLR camera.
As you can see the closer you get to the falls gets a little wet and misty, probably
not the best for having an expensive camera out in the open.
Something to note, this is literally a 30-minute drive from Portland.
We're going from a busy metropolitan city to this in 30 minutes, which is simply incredible.
Enough sightseeing, time to hit the trails and burn off a few of those 12,000 calories
of organic food and craft beer I'd consumed in the last 36 hours.
Plots of beer, work it off the next day.
The Oregon Way.
Is that a slogan you guys use, no?
We decided to tackle the Ponytail Falls Loophike, a 2.5 mile loop that offers amazing panoramic
views of the gorge and random encounters with tour guides.
Another very cool thing about this town, we just ran into my Ruvana beer tour guide from
Friday.
She's out here with her mother, it's Mother's Day, so they're doing a mother-daughter trail
hike, so pretty cool.
We ran into people just out and about, even 30 miles away.
One of the highlights of the hike is Ponytail Falls, named so because it looks like a pony
tail, apparently.
You can also hike to the cliff edge for amazing views of the Columbia River Gorge, the 4,000
foot deep, 80-mile long gorge formed by thousands of years of river erosion and ice age air
off flooding.
The gorge is a protected national park that marks the dividing line between Washington
State and Oregon, and is one of the more dramatic views you'll get in the area without having
a scale of volcano.
A few miles further east from the gorge, thankfully not by foot, in the shadow of the
imposing volcano Mount Hood, and near the small town of Hood River, we caught up with
local organic farmer and orchard owner Dan Tall, and his dog.
While we toured his grounds, I asked him how he got started.
After college, I went back to the D.C. area, and I remember talking to this, I was working
for FEMA, and I was developing base flood elevations for subdivisions going in.
And I remember talking with this guy with a southern drawl, and he was like, you gotta
make plans to escape the beltway, man, and he had this nice southern drawl, and he's
like, you just gotta make plans to escape the beltway.
And that was my ticket, I was like, this whole boy knows something here.
So that first came here with a dot com, with the promise of an IPO, and it was really exciting
times, and a year later, just like a lot of us dot comers from 1999 to 2000, we found ourselves
unemployed, but I found myself unemployed in Hood River, and I quickly found a job managing
an organic orchard, and I was like, this is it, this is it.
Typically, the Hood River Valley is one of the best places in the world, if not the best
place in the world to grow pears, winter pears, because of the Cascade Mountain Range, it
really does.
You do get a growing season where there's virtually no rain.
I then asked, why grow organic?
It's a moral decision, more than a, clearly more than a financial decision, you have way
more risk.
You produce as much, you've got quality, and I mean quality as far as aesthetics, to have
an aesthetically perfect pear, much easier conventionally, to have an aesthetically perfect
organic pear has a lot more challenge.
This is Solar Brewery, probably one of the better places in the area to get a nice drink
after a long afternoon.
It's hard to imagine a better place to spend the afternoon after a long day of work, and
Dan's case farming, in my case, well, we won't go there.
Like basically everyone I've met in Portland, Dan was part of a long line of individuals
who decided to go it alone and pursue his dreams, and after just a few minutes spent
around him, you can tell by his infectious happiness that his gamble is paid off, without
a doubt a truly inspiring guy.
After kicking back for a bit, we decided to head into town and grab lunch, specifically
mushroom pizza, with mushrooms Dan had grown and just delivered to the restaurant days
before.
Then, with stomachs full, we headed back home, my mind left to think back on my time spent
in Portland, wondering not if, but how the city and the people I've met there had already
changed me.
Thank you, Dan, we'll be right back.
