10 Best Vacation Cities for Beer Lovers

Honestly, if you're over the river anyway, you may as well head over to the Alameda Brewhouse and organic Laurelwood Public House and Brewery in the city's Northeast before heading down to its Southeast for a stop at Cascade Brewing's Barrel House and the extremely potent Hair Of The Dog Brewing. What we're trying to get across is that there are days' worth of breweries and brewpubs to consume in Portland alone, which makes it really difficult to justify a trip out to breweries elsewhere.

If you really want to get a taste of Oregon while sampling some of its finest brews, thought, head to Full Sail Brewery about an hour East in Hood River overlooking the Columbia River Gorge. Not only does it have a great tour and sit in the shadow of Mount Hood, but it also has a large deck looking out on sailboarders and kiteboarders on the Columbia who gave the brewery its name.

Asheville, N.C.

When Sierra Nevada decided its first East Coast brewery would be here, any craft beer lovers who didn't know Asheville was a huge beer town learned it quickly. By the time New Belgium followed Sierra's lead and made Asheville the home of its eastward expansion, Asheville's craft beer secret was well out of the keg.
Those breweries still have a few years before they're up and running, so craft beer lovers looking to catch Asheville at its unspoiled best should do so quickly. Highland Brewery's tasting room isn't much to look at, but it's full of Oatmeal Porter, St. Terese's Pale Ale, Gailic Ale and Kashmir IPA and is perhaps the tamest place to start.