Overview
Portland is the home of the slightly strange and unconventional, fantastic sights, and great history. The residents of this unusual city in the Pacific north-west show a considerable level of conviction, which is evident in their murals, bumper stickers, craft and expression.
“To create great art you have to have conviction, and to be surrounded by so much great art you can’t help but to develop some convictions of your own.” - Jordan Shippy.
It’s also known as the west coast’s king of sours, hosting breweries like Cascade known for their incredible sour ales. The artistic nature of Portland is evident on every street corner of the city and pours itself into every brewery. According to OregonCraftBeer.org, Portland has a total of 84 breweries in the greater metro area. Of these, most make a decent sour ale. Sours are known as the more artistic and experiment ales made by these master brewers, the challenges of brewing a good sour ale are not for the faint of heart or inexperienced new kid on the block. The process requires a lot of understanding and knowledge about beer making, organic chemistry, micro biology, beer aging and proper storage. Most brewers never attempt to produce a high quality sour, but the great city of Portland seems to have a larger than average number of bold and inspired individuals that gladly take on the challenge in the name of beer and artistic expression. So what does this have to do with Photography?
As a photographer, I meet a lot of up and coming artists that ask how I get images with such a well defined subject and a beautifully smooth background with little to no detail. I often compare the bokeh of my Canon F/2 135mm L or Sigma F/1.4 85mm to water color or butter smeared across the canvas with a knife. I tell photographers that the lens actually does about 80% of the work required to capture that certain look. The difficulty is the proper use and control of a lens with a very shallow depth of field. I was told when I first started, and I didn’t believe it at the time (similar to how I dissed sour ales at first) that the Canon L 85mm F/1.2 was the hardest canon lens to get used to. I mean, its an 85, it doesn’t zoom and its razor sharp so what was the big deal right? Well, let me tell you. The depth of field is so shallow that if you focus the camera on the tip of someone’s nose, their eyes won’t be in focus. The Canon 85 is so massive that they had to cut a recessed flat section not he bottom of the housing so you can set the camera down and the glass is so large and heavy that you’d be hard pressed together any images of a moving subject with any level of success. It took me a long time of using a 50mm prime to master things like actually sitting still, controlled breathing, being able to instruct models how to pose in a way that would minimize movement, and fully understanding shutter speed and the various focusing modes of my camera. It wasn’t until I first used and fell in love with the legendary Canon 135L that I truly understood the importance of a fast shutter and the fine detail focus mode on most canon cameras. I can’t tell you how many times that the camera told me it was focused on someone’s eyes only to find out on the computer later that the camera actually focused on their eye lashes and not on their actual eyes.
This also brings up a point that isn’t obvious unless you’ve truly researched your camera and understand t fully from top to bottom. Personally I use a Canon 1Dx, and to my understanding the best depth of field you can see through the eye piece is a 2.0 when using manual focus. Previously I used a 5D mk2 and it had interchangeable focus screens that could let you manually focus a 1.4 lens through the eye piece. Both of these still have their limitations, if you happen to have bad eyesight you might be at a disadvantage. One of the coolest things that the 1Dx can do is export photos in real time to a monitor or TV via a CAT 5 connection. Most high end studios do this to ensure proper color or composition. How do you do this on the fly in the wild? Lots and lots of practice and a through understanding of what your equipment can and can’t do. It is possible to get really sharp images with a shallow depth of field with the right technique, but more care has to be taken and the image review must be thorough. One can’t simply check the images on the camera’s rear viewing screen as most cameras don’t show a high enough resolution image, you’ll need to zoom in and double check.
As you probably guessed by now, there are a lot of similarities between the difficulties and artistic nature of both prime lens photography and the brewing of sour ales. But fortune favors the bold, and for those brave enough to take on the challenges of each a door opens to a new level of artistic expression not previously attainable. For this trip we planned to find the cross section between the visual arts and the brewed, and explore Portland for all its artistic glory. We planned a route that included some of Portland’s best sour breweries and some great taprooms to get as diverse experience as we could, all the while taking pictures with my trusty 1Dx and the Sigma 35mm art 1.4. We decided since the draw and appeal of a sour ale has some part to do with a little bit of a wild fermentation which are often out of the control of the new master, we would take and post images to this article unedited and undeveloped. Everything will be adjusted in-camera only and posted here to give as close to a natural feel as possible, but to also mimic the mixed bag of control and chaos that is brewing sour ales.
Portland And the Sigma Art 35mm 1.4
“In days of old, the nifty 50 was the lens to have for city walks and Travel. In the film days, an easy way around a fixed ISO was to have a lens with a very wide range of aperture, like a 50mm prime. No matter the scenario, you could shoot wide open at f/1.4 if you happened to be indoors or shooting at night and stop down to f/22 in bright daylight. The only Achilles heel to this lens was the fixed focal length. Even still, a 50mm is a great middle of the road lens, able to capture some architecture, wide countryside images, portraits or even some near-macro shots depending on the quality of the lens itself.”
I copied the above text from a previous article titled There Can Only Be One where we took a 50mm and a 24-70mm to San Diego. The same dynamic composition limitations apply to all prime lenses, however the Sigma Art 35mm offers a wider field of view with a closer minimum focusing distance and can therefore be used in a large number of scenarios that would render the 50mm useless. I purchased my 35mm to do indoor work at weddings and events as it is often wide enough to use in small rooms and the fact that it opens up to 1.4 makes it useful in low light. Taking a cue from our San Francisco and San Diego articles using the wider lenses indoors at the various bars and breweries I felt this 35mm prime was the one to take with us. The Sigma Art 35mm was designed for indoor lowlight applications, wide angle portraits and architecture, making It the perfect choice for this adventure. The limitations on expression are simply left up to the creator, so let’s see what happens when you pair the flexibility of both the 1Dx and the Sigma Art 35mm prime together in one of the most artistic cities in the country.
Joran and I agreed that this trip would be less about each specific beer, and more about the breweries and the city. We would try to discern a general feel from each brewery based on their environment, aesthetics and beer styles. We will be providing tasting notes from our favorite beers at each place but will try to also describe the atmosphere and the feelings or moods that arise from it. Art of any form provides an experience.
First Impressions of Portland
Neither Jordan or myself had ever been to Portland and we were excited for the experience. As our plane touched down in the morning we saw a bit of low cloud cover and a light fog that you really only get out here on the west coast. We were blown away just simply walking through the airport from our terminal to the street, seeing the artwork and shops in Portland’s airport. There seemed to be a very welcoming vibe, combining corporate commercialism with a personalized small shop feel. The airport also hosted 2 live musicians that added a subtle but essential touch that tied the entire airport experience together. If we hadn’t been headed to Widmere in a hurry we both agreed that this would have been a nice place to relax and hang out for a bit. Below you’ll see some images of one of these musicians, taken at f/1.4, f/2.0/ and f/2.8 respectively. You will notice my only complaint about this Sigma 35mm lens in the first photo. When the lens is wide open you will get amazing subject separation, the bokeh is very nice, but there is a lot of dark vignette. In certain situations this might be helpful but remembering that this lens is also designed fro architectural photography this might be a problem for some of us.
Below are some images showing how the Sigma 35mm can really utilize an open space. A lot of photographers refer to them as the “story teller” lens because they will allow you to compose your subject but also show off some of the background and scenery to give the viewer some context.
Taking an Uber into the city provided a great view of many neighborhoods and commercial areas. The town was covered in a dense mix of graffiti and plant life. Every square inch of available surface was covered in posters, stickers or spray paint including some locations we thought were quite precarious. New modern architecture and old buildings beside one another created a contrast that was somehow added to the city’s personality and an overall aesthetic that can’t be found anywhere else. Every individual carved out their own niche for creativity and used the city as their canvas. Every house, street corner, crack in the side walk had green vibrant plant life growing from it in a way that makes you feel as if the earth has as much to do with our Portland experience as its residents. The natural world seemed to overlap and coincide harmoniously with the man made structures of the city. Portland is truly unique.
The Journey
First up: Breakfast
We arrived at our first stop a little early and opted for a light breakfast to help absorb some of the samples we were about to have. We walked around the blocks near Widmere and found Bernstein’s Bagels, a small bagel shop that makes everything by hand. I ordered a plain bagel with cream cheese and was very surprised to find out it would be the best bagel id ever had in my life. Jordan ordered a bagel sandwich and agreed that the hand made feel of our breakfast and bohemian dining environment created an implied small town, farm to fork impression that we both appreciated. I took another opportunity to show the difference between different apertures and the lens’s performance wide open vs stopped down a little in a tight space. The first two bagel images show the extremely shallow depth of field even with a 35mm lens. Normally wider angle lenses are more forgiving but this lens opens up to f/1.4 and if you’re not careful you might miss your desired focus. The 3 images at the bottom row of the gallery demonstrate the lens’s ability to really sharpen up as it is stopped down. Starting from the left, the images were taken at f/4, f/2 and at f/1.4.
Again you will notice the significant vignette effect when this lens is used wide open. The table we sat at was about 2.5x2.5 feet, so Jordan is rather close by but at f1.4 the entire background past a couple of inches is rendered with a beautiful buttery smooth out of focus look that ive come to love from my Sigma Art series lenses. Having a wider angle prime is great for opening up small spaces, as the image on the far right has noticeably more depth as compared to the far left making the rather small table seem a bit larger. At f/4 on the left side you can see that the lens renders a significant amount of detail. In contrast, the wide open shot on the far right at f/1.4 has a very thin slice of detail where it is in focus and the remainder of the bagel and image are softened. This image taken at f/1.4 is a great example of why primes can be difficult. Looking though the viewfinder and using the camera’s focus points I placed a focus dot right where I wanted it on the bagel, but as you can see the final product the focus shifted slightly due to either a small movement on my end like breathing or that the lens needs a slight focus calibration inside the camera. The entire time I was taking these images I just kept thinking that this bagel must have felt like a celebrity.
Beer
For each brewery we decided to pick a favorite sour and a favorite non-sour beer based on what they had to odder that day. Each stop had its own unique vibes and appeal that we took notes on and tried our best to reiterate to our readers. Below are the unedited notes that we took at each location throughout the day.
Widmer Bothers Brewery
Widmere Brother’s Brewery website shows that their main location has a tap room, which was not true. A kind employee informed us that they no longer serve beer and are a production-only facility. Next!
Ecliptic
Ecliptic is vibrant, beer vibrant, space themed, exciting but welcoming, definitely a sense of atmosphere, ipas are fruity without having too much fruit, sours are tart but drinkable with good fruit flavor, saison and Porter were dead on to their style. Winner is the porter, best sour brekaidr ecliotic nectarine sour collab.
Overall we enjoyed the beer, the space vibes and the open space. The morning let In a pretty decent amount of sunlight and it made for a great dining atmosphere if you were inclined to order food.
Stormbreaker
Stormbreaker chill, also large whiskey selection. Paired whiskey and beer options. Best sour by default when I froot I froot. Runner up the Pinot tart incident tart ale. Triple Double double ipa strong hoppy beer gold medal at the Oregon beers festival. Must try. Stormbreaker smaller and cozy feel, outdoorsy and low key. Wild vines in the courtyard, inside is rustic and a little more intimate. Future Note - not originally included on itinerary but so far our favorite as of cascade.
Shortly after we arrived at Stormbreaker we saw something that became suspicious. Both Ecliptic and Stormbreaker were full-on craft breweries but also had a full bar for mixed drinks. After discussing it between ourselves for a few minutes we decided to ask the brew tender about the curious issue. She mentioned that most places in Oregon do this if they also serve food, because the licensing is easier due to the structuring of Oregon law. She also mentioned that there are days where she never pours a beer during an entire shift. For a place as great as these two breweries were, this really blew our minds. The whiskey pairing with beer did leave a big impression on us and we thought Stormbreaker earned some bonus points for this.
Hair of the Dog
Hair of the dog, not known for sours but do have an extensive bottle reserve a few of which are sours. Take what you know about beer styles and then turn it on it’s side, this place puts its personal spin on each traditional style. Adam style also reborn here. Beer series also includes a normal, a concrete and a barrel aged series. Their barley wine is amazing. This place has a vibe that is tasted in the beer which exactly mirrors the feel and looks of a place with a lot of rustic industrial with wood mixed with an interesting floor plan and lime green menus. Malt heavy in their brews. Big, indoor open space, tall ceiling.
We both liked the willingness of the brewmaster to try to be more experimental, and the beers we had were really unique compared to everything else we tried that day. The interior space was large and very old time / modern but the layout was a little strange and we weren’t too excited about it. This would be a great lunch spot or a place to take friends.
Cascade
Cascade is small, small flights of 3, mostly sours. Sours are all great, not best sours we’ve had today. Definitely earthy and natural, lots of fruit and flower ingredients. If it weren’t for the wine barrels for tables it would feel like a rustic Mel’s diner. Only brewery that fits the Portland sour narrative, but it’s a two sided coin. Best sour of the day according to Jordan is brunch line 2017. High abv beers, lowest is 6.8. Cascade offers a beer tourists optimal Portland experience, however it still lacks in some key details in a Portland experience only offered at smaller breweries.
Cascade had a very nice vintage feel to it, something that a lot of Portland establishments seemed to have nailed down perfectly. The staff was great, the beer was amazing, and the food was delicious. It was the most cozy of all of the breweries on the trip, mostly due to the high backed booths.
Coalition
Coalition brewery large facility, small bar and small feel. Less than others when it comes to selction, not blown away. Very industrial, you feel like you’re inside the beer production facility because you are. Patio area could use some heat insulation, beer isn’t remarkable. Good shandy and riddler tho. Best beer is the red ale. Best sour and only sour is pineapple dry hoped sour.
This brewery seemed to try to get its patrons right into the brewery experience, as the taps were located adjacent to the carboys inside the loading dock. Very small interior space only for production and serving, but the tables outside were covered and offered a relaxing place to sip some brew. For anyone that is a beer nerd this might be your spot, the view of the process from the bar is pretty neat.
Culmination
Culmination bar tender is a bit amped for the atmosphere, very hipster. Open wall design gives nice flow and less of an enclosed feel. Very friendly. Still has the Portland industrial vibe but seems to have a fresh feel, a youthful spin. Feels more like Tahoe than Portland. Board is reasonably balanced; nothing exciting in particular. Bold brewing style, diversity they lacks conviction. Sour Flower is second place for best sour we’ve had all day, surprisingly.
Ex Novo
Ex novo cactus wins the lottery default sour win, the dunkel wins overall as it’s a perfect beer for this warm day. Beer is quality, well made. Brewery space is tendy, good spot for friends and family. Chill, good southwestern atmosphere. Tap list not challenging but still pretty good for the average beer drinker. This is the Portland average beer drinker scene. Surprisingly more affordable than you would expect.
Editor’s Note: This place had some of the best apetizers ive had in a long time, as well as the coolest artwork inside. The setting sun provided a great golden light that poured inside the large front door to illuminate this south-western themed brewery in the perfect mix of accentuating hues. The pictures I took there are my favorites from this trip, maybe some of my favorite beer images that I’ve taken to date. The last two images were taken at f/1.4 and f/8 respectively.
Breakside
Breakside chill inside environment, young people vibe and relaxed but still interesting and inviting. Vibrant and trendy but the beer is a safe bet for both drinkers and newbies. More of the traditional tap room that you’d expect. Good hummus plate, decent board and spread. Best beer pouring Jordan has ever seen at a brewery even though the bar tender is bottle necking. No sours on tap. Grandmamy is the favorite hands down, what I was looking for from my experience with Breakside.
To be honest, this was the place that I was most looking forward to out of all of the places on the itinerary. The dark beers we’ve had from Breakside were some of my favorites. This brewery location didn’t seem to have any on tap, and their bottle selection was slightly better than the beers they served. The beer was ok, my favorite part was the humane plate. Im also a major snob, and the restaurant was teeming with happy and excited beer drinking guests as seen in the last image below.
Great Notion
Cascade best from an artistic standpoint. Most risk, most depth and most conviction. This ideology truly embodies Portland from what we’ve come to understand. However great notion pound for pound is a better brewery. Looks and feels more like a wine cellar than a brewery. Dim lit, more intimate, hanging plants and vines. Industry mixed with youthful rejuvenation and an incorporation of nature to create a unique experience which when paired with the beer makes for an interesting and internally satisfying evening. Very pleasant in a wholesome way. Our favorite beer hangout in Portland.
The inside of this restaurant almost reminded me of a an indoor garden, and the patio area certainly was. Id highly recommend this place to anyone who likes beer, food, or a great relaxing atmosphere. We came in the evening and it seemed to be the perfect time of day to enjoy some beer and cool off inside. Bonus points for the serving trays that are shaped like the state of Oregon, and that incredible use of blueberries in their sours and milkshake ipa.
Portland in a Bottle
If you’ve read this far you are either really enjoying the article, or your just here for the beer. Either way, lets discuss the brews and breweries and pick our favorites. On this rip we had a rule, that if the brewery offered a sour we had to try it, even if it meant that sours took over the entire flight. We were both surprised to find out that Portland, the land of killer sours, was not as sour-heavy as we expected. The beer overall showed a similar spread of styles that you might find anywhere decent as seen in the list below. Because of this, we made a list of the best sour from each brewery, and the best non-sour beer as well. If a brewery had only one sour on draft, that sour won by default. Below are the breweries in order of visitation, the handles and the number of flights we ordered at each location. We also included the names of each beer that we tried. Since breweries have different numbers of samples in flights, we standardized the flight count by deciding that a flight was 4 beer samples.
Ecliptic - 15 handles, 3 flights
Capella Porter, Carina Peach Sour Ale, Starburst IPA, Phaser Hazy IPA, Vega IPA #2, Cosmos Hazy IPA, Berry Stellar Sour Ale, Ligo Key Lime Gose, Phobos Single Hop Red Ale, Make It So Saison, Tucana Tangerine Sour Ale, Ecliptic-Breakside Collaboration Nectarine Sour Ale.
Our favorite sour was the Collaboration, and the best non-sour ale was the porter. We felt both of these were great examples of the style.
Stormbreaker - 13 Handles, 2.5 flights
Total Rekolsch, Go Ahead and CRYOver It, Mississippi Red, Opacus Stout, Triple Double double IPA, When I Froot Kettle Sour Blonde Ale, The Pinot Tart Incident Brut IPA, Bing Pot Coffee Blonde, Guava Man Hazy IPA, Incognito Mode Session IPA.
Our favorite sour was the only actual sour on tap, the Blonde Kettle Sour. The runner up would be Pinot Tart Incident but its technically not a sour despite having similar tasting notes. The best non-sour was the Triple Double, which we were told was an award winning beer. We could definitely see why, this was an amazing double IPA.
Hair of the Dog - 12 Handles, 2.5 flights
Lila Vienna Lager, Beerweek Smoked Marzen, Kizuna Toffee Caramel Stout, Blue Dot 2xIPA, Green Dot Triple IPA, Skagit Fred Strong Ale, Adam, Vintage Doggie Claws, American Barley Wine, From the Stone Skagit Fred, From the Wood Skagit Fred
No draft sours, sorry. The best non-sour ale was one that we had never heard of, but we were told its an old style of beer called Adam. Runner up: Skagit Fred’s. The other two varieties were aged in wood and in concrete which offered an interesting perspective on aging mediums.
Cascade - 26 Handles, 3 flights
Rose City Sour 2017, Apricot Sour, Brunch Line 2017, Garden Party 2017, Tropical Embers, Honeycot, It’s a Girl, Kriek 2017, Sang Noir 2017, Bean to Barrel, Peche Fume 2017, Bourbonic Plague 2016.
Only sours rule applied, and this stop did take us the longest to get through the samples.
Best sour: Bourbonic Plague 2016.
Coalition - 8 Handles, 2 flights
Mahalo Dry Hopped Pineapple Sour Ale, Two Flowers IPA, Hawaii IPA, Radness Brett Barrel Aged Radler, Loving Cup Maple Porter, Dandy Shandy, King Kitty Red Ale, Color Me Kush IPA.
Default Sour: Dry Hopped Pineapple Sour Ale. Our most liked non-sour was their King kitty Red Ale.
At this point we started to be more picky with the beers we were sampling, as we were finding that some were generic and not worth how full we were getting throughout the day. We also began to incorporate some amazing appetizers and lots of water, a lesson learned from our San Diego Trip.
Culmination - 19 Handles, 1.25 flights
Phaedrus IPA, Pilsner, Invisible Forces Hazy IPA, Sour Flower Sour Ale, Funky Punch II Foeder-aged Sour Ale.
Invisible Forces Hazy IPA was our favorite overall and our favorite non-sour, but the best sour ale on tap that day was the Sour Flower Sour Ale.
Ex Novo - 12 Handles, 1 flight
Eliot IPA, Where the Mild Things Are Ale, Parliament Dunkalic IPA, Cactus Wins the Lottery Sour Ale.
Default sour win was the only one on tap, the Cactus Wins the Lottery Sour ale which was actually pretty good. Parliament Dunkadelic won best non- sour beer and was a pretty decent IPA.
Breakside - 12 Handles, 1.5 flights
Lucky as Helles Lager, Sunripened Ale aged in Chardonnay Barrels, Weizen Ale, Wanderlust IPA, What Rough Beast Ale, Grandmammy Stout Aged in Syrup Barrels.
Breakside did not have any sour ales on draft, but the best beer we thought was their Grandmammy.
Great Notion -
Reba’s Lemon Gelati Milkshake IPA, So Wrong its Ripe IPA, Blueberry Muffin Sour Ale, Big Papaya Sour Ale, Juice Invader IPA, Blackberry Keylime Mochi Milkshake IPA, Double Lust IPA, Sun Kissed IPA, Super Ripe Double IPA.
Tie for nest sour between Big Papaya and Blueberry Muffin. Both were amazing, both had use of fruit in a sour ale that neither of us had really ever seen with the exception of Kilowatt in San Diego. We did debate this fact for a few minutes and agree that Kilowatt is still king with its S3 sour series, but these two were both very close. The Blackberry Keylime Mocchi Milkshake IPA was hands down our favorite non-sour ale, and also the best milkshake IPA ive ever had. Great Notion really does know how to use blueberries in their beers.
I have to give it to Jordan, he planned the itinerary for this trip as well and he did another fine job. The plan, once again, was to hit all of these breweries in the most time-effective manor, trying to cram in as many as we could in a day. On the way back to the airport we discussed the day and talked about our favorites, which ended up being Great Notion hands down. The decisions and considerations for the rest of the Power Ranking were not as easy to navigate and there was a lot of debate back and forth. The results are displayed below:
Brewery Power Rankings (beer only)
Great Notion
Stormbreaker
Cascade
Ecliptic
Hair of the Dog
Breakside
Ex Novo
Culmination
Coalition
Conclusion
It is important to note again that the Power Rankings were based solely on the beer available on tap at each brewery. The consideration of atmosphere and artistic intent helped us determine these rankings, after Cascade and Great Notion it became difficult to figure out the standings based solely on what we tasted. Breweries like Breakside also have a great bottle selection, but we didn't try any of these and didn’t include them as part of the determination of the ranking. If you find yourself looking for a nice place for food and beer in Portland, you need not go further than Great Notion. Hands down the best.
The Sigma Art 35mm was an excellent lens to use for this adventure, the low light performance and bokeh are unbeatable. My only complaint was that even at 35mm the lens was too tight for some situations. The images taken at Great Notion were shot at 6400 ISO and this lens allowed enough light to hit the sensor that even when presented on the web the grain is still tight enough to create detailed and colorful images.
This trip challenged our pallets as well as my ability to handle the camera. All in all, we tasted 77 new beers, beating San Diego by 10. Jordan dreams of getting to 100 samples on one of these trips, and hopefully we shall. As for the photography side, I realized soon into the adventure that I’ve developed some laziness and bad habits as as photographer with access to state of the art editing software. Editing is essential in most cases, but it is not something you should rely on. Like any great building, the picture will need a foundation or starting point, requiring the best image attainable in the field. As evidence of these bad habits, you’ll notice some of the images are slightly crooked and some are not exposed as well as they could be, but this was to reflect the untamed nature of sour ales that one might experience during the brewing process and posting unedited pictures presented its own challenges. The sample images are full of missed focus and slightly less than desirable compositions which always drives my detail-oriented brain nuts. It is important as an artist to put yourself out there once in a while, to be raw and unapologetic about your product and see how the world takes it. Portland was the prime location to showcase my ability to control the camera system and also showcase my shortcomings. Any artist knows that the craft is never fully refined, it is a life-long pursuit and this trip opened my eyes and ignited the passion for perfecting the craft that I once had years ago in my early days of photography.