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Chris with Scout Beer’s Joe St. Martin

We’ve been traveling all over the world recently to find a good beverage, but it’s time to take things stateside again for another edition of “Flight School.” Portland, Oregon – in addition to being weird – is regarded as one of the best beer markets in the U.S. Today, we finally get to dive into the beer scene in The City of Roses with Joe St. Martin, co-founder of Portland’s Scout Beer.

While most West Coast breweries are regarded as havens for hoppy IPAs, Scout is taking a different approach: They brew flavorful, complex beers that will definitely leave you craving another (even after a pint or two). From peanut butter porters to oatmeal pale ales, Joe walks us through a flight of 10 beers, and also takes us on an audio bar crawl to give us a rundown of the variety of beer you can find in Portland.

In front of Scout (Source: Scout Beer)

Drinking Destination:

Scout Beer – Portland, OR

Portland is a mecca for craft beer. There’s a good chance you already know that. So is there room for another craft brewery in Portland?? Yes, and Scout Beer is one of the spots charging onto the Portland beer scene…

What started as a food park truck in 2014, Scout Beer is an outdoors-themed brewery located on Portland’s East Side, and they’ve got a lineup of brews that pair perfectly with the vibe of the Pacific Northwest.

Coaster Notes:

• We kick off our interview during a “sun break” on a hazy Pacific Northwest weekend in Portland. Scout Beer originally started in food parks, and hence adopted an outdoorsy-theme early on.
• “If you can’t have 2 pints, we didn’t do our job.” –Joe
• Like many breweries, Scout started out of a love for homebrewing, with the unique combination of baking mixed in too. Plenty of covert serving scenarios eventually led to a brewery being officially established.
• We get into a conversation about the Portland beer scene, and Joe is bullish on its continued growth. Also, apparently Grixsen has a badass hopped pilsner.
• Joe takes us on a “beer crawl” through the neighborhood: Apex to Beermongers to Grixsen to Baerlic to Scout to Lucky Lab to Cascade to Base Camp (it was a long crawl).
• Scout’s most recent employee-of-the-month and long-time bartender falls victim to Joe’s drinking story…
• Scout Beer is about to be opening “The Lot at Scout,” a new brick-and-mortar location and associated food truck pod deeper into Portland’s east side.

A glass of Kentucky at the bar (Source: Scout Beer)

Drinks of the Show:

• Drupaceous – Another word for “stone fruit,” it’s a golden ale with apricots and peaches that’s light and easy-drinking. Best paired with football.
• Porridge – An oatmeal pale ale brewed with cinnamon, raisins, and vanilla. Unofficially Scout’s flagship beer, it has flavors more typical of a darker beer, but drinks very light.
• Setz Radler – Brewed in collaboration with Portland Sangria, which is 50% sangria, and 50% Scout’s blood orange saison. Pairs great with floating down the river in the summer…
• Jam Marionberry – An old-school Scout brew. Reminded me of the preserves I had on my breakfast toast.
• Plum IPA – Sitting at 60 IBU’s, this IPA won’t knock you out, and the plum flavoring makes it very smooth.
• Panama Jack – A brown ale with coconut and rum. It is in fact named after sunscreen.
• Should I Stay or Should Eggo – A Belgian quad brewed with some malts that are meant to mimic waffles, in addition to maple syrup.
• Anaphylactic – A peanut butter porter that uses a powdered peanut butter for the flavoring. I love peanut beers, and this is definitely one that meets Joe’s standard of being able to have at least 2 of.
• Kentucky – A stout with bourbon, hazelnut, and coffee, and one of the first dozen or so beers Joe ever brewed.
• Half & Half – No, not an Irish half & half. This is a bit of a PB&J sandwich if you will. This bonus beer was 50% “Jam” and 50% “Anaphylactic,” a perfect dessert bonus beer on which to end the episode.

That’s one heck of a flight

Joe’s Favorite Bars & Breweries in Southeast Portland:

• Grixsen – Home of the hopped pilsner
• Apex Bar – Over 50 beers on tap
• Beermongers – Over 600 bottles
• Baerlic Brewing – Another brewery just down the street from Scout
• Lucky Lab – A small chain of brewpubs with 4 locations around Portland
• Cascade – An all-sour brewery that changed Joe’s opinion about sour beer
• Base Camp Brewing – The closer of my annual Portland brewery crawl and another recommendation of Joe’s

Connect/Drink with Joe and Scout Beer:

While if you look hard enough, you can find Joe’s cell phone number online, but plan on connecting with them at @Scout_PDX on Instagram or Twitter, of find them on Facebook.

Visit Scout Beer:

Scout Beer is located at 1516 SE 10th Ave, Portland, OR 97214. Taproom hours are Thursdays 4pm to 10pm, Fridays and Saturdays 12pm to 12am, and Sundays 12pm to 10pm.

Chris & Joe again…obviously having zero fun Pubcasting 🙂

Music Credits:

“Partner In Crime” by Laurelhurst. Check out this Hillsboro, Oregon pop-punk band at Bandcamp or on Facebook.