Going Rogue in Newport

After a leisuerly wake-up I headed down to the harbor to go the aquarium. The aquarium is small, but well done, and there are tons of volunteers to answer questions (which is helpful unless you are me and then just want to be left alone). They seem to specialize on local fish and fauna. I got there pretty close to opening which is how I like it - uncrowded. I had fun photographing a sea otter that was showing off right in front of the glass... so we were only eight inches apart. They had some cool tunnels that actually went under your feet and not just over so there really were fish swimming all around you. Nothing else in particular really stands out other than it was a pleasant stroll.

Next I went to the Marine Science Center operated by OSU that was free. They had a couple of aquariums with local organisms too. They also had lots of presentations and hands on things about what OSU people do for research so it was a nice complement to the aquarium.

Also on that side of the harbor is Rogue Nation, brewer of Rogue Beers. Rogue originated in Newport across the bay, still operates a bar there, and moved its main operations into an old ship building warehouse. It was weird walking in because you walk right through distillery operations to a building inside the warehouse, up the stairs into the bar and restaurant that are built on top of the refrigerator. Pretty neat. Rogue is most famous for its flagship beer Dead Guy Ale, but lots of their beers have funny names like Yellow Snow IPA, Lumpfish, Menage a Frog, Brutal Bitter and others.

Everyone who goes gets to try a sample of the beer of that day so I started at 11:30 with Imperial pilsner. Turns out it was the wrong one, so then I got a sample of the brand new Chatoe OREgasmic, a made in Oregon feature where everything - hops, yeast, etc - was from Oregon. Then I ordered a sampler which came in a cool little boat. You could pic whatever you wanted that was on tap and there were 40 beers on tap - some Rogue, a few other local breweries too. I decided on the mocha porter, Shakespeare Stout (the 3rd best beer in the world according to some book (that also thought the Pink Elephant Beer was number 1!)), Hazelnut Brown Nectar, and Mom's half-a-weizen. They were all delicious, but I especially liked the Hazelnut Brown. I decided to order some lunch and had a delicious local beef meatball sub and then the bartender mis-poured, so she gave me another OREgasmic. I decided to become a member of the Rogue Nation and bought a bottle of Hazelnut Brown Nectar for later. Incidentally Rogue does not support Sarah Palin or her book title. They are not necessarily against her per se, but they don't think she fits the "rogue" profile.

The official tour did not begin until 3 so I headed over to Yaquima Point to take a peek at their historic lighthouse and to walk on the beach. It had been a gray day, but it wasn't raining yet. The sand was white and soft and felt good between my toes. The point is well walked so there was not much to poke at on the shore, but I probably needed a walk after all those brews.

The Rogue Brewery Tour was pretty cool, very informal, but funny. The guy who led it was hilarious and obviously loved his job. The secret to the awesomeness, and expensiveness, of Rogue beers is the high quality ingredients and they don't skimp on them.

After that I went over to Historic Bay Street and walked around. This may be the tourist-trap part of Newport, but some of the buildings are still working fisheries and the seafood is fresh. Newport is pretty excited because NOAA is moving its Pacific Northwest base of operations here next year - apparently others were surprised that a small town like Newport would get it, but I think its the beer. There are lots of murals on the building and it was refreshing to see them all not be sea-scenes. A lot of them were local boats at sea. I had some clam chowder at a place called Moe's that was pretty good and then came home. Alyssa and Sev were watching movies and playing on the internet so I joined in... only I worked on my midterm. I only have one question left to complete, but its a doozy.