Not expecting a tight race but kind of interested to see if anybody can post a compelling argument proving the New England one is superior to the Pacific one.

EDIT: This has for sure swung not the direction I expected for reasons I'd never have thought of.

New England native here. Giving it to Maine because there are fewer people there whose sole function is to strike poses.

I like both cities, but I'm voting for Portland, ME.

I see the captions used for the voting options and I don't think it's fair to assume that Portland, OR would win a brewery war with Portland, ME, considering quality/per capita.

Yeah but all I really know about PDX that isn't tied to Portlandia is the natural hot springs and the micro-brews.

Native Mainer here. Grew up about 20 minutes outside of Portland, so of course I had to vote ME.

Beyond hometown pride, I feel like Portland has transitioned from a working city to a real destination place without being cringingly terrible about it. It has a legitimate great dining scene, half a dozen music venues of various sizes, great architecture. The beer scene in ME is crazy too. Bunker, Bissell, ME Brewing Company, Baxter, Geary's, Mast Landing and a shitload more whose names escape me right now.

I'm going to vote for the former after living in the latter for the past six years.

I love Oregon and the mountains and outdoor environs, but I'm not such a big fan of the city. Portland stole "The City That Works" from Chicago, but it's really more like "The City That Makes Excuses".

This place has been a magnet for fuckups for the past 3 decades and it's all come home to roost. When half your populace has no goals in life other than hanging out in bars and drinking and another quarter makes excuses for the first half - you don't have a town that's much for getting things done, especially after the pandemic destroyed the whole hanging-out-in-bars-drinking-$3-beers economy.

This is a town where people are dreadfully fearful of any change, particularly meaningful, pragmatic change. Optics and ideology rule here - so long as it doesn't result in things changing substantially. Progressive politics and fear of change make strange bedfellows - and very ineffective ones at that. I've had a pit-in-my-gut feeling about this place lately. I don't see it getting better. If I could work from home full-time I might be inclined to move closer to the mountains and say 'fuck-it' to cities altogether. Bend, Hood River, Sandy, whatever.

Stravos sums it up well:

I just checked my local (greater Boston) beer retailer and there are literally another 20 ME breweries represented here, 2 states away. So yeah, no visitor to Portland ME is wanting for craft beer.

As a current resident I have to vote for Maine, but as a former resident of the PNW I do have a soft spot for Oregon. Portland Maine is great, it is a big enough city where there is always something going on, but not big enough where it just sprawls and sprawls so it feels more quaint and livable. Plus, we have better beer and a Jetport, so case closed.

twelvepoint wrote: Wed Jun 01, 2022 11:18 am I just checked my local (greater Boston) beer retailer and there are literally another 20 ME breweries represented here, 2 states away. So yeah, no visitor to Portland ME is wanting for craft beer.

Yeah, 20 miles outside of Portland, ME in Freeport you have Maine Brewing Company, which I'd maybe put in the top 50 US breweries. They make some of the best IPAs anywhere (Lunch, Another One, Dinner, etc)

Never been to Portland, ME, but have been to OR a couple times. I also lived in Santa Cruz for 15 years, which is like a very small Portland, OR, and spend enough time in Highland Park and Virgil Village in LA, which are like two little tiny Portland, ORs. Also I don't give a fuck about IPAs. Pretty sure Portland stole the "Keep Portland Weird" thing from Santa Cruz...

Maine.