It was 1996 I had just moved to Portland, Oregon. I had discovered beer was more than just the big 3 in brewing (BMC – Bud, Miller, Coors). I had found my first love of good beer none other than MacTartahans Scottish Ale 
(Portland Brewing Co.) From then on I had this special taste for great beers. When I had first arrived to Portland it was just with in days that I was able to attend my first Beer/Brewers festival. Holy cow I was in heaven. You mean there where more beer geeks like me? It was like Christmas for my liver it was the best day ever. I walked, drank, saw and just absorbed every ounce of the event. I had just moved to a town where they embraced the greatest nectar in the world BEER.So over the years I took my passion and enhanced it with trying all that I could. Now not knowing one day this would lead to a full blown hobby. I went all over Portland went to places recommended and not so recommended. Some are open to this day and some are not. I toured
breweries, I went to festivals, I did it all. I volunteered and poured, I started to brew my own beer. I joined clubs I became a the “SNOB”(Support Native Oregon beer club), that my family and friends called me. I was immersed in beer.
Not knowing that this hobby would one day turn into something more than just a simple hobby but more of a passion or a way of life I tried all that I could and went to places all over Oregon and beyond. Not until years later did I find a website where I could track all that I have tried and where I have been. RateBeer.com was such a place. I was able to find other Beer geeks just like me and even more I was able to turn my passion into a full blown obsession. They had the ability to track the beers you drink and you can also rate them. So I embarked in rating all that I could. Not easy when it means I had to double up and try beers over again and some of the better beers where now long gone in the pages of time. I also found that seeing these great places is also a passion so in the past few years I have found that when we (Wife and I) and later (Wife, Child and I) go on trips I must stop and find one place in the 
area we are visiting where there is a brewery and check it out. If I started doing this years ago I would have been top rater in the world. We have traveled all over to Hawaii I found 8 places, in Florida only 2 for the area we where in. Up in Montana and I found 5 and Utah where I hit them all and that was all of 8. So this blog is going to a culmination of beers tasted, beer places seen and festivals attended. Did I mention I also took a class that made me a certified judge in judging beers? (BJCP – Beer Judge Certification Program)
So hold on here we go. The mother of all Fathers day events is coming up the 2008 Washington State Brewers Festival. I will give a full report upon returning and after the 6 aspirin and long nap. I should mention the top rater in the world has over 10,000 beers tried I am only at a mere 1,500
