July 25, 2009
A huge place with a modern, airy restaurant upstairs and a weird, rather dark, modest pub downstairs. If it were limited to that, I must say I would not have liked the place at all. It’s not pretty nor loaded with character and there was not much of an atmosphere though we were there in late afternoon. Fortunately, it does not stop here. First, they had 6 of these Cascade experimental brews available to go at better prices than stores (15 a pop). Then, the staff was friendly and displaying palpable beer-enthusiasm. Furthermore, we asked for a little chat with the brewer and it turned out into one of these extravaganza that are so proper to encounters between passionate people. We ended up visiting the brewery and navigating between its 130 wooden barrels to catch a few select samples. Ron used to be a winemaker and it is obvious in his method: controled experiments. Owner Art Larrance eventually joined us up and this entertaining, almost legendary Portland figure kept the samples flowing. Samples became full glasses and laughter joined the party. We ended up staying over 2 hours and left with broad smiles. Besides, the draught selection included a remarkable oud bruin and tasty IPAs. They have ambitious expansion projects and with the quality of their products and attitude, I bet they don’t even need my good wishes to succeed. My score has to reflect the experience I had, but this may not be what you live on a sunday night if you come for dinner.

June 3, 2009
I stopped in here for a lazy Sunday morning. I was the only one in the basement with one of the bartenders opening. He was very friendly, served some great beer and helped me arrange some beer purchases. The ambiance was absolute cheese, but the beers are worth the trip!

May 18, 2009
This place is boring on the inside, their beer is barely drinkable, though they had all of the important types. Who cares though as you can’t stomach it. The food was below average room temperature and just not great. The service was rude and slow. I don’t get why people love this place, all I hear is raves but I’ve never enjoyed it, especially the beer.

April 18, 2009
Why I don’t have a rating in for this awesome place is beyond me. I was just looking and thought, what the hell is going on? I was here November 14th 2008, with a bunch of the Seattle crew and we did a 4 hour tasting gratis, with Ron Gasberg one the awesome head brewer. It was one of the best beer days I’ve ever had. Didn’t get to try any of the food, minus some good nachos they brought down for us. Grade A, must go to!

February 13, 2009
Nice little place that was seemingly family friendly and offerred a diverse menu as well as many of the brewery’s beers. A sampler tray of 10 4oz brews was $10. I had the jambalaya; it was great. Service was fast and friendly and overall a nice place to visit.

November 16, 2008 [ Updated November 28, 2008 ]
OK, Beaverton feels way out to Portlanders. And, OK, Beaverton isn’t on the way to anything else for visitors. But you have to go. This place has amazing beers. Very cool setup with a bar and restaurant upstairs, bar downstairs with full food service. Nice choices on the menu, nice big tvs on the wall. Plenty of seating downstairs (maybe this is news if you’vew been there before). They’re doing traditional american ales as well as an amazing lineup of sour stuff running on lactobacillus innoculation--fruit beers, flanders, cuvee, blondes, stuff you’ve maybe never heard of before ’cause they’re a bunch of mad scientists. Ogle the barrels through the glass from downstairs, then watch the game. Can’t say enough good things about Art, Ron, and their crew. Awesome spot.

October 31, 2008
Great stop as we were headed through Portland on the way to Seattle. Really helpful and friendly bar service downstairs, with lots of solid seasonals on tap (some lightly tart, genuine fruit beers, Flanders Red, a winter warmer, etc.). Happened to run into Ron while we were there, who was a great host and brought out some special beers from the barrel room for us to try. I don’t know if I’ll be around the area when these things finally come out, but there are some great barrel-aged offerings on the horizon. Had the Kriek, Blackberry, and Cuvee available in bottles when we were there as well. Very much worth the stop.

June 22, 2008
Nice selection of beer and food. Great deserts, and bonus points for cooking the calamari just right. The Solstice Festival was going on when we arrived, sot there was live music outside in back. Either there is boatloads of parking, or I was in the lot for the business next door?

December 20, 2007
Didn’t do food. Beer selection was excellent. Bar staff was a bit quirky, funny, but interesting, talkative and informative. Offered a chance to speak to the brewmaster, if they could locate him. Pleasant venue. Good experience. Just don’t look at the view when starting down the stairs.

June 18, 2007
Big ol building with a nice beer garden outside. Some great seasonal beers on tap that were not shy about the ABV, I think out of the 5 seasonals 3 were over 7%. Our waitress was a whacko and not very good, but the food was amazing and the beers were great.