Essential Portland Tap Rooms (Unaffiliated Beer Bars)
Apex
Bailey’s Taproom
Bazi
Beer Monger’s
Belmont Station (also a shop with 1,200 bottles)
Horse Brass
Imperial
La Moule
Loyal Legion
Saraveza
Stammtisch
Tin Bucket
Essential Portland Brewery Tap Rooms
Baerlic
Commons
Gigantic
Upright
Essential Portland Brew Pubs (have food)
Breakside
Cascade
Deschutes
Double Mountain
Ecliptic
Ex Novo
Great Notion
Hair of the Dog
Wayfinder
Widmer
Zoiglhaus
Level Beer & Wayfinder are favorites.
I would not list Double Mountain for PDX. Maybe for Hood River. The beers are fine, but they are known more for their pizza…
I like Tin Shed as a taproom/bottle shop. Down the street from Great Notion.
For me, every PDX visit must include stops at Commons, Upright and Great Notion. Cascade if I’m in the mood.
Glad I visited The Commons last weekend (and really enjoyed the Yuzu Farmhouse ale they made that was on tap at Acura), because read today they are closing at year’s end and leasing their space to Modern Times. Sounds like the owner is holding out hope for a future comeback, but a big loss to Portland beer scene IMO. Need to stock up on bottles now!
they have one in SE Portland now! While I agree their beers aren’t world class, I do think their Kreiks are.
I know they are in PDX, but still don’t think I’d list them. Even though I agree that the krieks are solid.
pretty much this!
I enjoy Fatheads IPA’s more than Deschutes these days. Food is hit and miss. Great Notion is becoming a destination. Look forward to their canning line.
Tin Bucket on Williams? Great place.
Can’t get past the dreadful food at either one.
Yes. Thanks for correcting my error. Great place indeed.
aha! yes. It’s owned by John Plutscharch (sp?) of Logsdon Farmhouse. Great guy!
Zoiglhaus is a Brew Pub. It might be worthwhile to break Brew Pubs into those that are restaurants and those that are just tap rooms (no real food service). Gigantic, Upright, and probably the Commons would be in the latter category. Wayfinder needs to be on the list as a Brew Pub.
Thank you Rick. Given the quality, I’m not sure why anyone would care if a brewery had food, but I’ll make those edits.
Not sure what happened to Deschutes food. When I lived in the Pearl 6 years ago you could get a decent meal there. The menu has scaled down and the quality dropped. Fatheads is midwest food and I did enjoy my brisket French dip a few weeks ago, but I’m mostly there for crowlers these days.
It’s possible your tastes have changed too Chris.
Anyhow, updated the list above thanks to everyone’s edits.
We stopped into Zoiglhaus expecting them to have a German menu to pair with their beer. Not the case. I’d rather visit Prost! or Stammtisch given Zoiglhaus is on the wrong side of town for us.
Parking near Loyal Legion is lacking. If you go the wrong time of day you’ll give up in frustration and find someplace else.
Widmer is trying to brew better beer, but most of what ends up in bottle is mediocre at best. Stops to the brewpub to see what’s tap-only is the ONLY way to go.
I love Bailey’s but the lack of food (and space to prep it is a problem). The wrong time of day there is no place to sit along with no place to park. Bailey’s Upper Lip has fewer beers, but is a much quieter place to hang out and space to eat if you bring your own food.
The bottled Belgian beer selection at The Abbey Bar & Botle Shop on 21st is fantastic. Drafts and food not at the level of Bazi.
I would add ABV in Hillsboro to the beer bar & bottle shop list.
Perhaps create a bottle shop sub-list?
#1 John’s Marketplace
#2 Belmont Station
…
A long drop off after that, but then:
Beer Mongers
ABV
The Abbey Bar & Bottle Shop on 21st
Then an even deeper drop off to other bottle shops that get mentions but have mediocre to crap selections most days.
Saraveza
Imperial
etc
Rick can likely add quite a few names to the Bottle Shop list. I liked where Uptown in Beaverton was going, but they’ve slid backwards as a destination and I rarely go there now. I’d rather drive further up to hill to John’s.
thank you Steve! There’s a new Imperial on Alberta and I thought their tap list was pretty good.
As far as bottle shops are concerned, John’s and Belmont Station are the top two. I think John’s has a bigger selection, but I worry about turnover time. From our experience, Belmont Station restocks every week, while John’s restocks about once a month. Based on that, I think the beer at Belmont Station is likely fresher.
My bottle shop list would look like this:
Top Tier
Belmont Station
John’s Market
Second Tier
Market of Choice (Goat Blocks and Cedar Mill stores)
Beer Mongers
Imperial Bottleshops (Division and Alberta)
Abbey Bar
ABV
Zupan’s (Lake Grove)
New Seasons (Arbor Lodge, Williams and Woodstock)
Uptown Market (Beaverton and Lake Oswego)
Third Tier
Saraveza
Zupan’s (Burnside and Macadam)
New Seasons (the rest)
Whole Foods (all)
Market of Choice (Terwilliger, West Linn)
All the stores listed have a good selection of local and popular national beers. The top and second tier will have a better selection of the really hard to find local beers and a broader selection of foreign beers. The Zupan’s, New Seasons, and Whole Foods stores don’t commit the real estate that the bottle shops and Market of Choice stores do. A good beer manager can overcome that shortfall, hence the higher ratings for some stores. Speaking of beer managers, most other grocery stores don’t have a beer manager. Instead, they allocate shelf space to designated brands, which is usually determined at the chain’s regional or national headquarters. The chance of these stores having a decent beer selection is almost non-existent.
I do need to visit the Cedar Mill Market of Choice more often. I’ve found beers there no one else had. Plus it’s close.
That’s great Rick. Thank you!!