Agree with Rick generally but would add Beaumont Market to the high third tier. Used to be second tier a couple years ago, as did Saraveza. It’s not a bottle shop but similarly to Saraveza, Apex has a number of bottles. But mostly at ruinous prices…
What’s must see in downtown near the convention center. I will be there the end of the week prior to Labor Day. Have wed-fri nights to go hit beer places.
Here’s a map of many of the places listed above.
Upright Brewing is close on the north side. The Commons, Cascade Barrel House, Loyal Legion, and a number of other places are a short trolley ride away south of the Convention Center. The Spirit of 77 is a pretty good beer bar across the street from the Convention Center.
How is Horse Brass holding up after Don’s passing? It has always been a must hit for me when in town and I may be in Portland at the end of September.
Doing great!
Great to hear!
Great list Rick! I’d add Wayfinder and Base Camp too. Loyal Legion would be my top rec though if you’re visiting from out of state – 99 Oregon Beers on tap!
Loved Horse Brass - I lived at 32nd and Flanders for 6 months and was a frequent visitor.
Also really enjoyed Hopworks Urban Brewing for Beer/Pizza. Ace of Spades has been a favorite over the years, but it’s been inconsistent, similar to Hair of the Dog’s Blue Dot. If you do visit Hair of the Dog, try the duck wings 
Thanks guys, I will hit 3 and report back
Rick, which one has your beer?
Horse Brass and Loyal Legion just about always have us on tap. We rotate on and off at most of the rest. You won’t find us at Apex. Other tap handle places in PDX include Pok Pok, Kachka, Headwaters, Jackrabbit, Imperial Restaurant, Bar Avignon, Accanto, Interurban, Firehouse, Pizzeria Otto, Corbett Fish House, and a number of smaller bars and taverns.
You can scratch The Commons effective at the end of 2017. They are shutting down then and leasing their space to Modern Times.
Glad I visited last weekend, and tried their wonderful Yuzu Farmhouse Ale on tap at Afuri. Even though a fairly young brewery, their presence will be missed. Time to stock up on bottles while I still can!
I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop since Sean Burke left. If anyone questioned the existence of a bubble in craft brewing, this may help you re-evaluate your stance. The Commons made great beer, and had a relatively logical business plan. They probably under-priced their beer somewhat, didn’t spend enough time (and money) in self-promotion, and didn’t have a lot of cash flow leeway. Hopefully they can re-emerge at some point. I hate to think that this business is more about having deep pockets than making great beer.
Modern Times is taking over the space, and most of the retail folks I talked to while out on deliveries today were kind of “meh” on that - the flavor of the month that makes decent beer but doesn’t really distinguish themselves. It will be interesting to see how they do in a hyper-competitive market.
Rick, I agree with all of that, including the reaction to Modern Times.
I should have noted that The Commons will be “greatly” missed, at least by me but I’m sure many others. When I saw the article title, I was in such shock that I thought it was a joke. Sadly not.
I think there were a few issues that held them back:
- didn’t work hard enough to get their beers on tap around town or the state for that matter (this is getting harder for everyone)
- bottles were hard to find; unless you worked to find them.
- tap-room has very few places to sit given its size and lacked great food, or at least a place next door where you get buy some and walk into the tasting room with few places to sit
MT has name cache, they definitely aren’t flavor of the month anymore. Based on their expansion efforts I think they plan to quickly ramp up to the same level as the other big boys in west coast craft brewing. Jacob is a hell of a businessman.
I believe that they thought that signing with Maletis would help them get more tap handles and better shelf space for their bottles (it’s hard/impossible to get into the big grocery chains without a distributor). It didn’t work - I don’t think Maletis ever figured out how The Commons “fit” in their portfolio. This is one of the reasons that we remain self-distributing in PDX. I’m not really interested in giving someone else responsibility for a key part (half?) of our business, and no one can tell our story better than we can. As for their tap room, they didn’t have enough seating, and with all the construction going on in the area it is impossible to find a parking spot anywhere nearby. This seems to be both the curse and attraction of inner Southeast PDX.
Charlie, as near as I can tell, MT makes the usual stuff - IPAs, a stout, a probably overly sour Gose, a few other things. They will be competing in the home territory of Deschutes, Ninkasi, Widmer, 10 Barrel, Hop Valley, Rogue, Breakside, Boneyard, Fort George, and a host of others who make exactly the same kinds of beers in a market that is 1/10th the size of LA, that already has 70+% penetration of craft, and is home to 100 breweries. I think I’ll sit of the sidelines and make my niche lagers!
Modern times is at a much higher level than almost everything you listed except maybe Breakside/Boneyard, but neither of those have an ability to make well crafted barrel aged stouts or barrel aged sours (where they really shine, but they never make it into distribution) with their IPAs. Bud can attest, I’m not a giant fan of Modern Times, but they are definitely superior to deschutes, ninkasi, widmer, 10 barrel, hop valley, rogue and all the other run of the mill producers. None of these producers have craft geek fans like MT does.
The real competition for them in Portland is Great Notion and Upright.
What’s funny about this is that I view Modern Times as a run of the mill producer. Perhaps both of our perspectives come from the standard beers they make and not from the small production/stunt beers they make. I expect that MT will be very popular when they first open. Over the long run, it will be interesting to see how many restaurants/tap rooms (they share the immediate neighborhood with Kachka, Trifecta, Loyal Legion, Cascade Ale House, and others) can stay popular in an area with no parking, limited public transportation, and no local housing to draw from. I think these factors all worked against The Commons.
It will also be interesting to see how the City of Portland weighs in. Since The Commons installed their system, the City has put numerous restrictions on wastewater and tightened up other production restrictions. If Portland makes MT upgrade to the new standards, it may take them a while to reopen. It certainly slowed down a number of other projects in the City.
I like what Modern Times is doing. I’m a firm believer that excellent beer is very rarely made in a full-on production environment. By opening a small satellite facility, they can increase the number of top-notch beer they make, and they can present fresher beer to the local distribution channels. If I was looking to open a facility in the Pacific NW though, I’d do it in the Puget Sound area. Seattle is several years behind Portland from a market penetration standpoint, and the Puget Sound area is certainly much more populous.