Best Brew Pubs

The Quest for the Holy Grain - Best Brew Pubs

Oregon

10 Barrel Brewing Company
1411 Northwest Flanders St.
Portland, Oregon
503-224-1700

10 Barrel Brewing Company is a trendy brewpub located in Portland's Pearl District.
The pub was quite crowded on a summer evening with a concert going on in the streets outside.
With the bar and downstairs areas swarming, the rooftop bar was a great place to try some brews.

10 Barrel had twenty beers on tap, nine of which were brewed in-house.
The house dark beer, Glen Coco, a strong Chocolate Coconut Stout, was a fine choice for dessert after a light meal.
10 barrel describes their menu as "elevated pub fare" with items such as fried Brussels sprouts and steak & gorgonzola nachos.
Dishes are made from scratch and locally sourced.

Some of the locals didn't take kindly to Anheuser-Busch InBev buying Oregon 's 10 Barrel Brewing Co in 2014, but 10 Barrel remains a popular spot with a lively atmosphere, wide variety of beer, and good reputation for food and service.

In addition to Portland, 10 Barrel also has locations in Bend, Boise, Denver, and San Diego.

Lucky Labrador Brew Pub
915 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Portland, Oregon
(503) 236-3555

If you're a visitor, missing home and want to pet your pooch, the Lucky Labrador is the place to go. With three locations in Portland the LL Brew Pub is the brewing site and the best venue to visit. On our stop there were 11 house ales, 1 cask, 1 nitro, 1 cider and one guest tap. This is a beer hall. No table service, queue up and seek your pleasure. Like most other Portland microbrews this is hop heaven and if you drink from light to dark, let us suggest the Crystal Weizen for starters... a truly exceptional American hefe beer. Follow it with the Triple Threat IPA, then the Super Dog Pale Ale that weighs in over 90 IBU's, and finish with the Stumphouse Porter.

This is a fun stop. A cavernous warehouse offers lots of tables but no bar seating. Outside one will find about 20 generous picnic tables and half a dozen or so labs or lab wannabes. It is a canine hangout outside, where most but not all hounds are well behaved. Inside, the labrorbelia will delight many and tire others; they do not appreciate the innate superiority of the boxer breed here. But they make good beers.

There are no bad beers at the Lucky Lab but no stop-the-presses specials either. Good solid, drinkable beers in a beerhall atmosphere is a very nice thing. Food is not the reason to go here but it is moderately eclectic and fun like the beer and the dogs.

Rogue Distillery & Public House (PDX) 1339 NW Flanders Portland, OR 97209 (503) 222-5910 Rogue Distillery and Public House is the Mecca for any Questor. Housed in a low-key three story brick building that covers a lot more ground that the building height suggests, we found 20 Rogues on tap, three Track Town Ales (a sister brewery in Eugene), two Issaquahs, and seven featured guest taps. Surprisingly you'll find Bud and Coors Light on tap as well! As you enter, to the left you'll find a bright and airy dining area. To your right is a small bar and next to it an adjoining party room. There is a delightfully unplanned ambience to this Rogues' gallery. There is Rogue clutter everywhere. Surfboards, flags, t-shirts, bumper stickers (Rogue Nation, DareRiskDream). The Portland beer chic are not found in this bar. There are knowledgeable beer aficionados here. The beertender today is working overtime and affecting a perfect replica of John Belushi's Samurai Deli character. I will not ask for a Pepsi today. There is great 60's music playing in the distant background. Lots of folks do samplers and this is a good idea for the high gravity beers. One can lose one's soul here. While sipping the Honey Orange Wheat from their sister brewery in Eugene a brewer began to work on a brew in the upstairs brewery unleashing a heaven-sent malty wort aroma. The works here must be for special available-only- at-this-bar beers like the Charlie 1982. A very pleasant surprise was the food. The menu is heavy with Kobe beef options and the Kobe burger was the best; it could not have satisfied more had the comeliest patrons fed me rice and rubbed my belly. Once in the lifetime of every beer drinker with means to travel he or she must visit this bar.

Deschutes Brewery & Public House 210 NW 11th Ave, Portland,, OR 97209 (503) 296-4906 Just a few short blocks from Powell's, the greatest bookstore in the world, stands the low-rise brick warehouse- looking home of Deschutes. Without the sign at the corner of their building you could miss it. Inside you will find some of the most substantial beers of your life. The ambience is a substantial part of the experience. Outside a brick warehouse - inside an airy wooden barn full of architectural features that bear no relationship to the structural integrity of the building. There is wood everywhere. Big thick timbers framing nothing. Carved wooden totems guard the entrances to a large dining area. Beautiful wood-grained tables remind you of the wooded drive into the city. The place is noisy with a friendly chatter and clatter that grows annoying after a while...it is not everyone's favorite pub sound. The crowd is Portland beer-chic, different from your ordinary bar. Pilgrims mix with the chosen ones. There is a bar with half a dozen or so round tables and limited bar seating, but many tables line the windowed walls and it was a pleasant table we had. Water arrived before the beer and on our visit there were 17 beers and a cask bitter. These are quality beers, all substantial and all well described in the beer card. This is hop heaven. Twelve different varieties of hops were identified on the beer card and it is not hard to find a beer with three or more styles therin. This is a place to sample then decide. If you're doing the beer tour, don't lose your way here. Four beers at this place can put you away if you do not choose wisely!