Deschutes Brewery and Public House

8/16/2008 2:43:12 PM, saturday, august 16, 2008
Place to sample the brews with a tastingplatter. Nice people (got it all for free!).

7/30/2008 4:36:36 PM, wednesday, july 30, 2008
Stopped by the new Deschutes Brewery and Public House in the Pearl District of Portland. Typical selection of Deschutes on tap to sample, unfortunately they didn’t include the Cinder Cone Red in the tastes. Did have 2 cask beers, including the Black Butte Porter. Quite a treat and very tasty. Overall really enjoyed the setting for a lunch. Good food and beers.

7/29/2008 4:57:56 PM, tuesday, july 29, 2008
Huge, slick, corporate style brew house. My first thought walking in here was Breckenridge in Denver. You can bring the kids but the food is pricey. Plenty of drive by beer geeks raving about Mirror Pond well, they’re on the right track i suppose. All of their regulars on tap plus the x-brew and two casks pouring sums up a top notch beer lineup. They had two cases of Black Butte XX for sale to go in the fridg, long after every bottle shop in the Northwest had sold out. The beer is the main reason to step foot in here.

7/27/2008 2:52:21 AM, sunday, july 27, 2008 [ Updated sunday, july 27, 2008 ]
The brewery I bet is much nicer down in Bend. As a place to grab a drink or eat, forget it. Deschutes has been consumed by the Pearl. Between the overpriced food, trite wooden animal statues and overhead beams, the bar area is always packed with frat boys cum corporate whores and their biddies. Such a disappointment.

7/4/2008 10:31:00 AM, friday, july 04, 2008
visited in june of 08 with my wife, sis-in-law and their cousin. the girls all had the beer sampler and i started with x double ipa. very nice and served in large goblet. i finished with their obsidian stout on tap which was decent. food was above average. i had the blackened ahi. that and their fries were above average. the decor of the place is very pleasant. it’s a well-polished and well-run brew pub with a more modern look to it. definitely give it a try!

6/12/2008 8:54:35 AM, thursday, june 12, 2008 [ Updated thursday, june 12, 2008 ]
Deschutes in the Pearl goes the way of Henry’s 12th St. Tavern... big, beautiful, polished, family friendly, posh-beer-geek, which can certainly be nice. Sure I enjoy these types of places, but this is where the inexperienced downtown drinkers migrate to after work, which I guess is a good thing since it keeps the true gems of Portland a little more real. Having said that, Deschutes in Portland is a nicely design, high-ceilinged, fancy sort of beer spot... the tap list is sure to please - more regulars, a few seasonals and a few special small batch releases. The wood carved columns in the dining area add some PNW character but do see a bit out of place. There’s a ton of money behind this place, no doubt, and Deschutes is a big boy in the PNW, and they knew exactly what they were doing by opening this pub. Sure to be a hit with everyone on their first visit, and especially suitable for groups and families, but I tend to prefer the smaller, more authentic beer geek places in Portland, which is just as well, because once the Pearl yuppies invade your favorite pub, it’s no longer your favorite pub.

5/19/2008 3:21:07 AM, monday, may 19, 2008
In a word, stunning. A virtual Oregon Beer Museum. I would give a 10 for ambiance if I could. Whether you are a local or a visitor, this should absolutely be on your must-visit list. First let me cut to the chase: this is more about the place and less about the beer. I was torn on what to rate them for selection because, well, it’s all Deschutes. Which is fine, but I thought they might have more of their specialty stuff lying around. They had probably 12 taps. They did have their new (very highly rated) XX Porter flowing. That was a real treat. But not even a drop double IPA, which would have been nice. Everything else was pretty standard, but good. Bottom line: you need to come here and just SEE it. Amazing. Also, the food was some of the best pub grub I’ve ever had and prices were quite reasonable, unlike say Pike Brewery in Seattle. Probably one of the best Reuben sandwiches I’ve ever had, and I’m a freak for Reubens. Service was OK, but not special. Because the place is so big, it has a big staff and does high volumes. So my guess is it will be hard to get really good personalized service, especially if you want to get any juicy tidbits of info about the beers. One of the quirky things here—I’m curious to see how long this lasts—is a small copper chute that comes out of the wall about 9’ above the back bar. Its purpose? You are supposed to throw tip money at it (coins). If you hit the chute, it funnels down and comes back out into a spittoon, the bar tip jar. I saw people throw coins from 20’ away. It’s all fun until someone loses an eye.

5/13/2008 10:42:41 AM, tuesday, may 13, 2008
They just opened a few weeks ago and wow I was surprised no one had rated them yet. This place was huge. They brought Bend OR to Portland. The atmosphere, the brewery everything about the place was BIG. They had huge bar with 5 bartenders going like crazy to keep the beers and booze flowing. They had a hour wait at times and wow it looked like more when we left. The beers where awesome and the food was the best. Great times to be had here. They will calm down after the first rush but this is going to be a place to go back to often. WOW it was big did I mention they yet?