July 14, 2009
A small, comfortable English-style pub, the kind where you’d imagine old lanterns and dusty bookshelves. So a nice place, but not necessarily a bier temple. Still, if you have a few days in Portland, you should definitely hit Bailey’s tap room and Tugboat is right across the street, so popping in may become interesting. As far as the beers are concerned, they have ~6 guests, not necessarily the most adventurous offerings and ~5 of their own which were quite under average for Portland. I could not stand their liquorous, hugely alcoholic impy and that’s a pretty bad sign.

May 19, 2009
The service kind of sucks, and they only serve their ales, and only a limited selection of those. The mood of the place is great. Dank little hole in the wall with damn fine ales.

May 10, 2009
Cool little hideaway right in the heart of downtown Portland. It’s on an alley, and the walls are lined with books. Feels very quirky, it’s definitely not the kind of place you can create by packing in a bunch of wacky decorations. It’s the kind of place that has to happen over time. Some fallen soldiers from some wine cellar (presumably theirs) line part of a wall. The bar bisects the place at an angle, and there’s a small stage with genuine live music at times. Some booths, some tables. Lots of leather and dark wood. The stacks and stacks of wall-mounted bookshelves go a long way to making this feel like a refugem from the stresses of office work. Spectacular rainy day place. Truly mediocre house beers, but plenty of well-chosen, low-profile, and interesting guest taps.

September 25, 2008
A small dark place with an interior as a living room with couches and bookshelves etc. You see the brewery thru a glass window when you visit the toilet and observe that they brew in plastic containers. 3 beers on draft when I visited and all almost undrinkable. I was told this was part of the roots of the Portland micro scene and a must visit, but with the quality of their beers I can’t recommend this place.

August 23, 2008
The ambiance is dive, worn carpet, furniture, wood, the floor in the hall going to the bathrooms. Megan lights the place up when shes there, and service is generally good without her. 4-6 of their own beers, around 8 guest taps. The home brew is cheap but not that outstanding the guest selection has several good options, including a couple imports. Good is basic tasty and filling. home to some fine local jazz and assorted musics, cover free.

August 21, 2008
Cool little snug of a place. Quiet on the Tuesday afternoon I was there. Open space with booths and lots of books and subtle lighting. A place to spend some hours reading and relaxing.

July 30, 2008
Very unique brew pub. They don’t do sample platters but the bartender was happy to let me let me taste three of the Tugboat beers. The English Brown was very tasty, the others were so-so. I wound up having the best chocolate stout I have ever tasted from one of their guest beers. OTH Stout, check it out. More chocolate flavor than Youngs Double Chocolate.

May 25, 2008
Bartender, wearing a fedora, seemed insistent that they don’t sell a sampler platter of all their beers. Therefore, I was insistent that I was leaving. I’ve only ever seen one other bar that simply will not do samplers, and I didn’t patronize that bar, either. He also assumed that of all their beers, the one I would want was their double russian imperial stout. Don’t make assumptions about me if you don’t know me, dude.

April 18, 2007 [ Updated August 26, 2009 ]
I really enjoyed this place. It’s small and quaint. Live jazz, free popcorn, but the brews are defective or something, the imperial stout is all you should stick with. The bartender was super friendly, saying hello as soon as we walked in, talking to us about the beers without acting like we wouldn’t no anything about them, and always asking if we were doing ok and clearing our drinks. When we left, even though he was in mid-conversation, he stopped to say goodbye to us, I was pretty impressed with the service. It had had a nice aesthetic with all the books on the shelves. movie style popcorn machine off to the side, small stage for musicians with an upright piano and a PA, tacky lamps, and other little thing oddities like wood shingles, a giant neon clock, a tugboat lamp over the tap handles, and small, framed illustrations of boats, bridges and harbors. Unfortunately we missed the live jazz that night but they were playing Coltrane’s ’Giant Steps’ so I was able to deal.

October 7, 2006
Nice little brewpub in downtown. No waiting service even on a Friday night that wasn’t too crowded, and no tabs allowed either. Food selection was week. Had a few non tugboat brews to choose from but nothing exciting. Five tugboat brews were definately what most people were having. I tried all five and all five of the beers were VERY hoppy. I love hops but they put hops in a lot of places where they didn’t belong. A friend of mine that went with me said they were a lot more impressed last time they went, so maybe i’ll like it more next time I go.