Deschutes Brewery & Public House

Dogbrick

Ohio

4.33/5  rDev +0.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

Visited twice during our long weekend in Portland - first for lunch directly from the airport, then again a couple days after the Jubelale 2010 release (we missed out on bottles). The Public House is located on 11th and Davis, and there is metered parking available all over the place.

Inside there is a gift shop right next to the host stand, and once past that area the space opens up a lot. The bar is on the left side offering a view of brewing equipment behind glass. There is table seating in the rest of the area. The look and feel is kind of a hybrid lodge/industrial, with lots of wood and a stone fireplace coupled with exposed pipes and brushed metal. It works. The bar has a chalkboard showing what beers are available.

As for the beers, Deschutes offers a sampler for $7.50 and you can pick which beers you want. The menu seemed to be pretty up to date as far as what beers were available. Not surprisingly all the beers are well-made, and they run the gamut from Organic Amber to a Black IPA to the Porter and everything in between. My favorite beer of the trip was the Jubelale 2010 on draught on the second visit.

The server at lunch was knowledgeable on their beers and even gave recommendations on brewpubs in the Mt Hood area where we were visiting a couple days later. Any suggestions are welcome on a first visit to Portland where you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a brewery/brewpub.

The food at Deschutes is solid. My "gyro" burger and my wife's burger were both really good.

Overall this place definitely needs to be at the top of anyone's "to-visit" list on a Portland trip.

02-18-2010 04:04:31 | More by Dogbrick

johnmichaelsen

Oregon

4.06/5  rDev -5.6%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

On my way out of Portland today (alas), I had occasion to stop by this latest addition from Deschutes. I have no doubt this place will do JUST fine...

As one comes in the 11th Street front door, one is immediately impressed by the size of this brewpub and it's high ceilings. The place is large and airy and the wood sculpted figures very impressive. I sat at the bar where service was pretty good, albeit not the most well informed. There was a new irish stout on tap the day I was there, and I asked the bartender how it compared to the Abyss. He indicated that he wasn't much of a dark beer drinker, and hence hadn't tried it and didn't know. This struck me as a bit odd, as I'd think you'd try something as popular as the Abyss, just so you could talk to people about it if nothing else. In any event, the Irish Stout was a nice beer, but (understandably) paled in comparison to the Abyss.

The selection here is pretty interesting, consisting of the usual Deschutes beers and some "unique to the brewpub" specials as well. I wasn't wowed by anything I tried on this particular day, but what I had was solid. Hopefully I'll see some more interesting selections in the future.

Located as it is in the trendy pearl district of Portland, I have no doubt this place will do just fine. The bartender mentioned the place is packed on weekend nights, and even on a late Monday afternoon it was pretty busy. The atmosphere is pretty high end for a brewpub, with great decorations and some interesting, subtle touches. For instance, the two flat screen TV's above the bar were framed by oil painting frames. It's an unusual and nice touch.

This is a very solid place that I have no doubt will do very well in Portland. I'll certainly be back.

06-10-2008 04:52:29 | More by johnmichaelsen

barleywinefiend

Washington

3.95/5  rDev -8.1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4 | $$

A: Walked in on a Saturday as they opened. Grabbed seats at bar. Pretty laid back.

Q: All Deschutes beer are quality products and this was no different.

S: Our server was prompt and friendly. Recommended a new IPA project which was pretty good

S: They had 2 casks, most of their main staples and 2 others I had not seen outside the pub. I was a little let down on the selection. They did NOT even have good stuff to go. I wanted at least one thing high octane in bottle or draft.

F: Was good and reasonable

05-17-2011 01:55:27 | More by barleywinefiend

morebeergood

Massachusetts

4.15/5  rDev -3.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Day 1 & Stop 1 of our two day Portland Pub Crawl. The wife and I checked into The Nines Hotel and then made our way over here for lunch. Very large weathered brick building from the outside, and a beautiful high ceiling brewpub inside. Very nice woodwork too. Grabbed seats at the bar and we served by a very nice guy bartender. There were 18 beers on tap! Quite a variety. I went with snifters of the Black Butte XXI and the Cherry Quad, while my wife went with the nitro Obsidian Stout. Obscenely good. I also got the elk burger and loved that for lunch. Food came quick, and beers were served promptly. Reasonable prices all around even if it wasn't happy hour. Picked up a nice stemmed beer glass for $5 on the way out. Looking back, we both thought this place was the highlight stop on the pub crawl. A can't miss if you are in Portland.

07-17-2009 22:31:28 | More by morebeergood

GJ40

North Carolina

4.22/5  rDev -1.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

I stopped in while in town for the Oregon Brewer's Festival. Deschutes is new since my last visit to Portland so it was high on my list.

The space and decor are very impressive. It's a big area that feels even bigger due to the very high ceilings. They have a long bar and lots of tables. And the tables near the bar each have a second level for additional dining space. The decor is very rustic and authentic for such a new place. It's got exposed wooden beams, red walls and several elaborately carved wooden sculptures of wildlife scenes.

They offer 12+ of their own beers on tap and 2 in the cask. I went with the Inversion IPA and was very impressed. I really didn't expect it to be so good.

There's one especially unique thing at the bar. They have a tipping system where there's a copper bin about 15 feet above the center of the bar. Then below that is a pipe coming out of the wall that leads into a metal pot. You're supposed to throw quarters up into the bin and they come down through the pipe into the pot. It's a blast but when our group of four tried it, there were quarters flying everywhere while the people tried to work below. It was quite a site but I wouldn't be surprised if it's removed soon. One of our party had two separate instances where his quarter landed in the pitchers they use to collect extra beer. Try it while it lasts.

This is a great place to enjoy a good beer at the bar or a night out with friends. Check it out.

07-27-2008 14:34:10 | More by GJ40

dirtylou

Washington

4/5  rDev -7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Convenient downtown pub - pretty large space that definitely functions first and foremost as a dining room.

The bar area is pretty big, and quite crowded - a long bar surrounded by some light seating and standing tables in the main bar area.

We didnt eat but the menu looks like "upscale bar food" - solid looking burgers and sandwiches, entrees, and some small plates.

A ton of deschutes taps - some pub-only IPA's that were indistinguishable from the typical deschutes hop profile. Nothing really special on tap, but a lot of solid stuff, no doubt.

Happening place on a weekend night - a total change of pace from a lot of the other portland breweries, for better or for worse

04-04-2012 03:47:54 | More by dirtylou

sholland119

Pennsylvania

4.1/5  rDev -4.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5 | $$

A very attractive new brewpub in the Pearl District of Portland. We stopped in for lunch with BA msubulldog25.

This is a very attractive room. The pub is located in a renovated auto body shop. Many of the structural elements and the facade have been retained while building a bright, spacious dining area and bar. We sat at the 12-15 seat bar.

Deschutes makes great seasonals in addition to a very good regular rotation. The Portland pub also brews pub only styles. We had a sampler selection of D Straat Dubbel, Hop Trip, Mt. Angel Fresh Hop, Black Butte Porter, Obsidian Stout and Jubelale. Not sure which beer came from which brewery but they were all quite tasty. I particularly liked the fresh hop beers.

Service was attentive, pleasant and professional. We never had to wait for anything.

Food was good but not great. The turkey sandwich and burger were nice but not particularly memorable.

A very enjoyable experience. We would happily go back.

HV

10-24-2008 14:24:10 | More by sholland119

Rifugium

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev -7%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

My first stop during the Portland beercation. Deschutes' pub has a quasi early-American industrial look combined with a contemporary mountain lodge. Atmosphere is nice, but seems to draw a pretty bad / hipster crowd. Lots of room, and necessarily so considering there seem to be lots of people at any given time. Semi-family oriented, so it's not exactly the kind of gloomy, beerfly, laid-back place that I tend to gravitate to. Service was helpful and typically on the ball. Great selection of beer on tap, all Deschutes of course, and 18 or so nice brews to chose from including some brewpub exclusives. Food menu was very good, and I had a difficult time choosing what I wanted because it all sounded amazing. And what I ended up getting on my initial visit--Yellow Belly Burger or something--was indeed very messy and good. Prices were reasonable. Hope to revisit soon!

12-30-2011 04:25:56 | More by Rifugium

Floydster

California

3.63/5  rDev -15.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4 | food: 2.5 | $$$$

This place has one of the nicest exteriors you will ever see and inside is not too shabby either, their brewing equipment is about as shiny as it gets, we sat down at the bar during happy hour on a Wednesday night, ordered the sliders for $4.50 and when they came their bite size and three of them, most expensive food in Portland size wise, it was not great either which made it worse, the atmosphere in here is very upscale and nice, everything in here was immaculate, they have a cool inventory of frisbees, shirts, glassware, bottles, etc. when you walk in the door too, service was very weak, there was probably too many people to be working in the first place, and then to boot they were all just standing around talking to each other rather than concentrating on the customers, saw a few other guests get anxious about it too, I had just had the 2005 vintage of Mirror Mirror out of the bottle a week before the trip but wanted to try it fresh on tap, so I ordered a snifter, they only filled it about a quarter of the way, literally five to six ounces for $5.25, another thing I was not particularly happy about with this place, the beer was good though but I prefer it with some age and out of the bottle I think, all else aside, they do have about eight brews that of their own that I have never seen or even heard about it, we tried them all and the only one that stuck out being above average was the bock, all their beers on tap only, there is about sixteen to eighteen of them if I remember correctly, cool place but a little expensive for me, I would still go back, recommended

06-09-2009 00:27:00 | More by Floydster

Beerandraiderfan

Nevada

3.79/5  rDev -11.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Smack dab in downtown Portland, although my iphone map led me somewhere in East Portland, but I digress. Huge place, much bigger than the one in Bend, wood all over the place, cool carvings, big long bar, big glass allows you to see some brew equipment. Largest urinals anywhere.

This most recent time I was there, the brewer's reserve selection or whatever its called wasn't the greatest, but I like that it has never been the same thing. Porter/stout and the saison were decent. Whatever the ipa, it was horrible. Screwed up my tasting order. Didn't fix it. Picked up a case of XXIII relatively easy though. Place always seems packed, even though it probably accomodates over 300, but it is downtown. Smelled lovely. Great woodworking carvings. Weird bi-level tables in the bar area, someone let me know what that is all about. Pizza?

07-11-2011 20:31:35 | More by Beerandraiderfan