Broken Top Bottle Shop & Ale Cafe

Broken Top Bottle Shop & Ale CafeBroken Top Bottle Shop & Ale Cafe
Broken Top Bottle Shop & Ale CafeBroken Top Bottle Shop & Ale Cafe
Bar, Eatery, Beer-to-go

1740 NW Pence Ln
Ste 1
Bend, Oregon, 97701-6743
United States

(541) 728-0703 | map
btbsbend.com

Monday - Sunday: 11:00am - 10:00pm
PLACE STATS
Average:
4.31
Reviews:
9
Ratings:
28
pDev:
6.96%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Photo of MonDak_Joe1953
Reviewed by MonDak_Joe1953 from Minnesota

4.1/5  rDev -4.9%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.25 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4
Mostly a restaurant with a patio, but also offers beers to go from several coolers on one side wall. Also can order tap beer or drink from purchased bottles. Alot of the beers in the coolers are offered as singles. Locally brewed beers from Oregon are grouped together for easier shopping. The food menu offers upscale casual. Adjacent shared parking lot can get filled quickly, which means a search for street parking (no meters). Friendly and efficient staff. Ambient noise is noticeable but not too much.
Nov 02, 2023
Photo of WillieThreebiers
Reviewed by WillieThreebiers from Connecticut

4.43/5  rDev +2.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.25
Very cool bottle shop/ beer bar/ restuarant on the west side of town. Long straight bar to the right of the entrance seats about 20, with additional tables along the right wall, in the room to the left and on the wrap-around sidewalk. Room on the left has 10 cooler of craft, mostly singles. A dozen beers on tap, plus anything from the coolers is consumable on premises. Friendly bartenders, very much a locals feel to the joint. I did not try the food, but judging from the other patrons they're good with meat.
Jun 13, 2023
Photo of Pivopijak
Reviewed by Pivopijak from Washington

4.22/5  rDev -2.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.25 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.25
On the edge of a residential neighborhood, not far from downtown, in a tiny strip mall. The interior has much ambient light, lots of wooden bar space. Their taps are from a number of regional craft breweries and it's easy to find a beer to your liking.
Feb 05, 2023
 
Rated: 4.84 by jakecattleco from California

Feb 03, 2023
Photo of stevoj
Reviewed by stevoj from Idaho

4.54/5  rDev +5.3%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.75
Sought out this place for a stop on my way back to Boise. Good coverage of the Bend scene and Oregon breweries. Some other nice varieties from the West represented as well . Prices a mix, but reflects tube if the rarity of some of the bottles. Friendly, courteous service.`
Dec 01, 2022
 
Rated: 4.28 by Superheatnsubcool from Washington

Sep 06, 2017
 
Rated: 4.17 by SimcoeKid from California

Sep 24, 2016
 
Rated: 4.33 by StoutSnob40 from California

Sep 24, 2016
Photo of Rockjocknroll
Rated by Rockjocknroll from California

4.33/5  rDev +0.5%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.25
Great bottle selection, decent and friendly service, solid food. Great place to stop for a local pint and a bite!
Jun 07, 2016
 
Rated: 3.74 by Hualalai from Oregon

Jun 01, 2016
 
Rated: 4.34 by ivegot3Dvision from Oregon

May 28, 2016
 
Rated: 3.92 by South2NW from Oregon

Sep 14, 2015
 
Rated: 4.19 by Beervana from Canada (BC)

Sep 02, 2015
 
Rated: 4.37 by cherche from Washington

Jul 02, 2015
 
Rated: 4.45 by Erik-P from Canada (BC)

Jun 22, 2015
 
Rated: 4.61 by kamikazeokami from Oregon

Feb 06, 2015
 
Rated: 4.04 by sourdog from California

Dec 31, 2014
Photo of scsmith129
Rated by scsmith129

5/5  rDev +16%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 5
Delicious beers and food and excellent service
Dec 25, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by yemenmocha from Arizona

Sep 25, 2014
Photo of Dan_Inreallife
Reviewed by Dan_Inreallife from Colorado

4/5  rDev -7.2%
Very nice selection of bottles for sale in a comfy cafe style location with a full menu of food and a decent selection of taps. I wish they had more local offerings on tap for me to try while I was browsing bottles. Most taps were from Sierra Nevada (collaborations) which I can have all over. Friendly and attentive staff, but some of the folks serving beer need a bit of guidance. I had to explain how to pour from a nitro tap as the guy was dumping foam from my bear and pouring at an insane angle. This may sound negative but I really did like Broken Top and would definitely go back if I am ever in Bend again.
Aug 30, 2014
Photo of Goatdavemac
Reviewed by Goatdavemac from North Carolina

5/5  rDev +16%
Talk about a great staff. I went in, and was immediately helped by the staff. Not only where they friendly, I also told them I was from out of town. That is when someone appeared from the back with a few special beers. Great place, great staff, great beer selection. I can't wait to go back next year!
Aug 20, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by JoelClark from Idaho

Aug 03, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by strongaf from Washington

Jul 10, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by mantissa from Oregon

May 05, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by Kurmaraja from California

Mar 17, 2014
Photo of John_M
Reviewed by John_M from Washington

4.14/5  rDev -3.9%
vibe: 3.25 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.75 | food: 4
Stopped by for the first time the other day.

Broken Top sort of strikes me as the Bend version of Belmont Station, except that they actually have a kitchen here. Otherwise, as you walk in, there's a smallish dininig area and bar on your right, and then the bottle shop area to your left. BTB is essentially a two room operation (both roughy the same size), but with a patio area as well. There's nothing really remarkable about the atmophere or ambiance here, and the place seemed to have a very infomral and utilitarian vibe to it.

That being said, the beer selection here is first rate, with some 11 different craft offerings on tap (one cider as well), and then the sizeable bottle selection. Everything in the bottle shop is kept in cold boxes, which is a nice touch I think. The selection is very strong and varied (maybe they had some, but I don't recall seeing any macro swill in the cold box), and included the best selection of Cascade stuff I've seen outside of the barrel house or brewery (8 different sours from Cascade in fact). The tap list wasn't quite as impressive, but even there, on this day they had SN Bigfoot and the just released new batch of Boneyard notorious., along with the Rogue shakespere stout on nitro.

Service was decent I thought. It was pretty clear the woman waiting on me wasn't the most knowledgeable bartender in the world, but she was friendly, quick and effecient, which was all I required. I also ordered the korean beef tacos while here, and they were really good (with some good spice and heat to them). The menu struck me as kind of limited, but what I saw looked pretty interesting, and as indicated, the tacos I got were terrific.

The only real downside to this place, is the prices struck me as a bit on the high side. Draft prices weren't too bad (most selections were in the $4 range, with my 10 ounce glass of notorious going for $5), but bottle prices were high across the board. Things like the Cascade Strawberry and Elderberry were $30 a pop, with the Figaro going for $35, and I think the Vlad going for around $40. I think the Firestone Walker Velvit Merkin and the DDBA were in the $16 to $18 range. Not outlandish, but certainly a bit high. Ryan (Sharpski) mentioned that they give you a 10% discount for take home purchases, which makes the pricing here a bit more palatable. BTB really needs to do a better job advertising that fact (IMHO), as I didn't see a sign anywhere mentioning that you get a discount for take home purchases.

So maybe I wouldn't recommend doing a lot of bottle shopping here, but the draft list is solid, and the food is quite good. Pretty sure I'll be back.
Oct 07, 2013
Photo of sharpski
Reviewed by sharpski from Canada (BC)

4.23/5  rDev -1.9%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5
One of two bottle shops in Bend, Broken Top Bottle Shop also has 12 taps with a good rotation of local and national/imports, with 1-3 taps for cider and/or mead. Current tap and bottle list kept on their website. They also offer tasting flights of the beers on draft, which at $10 for 5 x 5oz tasters can be a huge value for the caliber of beers they offer.

Bottle prices are based on in-house consumption with 10% off for to-go sales, so it may appear they are on the high end, but prices are fairly competitive when this is factored in. I like this approach better than adding a percentage or flat rate for in-house consumption, but to each their own.

Service has always been fine in my experience, either at the bar or browsing for bottles. Cooler selection is a little light compared to other bottle shops in my experience, but it seems well curated with little "filler", and still represents a broad range of breweries and styles.

I haven't eaten there, but the menu makes it clear they're trying harder than the average brewpub with lots of daily specials, vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options. Everything I've seen come out of the kitchen looks like good food presented well.

Update 6/25/14: Having eaten there multiple times now, I can vouch for the deliciousness of the regular menu items and have been impressed with some of the daily specials. Another feather in this place's cap.
May 19, 2013
Photo of Norsebrew
Reviewed by Norsebrew from Colorado

4.58/5  rDev +6.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5
I was in Bend and visiting quite a number of breweries, beer bars, and bottle shops.

This place was recommended by a couple locals to check out so I made it my last stop of the trip. I was glad I did! Broken top has a few large coolers full of craft beer bottles. I saw quite a few tough to find beers (especially since I'm from Colorado) including Logsdon, Midnight Sun, Alesmith, Russian River, and Epic Beer. They even had a few Cascade bottles including Strawberry, Sang Noire, and The Vine. The owner said they go up to Portland to grab a few bottles of the limited releases so that customers can try these rarities. Great selection. Not as many bottles as the other bottle shop in town, but the quality was noticeable.

I also had dinner here. The wings were great. Big portions of meat and good sauce. I also tried one of their three special sliders of the day. Great food and service. They have a large menu so anyone should be able to find something they like.

They also had a really nice selection of taps, 12 total. I had Double Mountains IRA which was great. I was about to have the server open me a bottle of Midnight Sun Berserker, but he said he had a keg and was wondering if I would rather have it on tap. Hell yeah! Berserker on tap!!! So he kindly pulled a keg out and replaced it with Berserker just for me. What service. The server happened to be the owner, and we got to talking for a good while. Great guy!

The atmosphere is nice too. A good sized bar area. It had a coffee house feel to it. Very well lit.

I highly recommend you check this place out. It's a little ways from downtown but well worth the short drive. Great staff and a very knowledgeable owner. Awesome food and beer. What elso do you want?
Sep 18, 2012
Broken Top Bottle Shop & Ale Cafe in Bend, OR
Place rating: 4.31 out of 5 with 28 ratings