Deschutes Brewery & Public House

GreenCard

Oregon

4.18/5  rDev -1.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$$

Popped in here for lunch and to see if they had The Abyss on tap (they didn't) and ended up leaving satiated as hell from an awesome pulled-pork sandwich with skin-on fries and a scrumptious nitro-served oatmeal pale ale (sounded interesting, so I had to try it).

I thought this would just be a venue to serve the beers from Deschutes Brewery, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a small brewhouse in there which offered another 10 beers or so on top of the Deschutes stuff. Awesome idea to not only serve the brewery stable but to have a little brewhouse to do some more creative brews.

Will definitely come back here again when I'm in the area. Perhaps even for one of their regularly occurring beer-tasting events. The only bone to pick is that I thought the food was slightly expensive compared to what I'm used to. The pulled pork was $11 (if I remember correctly), whereas I would have expected $8-$9 for a lunch like that. Perhaps it's just because Bend is kind of out in the middle of nowhere, though.

01-10-2009 18:21:31 | More by GreenCard

OMsweetOM

California

4.75/5  rDev +11.8%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 5 | $$

Best damn brewery around!

Really good food and fantastic beer all had in a great place.
Gary Fish properly bestows the Deschutes bounty and most recently the pub expansion. I love visiting the pubs to indulge in the experimental brews and savor delicious food. Breads are top notch having been made with spent grain from the brew process. Add to that Borlen beef (fed spent grain) and masterful chef creations with a glass (or few) to go with... there is nothing better as you gaze out on the Cascades.

Growler fills the sparse experimentals - it's a MUST!

01-24-2013 06:23:20 | More by OMsweetOM

slander

New York

4.33/5  rDev +1.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

In this lifetime, I would never have thought I woulda seen this place. And what it took to get here; being Phil first detouring to Eugene and then cruising 15 painfully slow mph through a park for dozens of miles the 242 through. Scenic up & down, fields of lava rocks, peaks snowcapped in the distances, the mountain sisters 3, and Bend out the other side. Checked into the hidden hotel well concealed and passed, and set out a-walking…

Ah, the thing on the end of a strip of the strip. Entered and pushed through to the bar in the back where one does. To the right, a straight copper sheet topped bar, with a bit of a wood lip, panel base, & piping foot rail to the right, seating for a dozen on cushy orange stools, and a shorty bar extension on the front end for a pair of Davo’s. A pair of ‘T’ towers on bar center, logo handles, each holding 8 taps. The barback holds shelved growlers to both sides of a pair of windows looking in on the brew room space behind there. In one of the windows, a wood sign describing the cask beers listed below it. The counter space holds 2 handpumps, as well as glassware and more below with booze. Logo neons fronting glassware, and I think a single handle. Boards above list beers on tap; standards & brewer’s creations/seasonals. A barrel logo’d between the boards and house mirrors on the end of the bar, and flats in the corners. Drop suction cup lamps over the bar and adjacent seating.

Angled 2-sided copper topped bar counter pieces with a wood framed separator adjacent to the bar. Seating for 6 on each side on stools. 8 hightops riddled about behind it, corner fireplace with a flat above and kitchen views, and across the way way, the end of bar brewery views. GABF medals line the wall to the rear. Block slate floorings, slat wood ceiling with recessed & track spots, and some panel wood walls, others fabric framed on wood trim.

Back up front, half an “A” front room; wood rafter uprights, crossbeams of phat, & an angled slat wood ceiling with spinny fans & drop suction cup lighting. Panel front windows, corner flats, pub signage, & a large logo bottle opener mounted. 8 tables & booths on one side below Deschutes pics & prints on wood trim fabric done walls; and a cushy waiting area on the other side. Coolered beer in between, & and T shirts displayed over the far brick cut throughs to the newish side room dining area. Some burgundy painted walls, some brick, and a far wall of rock face. Ducts, spinnys, tracks & spots. Open kitchen running the length of the room on the inside wall, 30 tables & booths throughout, and slight curbside seating. Cool steel hop vines lining the stairwell upstairs and around. 10 tables there, a few on the balcony, and a party room to the rear. It’s an impressive expansion space; light bright & airy. They tripled the seating with this addition, and did a nice job of it.

6 house standards and 12 brewer’s creations/seasonals. Sampler of 6 of your choice on a little paddle numbered & slotted. Between our visit this night and tomorrow, I took in a good amount of ‘em (Inversion IPA, good mouthful, assertive west coast IPA, does not suck; Black Butte Porter, chocolatey & roasty beautiful, it is the Black Butte after all; Chainbreaker White IPA, a Wit & northwest IPA hybrid, more of a hopped up Wit; Obsidian Stout on nitro, roasty espresso bitter chocolatey love; Bachelor Bitter, big maltiness, bitter finish; Pine Mountain Pils, nice crisp bite; Zymergre, a low gluten beer, Pilsner style, tasty; Roggen Bier, spicy rye pleasantness, thick, viscious; Altbierior Motive, grainy, and not malty sweet like I like my Alts, pleasant though; Belgian IPA, Belgian yeast yumminess, nice hoppiness; Deschutes Cream Ale, light, hoppy, highly quaffable; Los Muertos, their day of the dead beer, a dark wheat sour with tamarind, lightly soured with lacto bacilius, I like; and the Black Butte XXIV, which just went on. It’s big bourbony madness, tasty, inky, bourbon). And a bunch more I didn’t get to try. There were also 2 cask offerings (Vanilla Porter, I don’t understand why you’d fuck with the Black Butte Porter, it’s got a pinch of cherry to it, and a Raspberry Ale, which is the Mirror Pond Pale Ale raspberried up, pleasant, and easy enough). Black Butte Porter, Pine Mountain Pils, Belgian IPA, & Obsidian Stout were my faves

And din. Started with the French onion soup, oh, gooey Gruyere, how I love you so. And then the house salad (field greens, shaved fennel, flagline ale cranberries, & candied malts in a crazy good vinaigrette). Phil had the hop hummus and wild boar meatloaf, which he felt needed something more. Meatloaf is not the answer. Ever.

Christender served, brought me pinches of the asks, and could talk to his game, and other games in town. Oddly, the comments card showed up already filled out with glowing ‘fantastic’ after ‘fantastic’, but I would have checked them boxes anyway. Good food, and hell, I drank fresh Obsidian & Black Butte. Deschutes! Did not disappoint.

11-20-2012 13:10:41 | More by slander

assaff

Israel

4.4/5  rDev +3.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

Beers are fresh, unique, world-class creations! Variety is not the largest I've seen (thanks, Fort George Brewery in Astoria), but will greatly satisfy your curiosity and beer preferences.
The elk burger is fantastic, especially with the sweet-potato fries. Don't forget to spice it up with some Secret Aardvark hot sauce.

Service staff are very kind and helpful, albeit a tiny bit slow in rush hour. They won't bother you with "do you like the food? do you? really?" and help you select a tasty dish from the menu, which has something for anyone.

Overall, a top-notch joint which is Oregonian through and through. A can't-miss choice for you to hang out with your friends, have a tasty bite and some really, really amazing beers.

10-10-2012 06:16:09 | More by assaff

Scotchboy

Idaho

4.45/5  rDev +4.7%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

Visited this place on a Thursday night.

A: Great feel to this place; brick outer building, lots of wood features inside, Deschute paraphernalia all over the place, T-shirts, glasses, growlers, nick-nacks all for sale.

For a Thursday, this place was packed, with a 45 minute wait for tables when we arrived at 8pm or so. I assume this place is a destination spot, so plan on coming early or sitting at the bar while you wait. Either way, there is plenty of good beer.

Q: Everything seemed to have good-to-very good quality. Food and beer are well crafted.

Service: The bar tender that helped us managed to keep the scores of patrons happy while maintaing a conversation with us while explaining beers and local information. The girls upfront that sold the merchandise/helped us to our seats were very friendly.

Selection: Great selection. All of the regular stuff is on tap, including Twilight (seasonal), their current Bond Street series, Obsidian on nitro (perfect beer for nitro IMO), and at least 8 one-offs, including an excellent 3.7abv Heff brewed with Lemonade that is an excellent summer beer.

F: Pub fare, but decent quality, with some gluten free options.

I'd recommend this place, absolutely. Just don't plan on being alone.

07-25-2012 21:10:21 | More by Scotchboy

williamjbauer

West Virginia

4.38/5  rDev +3.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

My wife and I visited Bend with the intention of coming here after a fun day of snowshoeing at Crater Lake National Park.

The first thing I will say is that on a Friday evening this place was super busy! We were told the wait would be 1.5 to 2 hours and we grabbed a buzzer and sat in the waiting room watching the X-games on a LCD tv. There were many people leaving since they didn't want to wait it out with us. That being said we actually only waited about 45 min and got a table in the nice dining area.

The whole pub was very nice and had a good atmosphere. The lay out of the building was pretty effective as well, though I would enjoy more outside dining areas for the summer time.

Service was very good even with the place at max capacity.

The beer was very good, with a few real standouts, but overall nice diversity and the food was above average as well with the appetizers being well priced, but the sandwiches and entrees being a bit overpriced.

I was given a menu to take home and I count 18 beers on tap, a very good spread. I tried 12 of those with 2 samplers that came in 4 oz glasses. The Abyss is one of the best beers in the style I've had!

Loved it, would come again but would try to beat the crowds and come a little earlier or later than 5-6pm.

01-30-2012 16:10:12 | More by williamjbauer

jtmartino

California

4.58/5  rDev +7.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

I've been coming to Deschutes Brewery Pub since they opened. I wasn't old enough to enjoy their beer at the time, but I was still able to get some excellent fresh-brewed root beer and ginger beer.

The brewpub didn't change much over the years - they underwent a few minor renovations but nothing significant. A lot of the artwork stayed the same, and the original vibe is still there. Due to my 20+ years frequenting their establishment, Deschutes my standard upon which other brewpubs are measured.

The following review will focus mainly on the pub and food, with a comment about the beer down below.

Atmosphere - The original brew pub atmosphere. Classic Bend decor with the iconic brick storefront and a vibe that welcomes everyone, whether they're grabbing a bit to eat after work or apres ski. In the past 10 years or so it has gotten quite popular (like Bend itself) so it can get very, very crowded at times. Go for lunch or get there early if you plan on hanging out Friday or Saturday.

Quality - For the longest time, the food menu at Deschutes stayed the same. Brewery burgers, sausage specialties, and the rest of their regular dishes that people grew to love. Perfect after a long day in the mountains. It was true pub food.

In recent years, however, they've totally changed the menu around and really stepped up the quality of food. I'm not sure if this was inspired by places like 10 Barrel locally or Stone down in San Diego, but their food is now much higher quality, slightly more expensive, and far better than it used to be. It's now one of the best restaurants in Bend for the money.

Service - Always great service. The people who work at Deschutes are really amazing people, from the bartenders to the brewers to the servers. Quick service, very few mistakes, and it's easy to become a regular.

Selection - The selection is great. They now offer a bunch of local meats, cheeses, and vegetables in many of their dishes, like Carlton Farms steaks or Tumalo Farms cheese. They cook a lot with their beer, and there's truly something for everyone on the menu.

Value - Good prices that are reflective of the area.

Beer - The brewpub is always making interesting beers in smaller batches that you won't find at the brewery itself or in any store. I love getting samplers of everything I haven't tried, and they usually have quite a few different beers to choose from.

The quality of the beer is excellent, even if I don't always enjoy the style. It's hard to compare the small-batch beers to Deschutes' primary brewing operation, but overall their beer is top-notch for a brewpub of its size.

Deschutes Brewery and Public House is an icon that I will continue to frequent for the next 20 years. I look forward to visiting again after they're done with the addition (the old Yoko's building next door) and trying whatever new brews they may be concocting.

12-16-2011 20:51:35 | More by jtmartino

isualum12

Idaho

4.38/5  rDev +3.1%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 5 | food: 4 | $$$

Let's start with outside. Yeah a lot of construction but still looks great in the heart of a great town. Damn I would mov to bend in a heart beat. Got seated really fast. Ordered up great beers from the start. Food was on the high end but had big portions and tasted great. There is a lot of food options that meet the need of all six of us.
I ordered a solid burger that was cooked just as I requested it. The second beer went down really smooth. My wife had a sandwich that made me wish we were coming back for dinner.

Over all great place with even better beer. Best large brewery restaurant I have ever been to.

12-16-2011 05:12:36 | More by isualum12

MilwaukeeCrusher

Wisconsin

4.4/5  rDev +3.5%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

First of all, I was able to get a fresh glass of Black Butte so that was a very good start. I decided to wear my cheesehead into the pub since it worked so well in North Carolina for meeting people here. No dice here, either people are depressed or pretty much indifferent about anything. I was told the latter to be true, since people in here and in Portland have probably seen just about anything. I did a flight and as always their beers were very good. Place was packed that night, and people pretty much kept to their groups. Service was very good and if I ever am in Bend again, I probably would stop.

11-13-2011 07:34:48 | More by MilwaukeeCrusher

bradybeer

California

4.44/5  rDev +4.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

WOW what a difference 18 years make. I made visit here in 1993 and now my wife is able to visit.

We got there when they opened at 11am and grabbed a booth near the bar.

There must have been about 25 beers on tap as we had two 6 beer samplers including Chainbreaker White IPA (so so),Horse Ridge IPA (off the hook good), Pilgrim IPD (Loved it), Scooby's Rye PA (not bad), Twin Pillars Strong (pretty good), the Stoic (outstanding), and a few others. Ordered pints of the Horse Ridge. Didn't eat anything here but did get a couple of Ts and two bottles of Stoic.

Our second favorite brewery on the Bend trip-just beating out Bend Brewing.

08-22-2011 20:12:29 | More by bradybeer