Home Archive by category "Brewery Review" (Page 12)

Category: Brewery Review

Review: Pints Brewing Company, Portland Oregon

PINTS BREWING COMPANY, PORTLAND OREGON Pints in downtown Portland Oregon was the third of four breweries we visited on Saturday, January 24th 2015. This is a really cool place that’s been around for a number of years and with a good grasp on their beer production. The breweries location in Old Town is both a blessing for those that take mass transit (as it’s on the Max line) and painful for those that drive, as there is only limited metered on-street parking nearby. You can see from the pictures posted that they have two doorways to enter through at the front with a few signs and tables to sit on the sidewalk. They do allow you to take glass pints outside, so if you are willing to risk it, then you can take your pint outside and sip it under the sun, or in the case of those sitting outside when we visited, the fog. From the street, this looks like a coffee house, as the initial room you enter into is somewhat small with limited seating and a few TV’s that they show sports or whatever you ask them to turn on (Sci or History channel, etc.). We had …

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Review: Uptown Market, Beaverton Oregon

UPTOWN MARKET, BEAVERTON OREGON On Saturday, January 24th 2015, we visited a number of breweries around the Portland-metro area in celebration of my birthday and the second place we stopped was the Uptown Market on SW Schools Ferry Road. None of us had been there before and as you can see from the outside picture, it’s sort of a 7-11 vibe but just for beer. They don’t have food inside, but a food truck parked outside in the small parking lot. Speaking of the inside, you’ll find beer on draft at the counter, beer in bottles and cans on the shelves and coolers, and a few wine bottles along the short wall. They also have some home-brewing stuff available for purchase as well spread about the store. The people that work there are really up on what they are doing, and will go out of their way to help you if you have questions. The reader-board by the counter (as shown in the picture) does provide information about each of the beers on draft, either their own or guest taps. They do have a large LCD TV by the tables that usually has sports on. The tables and chairs are …

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Review: Max’s Fanno Creek Brew Pub, Tigard Oregon

MAX’S FANNO CREEK BREW PUB, TIGARD OREGON On Saturday, January 24th 2015, we went for a little brewery tour around Portland in celebration of my birthday. In picking the places to visit, we decided to hit a few we have been too in the past to give them a second try, and then a few that we had not been too before. The first brewery we visited was Max’s Fanno Creek Brew Pub in downtown Tigard Oregon. This downtown area is a quaint ‘small town vibe’ and Max’s fits right in. They have a large seating area outside that was not in use when we were there due to the weather, but one can imagine that it is popular during the warmer months. Inside, there is some brew production on the right side behind some windows, and a large restaurant area. As this is one gigantic room, there is no real safe place to escape kids, and even there on a Saturday for lunch, there were plenty of tables around us with little kids playing. They do also have a few large flat-screen TV’s to watch sports on, and the background audio is usually what game is on. Regarding their …

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Review: Brannon’s Pub and Brewery, Beaverton Oregon

BRANNON’S PUB AND BREWERY, BEAVERTON OREGON UPDATE: This brewery/restaurnat closed in 2016 due to management issues. We spent our usual Wednesday happy-hour outing this week (21 January 2015) taking a little road trip out to Beaverton Oregon to visit Brannon’s Brewery. This is basically a brewery in a strip mall. Totally a commercial vibe like a chain restaurant with lots of brushed metal and a huge dinning area, brewery equipment in the back behind windows, game room w/ darts, banquet rooms, and bar area with tables and bar seating (no kids in that area). I do have to mention that the bar has odd shaped tables around the outside wall and LCD TVs in the wall at each of the bar tables with USB and outlets to plug your stuff in, which is nice. There is also a tablet that is attached to the wall that controls the TV and has stuff on it that you can ‘do’ while there. The TV at the table (literally 1 foot from your face) is incredibly distracting and makes it easy to ignore the people you are sitting with. The food menu has a good variety of American fare with slightly elevated prices. …

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Review: Fat Head’s Brewing, Portland Oregon

FAT HEAD’S BREWING, PORTLAND OREGON I visited this brewery and restaurant on Wednesday January 15th with a good friend Stan. He’s got a LOT of experience with beer judging and tasting and was happy to visit with me. I would like to thank him for his willingness to help me become a better reviewer of beers as my skills at it are still somewhat lacking the vocabulary it really needs. This restaurant and brewery is really big and open. Some would call it corporate in nature as they have locations in more than one city across the US. The left the rafters exposed, hung industrial lighting, put the brewing tanks on the west side of the inside behind large windows. The food menu is really expansive and caters to the larger portion sizes common to the mid-west restaurant scene. They have just about any sort of food you can imagine. We have not been disappointed with the quick service and knowledgeable bar tenders. When we ordered a taster of all of their beers, they normally do paddles of 5 at a time, but the bartender just brought them to us 3 at a time until we had all 15 of …

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Review: Fábrica Maravillas, Madrid Spain

FÁBRICA MARAVILLAS, MADRID SPAIN On an early January afternoon we ventured out in Madrid seeking one of the only local breweries in town. This brewery is on a small old city street called Calle Valverde, not far from where our hotel was located. This brewery has a few tables outside to sit at when it’s warm and just a few tables inside and a bar to sit at if you can find a seat. They do have menus available in English and Spanish which give the descriptions of the beer and light tapas food they offer. Inside you will find modern decor, exposed wood and brick make the vibe really hip compared to many shops and eateries in the neighborhood that are not so. The staff is super friendly and willing to help you with the beers, which the offer in a couple of different sizes. I’ve read the owner and brewer is from Chicago, which explains the Americdan style microbrewery vibe to the joint. We definitely recommend this spot to anyone seeking good craft beer in Madrid! You will see in the pictures that they do have their brewing equipment just behind the bar and you can ask the …

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