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 the same server both times we went that weekend, and he was really good and able to turn large crouds of people that came through on the bike pedal tour quickly and without issues.

This brewery has a wide range of their own beers on tap and somewhat limited, but interesting menu of food to order from. Each morning, they are a coffee house that serves the area business people with great coffee and is always busy (as one of the 20 downtown Starbucks is more than a few blocks away… YEAY!). They also have daily specials of soup, sammiches, and a chef’s burger, which is really good. We didn’t order that much food the first visit we made on Saturday, but the next day we went back for “happy hour all day Sunday” and ordered a bunch of their happy hour food and some of the normal menu items. The food was really exceptional, and the beer matches the quality.

Keep in mind if you do visit this great Portland brewery, they have some seating and the production equipment in a large back room (where the kitchen is). It’s interesting to have walked back to that area assuming that’s only where the bathrooms were to be surprised by the size and what’s there. I highly recommend that if you do go during peek business hours, that you try to get a spot in back, as the front area where the LCD TV’s and bar are can get pretty loud quickly.

Below are a few additional pictures I took of our visit, and of the taster trays we got. The beer reviews go from left to right, starting from the back to front of the pictures. We were all impressed by the quality and styles of beer they poured for us. We plan on making this one of our regular stops when we do brewery outings to try newer and seasonal beers periodically. The sucky thing, is that we knew this place was around for a while, and just never got around to going…guess we need to pay more attention to the list of where and were we have not been. 🙂

412 NW 5th Ave, Portland, Oregon 97209
Phone: (503) 564-BREW
Web: http://www.pintsbrewing.com/
Email: info@pintsbrewing.com
Face: www.facebook.com/PintsUrbanTaproom

Brick House Blonde
Pints Brewing Company • Golden Ale/Blond Ale • IBU: 18 • ABV: 5.0%
Nice straw-yellow cloudy color and small pillowy white head that drops quickly. The nose is really soft with biscuit and a hint of corn sweetness. The front mouthfeel and mid is a bit thin, but smooth with little to no bitter present. Slight sweet malt presence of grass and wheat.
Seismic IPA
Pints Brewing Company • American IPA • IBU: 75 • ABV: 6.2%
Hops: Columbus, Amarillo, Cascade and Simcoe
This beer pours as an unfiltered lighter orange/amber color with a thin white head. Nose presents citrus and slight hop florals and a sweet characteristic from the malts. This IPA has a thicker mouthfeel and a broad, complex set of hop flavors from crisp grapefruit peel, herbal and dry-hopped (spicy?) esters on the front and mid mouthfeel. There is a bit of lingering bitterness on the back.
Rip Saw Red
Pints Brewing Company • Red Ale • IBU: 60 • ABV: 6.6%
Malts: pale, carapils, caramel and chocolate
30+ SRM mid-red amber hue on this NW red ale with an off-white head that left nice lacing on the glass. The nose is strong bready malts, sweet caramel with hints of hop resins. The front mouth is sharp pine and citrus hops balanced with big biscuit grain presence. The full mid-mouthfeel combines the hop and malt profiles really well with lingering caramel sugars, spicy hops, and a wood-like back.
Steel Bridge Stout
Pints Brewing Company • Stout • IBU: 22 • ABV: 5.2%
Malts: Midnight Wheat, Black Prinz, Roasted Barley, Special B and Chocolate
Hops: Columbus, Willamettes
40+ rich dark black/brown appearance with a darker tan head that lingers on the rim. The nose is pure espresso and bitter chocolates. The front mouth is like drinking coffee, with a slight thinner body but strong flavor profile. The coffee and bitter chocolates linger well past the back mouthfeel.
Braumeister’s Mess-Up Dopplesticke
Pints Brewing Company • Altbier • IBU: 75 • ABV: 8.5%
35+ SRM, dark amber color with a small-frothing white head. The nose is sweet caramel malts. The front mouth does present a LOT of malt/biscuit with slight dry to spicy bitterness to help balance it out. There is a yeasty character to it that is similar to Belgum style amber. This is a good, strong alt.
Admiral Hamilton 2013 Barleywine
Pints Brewing Company • Barleywine • IBU: 100+ • ABV: 9.3%
Slighter amber hue and flat white head on this beer. There is a bit of sweetness on the nose with out the usual strong malt or hops that come with a barleywine. The mouthfeel is full bodied, and it does present a dry malt profile and fresh/green fruit like flavor.
Seismic Upgrade
Pints Brewing Company • Imperial/Double IPA • IBU: 100+ • ABV: 8.2%
This double IPA pours a nice red-bronze hue with the nose including hops ranging from citrus-grapefruit peel to pine-resin and a light toasted malt. The front mouth is strong hop fruit to herbal bitters. There is a lengthy linger on the bitterness that is almost metallic like.
Hibernator Weizendoppelbock
Pints Brewing Company • Doppelbock • IBU: 18 • ABV: 7.6%
This is an hybridized weizen and bock beer that pours a mid-amber color (24 SRM). The nose presents lots of yeasty clove, banana’s and toffee malts. Fruit and spice on the front and mid-mouthfeel. The overall take is that this is a amber filtered weizen with average flavor profiles.
Altstadt
Pints Brewing Company • Altbier • IBU: 34 • ABV: 4.9%
Hops: German Noble
This is a great altbier with a 34-ish SRM dark amber hue and bright white head. Malty sweet nose, slight bitter spicy front, full carbonation & bodied with rounded fluffy effervescence.
Dunkelweizen
Pints Brewing Company • German Dark Wheat • IBU: 14 • ABV: 4.9%
Malts: Light Wheat, Pilsner, Dark Wheat, Dark Caramel, Munich, Carafa II
Hops: German Magnum
Traditional German style Dunkelweizen with a mid-amber 28 SRM color and the head flattens quickly but leaves a little lacing on the glass. There is a bit of clove and yeast on the nose with a hint of banana fruit. This is a straight up Bavarian style weizen in mouthfeel and flavor profiles.

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