Sunday 26th June 2011

Bob Thompson

This brew pub is part of a large chain. It is situated on a corner at 206 SW Morrison Street. I had already visited the Seattle premises on this trip and liked it, so what was the Portland version going to be like?

In some respects it was better. What I like about Rock Bottom is that there is always cask beer on offer and here there were two. As time was at a premium I cut out the sampler tray and went for a pint each of the cask beers, served from chilled casks located in front of a television screen showing baseball.

The full range offered was Kölsch, White Ale, IPA, Red Ale, Dark, Double Brit IPA, Bio Bock, IPA and Saison. I had a pint of IRA (Imperial Red Ale), a strange style but actually tasted great, followed by IPA, mouth-crinkly brilliant.

The layout is unusual inasmuch that the brewery is situated above the bar area. After that it was back to the station for northbound Coast Starlight to Seattle, where arrival was too late for pub-crawling, so I went straight to the hotel.

Important Information:

Rock Bottom Brewery & Restaurant, 206 SW Morrison Street, Portland OR. 97204.
Tel: 503 796 2739

Open: Sun and Mon 11.00-24.00; Tues to Thurs 11.00-01.00; Fri and Sat 11.00-01.30

Rock Bottom is located in the city centre on the approach to the Morrison Bridge.
It is one block away from the Red and Blue lines of the MAX rapid transit and also 3 and 4 blocks east of the MAX Green and Yellow lines. There many bus routes.