Craft Pour House Adds to Beaverton's Beer Scene

Laurelwood's Rando IPA #12,
one of the grand opening beers
and Craft's 1st keg to kick.

Craft Pour House made their debut on the tap room scene in Beaverton last week, adding to the number of reasons to head out to the west metro. The nearly 2,000 square foot space sits on the end of a strip mall off of SW Walker and 158th Ave surrounded by abundant parking. With two of the four walls being nearly all windows the space inside is bright and filled with a combination of small and large tables to easily accommodate any size group in addition to my seating of choice, a bar facing the taps.


Justin demonstrates the face many die hard craft beer drinkers respond with when asked "what's your favorite beer?"

Those taps, 26 of them, are primarily filled with craft beer but also include two for wine, four for cider/mead and even one pouring cold coffee. Justin Craft, co-owner with wife Violet, knows his beer and the tap list reflects that. He also knows that many craft beer fans like to try multiple beers so there are 10 and 16oz sizes available (plus the requisite sampler tray). An added bonus is that the majority of the 10oz beers are $3.


Food and non-alcoholic beverages

To go along with the beer, and to allow minors to enter (currently until 5pm), there is a deli case of sandwiches, wraps and salads. As is the case with many tap rooms that don't have a kitchen, outside food is welcome. There are a variety of Asian-ish restaurants close by (Thai Cabin, Crazy Sushi Shoten, Wu's Kitchen and Best Teriyaki), a Fred Meyer across the street and what would be my eatery of choice when in the area: Popeye's. Or bring something from home...maybe a picnic to be enjoyed on one of the outside tables with your furry friend.

Whether you live/work in Beaverton or are just looking for a new place to hit some weekend (traffic can be messy during the week if you're coming from the east side as I am), Craft Pour House is definitely worth checking out.

16055 SW Regatta Lane, Beaverton
Open 11am - 11pm daily

Brannon's Pub & Brewery: Increasing the Suburban Beer Options

Brannon's Pub & Brewery opened in Beaverton last week and I accepted an invitation to check them out last night. Living in SE Portland I don't get to that part of the metro often and I don't have a problem admitting that if I hadn't been invited, there's a good chance it might have been quite a while before I visited. Thankfully wading through rush hour traffic to get there turned out to be worth it, revealing a couple of beers and food that hit high notes for me.

Before we get to my favorites from the brewery and kitchen, a little background for you. Kevin Brannon, and his business partner, Chris Evans, began working on the concept for the brewpub a little over a year ago and quickly assembled a team with Devin Benware heading up the brewing operations and Sean Beanblossom running the kitchen. Devin, although only in his 20's, has been honing his brewing skills for years, embarking on home brewing while still in high school in Vermont. After relocating to Portland he took a kitchen position at Old Market Pub & Brewery and made his way into the brewery the same way many do - cleaning kegs.

I tried six of Devin's beers and it was Thunderbuss, an oatmeal stout of the dry, roasty variety, and Vernepator, an Americal Pale Ale with substantial hop character, that made my taste buds light up. If you know much about my taste buds this will come as a bit of a surprise to you; it did to me. Vernepator was actually the first beer of the evening and I wasn't sure about it at first but as I continued to sip it, the citrus and pine notes of the hops built and I realized I was quite enjoying it. Thunderbuss was more of a hit with me right from the get go, hitting my stout sweet spot, one that is restrained in sweetness with a roasty body. I had expected the IPA and black IPA to be my favorites but both were maltier than I prefer.

Devin, less than since making his first batch in the 10 barrel system, made a couple of comments that belies his youth and I hope speaks to a bright brewing future for him and Brannon's. The first was in response to a question regarding plans for other beers than the current lineup, to which he replied, "The basic beers need to be perfect before we go in another direction." As a follow up to that he also commented that he wants to improve on the current recipes but he, "wants to know what Beaverton wants to drink," and work in that direction. 

Now a bit of background on the food side of the operation. Sean, another young 'en, spent most of his life in Washington, just a few miles from the Canadian border. During his trek south to Portland, via Seattle and Bellingham, he obtained a degree in culinary arts and gained experience at a variety of restaurants. Kevin joked that Sean "came in the box" with the Woodstone Corp. hearth oven that was carefully selected to turn out pizzas like the Neapolitan ones he'd fallen in love with during a trip to Rome. The pizza was the highlight of the food part of the evening for me and although I'm not stuck on a certain style I know what I like, I know they're hard to find and I know the ones Sean is making go on my short list.

I'm not sure when I'll make it back to Brannon's but you can be sure that I'll be keeping my eye out for the monthly beer and food pairings that are coming down the pike in the new year. Perhaps I'll see you there.

Brannon's Pub & Brewery
3800 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton
503-567-8003
Open weekdays at 11 am, weekends at 9:00 am