Buckman Botanical Brewery

I was absolutely excited to go here. I love it when brewers go off the beaten path and make beer with unique ingredients. Unique, floral beers are my thing, and I was ready to try some.
The beer wasn’t anything to write home about, but the sanitation definitely was. This was hands-​down the dirtiest brewery I’ve ever been in, and I’ve been in quite a few. I don’t even remember what beer I’ve had as I was just itching to leave, but I do remember that between my wife and I, neither beers were actually worth buying.
Just skip this place. I’d rather go to a bad brewery here in Michigan before I go here again. I feel dirty now just writing this review.

Interesting brewery inside or associated with Green Dragon ale house/​bar. Solid line-​up of craft beers and in a very mellow unpretentious bar room with picnic tables and a low key atmosphere. They have over 30 tap handles (if I counted correctly) split between a couple of bars.

I had high expectations for this place from the name — I was dreaming of interestingly brewed concotions with floral, fragrant aromas and deep, unusual flavours. Unfortunately I found it to be more average and generic than that.
The space was a bit dank and divey on a sunny day, but we were greeted promptly and taken to the back tasting counter. It’s really more of a pub than a tasting room, and I was told that I wasn’t able to try just one or two in the small tasting size, but rather I had to get a full flight. Sigh. Ok fine, everywhere’s different I guess. I should have just tasted the few sips the guy gave me as the full paddle was way too much of a bunch of beers I wasn’t enamoured with.
Their ginger infused beer was ok, but didn’t have nearly enough ginger taste for me. There was a Christmassy tasting stout that was pretty decent, a cider that wasn’t bad, and a couple of others that were unfortunately pretty forgettable.
I misunderstood what this was going to be, so I was disappointed. Perhaps if I’d known I would have enjoyed it more.

It was virtually empty on a Sunday afternoon and the bartender and wait staff were rude and slow. We asked for chips and salsa and waited about 10 minutes before asking again. The bartender said «I’ll check» and comes back only to say the kitchen is backed up… Once again there was almost no one there. It’s chips and salsa, put some chips in a basket, scoop out some salsa and that’s all you have to do. I waited tables for 2.5 years and understand it can be tough but there was no excuse in this circumstance. The beer I had was marginal as well. With so many great options in this city I would avoid this one unless you’ve been to all 60+ other breweries.

Co-​located in the Green Dragon; I’m not sure of the exact relation between the two, but the Green Dragon brand seems to be used for small pilot batches, while their regular lines are sold as Buckman brews. Industrial-​looking room, with windows overlooking the brewing floor.
The house specialty is beers flavored with various botanicals rather than hops. I tried tasters of several lines, including one guest tap.
— Green Dragon Oubliette Black. Dark brown, with a light head. Bitter hop, piney, and «cat pee» nose. Complex roast malt and bitter hop taste, with something grassy at the finish.
— Buckman Corn Lager. Slightly cloudy gold, light head. Almost no nose. Taste is a sour note over sweet corn and malt. Somewhat earthy or musty fade, with a definite corn presence throughout.
— Buckman Spiced Belgian Dark. 8% ABV. Not quite opaque dark brown, with a minimal head. Sweet malt nose, with a bit of ethanol. Complex sweet malt and ethanol front, with a sort of smoked sausage note. Delicious!
— Buckman Ginger Pale Ale. 5.5%. Medium gold, light head. Perfumey nose. Sweet malt taste, with a hint of something like bread mould. Fizzy.
— Buckman Super Braggot. 8%. A combination of mead and pale ale. Slightly cloudy medium gold. Floral nose. Sweet malt taste, slightly musty.
— Buckman Double Fruitcake Stout. Near-​opaque dark brown, halo head. Tobacco nose. Complex front: sweet malt, raisins, tobacco; good, though not really very suggestive of fruitcake.
— Ecliptic Brewing Co., Portland: Oort Imperial Stout. 8.5%, 72 IBU. Served in a snifter. Opaque near-​black, medium head. Surprisingly little nose, mostly malt with a touch of yeastiness. Very nice front, with roast malt and ethanol, going to a slow, creamy fade. Does not taste as bitter as the 72 IBU would suggest.

Great variety of herbal beers. Fun brewery with awesome brewmaster. Great selection of draft from wide range of breweries as well.

I had the beer tasting tray. Yuck. As my friend said, it tasted like something they made in the bathtub. With all the superb beer in Portland, I’d skip this place.

I loved the apple beer, they also had wild rice beer that was a bit strange for me. Went at Zwinckelmania, the brewmaster was very amusing and passionate! This place is behind the Green Dragon, their beers are served there!

I love the ginger pale ale! It’s so flavorful and fresh. I’ve also tried the fish and chips and they were pretty good (specially during happy hour, so cheap!)
The service is great, the waitresses are friendly, they help you decide on a drink if you are not sure what to order. Great place for big groups!

I love that they are open at 11 am on a sunny Sunday, perfect for sitting outside in the shade :)

This was our 3^rd stop on our walking brew tour after Cascade Brewing. We saw this place was across the street and thought we’d check it out.
They share a space with Green Dragon Bistro, which was a little confusing, because there are literally 2 bars with 2 different menus, but you can order from either menu at either bar… Anyway, we sat at the Green Dragon bar and ordered the Buckman sampler.
I honestly can’t even remember what we tried, whatever was on tap the day after the 4^th of July. It was nothing to write home about — I thought all 4 tastes were below average — like homebrews that haven’t been fine tuned yet.
We probably wouldn’t return here. With so many other REALLY good breweries in Portland, I think they need to step up their game to last.

They have 50 beers on tap at any point in time, with about five Buckman beers. The ginger beer is excellent, the chamomellow is also very good. The environment is casual, little effort put into ambiance. The french fries are decent. The staff is courteous, but sometimes slow to respond.

This place probably had my favorite beer of all Zwickelmania – yup still at it. The ginger ale was fantastic. I love that they are experimenting with flavors and are a low-​hop/​no hop brewery. I hate hops. Haha! Either way, all I could imagine while i sipped on the ginger beer was sitting by a pool in the middle of summer. The Chammomile beer was also pretty tasty as well. I hope they can open their own place soon, they get lost in the Green Dragon.

Buckman Brewery was not even on our list as to go place for our weekend in Portland but I just could not resist popping in and have a few samples when my Unilocal app search for «Bars» has Green Dragon Bistro and Brew Pub kept popping up.
I can smell the sweetness of Buckman Brewery while I looked through those glass windows where all those barrels with beer brewing!
«Buckman is a low-​hop, no-​hop brewery that specializes in traditional and experimental styles of beer & cider with a botanical twist. While many craft beers are characterized by their malt and hop character, Buckman beers feature tea, chamomile, ginger, and other herbs and spices.»
I did tried some ginger, pumpkin, Cinnamon, lemon and green tea beers before, but what Buckman offers though is a little different.
We shared a flight of
Parnold Almer Kolsch
Chamomellow Pale Ale
Ginger Pale Ale
Black Saison
Jasmine Green Tea Mead
I do like the Ginger Pale Ale the best. The taste of most of the beers are more delicate and light. A great alternatives for some people that prefers a hop free beers.
While sipping all these botanical beers, I secretly hope that one day my doctor will tell me to drink more Jasmine Green Tea Mead because it is high in antioxidants or the Charmomellow is perfect for me to drink when I have a cold instead of taking medications!

This microbrewery is located inside the Green Dragon Bistro and Brew Pub. Their specialty are beers brewed with botanicals. Whatever’s current is available on tap, with flights offered, along with kegs, bottles, and growlers to go, all at Green Dragon. The brewery also gives tours on weekdays.
We sampled a flight of five Buckman brews at Green Dragon (all that was available). True to their focus, there are many botanicals not so frequently seen in other beers, which made for one of the most unique samplings I’ve had. I am decidedly not a fan of their brews though; just about all were easy-​drinking, which is to say, too mild for me to find interesting but others’ mileage will surely vary. Somewhat better were Parnold Almer, a cute play on word and tasting of the expected lemon and tea, Ginger, with a gently zingy and fresh tasting flavor, and Chamomellow, chamomile in light beer form. Less memorable were Black Saison, normally my favored beer style but the spice, funk, and complexity that I find appealing is mostly absent in this light brew, and Jasmine Green Tea Mead (though technically mead, a honey wine).
Buckman Brewery occupies an interesting niche and exemplifies the sort of creative brewing that goes on in Portland. But probably not for those seeking flavorful, complex beers.