Cascade Brewing Barrel House

This is a great place if you dig the sour beers. More on that below.
My first time here was at Zwicklemania the last 2 years. If you’ve never tried sour beers, the first sip can be pretty shocking. That said, Cascade really embraces the idea of Z-​mania which is to introduce newbies to what you do. They always have 3 – 4 tasters of their sours available at separate stations and each is manned by one of the staff to educate you on what youre tasting. So many other breweries just keep some free tasters of the weakest swill on deck just to appease the ‘cretins’, I guess. That said, my first two tries I still hadn’t acquired the taste for sours. Since then, Ive come around and decided to pay Cascade a visit. Good thing, too.
So I had to deduct one star since the food menu is pretty small. There just isn’t much variety which can be a bummer. But the muffaletta was pretty damned good, and it would seem the effort is directed toward the sours, which are expensive and labor intensive to make. So there IS that. The staff here seems pretty dedicated to what they do, and it shows. I chatted with a few of the brewers as well as the bartender. All were very knowledgeable about the beers they make and sell. This is huge, since these beers aren’t simple and accessible lagers and ales. They aren’t even the typical NW IPAs that are so prevalent here. Ill be back! An when my dad and/​or brother in law (rabid fans of sours, and got me to open to them) are back in town, Ill be dragging them in.
Not many people have tried sours, they are still pretty obscure, so Ill touch on my experiences. Take everything you know about ‘beer’ and throw it out the window. Sours are NOTHING like any other beer, except maybe a few Belgians and lambics which seem to be how sours start out. In fact, as one of Cascade’s brewers said these are great to try if you don’t like beer. They can be anything from having a hint of sourness on up to very tart. The flavors are all over the chart and with the varied styles, ‘dry’ and ‘sour’ are sometimes the only common thread. Some people take to them right away, but for me it was an acquired taste. That was unusual for me, since I tend to immediately like acquired tastes such as oysters, scotch, etc. Some are more similar to a Belgian blonde or wit, many are a form of lambic since they are aged, fruited and/​or spiced, blended with younger or older beers and then aged again. Still others taste a lot like wines. In my opinion, the first one you should try would be the Honey/​Ginger/​Lime. Its a lot like a Moscow mule with a lot of lime. If you can acclimate to that, its a good base to get used to the idea of sour beers.

Great place to taste sours! It’s walking distance from Commons brewery so we went here afterwards. Lots more tables and booths to sit here which is nice. Atmosphere is chill and like a nicer dive bar. The staff is very friendly and helpful and helped recommend some sours for us since it was our first time here.
The most popular sour here is the honey ginger lime, and I can see why! This was by far my favorite. The honey and ginger flavors are so good. Apparently this is the only one they make year round since it’s so popular. They used to only make it in July and August but got so many requests for it in other months they started making it year round. My next favorite is the blackcap raspberry.
Great place if you like sours though they have some good non sours too!

Everytime I visit PDX I come to the Barrelhouse and Brewhouse. The barrelhouse is a little bit on the adult side. You can still bring your children, but they have a lighter menu and it’s more of a taproom vibe, which is a-​ok because the Brewhouse (Racoon Lodge) is super kid friendly and is great for families.
They also have Tap it Tuesday which are super fun and allows a chosen patron to tap their barrel for the week. I always have such a great time here, staff is super friendly and helpful, and their brews are always amazing. Last time I was there I had a hot beer and it sounded scary, but was so good I had 3! Love the experimenting here. Cheers!

They have great beers and a really good staff. A friend and I went here and I told the waiter what Im looking for and he brought me exactly what I asked for.
The atmosphere was the only thing I wasn’t a huge fan of. It has the look of a chain restaurant like Red Robins or TGIFriday.
I would probably stop by here again but would not go out of my way since I live in the west side

What a fantastic place to come for sours. If you don’t like sours, you may have a totally different opinion of the place. I will add that although I have been here twice, I have never had any food, just beer (so my review is based on atmosphere, beer and service).
Both times I have been it was easy to get a table and a server was quick to take our order. The servers are also so helpful in giving advice for what to drink (although everything I have had has been good).
As for atmosphere, in the summer they have outdoor seating and the garage doors make it nice to sit both inside and out.

I love a good sour beer and don’t get here as often as I’d like to but today was a great day to pop in — out and about enjoying this glorious sunny weather!
Kriek and blueberry are my two favorite go tos.
Husband had the stout which is made with blonde malts so it looks like an IPA but tastes like a creamy coffee stout /​weird for me but I come here for the sour.
A good sip of sour takes me to a cool ancient cellar in olde Europe for a split second. Fun time travel experience if you are open to it :)
Food here is usually tasty too but we only had a couple beers today. Charcuterie is solid.
Lots of staff providing great service!

One of the stops on our Portland trip. Funny enough, it wasn’t planned but it turned out great! It was local and had awesome reviews… but what made our decision was their niche: sour beers. Big fan of tart and sours right here!
I loved everything we tried; the fruits and flavors dominate each beer and there are SO many to choose from. We ordered a whole slew and lined them up to create a pretty beer rainbow. :) The feel of the place is pretty nice, too. It’s off the beaten path a bit, and has lots of seating and is pretty much open air. Lots of light, which I like, even on a gloomy day, and it happened to be raining outside. Great beer makes the day so much better!
Since this place was really busy when we came in, it did take a while to get seated and order each round, but it doesn’t matter too much. The atmosphere is relaxing, nonethless, the beer is delicious as heck and it’s all priced right. I’m hoping on another trip to Portland soon and Cascade, without a doubt, will be on the list.
Can you tell I’m a little enamored with the city?

Seriously. This place sets the standard in sour beer by which no other place competes. All the gold stars to Cascade Brewing!
Ok so their food could use a little help. BUT WHO CARES? They have the best sour beers on the planet and like 20+ flavors in stock at any time. Did I mention you can buy a bottle of sour beer to take home and show your friends that you’re way cooler than they are?
You can and you should. Are you there yet?
What’s wrong with you? You go now!

Gotta love a good sour beer, and Cascade does them right!
Arrived during a weekday evening so we had no problems finding street parking and also getting a table inside. Woohoo, already off to a good start!
We opted for the tasters so that we could try as many sours on tap as we could squeeze in before they closed. You can get up to 3 tasters/​person at a time, so we were able to taste about 10 different sour varieties plus a taster of their Oblique B&W Coffee stout. With Cascade’s taster pricing ranging from $ 2 – 2.50, no complaints from me!
Notable standouts to me were:
1) Blueberry
2) Sang Royal (aged in Cabernet & Port barrels)
3) Oblique B&W Coffee Stout (non sour beer)
4) Kriek (cherry sour)
5) Apricot
6) Noyaux (Raspberry/​Apricot)
Looking forward to returning and trying out the remaining sours as well as my own pint of that deeeelicious Oblique Coffee Stout! As you can see… my beer preferences are sours, stouts & porters. Ha, so take my recommendations lightly based on your own beer preferences. 2 others in our drinking party are IPA fans and they really liked the Bourbonic Sour as well. Now go! Go get your sour on!

Wow. Never thought I’d like or get into Sour beers, but this place made me a believer.
Cascade makes the full line-​up of beers from Ales to stouts to Lagers, but this location in particular happens to be their aging room for their Sours.
Try the Honey Ginger Lime Sour or the Elderberry. There are so many to choose from so order what your palette leans towards.
Really good and unique and it rounds out a craft beer tour for this category of beer.

I’m not a beer drinker and I still thoroughly enjoyed our little rendezvous here!
I love that they have $ 2 tastings because I’m that gal who can’t even finish drinking a pint of beer without feeling bloated and full.
For all those girly girls out there, the pumpkin smash was my favorite!!!
Food was satisfying after a day of hiking. I liked he clam chowder and the meatball cheddar truffle pot pie was served piping hot and hit the spot.
Service was fast and friendly.

A brewery devoted entirely to sours is something that I like to see. I’ll admit it, I’ve never been a huge fan of sour beers, but I think that’s probably because I haven’t taken the time to find any that I really like.
Our brief visit at Cascade Brewing shone the light on a few that are really outstanding:
+ HONEY GINGER LIME
+ BLACKCAP RASPBERRY
+ KRIEK
If you want to do tasters, it’s $ 2/​taster, and you’re only permitted to have 2 at a time per person (guessing it’s because the beers have high alcohol levels?). The location here is simple, but perfect for a night-​time adventure with friends, and the service is fantastic. It’s also family friendly (although not dog friendly, sadly — I’d much rather see pups around than children climbing on top of the tables!).

Do mine own eyes deceive me? A brewery that pours mostly sours, proper krieks and funky stone fruit ales? Yass.
The space itself is the epitome of no-​frills. It’s along a busy road, in an industrial quadrant of a stark stretch. So, get ready to sit at a barrel, breathe a little dust, and quaff the sharpness. You could opt for their limited menu of eats — beer cheese soup, a cured meats board, a smattering of sandwiches and salads — or you could be like us and drink your lunch. There’s fruit in there. Fruit = vitamins.
The craft libations list from most mild to potent pucker punches, which will aid the Tasters on a Mission who’ve gotta drink ‘em all. I sipped the Apricot ($ 2 taste) and pulled a full pour of their signature Kriek ($ 9) — a bold, high-​proof lambic that drinks like a tart red ale. Yeasty, tannic, scrumptious. And at 8.5 points, it’s not your kid’s juice box.
Midday, there’s a weird vibe as Belmont traffic whizzes by, disrupting the serenity of the umbrella’d front patio. Weekends or evenings, though? Scrape that tongue and get sour, Jack.

Cascade makes awesome beers, no doubt about that. If you are considering going here, you should know that most of their offerings are sours, and I can’t say much else other than that they are delicious and you will be happy with the taste of what you order.
Service-​wise, they fall utterly flat. The servers are unfriendly and slow, and make weird remarks and just generally cause the establishment to make less money than it could. When you actively make customers want to leave rather than buying more beer, you are really harming the business.

Oh gosh that’s sour!
When I saw the previous reviews I had to come here! I’m not a big fan of sours but with the $ 2.50 taster option and two of my friends, it was a big, «why the hell not?»
From memory, we had apricot, elderberry, honey ginger lime, chocolate, and two that were similar to cabs. Honestly, I can tell you honey ginger line was my favorite and everything else was super sour.
This is definitely a really fun experience and if you’re a sour fan, you would LOVE it here.
Try it out! Great place to exercise your open mindedness here!

In a city full of craft beer, Cascade should be on the top of any craft beer geeks for their larger than 20 taps of imaginative and well-​executed sour beers. I appreciated that you can do a pair of 2oz tasters at a time, which helps you focus on what is in front of you and savor all the nuances.
With large glass garage-​style doors your experience inside at the bar or outside at picnic tables should be an experience of relaxation and pleasure. I would love to fill up this review waxing eloquently on my experience, but there is no need — Cascade is a must visit in Portland, Oregon, which means it is one of the top beer destinations in the United States.

The beer is amazing!!! I’ve always loved cascade beers and supported them via purchasing their bottles whenever it was available in my local craft beer store. I’m from California so I was super excited to come check this place out and it was actually one of the first places I visited. Extremely disappointed with the service.
I had a few questions and when I asked the beer tender his reply for all 4 questions was «it says on the menu» instead of being helpful and informative he just kept pointing at a menu that another party was looking at so it’s like hand me a motherfuckin’ menu then, asshole! Holy Christ, I didn’t know it was so difficult to answer some fuckin’ questions.
Not only did the beers leave a sour taste in my mouth, but the service did as well. Will not be returning during my visit. I wanted to purchase several bottles to take home, but I was so annoyed I didn’t want to give them anymore of my hard earned $.

This was a nice place to stop in on a warm afternoon.
Living in New York we do have access to some of Cascade’s beers but it seems our bottle shop marks them up almost 40% more than they were selling them for at the brewery… so about $ 40/​bottle instead of $ 25ish for the normal blueberry, apricot, etc.
My husband and I are still getting used to sour beers so I thought Cascade would be the perfect place to come try a bunch of samples and we weren’t disappointed.
We tried 6 different ones for about $ 15 and the bartender kept our glasses full and samples coming. My favorites were Figaro and Honey Ginger Lime.

if you enjoy sours, this is the place to be! great tasting room with lots of outdoor and indoor seating. there are tons of delicious sours on their menu with a couple of live from the barrels and standard ones. they dont do flights because you can taste any (or all) for $ 2 – 3 dollars each.
they also have a good list of food items if you want to nosh on some bites. the hubby and i did a decent amount of tastings based on our awesome server’s recommendations (Sarah is RAD!). then i ended my stay here with a glass of their cabernet LOL sorry, but im just a big wino.
the only other brewery we’ve ever been to with so many sours was The Bruery in California but this place is definitely a top fave! sours is the new black!

You’d think with 20 sours to choose from they’d nail it. After sampling them all, not a single sour stood out as remarkable. Some decent but nothing memorable. And when I say I sampled them all, I sampled the mess out of every sour they offered in house. I even tried both stouts.
After my mouth was at full pucker capacity I had to mellow it out with some food.
The amazing chicken sandwich saved the day and safely slid this review to a generous 4 stars.
Worth making this place your staple? Might be a hard sour. I mean sell.