Cascade Brewing Barrel House

Cascade Brewing Barrel HouseCascade Brewing Barrel House
Cascade Brewing Barrel HouseCascade Brewing Barrel House
Bar, Eatery, Beer-to-go

939 SE Belmont St
Portland, Oregon, 97214-2519
United States

(503) 265-8603 | map
cascadebrewingbarrelhouse.com

Hours:
Sunday - Wednesday: 12:00pm - 10:00pm
Thursday - Saturday: 12:00pm - 11:00pm

"Subject to change with little or no notice."
PLACE STATS
Average:
4.56
Reviews:
88
Ratings:
260
pDev:
7.24%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Melissa_awayintheworld:
Photo of Melissa_awayintheworld
Reviewed by Melissa_awayintheworld from Oregon

4.58/5  rDev +0.4%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.75
A lot has already been said about this spot, so I won't pile on too much, I just want to give it an endorsement. As a Portland local, I think Cascade Barrel House is one of the best places in a town full of some great places. If you enjoy sour beers, chances are Cascade will have something in their vast selection that will become an all time favorite. If you don't enjoy sour beers (and you should at least try a few if this is the case, their bartenders are aces and might surprise you with something you never knew you'd like) they do brew a small selection of non-sour beers. I had a bourbon barrel aged ale here once a couple of years ago that set the standard for this type. Unfortunately, it was a one-off, and that is often the case at Cascade. Although I sometimes feel a little sad about this when I know I'll never have that beer again, I think it's really a nice thing for locals, it keeps us on our toes around here.
The service is smart, and efficient which is high praise for Portland. The atmosphere, in the summer with the doors open, this one of the nicest spots in town. The rest of the year it is alright too, I have no complaints. Oh and the food, the food is next level. It is slightly more expensive than the fare at some other Southeast locales (but waaayyy cheaper than a mediocre burger at some of the more famous brewpubs... you know who you are) but that's because it's not cooked in a truck. I mean, I love me some foodtrucks as much as the next guy, but seriously, there are just some things better prepared in a kitchen with walls-- like quail eggs (which they often serve here). GO HERE BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME. You're welcome in advance.
Oct 11, 2013
More User Ratings:
Photo of The_Kriek_Freak
Reviewed by The_Kriek_Freak from Pennsylvania

4.69/5  rDev +2.9%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.75 | selection: 4.75
Unbelievable quality of brews, a quirky floor layout, and some very friendly and helpful staff make this place a must-visit in Portland. Huge selection of beers on tap, but also from cans/bottles.
Oct 07, 2023
 
Rated: 3.93 by SaCkErZ9 from South Carolina

Jul 20, 2023
Photo of WillieThreebiers
Reviewed by WillieThreebiers from Connecticut

4.11/5  rDev -9.9%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4 | food: 4.25
Cool warehouse-ish spot on the eastern edge of downtown. Open layout with short bar on what was once probably a loading dock. Tables inside and out. A bunch of stuff available, but thanks to the revolving taplist menu an accurate count of draft vs bottle/ can escaped me... (print the damn menu)... the 2 sours I had were excellent... Mac and cheese was tasty also.
Jun 04, 2023
 
Rated: 4.15 by Zekenyce from New Jersey

Sep 08, 2022
Photo of jmdrpi
Reviewed by jmdrpi from Pennsylvania

4.09/5  rDev -10.3%
vibe: 3.75 | quality: 4.25 | service: 4 | selection: 4.25 | food: 3.75
visited for a few rounds of beers and dinner. not a huge space, but a small bar and tables around the space. there was outdoor seating on the sidewalk as well. about 20 beers on tap, mix of sour and traditional beers. I had a flight of various sour beers and also a "regular" stout. all pretty good. the food we had was decent.
Apr 30, 2022
 
Rated: 4.31 by ttpfau from Oregon

Feb 10, 2020
 
Rated: 4.07 by cryptichead from Illinois

Dec 31, 2019
 
Rated: 4.25 by paulish from New York

Nov 19, 2019
Photo of jophish17
Reviewed by jophish17 from Georgia

4.56/5  rDev 0%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 5 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.5
Really fun brewpub on the east side of Portland. Great outlet to try their barrel aged beers. Spent my entire per diem here once on a work trip. Normally I might complain about the lack of diversity in styles since they are so sour heavy, but I have to give cascade props for different blends that are distinctive, not just different fruits. Excellent beers, very helpful service, if I lived in Portland I’d come here often.
Sep 27, 2019
Photo of Sammy
Rated by Sammy from Canada (ON)

4.22/5  rDev -7.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.25 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.25
a special place
back in time with the classics of sours. must stop if you like these beers.
Aug 20, 2019
 
Rated: 4.7 by andypeters1971 from Georgia

May 17, 2019
 
Rated: 4.1 by brother_rebus from Maine

May 08, 2019
 
Rated: 4.24 by denver10 from New Mexico

Feb 23, 2019
 
Rated: 4.7 by BerryKumquat from California

Nov 11, 2018
 
Rated: 4.76 by pbbpbb from New Jersey

Sep 15, 2018
 
Rated: 4.16 by smela3 from Texas

Aug 16, 2018
 
Rated: 4.36 by BeerBucks from New York

Jul 29, 2018
Photo of Roustabout
Reviewed by Roustabout from District of Columbia

4.8/5  rDev +5.3%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5
Humble yet formidable, blessedly untrendy temple of the Tart Arts. Splendiferous list of inventive barrel sours (some upwards of 8 years old and all the better for it). Old World knowledge and homebrew playfulness on display. Severly underrated—both in Portland rankings and national sour landscape—likely as a result of Web-1.0-era optics.
May 25, 2018
 
Rated: 4.25 by psoriasaurus from Thailand

Apr 27, 2018
 
Rated: 4.66 by redbarnbikes from New York

Feb 22, 2018
 
Rated: 4.4 by kjkinsey from Texas

Feb 14, 2018
 
Rated: 4.37 by chrisjws from California

Jan 28, 2018
Photo of Taybeh
Reviewed by Taybeh from Minnesota

4.53/5  rDev -0.7%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.25
Relaxed, friendly, and fairly cozy and small considering how well known these guys are. It was late and a quiet week night in January, so there wasn't all that much going on. Really friendly staff, happy to talk about the beer; considering they were just wait-staff, they were quite knowledgeable. Food was pretty good...I had the korean tacos and the kale salad.
Jan 08, 2018
 
Rated: 4.67 by AlexCarls from California

Nov 27, 2017
Photo of Sabtos
Reviewed by Sabtos from Ohio

4.63/5  rDev +1.5%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 3.5
What a cool place! The clean, spacious interior is light colored and wood-centric with booths, high tops, a medium bar, and a few muted TV screens. Outdoors there is a huge urban beer garden--Portland really knows how to do the beer scene! Walk up to the bar and place your order, or belly-up and watch the action, which amps up rather shortly after open.

On our visit, service was extremely knowledgeable and skilled, pouring up to 30 taster glasses all at once from the massive wall of taps, adeptly and rapidly. This is not something you get to see often. The tap wall includes two large holes within which two actual live barrels have been shoved, with screw valves to release beer straight to glass right before your very eyes. The other taps are designed to look just like the barrels, so it all seamlessly flows together.

They have an absolutely insane list of beers on tap, too. The week we were here, fresh hops were all the rage and they not only had fresh hop IPAs of their own, but 3 fresh hop funky beers, which is something I'd never heard of before. For anyone out there that sees Cascade's bottles on shelves but balks at the price, this is an excellent place to get a broad selection and see for yourself the kind of quality they actually produce. I was able to try around 20 Cascade beers I hadn't had before, and loved them all--some new, some fresh, some classic, and some many years old. One was over 7 years old! It's absolutely bonkers, and so much cheaper than going full bore on a bottle you're not sure about. But then you realize, they're all so good, you start looking at the bottles in a whole new light--which haven't I had, or which did I enjoy the most?! A new conflict has arisen.

Food here is varied and good, and they even pickle their own veg with their own beer--something I'd not heard of before. However, I'd advise against it if that's all you're having with all these sour beers. It's good as a side dish to other more hearty things, but if you're primarily here to go through the list sampling, adding more tart solids to your gut just doesn't work all that well with a belly full of beer. Who needs food anyway?!
Oct 18, 2017
Photo of BeanBump
Reviewed by BeanBump from California

4.89/5  rDev +7.2%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 4.75 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5
Sour beer heaven. On a recent trip to Portland, I made sure to stop by Cascade 3 times in as many days. I regret nothing. World-class sours a-plenty! On any given day they offer about 20 beers, 17 or so are sours and you honestly cant go wrong. I did stray from the sour path ever so slightly and tried a milk stout as well and it was also fantastic. Clean tasting room, friendly staff and you cant beat the selection. When in Portland, this is a must.
Sep 21, 2017
 
Rated: 5 by CB2maltygoodness from District of Columbia

Aug 06, 2017
 
Rated: 4.65 by abagri from Massachusetts

Jul 03, 2017
 
Rated: 4.6 by bdajedi from Bermuda

Apr 21, 2017
Photo of coldriver
Reviewed by coldriver from Texas

4.76/5  rDev +4.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.75 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5
Visited by myself on a business trip. They don't do flights but you can order 4 oz'ers two at a time. The waitress asked what I wanted and I said, "All of them." So for the next 90 minutes every time she looked my way I held up two fingers and she brought two more - kind of a fun interaction really and I certainly benefited from a little pacing. Alas I was not able to finish a sample of everything (seemed like around 20 taps) but the waitress gave me an "A" for effort. Bottom line I've been to several of the well known "sour houses" and this one had the most consistently great stuff. Food was really nice too - I got some kind of cold asparagus salad and bruschetta which really paired well with the sours. Not as stuffy as you might expect from a place with such high quality beer. And an easy walk back to the trolley line which connected with the light rail back to my hotel which allows one to safely attempt to consume all their beers without getting behind the wheel.
Apr 20, 2017
 
Rated: 4.93 by Junichi from Texas

Jan 25, 2017
 
Rated: 5 by BlondeDeChambly from Rhode Island

Jan 09, 2017
 
Rated: 4.7 by Keananmichael5 from California

Jan 08, 2017
Photo of DallasK
Reviewed by DallasK from Oregon

4.78/5  rDev +4.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5
Cascade is a real gem. Great in all areas. Food is good and pairs well with the main course, the sour beers. The service is amazing even when busy and their is plenty of outdoor seating. Favorite summer spot. Only downside for some is all of Cascades offerings are world class sours bar a single ipa and porter that are average.
Jan 03, 2017
 
Rated: 4.6 by BeerMeCJS from California

Jan 02, 2017
 
Rated: 4.44 by Gagnonsux from Texas

Dec 03, 2016
 
Rated: 4.33 by Jvandever from California

Nov 30, 2016
 
Rated: 4.42 by Wontonst from California

Nov 27, 2016
 
Rated: 4.45 by metter98 from New York

Oct 02, 2016
Cascade Brewing Barrel House in Portland, OR
Place rating: 4.56 out of 5 with 260 ratings