Oxbow Blending & Bottling

Super unique space with friendly knowledgeable staff. Killer selection of oxbow brews and other rare beers from around the globe. Fun place to hang and even more fun when there is a live band. I also enjoyed the original art.

Oxbow is probably my favorite place to hang of the breweries in Portland. It's chill, the beers are terrific, there's enough space to breath. The addition of the Duckfat Frite Shack has only cemented its place at the top for me. Selection might not be everyone's cup of tea as they obviously err towards Belgian and farmhouse styles with a healthy number of lagers mixed in. It works for me though.

A short uphill walk from the brewery cluster. Co-located with a distillery, a metering, and a fruit shack. Tap room is carved out of the production space, so you can overlook stacks and stacks of barrels that are on display. Long bar, laid back vibe, a bit dark. House flights available. Some outdoor seating options. Good service. No food ( from the brewery) but some killer salt & vinegar chips are available.

 

stopped in for a few beers on a Saturday afternoon. Like most breweries, an industrial type building, but it's got some character. Entrance is down alley, Duckfat has a stand next door where you can order fries and such to-go to eat at the brewery. Both and outdoor and indoor bar. Inside there are rows of wooden tables for seating. Nice selection of beers on tap, mostly Saisons, Farmhouse, Barrel-aged Sours, Belgian styles. The couple of beers I drank were quite good.

 

 

Stopped by twice on a recent visit to Portland. They’ve got a fair amount of outside seating set up, which was great to see during these times. Looked to have more space than some of the other breweries and tap rooms closer to the harbor. Some benches, each with their own heat lamp, plus a few spots with fire pits. They also had some barrels to stand next to and use as table space in the front to hold the extra crowd. Host was pretty good about getting your name and info and trying to move you to a barrel space while waiting for a table to open.

They had six beers on tap plus at least twenty different bottles for drinking there or taking to go. If you know Oxbow, you know they skew heavy towards the farmhouse and saison. Had a few different drafts. The FPA, plus a blend of some smoked ales called Goods from the Woods that was excellent. Also bought a bunch of bottles to bring home plus a four pack of their pilsner, Luppolo.

A local restaurant had a few items to eat. Got a duck burger that was quite excellent.

 

 

 

Guess I never got around to reviewing this place. Place is relatively dimly lit fair amount of spacious seating, however, the bar seating tends to be rather cramped. Various trendy modern art type decoration on the walls seems a little weird and out of place. Beers are always solid and there is a rather large selection available with some guest taps as well. They also sell bottles to go though the prices are a bit steep. I believe they had someone selling Belgian style fries outside which was always delicious.

My primary issue with the place is the service. Every trip there in recent memory was rather poor ordering experience. It's one thing to be ignored/brushed off when the place is packed, however, when it's not that busy service like that is fairly inexcusable. I don't recall this being an issue when they first opened either. That in itself is reason enough to be leery about going out of my way to come back. A quick trip through when in the area is one thing but spending an extended amount of time here I think not.

 

 

 

 

Loved this place. A bit hard to find, but great rustic and chill vibe. Bottle counter was efficient and staff was nice. Great beer list and they had a few collaborations as well as guest beers.

Nice, open, big bar, great set up for take out bottles that keeps the line flowing.

Not super easy to find, located behind a meadery down a small alley. Small neon open sign near the door. Large Oxbow Blending on the wall to the side is not really visible from the street.

They had food options, mostly small appetizer style plates, I did not try any. Lots of swag for sale.

Their brews are all top quality and they had a nice selection of their own brews and some guest options available on tap and in bottles. Had multiple size pours from 4oz-12 oz.

The service was not super fast, they helped me right away but I noticed some guests kinda wondering what to do. They couldn't figure out if someone was going to help them at the bar or if they were supposed to go wait in the retail to-go line. Staff didn't greet them quickly and continued stacking glasses. Once they interacted the staff was friendly and helpful. They were knowledgeable.

 

 

 

Nice place with decent selection of beer and large sitting area. Beer for take away was a plus. Stopped by during the week but still had a good vibe with killer music and good conversation from waitstaff.

 

I am a big fan of Oxbow's beers and was looking forward to refilling my growler and enjoying some super-fresh beers in a cool location. Unfortunately, the service and vibe that day was not great. Maybe it was because a Beer Tour had just departed and the staff needed to catch their breath but seriously ... there were only three other customers in the building and there were three staffers. Yet. We. All. Waited. And waited. And waited to be greeted and served. When we were finally asked for our orders, we had to listen to the staff grouse about all the hard the work they just did with the Beer Tour group (abut 20 people I saw departing on my way in). The beer was great as expected -- Oxbow is wonderful, across the board. But then I was told they will no longer fill Oxbow growlers at this Oxbow location. No reason given, just "Sorry, we don't do that anymore." After some cajoling, the bartender grudgingly refilled my growler but snapped, "This is the last one. Go to Newcastle next time." Sorry. But there won't be a next time for me.

 

Huge open area with barrels along one side. A long bar basically goes the whole length with a bunch of tables filling out the space. Rustic, lots of wood. Really good decorations behind the bar. Solid selection of in house and guest drafts. Good bottle list.

 

 

The property is difficult to find with no signage on the street as it lies behind the two neighboring buildings. It isn't much to look at from the outside. It's essentially a pole building with a bar. Very industrial look and feel with minimal lighting. The vibe doesn't match farmhouse beers. Incredibly loud house music playing. There wasn't much to see in the non-taproom area. The beer selection was impressive including Belgian beers along with a wide variety of Oxbow offerings. The to-go bottle selection was good with the inclusion of 750 mL pre-filled "growlers" and a few farmhouse ales. The pricing on the to-go bottles is in the upper end for 500 mL. The staff was prompt and courteous. Overall, the vibe just isn't what I'd expect for farmhouse ales.

 

The Oxbow Portland location is a tremendous place. Huge space with a beautiful bar, plenty of picnic table seating, and a nice view of the barrel house. When we went on a Sunday afternoon, they had a DJ - the music was very good and really fit the vibe, but it was a bit loud (I know, I'm getting old). The bartenders were very nice.

These guys have been rocking the scene for years now. Very happy they moved a tasting room out of the woods and down to the city! They are a must try in the Portland beer market.

 

Stopped at Oxbow given all the hype on a two week long beergrimige across the U.S. I was extremely disappointed. They only had an array of sessions to offer, all of which tasted about the same, and none of which were particularly good. Wish I'd passed this one up.

 

 

Awesome place, the staff are always pleasant, engaging and knowledgeable about the beer. The beer was good and selection was also pleasant plus the Hip Hop on the speakers made my experience that much better.

 

 

We got to the location late in the day after the obilgatory Portland stops. It's a bit hard to find and parking is a challenge, but it was worth it. The vibe is kind of dive bar meets industrial with plenty of tables, some very cool artwork. The selection was reasonably big, but a lot of beers had kicked. Maybe understandable being later in the day. It did seem a bit pricey. We did try the different takes on farmhouse ales that Oxbow features and all were good to excellent. Especially liked Grizacca and Loretta. I think the place serves "munchy" type foods but I'm not entirely sure about that. I can see this place being slammed on a Friday or Saturday night. It was just a very cool place to hang and have some beers. Service was good, but don't get the spigot in the beer, please...