Assembly Brewing

 

Kinda of hip brewpub with some cool murals that reminded me of Diego Riviera's work. Freestanding building southeast of downtown. Straight bar perpendicular to the entrance on the right side seats about 10 with additional tables about the room and a covered patio out front. A dozen beers on tap. Only ordered an appetizer (as I've diner plans for later and forewent the pizza which is somewhat locally renowned), but to took 40 minutes to arrive... they comped my 2 beer, and the skewers were quite tasty... so kudos for doing the right thing... now I'm going to have to go back for the pizza... Beers were just ok...

Southeast of downtown. This dining/taproom is modern, with an open and roomy feel, with two of the walls being windows. Lots of good wooden tables. The beer is of standard quality in general, though a fresh hop IPA was quite good. What people come here for even more than their own brewed beer, is the Detroit style pizza. There were many breweries that I had to skip in the area but made a point to visit this establishment because I had never tried Detroit style pizza and besides, would have wanted to see how it measured up, if I was a connoisseur of that style of that style of pizza. The verdict by me, the rookie, is that I quite enjoyed this style of pizza, and would seek it out again. Don't know if their take on it is up to the standard, but it is quite good anyhow. It is a square, deep-dish pizza, with a a thicker crust, which was like focaccia with a crunchy, caramelized outer coating. Even though the crust is thicker, so is the cheese, toppings and sauce, so the ratio is the same. Do yourself a favor and come to this brewery hungry, not just thirsty.

The first of two Portland play days before tomorrow’s tomorrow’s beer festival out on the coast (what have I gotten myself into?) Got out late so we’re staying out late, relatively so anyway, as I think things close earlier out this way anyway. Winding down now fading fast & furious, ‘when’ has been called. We’d be done this day but for this along the way. Ooooooh, I think I know I’m sure we’ve got one more in us…

Standalone in a parking lot on a sharp corner. Big open room with a conspicuously absent brewery as far as I can see (oh, it’s tucked away behind the back there somewhere, noted). Concrete floors and a corrugated ceiling with some mad phat cross beams, spinnys, skylights, track spots, & duct work. Red & pale blue inner walls, exterior walls of windows some of which overlooks the outdoor seating pen, and then the sprawling 4 panel mural wall of brewery inner workings & pizza bakery action. It’s involved.

Long straight laminated wood pieced bar with a horizontal plank base on the far wall. Seating for a dozen on high chairs. On the barback wall center sits a barbell tower with a dozen non-descript handles, a crowler crimper countered to the left and booze multi-shelved further down, and glassware to the right and shelved below. Lit logo ‘Assembly Brewing’ piece on center above the taps, a single flat to the left over the booze, some round piece that looks like the inner workings of a typewriter o the right, and small horizontal boards each listing a different draft choice (beer, ABV, & prince) in alt colored chalk on a steel framed vertical double wide rack on the end.

Drop spinny top lamps above the bar and drop pan lamps over the seating. A dozen hightop round tables, and about the same recs along the perimeter & 2 booths, too. 4 pinball machines & merch in the corner there (me, pointing).

11 beers on tap (Kolsch, 5.5%; Pale Ale, 5.4%; Blonde, 5.6%; Tropical IPA, 6.4%; Live Pale Ale, 6.3%; Ekuanot IPA, 6.3%; IPA, 7.3%; Nitro Blonde, 5.6%; Amber, 5%; Cloud Stout, 6.4%; Nitro Porter, 5.7%), + a single guest cider (PDX Cider Company Kinda Dry, 6.9%). Witzel said the Kolsch was delightful. He was right. “The Equanot IPA was nice”, said Ben, “but not spectacular”. This too was true. And I can personally attest to the fact that the Stout was better than the Porter.

Their food staple is something called ‘Detroit style pizza’. Ben says it’s a thing although he does not want to admit it, but knows in his heart it is. “It’s somewhere between a NY Sicilian and a Chicago Deep Dish”, he started. It’s here that we learn that Ben knows more about Detroit pizza than he had led us to believe. “They put the cheese on first, like a Sicilian pie. There’s a special kind of pan involved, it gets the outer crust all super crispy, and cheese runs all the way to the edge of the crust where it can caramelize (they call it ‘frico’) and then they sauce it up at the end”. He was unsure of when toppings happen. The pizza requested was that of the pepperoni variety as all respectable pizza should be. The pie was not round but square. While nobody has ever said “there’s too much pepperoni on my pizza”, when Ben said “the pepperoni was sparse”, he was correct. Still, it was tasty as actual fuck.

As we have nightcapped now, we will need to leave, get milk, and get back to Annie or everyone will suffer. Glad we dropped in though. Didn't really get a flavor for the place rolling in as late as we did, but the beers were solid and the pizza was really damn good.