Brewery Extrava

 

So this was a random surprise Tim and Mercer took JLindros and myself to after lunch at Rising Tide. If I had known Extrava was going to be like this I would have fought to go the day before and spend the entire day there. There was ample parking and appeared to have a spot for a food truck as well as a small outdoor drinking area. Inside it is a large open space room with two simply enormous tables made out of reclaimed wood. Looking around there seems to be reclaimed wood everywhere which is pretty cool. They had bar seating as well with the bar top being made of soapstone. Off to one side was a more relaxed area with overstuffed sofa and chairs and a large coffee table in the middle. Softer music played that was unobtrusive, a nice change of pace from some of the other breweries in Portland that loudly play music. Hanging up above where you order is a list of the beers on tap (six at the time of visit); to see the color code for each beer is so far beyond nerdy...I love it. The only knock would be that, while this wasn't the case during my visit as we were pretty much the only people there, I could see how when this place is hoppin it would get rather loud.

The quality of beers were simply stellar. Wound up getting a flight which was served on a large slab of the very same reclaimed wood that is throughout the brewery. Very cool. Everything offered was a Belgian beer in one sense or another; as in true to style Belgian or some sort of European beer that was brewed with Belgian elements (ie a Belgian styled ESB). So, if one likes Belgians this is an oasis in the craft beer desert that is hazy IPAS and kettle sours. You could legit taste the commitment and passion the brewer had to deliver proper Belgians...it's really a thing of beauty.

The brewer happened to be behind the bar pouring and was more than happy to answer any and all questions about each beer. It's one thing to answer questions but to proudly gush over each beer and its respective ingredients is a wonderful sight to behold. I mean to the point that towards the end of our flight he noticed one of the beers had lost its head so he went and gave it a quick splash from the tap to billow a head back up. Who does that? Seriously, who does that? It's that level of dedication to one's craft that cements this brewery as the number one spot for me to hit up while in Portland. Without hesitation.

So this was an unexpected stop in our Portland beer trip and I'm sure glad we stopped here. The bar is beautiful. All refurnished wood and metal from some old building in downtown, cleaned and polished up nicely, and you can even see all the notches where the pieces fit together, etc. Nice vibe in general with some soft music, beautiful tables to match the bar, open feel, and the flights come in big oak slabs (and I mean big) with holes cut in them.

The owner/brewer was pouring and answering questions, which is really cool to see, so he knew everything about the beers. The beers themselves were phenomenal. If you like true to style Belgians, you need to try these. Every single one of the beers I tried were at the very least very good, with a few being fantastic. However, if you're looking for IPAs, sours, or whatever other craze style is out there you're out of luck. They pretty much focus on Belgian styles, with a few exceptions for other classic styles like ESB, although even that had it's own Belgian twist.

So I would highly recommend checking this place out. This is now the #1 stop for me when I get to Portland.