Talking Cedar Brewery

I visited Talking Cedar a few weeks back when coming home from Portland. The facility is huge, with a big production brewery and distillery onsite, visible through big windows from the bar and restaurant areas. The public area itself had a somewhat industrial décor and mostly a restaurant vibe, but it was still welcoming. I sat in the bar area and service was decent enough, although maybe not as attentive as I'd have guessed on a relatively slow afternoon.

They had 6 core beers all on tap when I was there: light lager, Pilsner, juicy IPA, West Coast IPA, amber, and a raspberry blonde ale. The menu said they have rotating seasonal beers as well, but I didn't see a specific menu of them available or up on the wall or anything. I had the light lager on my visit, which was okay but not great, and the other beers I've had from them are generally decent; overall they're a bit inconsistent but not bad on average.

I got their chicken caesar salad for lunch and it was ... strange. They used some kind of cured smoked chicken that looked kind of raw (though it wasn't) and had kind of a weird texture to it. Other reviewers here have had a way different experience with the food, so I'm guessing that like the beer, quality is inconsistent.

 

really neat story behind this place, one of if not the very first tribal owned brewery in these parts, also a distillery and restaurant, been hearing about it for years and finally had the chance to check it out, i think i heard of it when stillwater was making beer here, but i think that relationship has expired, no sign of anything to do with it when i was there, all their own stuff it appeared. its a neat place, somewhat larger than i expected it to be, right off the highway there, a new build it seems, plenty of parking, cool design, massive outdoor patio that must crush when the weather is warmer, spacious on the inside too, beautiful! you walk in through a little gift shop with a tasting area, bottles of booze and beer to go, then its a sprawling restaurant space with a partially open kitchen, a bar tucked back there, lots of seating, and a big view to the brewery space as well, some meeting and private spaces, really a nice facility, cozy and welcoming, clean and with good attention to detail, nice design, feels a little more like restaurant than a brewery, even with the equipment everywhere, sort of an out of date printed beer list and some general server lack of knowledge extended that vibe, but its a really nice place to be. they had about a dozen of their beers on, some ambition on the list with a baltic porter and red ipa, but it was mostly standard fare, and to me felt a little uninspired, i think i expected more beer names, more local ingredients, more tribal personality in the branding and the liquid, but these could have come from anywhere and been made by anyone, which was a bit underwhelming, as was the quality across the board. the amber, the pnw ipa, and the red ipa were favorites, but others like the light, the pils, and the mexican lager left quite a lot to be desired, and overall i do not think the beer was special at all. i have heard good things about the spirits side of what they do, but i did not dabble while i was there. food was the best part, really awesome meal here, lots of options, upscale pub food very well executed, really enjoyed it, killer fried pickles too, would definitely come back to eat before drink. service was friendly, lots of kind people around, but our server was not a beery dude and unhelpful in that regard. i think they have a good thing going here, the space is money and based on the size of the visible equipment, looks like they have room to grow. i think the beer could use a bit of a facelift, both in terms of quality and how its presented, but the bones seem to be there. i guess overall i had higher hopes for a more unique experience, but the place is cool anyway...