Monkless Belgian Ales - The Brasserie

Visited 11.21.21

Located in a business / retail area, there's a huge parking lot out front. Nice wooden interior gives it a nice pub feel. There is a deck out back that overlooks the river. I sat at the bar and the service was great. I was able to find three new beers for me on a flight. I've been waiting to go here, as I was a fan of their Belgian Styles. I was hoping for a little bit more variety in the taplist, but I was able to find ones I hadn't tried before. Food available.

What a beautiful bar with a great patio and a view of the Deschutes river. Love the Belgian-style beers and the selection.The service was fine and we didn't try the food.

Rustic post and beam building in mixed use area along the river. Straight bar perpendicular to the entrance to the right of the entrance seats about 10. With lots of tables about the room and on the open deck overlooking the river out back. Adozen Belgian style beers on tap. Solid. Friendly, knowledgeable bartenders. I did not try the food.

Tucked away behind a spread out modern complex, next to a roundabout and close to the Deschutes River. High a frame beams indoors with lots of room between tables on a polished concrete floor. The deck out back is covered with tall bar like tables and stools. This deck is up fairly high with a view of the river. Their specialty is Belgian style beers and the quality ranges from OK to good.

Toboggan ride in a shitty Toyota Corolla airport rental without snow tires or chains completed. Stop. Mountain pass defeated. Stop. Arrived alive and somewhat unscathed. Stop. There is no Portland, there is only Bend now. Stop. Condition is severely thirsted. Stop. Searching for beer provisions. Stop. Am hoping to see you again in the Spring. Stop. No. No. I mean next Spring. Over…

Edge of a strip just off the rotary where some of the best things are. A large vaulted room with big brick & painted play. Concrete floors & slanted rafter ceiling with beige blended ductwork. Paneled roll up doors with bar counter spurs to the front & rear deck. Mix & match single filament drop glass lighting over the bar from big timber above, barrel round chandeliers over the floor, and colorful light panels mounted along the roll up door & over the bar counter space to the rear

Laminated dark wood slab wide ‘L’ shaped bar with a horizontal plank base. Seating for 8 on the straight on cushy seats, + 3 more on the shorty spur at the end for accessible if need be. The barback holds a large arched piece of phat beams like I’ve not seen before. Center 6 tap logo handle cylinder tower countered fronting 3L Jeroboam Piraat & Gouden Carolus bottles, on a blueish horizontal wood plank inlay with a large logo painted wood piece above. Smaller angled arched pieces set to both sides with 6 tap non-descript handle cylinder towers fronting frosted mirror action, below rows of dangling stemmed glassware, and more glassware shelved below the counter.

A baker’s dozen mix & match tables; angled shorty squares, some recs, a raised shared, and a half a goddamn tree hightop stooled. Rear deck seating outside holds 3 bar counter spurs for 8 alt in & out, and 3 hightops shared overlooking something something below. Kitchen on the far wall where they prepare foodings, and a front merch corner with a can & bottle cooler there.

10 house beers (Brother’s Bier, SMaSH Single Ale, 4.8%; Shepplekofeggan, Witbier, 5.4%; Restitution, Golden Ale, 7.6%; The Trinity, Tripel, 8.1%; Capitulation, Dry Hopped Tripel, 8.1%; Peppercorn Imperial Wit, Imperial Witbier, 8.2%; Dubbel or Nothing, Dubbel, 7.2%; Meet your Maker, Belgian Dark Strong, 9%; Pour Pour Pitiful Me, Quadruple on Cherries, 10%; Curtain Closer, Quintuple on Raspberries & Cocoa Nibs, 12%).

8 beer samplers available on a barrel stave piece, but it’s been a hell of a day having survived & arriving alive in Bend, so I’m going light tonight if it’s all the same to you. I drank the Brothers Bier, SMASH Single Ale, delightful, crisp, spicy, easy, and the Dubbel or Nothing, Dubbel, which was dry, toffee, candy sugar sweet, rum, and a goddamn delight. We also did shorties of the Pour Pour Pitiful Me, Quadruple on Cherries & Curtain Closer, Quintuple on Rapberries & Cocoa Nibs. We didn’t get the fruit or Cocoa in either, but they were on style & pleasant for what they are.

And yes, Virginia, there is a bottle list (Westmalle Tripel, Chimay Red, Rochefort 6 & 8, Tripel Karmaliet, Delirium Noel, St B Christmas) + some Monkless bottles you can get for here or to go, and on a ‘pours from 3 bottles’ flight.

Saw the food menu, could’ve ’et, you know, yeah, that’s right, I could’ve gone all schnitzel on yo’ ass, meaning yes, the chicken schnitzel, please, and thank you, but like I said, it’s late and I’m too beat to eat. Talked with Robert the Regular about the what what and others, too. They were good friendly folks although misguided for their love of the Quad instead of the delicate Dubbel, as it is. I would have liked to have nursed that sampler, I tells ya’. Chill house. I did dig!

2021-03-12
Visited with my wife in the mid- to late-afternoon on a Friday during the pandemic. We were told the wait was 30 minutes, but it was really like four minutes. We each ordered a beer while we waited, and then we shared a flight of four beers. They were all good, though none were awesome. Lots of food on the menu was very tempting. We ate the poutine, and it was quite good. Definitely a place I would recommend.

 

 

I'm OLD but new to loving GOOD beer. Monkless is one of many breweries in central Oregon (Bend) and I have enjoyed each of their Belgians. Excellent

this is fun little spot, apparently they have a full blown restaurant and taproom coming to downtown soon, but for now its a very humble space, two adjacent garage areas, one for brewing and the other for a taproom. its just a little makeshift walk up bar inside, where they really havent put a lot of resources into the aesthetic, a working brewery sort of feel, kegs all over the place and the like. they have a few tables inside but the garage door opens up to some more outside in the parking lot, real no frills sort of place that is all about the beer, and somewhat of a destination from downtown. its unclear of this spot will remain open when the new one kicks in, but its cool for now. they have a nice range of beers on tap from wit to quad and most styles in between. i admire a place like this that picks a theme and a style set and stick to it, less and less of that in the states these days where even the classic first and second wave brewers find themselves chasing the trends. i thought all of the beer was good, some of it excellent, including a wit with oranges and a quad with cherries. my one criticism is that they seem to be using the same yeast for all the beers, and so they all have a real commonality to them. where this might be flatting in say a trappist brewery where the yeast is a house flavor unique to that place, its unflattering here because its just a generic belgian culture to me, more or less available at every home brew shop in the country. that said, they are using it well, so i cant be too harsh, but mixing in some other belgian strains or developing a more distinct blend would be an obvious next step for them. some cans, some sexy corked bottles, labels look sharp. awesome service too, the dude was majorly cool to us, excited about the liquid, and pretty well informed. i think they have a real good thing going, a super mellow space thats all about the beer, and some solid beers in styles we dont see very often well done from american brewers. im a fan, and cant wait to check out their new spot next time in bend!