Oxbow Brewing, Portland

Farmhouse den with a Japanese accent

Sits right in the centre of town, but from the street it does not read as large, until you walk inside.

No IPAs here. The range is farmhouse ales, set up several different ways, and they hold the line. Some are threaded through a Japanese influence, as the co-founder and head brewer spent part of his youth in Tokyo.

Smoke is the signature of the pit. It hangs over the whole place, likely fed in part by the food stands out front: Terlingua's truck on one side, Duckfat on the other.

And this works: barrels, a small stage in the corner, large but cozy.

Inspired by the aromas in the air, we drank a farmhouse ale and a smoked lager infused with maple syrup. Those combinations are the point. They are what make the place.

NOTE: The Portland location visited (Oxbow Blending & Bottling, on the Duckfat patio) is the urban outpost, the blending and bottling house. The actual farmhouse brewery sits in Newcastle, some fifty miles away.