Skip to main content
A BETTER IDEA: When you walk into Great Notion Brewing (2204 NE Alberta St., No. 101, 548-4491, greatnotionpdx.com), try not to be creeped out by Barack Obama. In the dim light of the brewing area, behind glass, is a life-sized cardboard cutout of the president smiling like Aphex Twin in the "Windowlicker" video.
But otherwise, just about every corner has been brightened in the former Mash Tun brewpub, an old-school neighborhood spot that always seemed less like a bar than a backwoods cottage that had fallen into disrepair. Now, even with most of Great Notion's own brews still pending, the pub has already become the first-ever good beer spot on Alberta Street. The small space looks like a template for the modern Portland brewpub: wood grain everywhere, Timbers scarves hung with care, a beer-barrel display, a patio looking out on food carts, and a chalkboard menu of local ales.
The Mash Tun bar staff has stayed on—but the staff behind the scenes has changed, with new chef Ryan O'Connor introducing an Americana menu ranging from fried-chicken sandwiches to Cubanos. The taps are also serving much better beer. In recent months, they've have shown a predilection for saisons, goses, fruit-tinged beers and especially IPAs, which dovetails with the brewing plans. Two IPAs are already on tap since our visit, and they also plan wild and sour beers—some of which will be aged in clay amphoras on the bar floor. And its first house beer is already a doozy in theory: a kiwi, pear and sauvignon blanc saison. But the flavor accents are subtle enough they're like a fruit corsage—festive, but mostly decorative. Still, it's a pleasant beer, and bodes well for the future. Maybe all that hopey-changey stuff will work out for them after all.
Willamette Week