Modern Time’s 24 Taps Are Busting Out Better-Than-Average Hazy IPAs and Truly Excellent Sours

It’s almost eerie walking into the Belmont Fermentorium—the new Portland outpost of San Diego’s Modern Times Brewing.

630 SE Belmont St., 503-420-0799, moderntimesbeer.com. 11 am-10 pm Sunday-Tuesday, 11 am-midnight Wednesday-Saturday.

It's almost eerie walking into the Belmont Fermentorium—the new Portland outpost of San Diego's Modern Times Brewing. Only two months after the Commons farmhouse brewery closed in the same space, it's like a team of retro-obsessed vegans immediately moved in and started a tech company. The cavernous brewing area is filled with a wealth of shiny new tanks, while the pub's 24 taps are busting out better-than-average hazy IPAs and truly excellent sours and coffee stouts—many already brewed onsite, the others sent up from California. Earth tones prevail, from Southwestern-style mosaic behind the taps to tiling of 3.5-inch floppies lining the front of the bar, while the halls leading to the restroom have turned into a yarn web that looks like the world's most complicated game of cat's cradle. It's hard not to assume opulence is the driver of the prices—even a pint of Orderville, an excellent take on hazy IPA, will set you back $6.50—but the quality is there to back it up. And besides, Portlanders willingly fork out nearly as much for beers from vaunted locals like Breakside and Great Notion, so maybe it's time to cut these carpetbaggers some slack and enjoy the riches they've bestowed upon us.

Modern Times (Thomas Teal)

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