Fat Head’s Brewery Owner Reopened the Former Portland Outpost With a Simpler Look and a New Name: Von Ebert Brewing

Now manned by ex-Commons head brewer Sean Burke, the beer is every bit as good as it was in the rust belt era.

By Parker Hall
(Liz Allan)

131 NW 13th Ave., 503-820-7721, vonebertbrewing.com. 11:30 am-11 pm Monday-Thursday, 11:30 am-midnight Friday-Saturday, 11:30 am-10 pm Sunday. Happy hour 3-6 pm and 9 pm-close Sunday-Thursday: $1 off house beer, $6 wine, food specials.

Fat Head's brewery owner Tom Cook has reopened the former Portland outpost of the Ohio brewery with a simpler look and a new name: Von Ebert Brewing. Now manned by ex-Commons head brewer Sean Burke, the beer is every bit as good as it was in the rust belt era. A Battlestations! IPA offered the same tropical oomph that won Fat Head's the top two slots in WW's first-ever all-Portland IPA tasting—and uses the same hops as the winning beer, Semper FiPA. But Burke has also subbed in a few eye-poppingly good German recipes: Goodbye cloying blueberry ale, hello clovey German hefeweizen. Von Ebert is also pouring numerous special barrel projects like "Annabeth," a silky blond oatmeal stout that resided in a Burnside Bourbon barrel. The food hasn't dropped in calories, but it has a less laminated aesthetic on its new metal platters. Massive smoked wings (six for $15.50) and a giant pretzel ($10.50) remain rightfully unchanged, but homy new cuts like a Gouda-stuffed Adult Grilled Cheese ($12) make a good thing better.

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Parker Hall

Parker Hall

Parker Hall is a writer, musician, and home brewer from Portland. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, where he studied jazz percussion with drum legend Billy Hart (Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock). Now a freelance writer and professional member of the city's jazz and indie rock scenes, he spends most of his days writing, playing music or drinking brews in his spacious North Portland basement.

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