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2200 NE Andresen Road, Vancouver, Wash., 360-524-4692, fortsidebrewing.com. 4-10 pm Wednesday-Saturday, 2-8 pm Sunday.
"I just want to see Aaron Rodgers drown to death," says the bartender. "That's all it would take to make me happy." She smiles, and then almost skips back over to pour a port barrel-aged saison from one of Fortside Brewing's taps. The brightly lit Fortside—parked in the no man's land between Vancouver's two northbound interstates—may be themed after Southwest Washington's first line of defense, with a mismatched wood wall and tap handles molded like beaver-cut logs. But it's as much sports bar as brewpub, and apparently the first line of defense in football is watching the opposing quarterback stop spitting up bubbles. The beers at the convivial brewery bar, which started up in June, are much less violent but just as partisan. It takes a certain type of pride to name your brown beer Couve A'licious and your fresh hop Straight Outta Yakima. The barrel-aging program is ambitious but shows a strange shot selection—it's not clear that a saison wants a port barrel, or a double IPA a bourbon one—but the basic Kanaka saison is a nicely light and crackly take on a farmhouse. Just don't drink too many and end up at the indoor trampoline place next door.
Drink This: The caramely but not oversweet Couve A'Licious brown lives up to its name. Don't miss out on the terrific house root beer, either.
Willamette Week