Widmer Brothers

Been to Widmer so many times for the grub and brew. It’s always a crowdpleaser. Never a teaser. And you know the beer that’s flowing is some of the PDX best — 20 taps loaded with their beer.
We’re having the burger topped off with a chunk of pork belly and delicious potato salad. We’ve tried a lot of things on the menu and everything is a notch above standard pub food anywhere else. …and more beer, here here!
Friendly, responsive service with a smile! Servers are swinging by with samples of their new Lager.
Give it up for Widmer, without them and their buddies McMenamin’s and Bridgeport pushing legislation way back when, we would not have the craft beer scene that puts PDX on the map as one of the best cities for craft beer!

Excellent beer house! It’s clean, well services, excellent beer!
Right now in having their Core Flight: Hef, Drop Top amber ale, ALT Bier, Replay Session IPA, Steel Bridge Porter, Upheaval IPA
All are refreshing and outstanding! Doesn’t get better than this!

Good food. if one can judge by a pretzel. Which, of course, one can’t. Beers are awesome, so tried a few (including other visits!)
Happy Hour is 2 – 5 M-​F.
Good service, excellent barmen. Robbie is outstanding.

After the brewery tour, came to the sit down pub for some grub and even more beers to try (already sampled 4 at the tour). Big open area and plenty of bar seating on a Friday late afternoon.
Had to get the sampler here ($ 9ish) and the house pretzel ($ 5) to make sure I didn’t get hammered. Sampler has great value, with 6 significant pours of ANY of the beers they have on tap. specifically liked the Last Roman and Old Embalmer. The pretzel was significant and the the mustard had a lot of spicy kick that cleared my sinuses (much appreciated).
Bartenders here are fast and helpful with your selections. Also got to talk to a couple of locals which made the experience even better. Would love to come back one day to try an actual meal and some more brews.

We had Steel Bridge porters after a sample of ginger beer. During the meal our waitress, Mooso brought us more samples; she was excellent. The lamb burger and pulled pork sliders were also good. A great experience.

The beer was good the pretzal was amazing but the whole experience was made great by the bartender Brian S. He was engaging, knowledgeable, and friendly. Great job!

Arrived an hour to closing and waiter let us know, which probably meant he didn’t want us to order food. That was made more apparent when after dropping off our drinks he didn’t come back to take our food orders for another 15 minutes. It was about 9:30ish when he came back to take our orders but we didn’t end up ordering food since they were closing soon. I’ve worked as a server and understand how much it sucks to have people come in close to closing and order food (even when they say it’s ok because they are lying, it’s never ok lol), so I totally understood what he may have been feeling. No hard feelings. In the end he brought us out a free dessert from the kitchen for not ordering any food. Hahah overall great beer and nice staff. I can’t wait to come back and try the food and more beer.

Fun brewery atmosphere! Sat by the bar. Service was great and the bartender gave us lots of free samples. More traditional style German food options than other breweries in Portland. Rotating taps of experimental beers too!

We had a great experience! Alex was knowledgeable about the beers, very helpful and friendly. Can’t wait to come back!

Expectations. I haven’t been here for dinner in a long time. I did know about the remodel, but did not know about the changes in the menu. The remodel has removed any ambiance/​atmosphere. They have removed the beautiful old bar and taken out the cozy booths. The dining area is just one big room. If they are going for a sports bar look they fail in that. The dinner menu is now more lunch/​pub food than a real dinner. I wanted to order their trout or oysters — both are no longer on the menu. I ended up getting a salmon burger. My friend go the chicken schnitzel and it was a very small portion — more a ladies lunch size than a man’s dinner size portion. We talked with the waiter and manager. Our expectation was to have a much nicer atmosphere for dinner, and a dinner menu that had more than sandwiches and small portions. My salmon sandwich was good, the waiter and the manager were both very nice. The manager offered to pay for the chicken schnitzel, but that wasn’t the point. Again, it just didn’t meet up to our expectations. I will return for lunch, but not for dinner.

I’m going to tell you something you probably don’t know: Portland is chock-​full of breweries. Did I just blow your mind?! I’ll bet I did!
Given the number of choices, Portlanders can be picky when it comes to choosing their favorite brews. I’ll be honest, Widmer isn’t my favorite. There’s nothing wrong with Widmer, I’m just not usually wowed. I tend to prefer the really dark stuff or fruit beers and ciders — I know, I’m weird. Buuuuuut, I really love their pub. It’s in a more industrial part of town (near my college stomping grounds, so perhaps I get a bit nostalgic when I come here…) and the building is cool.
Obviously, they have a large selection of their own beers on tap, but they also have rotating guest taps, including some ciders. They have a great stout — theirs — that you can usually get here. Their beer cheese soup is the best I’ve ever had. Their burgers are great, their fondue is so yummy (although last time I went, it was only on happy hour and/​or available as a side with the pretzel) — their food really hits the spot for me. Service is always fantastic too — really friendly, prompt and welcoming. I love the semi-​recent renovations too. Looking good Widmer!

Everyone knows Widmer because of their popular Heffe. I love their brewery. It is in an industrial part of town and the outside has a nice old building charm to it. I think they should work on a proper accessible entry for the tap room. We had a stroller and went to the accessible entrance only to find out it was locked. We had to pick up the stroller and climb up the step at the main entrance. I asked the server about it and he said that in order to use accessible entrance someone should come to main door and ask for accessible entrance to be opened up! Ummm… how is someone supposed to come in through the main door if he/​she is in a wheelchair??? What’s the point of accessible entrance? I hope they have an elevator for the restrooms though since restrooms are downstairs!
Coming to beer, they have a nice assortment of beers on draft. The beers on the menu have at least one beer type for everyone’s liking. I also like their samplers (pretty good size samples!).
I don’t know much about the food but the cheese board we got was great. The pretzel is just ok!
They also have a brewery tour at certain times which gets booked pretty fast. It is a nice tour with a lot of eye opening information like coffee taste of the beer is not because of adding coffee but because of how the wheat is roasted!
I have and will keep going back for their beers!

One time,
Waiting in line for the bathroom in the basement, four of us tapping our toes and humming. The smells of old grease permeating the red brick. I imagined myself slinging burgers after a long day of high school classes. Me behind the grill, skating across the floor and slime.
That’s dead cows that I’m skating on.
All the guys in line seemed polite, two of them knew each other, or they at least knew how to talk to each other like the way guys talk to each other. I don’t know how to do that very well. So I participated in their conversation by attempting to make eye contact with each guy as he spoke. I don’t think they looked at me.
I was that awkward dude, eavesdropping, laughing along with them, over there. They could have been talking about anything. It’s like, the words are meaningless in that type of conversation. The value seems to be in just connecting or something. It’s nuts to me how dudes connect over utter banal shit.
Despite having eaten here a number of times and always loving the food and beer, I am generally hesitant to ever wanting to bring someone for their first time.
The lunch atmosphere is my preference over dinner. Dinner almost always is regrettable, despite the delicious food and beer.
Also,
Why were fries not an option last time I ordered the Brewer’s burger? I enjoyed the burger that was almost a straight duplicate of what’s served for happy hour at Double Barrel. which costs. $ 5? The Brewers burger is $ 14. American cheese slices and iceberg lettuce with some kind of 1000 island variety. 4 Fingerling potatoes cut in half didn’t look or feel like much.
Good beers, thanks for those.

Been here twice, enjoyed my experience both times. I went on Portland burger week for a $ 5 burger, and to my surprise they were doing a promotion for a $ 2 pint of Hefeweizen with the burger. Seriously $ 7 for a beer and a burger? Sign me up! The burger was awesome! A tad bit small, but between a regular and slider size. It also had bacon and homemade BBQ sauce which made up for the smaller portion. It really a great burger! Completely demolished in about 4 bites.
The beer is great, the food is good, the service is a little off especially the self righteous bartender dude with the long blonde ponytail wearing his pajama shorts to work… whats that all about?

I sure do love their Hefe. They make great food. If you like dessert, order the marionberry cobbler!

Widmer brothers is one of the bigger breweries in the Portland area. As a visitor to Portland, it’s more in a warehouse-​y type district. Decent locale for a brewery. Anyway, there were plenty of beers to choose from, and the prices are very reasonable. The staff there is all very good at tailoring your beer selection to your tastes. And even after we told our waitress our flight selection, she even brought a couple extra samples of a beer that would’ve been a little more outside our comfort zones (I particularly am more trepidatious when it comes to darker beers), but I have to admit, they were pretty darn good.
Oh and their T-​shirt selection is pretty cool too.

Snotty, rude and seems to be getting worse.
Look Widmer, I understand this is an establishment owned by a brewery, but if you really don’t want kids in the place the. Just make it a 21 and over place and stop pretending to be family friendly.
Been here three times… all with my kid and each time the server seemed heinously annoyed we had a child with us.
So offended I have even stopped buying their beer in the stores. My kid is a well behaved kid. Doesn’t run around the place or scream or make a gigantic mess… but one would think we had just brought in Charles Manson jr by the attitudes of the staff here.

Very corporate type of brewery. They have everything from the brewery to restaurant to tasting room all within a few blocks of each other. The beers are not too shabby. I would like to come back again for the beer tour which is only offered at certain times of the week.
Brewery Tours:
Mon-​Thurs: 3pm
Fri: 2pm & 3pm
Sat: 12pm, 1pm, 2pm & 3pm
Sun: 1pm, 2pm & 3pm
Cost: $ 5/​person and reservations required

So, I’ve been here a few times before and have never had a bad experience, in fact it’s always been delicious! Here are the pluses:
1. Location. I just love going to Widmer Brothers because of the location under the bridges… cool feel!
2. Beer. They have a great selection of beers and their season beers are extensive. They also have some creative brews available.
3. Taster tray. I LOVE taster trays and you get to choose 6 of your own here. When I get to choose my own, I am automatically in love.
Negatives:
1. They were out of what I ordered, which was a downer, but hey can’t win them all.
2. I didn’t really dig the bourbon beers, they were a little much for my taste.
After eating here, my husband and I agreed that we need to come here more often!

I ate dinner here on my last night in Portland and I think I saved the best place for last! So many excellent beers to choose from and such a wide variety of styles, there’s a different drink for everyone from ipas to stouts to their classic witbier!
For dinner I went with the chicken schnitzel. Schnitzel is traditionally made with pork but I thought chicken would be interesting. I’ve eaten lots of authentic German food and the chicken schnitzel was perfectly prepared and was actually better than any of the pork schnitzels I had eaten at many other places. Also the spetzle on the side was the best spetzle I’ve ever had! I try making spetzle at home and while mine is pretty decent, it’s nowhere near as good as the stuff I had at widmer.
I’d also like to mention that I was impressed by their operation. I peeked in the windows of the brewhouse across the street and was interested to see that their brewery appears to be entirely computer controlled. I wanted to visit the giftshop as well but it was late and they were closed.
So I rate 5 stars because everything about my visit was great. I most definitely plan to return to widmer the next time I visit Portland!

Amazing food and beer! Atmosphere is awesome. Staff is great, seems like they actually sincerely care if I’m enjoying my time there. Anything I’ve asked for has been brought. I come here from Seattle a couple times per year, it’s that good.
P. s. Try the Ruben!

Great beer selection and brewery is like right next door.
Food here is a little over priced. Its ok food but not your moneys worth. Maybe if their portion size was bigger then it wouldn’t be so bad? Hand crafted root beer, one of the best I had. Service was decent.
They also got a small parking lot in the back.
Happy hour, M-​F 2−5pm with a few restrictions.

Widmer Bros is the largest brewery we visited in Portland. It, along with it’s restaurant and surrounding buildings take up several blocks of Portland real estate. I wouldn’t exactly call it prime real estate since it’s located in a north eastern industrial area.
We were seated at a high table in the dining area and went to work on the beer menu. My honey treated me to a full sampling of nearly all their beers on tap minus the gross sounding Belgian ones. She had to order me two trays of six since they don’t offer one large tray of all their beer on tap. They do seem to come in larger size glasses than most other taster trays. Weighing in at 5oz I believe.
When the waitress brought them to me, I thought to myself «wow I may have ordered more beer than I can handle at this time of the day without food». But then I thought «fuck it, it’s my birthday, I’m hanging with my great love, sipping beer and headed to Casa Diablo for dinner later. What can get better than this?»
While Widmer is very well known for their Hefeweizen, I was never a huge fan of Widmer. This Portland beer journey helped my taste buds evolve to the point where I don’t mind this unfiltered wheat beer quite so much anymore. In fact, I rather enjoy it now.
If we were to have purchased one of their fancy large handled growlers at their gift shop next door, I probably would have filled it with either the Steel Bridge Porter or the Nelson Imperial IPA over the Hefe, but that beer made it’s way up the ranks than I would have guessed.
My baby ordered a pretzel and unfortunately it didn’t come with regular mustard as we had requested. It was some strange beer cheese dip instead. I myself wasn’t a fan. Especially when Sam’s Club makes the best pretzel you’ll ever eat for a mere $ 1, Their restaurant menu isn’t very V3gan friendly at all. It felt like we were at «America’s Favorite Neighbor» as far as their food is concerned, instead of in genteel Portland.
Next time we’re in Portland, I hope to book a tour of their brewery across the street to get a more in depth look at what Widmer does best.

They let us sit and just drink beer even though we weren’t ordering food and were really nice about it! The service was really good.
The beer choices were great. I really enjoyed the Raspberry Stout and the pinkishly tart Marionberry ale. They also gave us all free samples of the Oktoberfest at our table, which was delicious. We had quite a few different kinds of beers and they were all good and recommended. I didn’t have any food, though, so I can’t comment on that!

Beer Sampling at Widmer Gasthaus is definitely fun. so much fun that I will be going back again next time when I am in Portland and of course I will make sure I am able to get in on one of their free tours at the Brewery right next door!
We ordered 2 sample trays for $ 11 each and tried the following:
Hefeweizen
Drop Top Amber Ale
Drifter Pale Ale
ALT: Altbier Style
Okto Festival Ale
Smoke on The Lager
Brothers Reserve Series: SXNW
Falconer’s IPA
Pitch Black IPA
Critra Blonde
Scorcher Double IPA
Our waitress was really helpful. but we should just tell her bring everything they have on tap and just let us tried them all!
Most of the beers we sampled are really tasty and have a lot of character which I really enjoyed. With a rotating taps, I think I need to come back with the change of season to try more different beer styles.

We missed the brewery tour, so we turned to the Gasthaus as a quick alternative. They had a great selection of tasting options, offering up a variety of flights. I got the IPA flight and it was great!
On the food end, ordered their sasauge + cheese fondue. Maybe it was hunger or maybe I was really buzzed, but it was a really great combination of cheese, bread, sausage and pickled onions. Yum!
A friend ordered the clams and it was also good, although less appealing since I’m not used to combining seafood with my beer.
Overall, great service and great vibe from people around us.

One of our favorite days in Portland had to be Zwicklemania. We just so happen upon a brewery festival the day we went to Widmer Gasthaus. Well then!
Last time we came, we got a full set of everything on tap and this time we did too. With a couple guest taps, that was a sampler of 17 beers. The photo is pretty great!
We sat next to a really nice guy who encouraged us to share his chicken wings with him. They were spicy hot and good. Although I don’t usually eat off strangers plates, he was a really nice guy and local. We had a nice conversation through our lunch and beer sampling.
Before I even came to Widmer, I was craving the Pretzel. So we started with that, with the stone ground mustard. They taste fresh made, so I was so surprised when it came out.
For lunch, we split a pastrami sandwich. He got the beer cheese soup as his side and I ordered the chili ala cart so we could try both. The beer cheese soup was a lot better than I expected, but I was hoping for a little bit of a hoppy beer flavor. My chili was pretty good.
The pastrami sandwich was a little oily, I suppose from the grill, cheese and any mayo they put on it before cooking. I deconstructed the sandwich and ate it without the bread and a little mustard. Yum.
Widmer has always been our favorite and will always be a great place to come when we visit Portland. You never know how many new and experimental beers they will have on tap.

Our beer tasting continues at Widmer Gasthaus, the pub across the street from the Widmer Brothers brewery, of the largest in Portland. This German pub features up to 12 taps, rotating brews, possibly with some that aren’t bottled. Perfect for a tasting.
The pub dining room is attractive, a sleek space of golden woods, exposed brick, and high ceilings, the bar on one side, table dining on the other. We didn’t try the food, of which there’s a full menu of German-​leaning offerings; not just bar snacks, one can have a bonafide lunch or dinner here, accompanied by a Widmer brew.
On the draft menu, there were quite a few that were black-​stamped with a hops flower image and «FRESH OUT!» for those not available. All can be ordered as part of 6-​beer tasting flights in 4-​oz glasses, in a wooden paddle; we penciled our choices onto a note, which returned with the beer. In two rounds, we sampled the 11 available drafts (plus a repeat).
Wide variety of beers styles, from their (practically flagship) hefeweizen, to blonde ale, pale ale, IPAs, amber, altbier, strong ale, and a smoked lager. Good versions of their respective styles and all decent to very good beers. Enjoyed this tasting; although there were some that I wouldn’t choose to have again, I very much liked their Smoke on the Lager, Okto Festival, and Citra Blonde. Their hefeweizen was easy-​drinking, crisp, and refreshing, although not the most interesting of hefeweizens.
Nice pub to stop by after a visit to the brewery across the street, or just to come for lunch or dinner. Well worth a beer tasting.