Oxbow Blending & Bottling

Pleasant patio off the road tucked behind the building. Taplist was small but beers were of great quality. The Duckfat popup is a godsend after visiting all the local breweries. Huge selection of bottles to-go.

Just a bar but has a cool vibe. (hipster alert) They were playing a wide range or music. I liked the old school hip hop and classic rock mix. Lots of beer on draft and good bottle selection. Service was really good. Attentive with out seeming needy or pushing. Prices were reasonable. Food is outside but not their company (but related?) Overall. Really cool place, good beer and vibes...

Right next to Maine Mead Works and tucked away a little off the road, this place was a fun stop. 7 beers on tap - 4 oz pours of all available for $2-4 depending on the beer. Beers were all generally pretty solid, with a couple of stand-outs. Service was a bit abrupt and cold, pouring me more than I asked for and charging me for the larger amount - not cool. Worth a stop for the good beers.

The brewery has more animals than this place does. Set back from some warehouses, just look for their sign. Large space, long bar, picnic tables, lots of barrels. I had had everything on their taplist, but the bottlelist had some really good stuff. Service was great, they brought me water with no ice without my asking, and even refilled it. Food is charcuterie or cheese. Beers are terrific of course. Great stop

Monday late afternoon drop in...just killing a bit of time to avoid rush hour and sorta wish traffic had been worse. Walked into the meadery beside it first (delivery trucks were blocking signage) but then went down the alley and found a great place. Tables outside with plenty of space (more on this later). Inside it is a wide open space divided into tables, 3 arcade machines, separate space required for bottle purchases because or archaic government rules, and then a long bar. They do 4, 8 and 12 oz pours, a bunch of bottles including a pretty good selection of past BA treats, and have some meats and cheeses. Staff knew their stuff, they do samples, provide great service, and as an amazing surprise Duckfat has a serving window at their outside tables so you can order mikshakes, fries and other yummy food. Would gladly have spent an evening here, sorta reminded me of Tired Hands in terms of the chillax vibe, even great with kids.

Evening stop, doing a decent business on a Thursday night, not what I would call busy. They are right next to a Meadery that has a much larger and cleaner space, but was closed before I arrived. Oxbow itself has an outdoor area with a food truck and a large open inside area with a large bar at the back. Barrels are on plain display to the left. Taplist was actually pretty decent, but being the beer dork that i am I had actually tried most of them. The ones that were new to me were so so at best, but given that I know I enjoyed others on the list previously I would not hold that against them too much. Friendly service, laid back vibe. All in all enjoyable. They had about 8 taps when I was there, available as individual tasters, as well as about 10 bottles

I love how Oxbow’s Portland brewery taproom has its signless entrance facing a slew of East End businesses and their employee doors. The Oxbow doorway looks more like an exit than anything else. Thank God they have their brewery name painted in black on the neighboring building to indicate where we need to drag our aching feet. At first I decided that I needed to take another look at their address before confirming that it must just be a Portland thing. You wouldn’t know it by the way its exterior is set up that this one gargantuan location. Walk to the bar and you’ll see a few hundred 500 mL barrels lined up by the wall. Their primary interest lies in saisons (and variations therein) and I have been happily surprised to consume many an offering I was more than convinced would be nothing but disastrous. As most do, they save their best beers for to-go bottles for home enjoyment. Definitely an expensive beer stop but this is Portland and that isn’t really saying much or honestly adding anything new to the conversation. And some times their beers don’t always work, but this small group of brewers, friends, and helpers have always been innovative and meticulous with their products. .

Review from a visit in June 2016, but I’ve been a few times, and it’s on the regular circuit for what amounts to at least 2 Portland trips a year on average. Right next door to Maine Meadeworks, big open industrial space. Graffiti lines the back walls in the brewhouse and barrel area. I wonder if that was here first and they left it, or it was added. Then I asked, and found they had commissioned it from local and nationally known graffiti artists. Pretty neat. 5 of their own beers on in 5/12oz sizes, no 5oz pours available of those. Three guest taps, from Trois Dames, Sierra Nevada and Shiga Kogen, with one as a 5oz, the others 8/12. Prices were quite reasonable. In terms of atmosphere, it reminds me a lot of Rare Barrel in California, but a little less pretentious. There’s some cheeses and meats available for foods. Very much worth a visit.

Actually came here twice. Once on a solo mission and once after hitting Maine Mead Works, which is next door.

This is a warehouse tasting room with a handful of parking spaces out front and I guess there is probably some street parking available as well.

Open floor plan with a number of communal tables and a larger bar area. They had a pretty sizable selection of draft and bottles, and also had some nice guest bottles (we split a Vigneronne, for instance). Everything very, very reasonably priced, too.

Unlike some of the other places we visited, the beer here is really top quality. They certainly focus on funky and "farmhouse" beers, but seem to do a pretty good job of everything they do brew, at least based on our tastes.

Also recommend taking a short walk up Congress St. to visit the Portland Observatory.

Warehouse space located within a couple of miles of downtown. A very dark space but there was lots of room and it felt very comfortable very quickly. They had 5 of their own, mainly variations on saison, and 6-7 guest taps. The beers were quite tasty and available in 4,8, and 12 ounce pours. I’d come back again if I were in the area.