Skip to main content4th Street
77 NE 4th St., Gresham, 669-0569, 4thstreetbrewing.com. 4 pm-1 am Monday-Friday, noon-1 am Saturday, 10-1 am Sunday.
Of course, the Gresham brewery is the one making imitation Coors Light. Worse, in our blind taste test, 4th Street's Gresham Light finished well below the monolithic domestic lagers it mimics. But there's something to be said for knowing one's audience, and this place knows its drinkers exactly: suburban bros who just want a beverage that won't distract them from the MMA fight. A brewpub disguised as a warehouse sports bar (or maybe it's the other way around), the focus is on the plasma screens and pork sliders, with the beer positioned in such a way as to not scare off locals who've never sipped a drink they wouldn't rather shotgun. Even the Powell Porter, one of the brewery's five mainstays, goes down mild and easy. Slightly more adventurous selections exist among the rotating seasonals—the winter slate includes a cherry tart, a coffee stout and a barleywine boasting 115 IBUs—but with its lone competitor down the street specializing in ABV-busting hop bombs, 4th Street's entry-level staples make an unintimidating gateway toward craftier pastures. And anyway, you won't feel bad spewing any of them all over the bar after watching Anderson Silva's leg get kicked into Silly Putty. MATTHEW SINGER.
DRINK THIS: Black Roots Blonde, an unobtrusive sipper that won't win any tapouts but which makes a decent porch beer with buddies.
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WWeek 2015