Beer Guide 2015: Ram

By Brooke Geery

Ram

9073 SE Sunnyside Road, Happy Valley, 659-1282, theram.com. 11 am-close Monday-Sunday.

[CHAIN UP] Located in a parking lot at Clackamas Town Center, Ram is a family-oriented restaurant and sports bar that happens to brew its own beer. It feels like a chain restaurant because it is: Ram's range includes Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Illinois and Indiana. Each location is staffed with its own brewmaster, who makes six company recipes to standard, then follows his muse in filling the other two taps. For the beer-drinker with a hungry family, it's a nice day out—you get fresh beer, and yet you don't feel weird requesting a high chair. Once you find parking in the seemingly permanently full lot, just walk all the way around to the entrance, which for some reason faces the stoplights on Sunnyside Road. There's a full bar where growlers are filled for $7 during happy hour, but most seats are part of the restaurant and offer good views of the TVs. Ram's six staples include an IPA, a pale ale, Buttface Amber and Total Disorder Porter, brewed with chocolate and toffee. They all veer sweet, with fruity notes in almost every brew.

DRINK THIS: Not a fan of Portland IPAs? Try the Big Red IPA, which is bold and citrusy, without any lingering bitterness.

WWeek 2015

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