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230 SE Court Ave., Pendleton, 541-276-6090, prodigalsonbrewery.com. 11 am-10 pm Tuesday-Saturday. noon-9 pm Sunday.
Pendleton is a sneakily good tourist destination—there's more than you can do in a weekend between the underground catacombs under downtown, the state's largest casino, a massive Native American history museum, the famous woolen mills and rodeo grounds that are the Fenway Park of the sport. Prodigal Son is the sneakily good brewery the city deserves. This family-friendly brewpub does uncommonly good versions of most of the canonical American brewpub beers, from an amber to an oatmeal stout on nitro. It also handles hops well, making excellent IPAs. The food menu, likewise, covers a lot of ground, from wings to Scotch eggs to fried oysters to a Reuben to a house pickle plate.
(Tristan Paiige)
Nearby: Pendleton also has one of the few Oregon distilleries making spirits exclusively from scratch—that is, they're distilling from beer they ferment with all-Oregon grain—as opposed to distilleries that run pre-made neutral grain spirits through their own still and then market it as a local product. You can sample them at the tasting room for Oregon Grain Growers Brand Distillery (511 SE Court Ave., Pendleton, 541-276-0070, oregongrain.com), which is in a former auto dealership on the edge of downtown.
