Note: originally posted may 9th, 2006. see end of post for update.
The first impression of this place, which is in the center of Garlic Gulch @ SE 9th and Yamhill, was, um, weird. Parked directly in front of the door when I walked in was an obese, bored-looking palm reader.
The place is rough, the clientele surprisingly mixed (gender and age wise), and the bartender a slack-jawed hippie girl. Went with E, she said her grilled cheese was good. Beer is just not that good—their ‘bitter’ wasn’t what I’d hoped for (a low APV English style) and tasted strongly of sassafras, or anise or fennel. Their Amber was good, but nothing special and also tasted strongly of sassafras. It was also not particularly ‘amber’. I bumped into Adam (bartender @ the basement) after my first visit and he said their stout is like ‘pouring chocolate syrup down your throat.’ I gave it a shot on a later visit, and I guess I got a different batch, because it tasted like sassafras, and lacked any real stout character.
essentially, all of their beer has the same weird licorice-sassafras flavor that really didn’t agree with me or anyone I brought with me.
The building is rather large, with sizable piles of kegs in the brewing area, so they’re gearing up for pretty serious production—on par with, or perhaps beyond, Roots capacity-here’s hoping they figure out some better recipes first.
Update 10/14/06
YBC Closed with little fanfare, and the space is now for sale on craigslist
Thanks VJ!
