Not a Brewpub

“A brewpub is a microbrewery which serves food or is combined with a pub.” -Wikipedia

A few years back when I was attending school at Portland State University, I came across a pizzeria in the South Park Blocks with a sign out front that read “Micro Brew Pub.” Eagerly I entered the establishment to taste their house produced beers only to discover this place was not a brewpub at all. In fact, there was nothing on tap at all, just a few bottled microbrews such as Mirror Pond and Black Butte Porter. These are excellent beers, but rather pedestrian for the beer geek palate. I asked the woman behind the counter if they brewed beer and was quickly informed that they did not. I explained the definition as I knew it of a brewpub and was greeted with a shoulder shrugging “oh well” response. Not only was this place not brewing, they were not a pub, as I understood a pub to be a place where beer is poured on tap and the community gathers. Needless to say, this barren business was gone shortly after my first and last visit.

Maybe it could be argued that places that do not brew beer on premise are “brew pubs” (note the space) as a matter of semantics, but to the beerhunters on a mission to palate something new and interesting, this is disheartening and misleading. Maybe the drivelous masses will not recognize or care, but we in Brewpublic (not Brew Public) do!

Definitions of brewpub on the Web:

• a combination brewery and restaurant; beer is brewed for consumption on the premises and served along with food
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
• A microbrewery, or craft brewery, is a brewery which produces a limited amount of beer. The maximum amount of beer a brewery can produce and still be classed as a microbrewery varies by region and by authority, though is usually around 15,000 barrels (18,000 hectolitres/ 475,000 gallons) a year. …
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewpub
• an establishment which brews beer and sells it for consumption on-premise.
  bbc.bloomington.com/terms/terms.html