After Migration, the brewery tour headed off to the Deschutes Public House. I’ve been to the Deschutes brewpub in Bend many times, and when I finally do an “official” visit for the blog, I want it to be from that one. So I went rogue and left for Tugboat Brewing with Robert, his wife, and their friend.

Tugboat is a cozy little pub. Lots of bookshelves with odd titles for a bar (The Nursing Mother, From Here to Maternity, iMac for Dummies, Internet for Dummies) and retro lamps on the tables. They had three of their beers on tap, but unfortunately the Chernobyl Stout (13%!) was out.

Great atmosphere at the Tugboat brewpub. Wish I could say the same for the beer… — Portland, OR

The Rest
• Hop Gold/Wheat – Hop craziness. Superstrong grapefruit/tangerine citrus flavors that overpower everything else. Intense face-puckering bitterness that just doesn’t go away. None of us could drink more than a couple sips. One of the worst beers I’ve ever had. Robert suggested re-naming the beer “Fool’s Gold.” We returned the two pints, and the bartender replaced them with the Hop Red, mercifully pouring the Hop Gold down the drain.
• Hop Red – Malty aroma. Hoppy, malty taste, but very bitter. More manageable than the Hop Gold, which isn’t saying much, but still too bitter for me. Got through about a third of the pint before giving up. None of us finished this beer.

We also ordered a plate of nachos. Robert described them as “good for washing away the bitter memories.” To be fair, though, the various reviews we looked at after the fact had good things to say about the Chernobyl Stout and their IPA, and one of the Portland brewery tour organizers had great things to say about their visit to Tugboat. But that doesn’t change the fact that the two beers we tried were horrible. Maybe next time they’ll have decent stuff on tap.