Jason A.
Yelp
My new favorite place!
It's those moments when you walk out after a great night and cannot wait to Yelp about it that make for great writing. Spent an evening here catching up with a buddy. We wanted to find a new place to try out, and lo and behold this place was new to us, close by, and every bit as awesome as I had hoped for.
Gigantic brews some pretty incredible beers, and their status as IPA masters has earned them a 9th degree black belt in my opinion. The regular Gigantic IPA and Ginormous Imperial IPA are stellar with perfect fruity overtones matched with a pretty amazing ratio of hoppy to bitter to sweet notes. I cannot recommend it more. Their on the stronger side so be careful, the Imperial is nearly 9%!!!! All beers are $4.50 for an Imperial 20oz pint, that's a pretty good value.
The Nitty Gritty- Gigantic is really a warehouse for brewing beer that gets sold in stores. They just have a small bar on the side of the building with outdoor seating and limited indoor. They are not a restaurant, so grub up beforehand or do like we did and eat at the pretty impressive and inexpensive taco truck across the street. Gigantic lets you bring in food and eat it which is really nice. You could easily bring a pizza and split it with a few of their beers. There are a few snacks inside for purchase however and they do have seasonal selections and a taplist of about 8 brews to choose from.
Only space it loses a star is that as it gets bigger and busier it's hard to get seats, and with no food it makes an evening a little tricky. Eventually some expansion will need to happen They don't need to be a full service pub, just a basic kitchen setup that puts together bread, cheese, and cold cut plates to split with friends would be a simple and huge addition here.
Overall it's clean, they have great service, and a fun atmosphere. There's a big screen tv inside, but it's for Timbers games only. I have to really respect a business that knows what it is and doesn't try to pretend to be more. They just brew great beer and offer a little open bar. Nothing more nothing less with no apologies. That's refreshing in a city that's quickly turning into a sleek tv version of itself.
Go big and get to the Gigantic........it's that little slice of Portland that makes us special!!!!!