Racist Sexist Boy | Thebeerchaser

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I loved Baerlic Beer Compnay

During my fourteen years of Beerchasing, I have visited a lot more bars than breweries. Many of the newer brewpubs don’t reflect the character of a dive bar or neighborhood tavern. Baerlic Beer Company’s Ranch which houses its brewery and taproom is an exception.

Baerlic has a great story – founded 2014 by Ben Parsons and Richard Hall – two home brewers who became entrepreneurs and have won numerous beer awards.

They’ve expanded their operations to three locations, contribute to the community, successfully self-distribute and have shown creativity throughout their eleven years. The slogan of Baerlic reflects the owners’ enthusiasm for their craft:

“The Beer Here is Near and Dear“

What the Heck is Baerlic?

I’m always interested in the derivation of a brewery’s name and Baerlic’s website states it clearly:

“First things first, where does the name of this Oregon brewery come from? Baerlic (bear-lick) is an old-English adjective meaning ‘of barley.'”

I’ll tell you below about some of their awards, but it takes more than good beer to make my list of favorites and Baerlic hits the mark on all the criteria. That said, my assessment is just based on visiting The Ranch – the original brewery and taproom.

It will take return trips to experience the other two locations – the Barley Pod in NE Portland and the Northeast Alberta Taproom both of which look great. (#3 – #4)

The Space

The Ranch is not overly impressive from the outside, but the interior is laid out in a long and interesting manner. There are different sections – some with booths, individual picnic tables (also on their attractive patio in the front) and an expansive area with community tables around an inviting woodstove surrounded by stools after you pass a long and attractive bar.

Upon entering you see an area of individual picnic tables in front of a giant mural which appears to be an aerial shot of Portland International Airport. The style is basic – exposed ceilings, ventilation and rafters with bulb lighting and concrete floors and it fits the ambiance quite well.

The Beer

Ambiance and character are meaningful, but of paramount importance is the beer – and Baerlic doesn’t disappoint. It was identified as one of the best Portland breweries in The Oregonian’s 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards which stated:

“Baerlic offers well-crafted beers that effortlessly span styles….Readers love their IPAs as well as the variety of styles Baerlic offers while delivering consistently high quality brews.

Or take the opinion of Northwest writer, Jeff Alworth in his Beervana Blog – one of the most respected national resources on beer in a 2023 article on Portland’s Best Breweries

“Baerlic is one of the most reliable breweries in Portland, and they always have an interesting selection….their IPA game is one of the best in the city—and I consider their Helles Chill, to be a true Portland classic.”

The Ranch had sixteen beers on tap plus their “On Cask Rotating Tap” and their “On Nitro Night Howler Imperial Stout.” They also have cider and wine on tap plus Kombucha and a “Mela Watermelon Water” which one of our party tried and said was “ripe for the sipping.”

Some of Portland’s Best Beers

And Doug, our friendly and helpful bartender, was very accommodating while informing us about the options and letting us sample them. Three of us rated the Pioneer Pale Ale as a great pour and another companion had a good reaction to the Noble Stout.

Baerlic is a repeat winner in major beer competitions such as the Oregon Beer Awards and the World Beer Cup – the Olympics of Beer – in 2024 its Night Howler Imperial Stout won a silver medal in the WBC and they also brought home a silver in the Oregon Beer Awards for its Fresh Hop Splishy IPA.

Beerchasing Companions

While I try not to let who joins me at a particular watering hole overly influence my opinion, I admit to a slight bias. You will note below that five of the eight people in the photo from 2025 on the right (wife Janet, David and Kate Dickson, Roy Lambert and Mary Maxwell) also joined me at Wayfinder (a favorite listed above) in 2023. Doug Blomgren and Chris Hamm were great additions.

Creativity, Confidence and Innovation

Many hospitality businesses didn’t survive the pandemic, but Baerlic came through and the example below from a 2020 Willamette Week article shows why they are still thriving:

“Baerlic Brewing was among that inspired group of entrepreneurs that looked at the cracked, gray parking lot behind its building and somehow saw a socially distanced party.

Although it took several days of cleanup and construction, the crew managed to turn the 6,000-square-foot space into the Bavarian-inspired drinking lawn the owners envisioned—despite the fact that the only original vegetation were weeds filling in the cracks in the pavement.

‘We really wanted to create a beer garden,’ says Baerlic’s co-founder, Ben Parsons, ‘so we had to bring in the green.'”

It’s gone now, but they use the moniker for the event space adjacent to the taproom. (#5)

Where else in a Portland beer place can you walk up to a vending machine and get Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood for $5, a plastic mustache $3, a mystery pack entitled “Find Your Inner Animal” $3, fake dentures $8 or “mystery socks” $8. (I may have to return to find out what was in empty bins A5 $7and D2 $5.)

Find your Inner Animal!

And if you want to add to your vinyl collection, you can do that in another little nook below some items such as a Rubik’s Cube or The Mummy’s Hand by Weirdest – an action figure – (“The severed hand of horror, long detached from its hideous host, single-handedly searches for someone to gratify its evil grip.”)

If your tastes are more refined and want to buy a classic album, pick up a platter by such groups as The Linda Linda’s – an all-female LA rock group formed in 2018, whose 2021 hit, “Racist, Sexist Boy” went viral (although unfortunately, I missed it…) (#6)

Smart, Adaptive and Customer Oriented Owners

Their space, their beer selection and quality as well as the trappings are refreshing and almost a bit irreverent – refreshing in these days of somewhat sleek, modern and formulaic brewpubs and taphouses.

It bespeaks confidence in their mission, staff, product and business approach. I loved the example from Yelp, where I was impressed because co-owner, Ben Parsons takes the time to politely respond to reviews which are critical or find fault with some aspect of service.

One doesn’t often find this approach – in part because some Yelp reviewers have the common sense of a new college grad who decides that importing/exporting is a good career option.

Ben’s reply to a woman named Lisa R from Anaheim California was admirable – the best I’ve ever seen. It’s rather lengthy, but worth reading:

Original Response from Ben: “Hey Lisa R., thanks for your feedback! We take all reviews seriously so that we can take the appropriate steps to rectify issues as they arise.

Just so you know, as a business that serves alcohol, we are required to be licensed with the Oregon Liquor & Cannabis Commission (OLCC) and must comply with their rules or risk fines and/or suspension of our license and our ability to operate. And one of the OLCC’s top concerns is serving alcohol to intoxicated persons…cause you know…liability.

….To claim that you were discriminated against is not only a red herring, but also patently untrue…as outlined above. Falsely accusing our staff of discrimination is not only dangerous, it’s also not fair given your actions when you visited.

The good news is that the OLCC has no specific rules against serving idiots. (emphasis added by Thebeerchaser) So had you come in and just been an idiot—and not proclaimed that you were drunk after admitting you were tipsy—then we could have served you no problem and I’m sure you would have had a great time with your friends, you know cause…that’s what drinking at a brewery is for. Cheers! (#7)

Ben Parson’s and Rik Hall – Creative Management

UPDATE 3/17/25: Your crew came in and you announced that you were drunk when attempting to order an alcoholic beverage. This is what you removed from your original review: ‘ALTHOUGH I told the girl … I was drunk.’

Then when my bar staff stated that they were not comfortable serving you based on state laws, you go online and falsely claim racial discrimination—which you conveniently forgot to mention in your follow-up. That is completely unfair and frankly, idiotic to claim. If you decide to own your mistakes—and apologize for falsely claiming racial discrimination—then we’d love to have you back! Cheers! Ben”

A Community

We enjoyed the comradery – not only of our own group, but that permeating the space. There were families and groups sitting at community tables, people at the bar chatting with Doug the bartender and even a couple sitting at the woodstove – she reading a novel and he doing a Rubik’s cube.

Drink and Draw – I even talked to a great guy who was set up in the space near the entrance with Wacom – evidently a corporation that sells digital art supplies which had a Drink and Draw event at Baerlic – and you could even bring your kids until 9:00.

“Join us for the first Drink & Draw of 2025! We’re partnering up with our friends, the Digital Dabblers, for a fun night of doodles, sketches, and community. So, dust off that sketchbook — traditional or digital! — grab a friend, and let’s get creative.” (#8)

Woodworker Holiday Market – A very successful annual event and brilliantly tied into their business is summarized in the following paragraphs:

“A few times a year, we design and brew beers destined to lead double lives—first as a brewery fresh beer and second as a beer that will age in oak barrels for months or years at a time. This working of the wood, the evolution of liquid and solid, is the foundation for our ongoing WoodWorker Beer Series and the inspiration for The WoodWorker Holiday Market.

The WoodWorker Holiday Market is a celebration of all things inspired, made and evolving from nature’s most honest material—wood. From furniture to housewares; syrups to aged cheeses; jewelry to pizza; coffee to beer, wood has inspired scores of artisan makers in and around Portland. This is a celebration of them.” (#9 – #10)

Dream Vest Friday – “We don’t know about you, but on Fridays our crew hangs tuff and gets all fancied up in our favorite Denim Vests to celebrate DENIM VEST FRIDAY!!

The Food

I’ll close with the food, which although limited to pizza at Baerlic’s Ranch, is a real plus. It’s an arrangement with Ranch Pizza – another progressive Oregon company which has grown substantially since its inception – “We’ve been cutting corners since 2017.”

They are known for coating their pizza with Ranch Dressing and you could get a side of Ranch for $1.50 or a pint for $9.50, but we were content to get their sausage and ricotta cheese which was thick and delicious.

At the Barley Pod, they have multiple and varied food trucks including Flew the Coop Fried Chicken, which beckons me to visit. At the Northeast Alberta Taproom, they have two food carts.

After visiting over four hundred establishments in my almost fourteen years of Beerchasing, I don’t often get overly enthusiastic about a new one, but “Bear”lic sank its claws into me….