Hours:
Sunday-Thursday, 11am-10pm
Friday & Saturday, 11am-11pm

Happy Hour:
Daily, 3-5pm & 8pm-close

Call in your order: (503) 231-1492

Order Online

Online ordering button for pickup only
Delivery also available: Uber Eats and DoorDash

Bring your large groups! Walk-ins welcome, but call in advance when possible so we can be ready for you.

About Barley Mill Pub

What a long strange trip it's been

In the summer of 1983, the Barley Mill Pub turned up the Grateful Dead, opened its doors, and poured the first beer. Festooned with Dead memorabilia and years of artwork and artifacts contributed from across the company, this cozy pub is the touchstone of McMenamins, the place where Mike and Brian McMenamin perfected the idea of a neighborhood gathering place for all. This is the place that launched a beer-centered universe, the place where Captain Neon was born and traditions began.
 
The annual Barley Brew is one of those, a most-loved tradition. Each spring Mike, Brian, second-generation McMenamins and a group of employees gather at the Hillsdale Brewery around the anniversary of the opening of the Barley Mill Pub to contribute artifacts and souvenirs to the annual brew. These beers have been “flavored” with such contributions as Lanson Champagne, wine, rum, beer, as well as a Grateful Dead ticket stub, poetry, photos, leaves from our gardens (non-toxic, we promise). Even more so, as songs, toasts and stories fill the air, the brew is flavored with sharing, friendship and a connection with where it all began for us at McMenamins.

Barley Mill Pub allows pets at our sidewalk seating.

Menus

Menu  Beverage

Call in your order: (503) 231-1492

Order Online

Online ordering button for pickup only
Delivery also available: Uber Eats and DoorDash
 
We offer Northwest-style pub fare that incorporates the freshest seasonal ingredients from local and regional growers and producers. We make everything onsite, including pizza, soups and more. Seasonal specials round out our menus – ask your server for details.

Gluten-free buns available! These light, crisp, locally made products are available for an additional charge with hamburgers and sandwiches – just ask your server. Please note: Although the bun is gluten-free, our kitchens are not.

History

The Barley Mill is a touchstone for McMenamins because of its "first" status among our current pubs. However, in history's eye, it's one in a succession of notable watering holes to roost at the corner of Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard and 17th Avenue. The place is flush with great characters and stories dating back to 1934, when Billy Hahn opened the original beer parlor on this spot. It was a year after Prohibition ended and Portlanders were demonstrating a definite thirst for frosty mugs of brew. Hahn called his joint The Scuttlebutt, an old seafaring term for a drinking fountain. "Red" Dorrigan, a Scuttlebutt bartender in the 1950s, epitomized the Scuttlebutt's atmosphere in those early years. A big, tough Irishman, "Red" had auburn hair and a scarlet face, which, one patron remarked, "he didn't get from falling into a strawberry patch." By the middle 1970s, the 'Butt was ending its 30-year run with the time-honored practice of exotic dancers: They danced... and stripped right on the bar.

In 1977, new owners reinvented the place with a little more attitude, more surliness, and a new name — Fat Little Rooster. Fifty-five cent Rainiers and pool were definite attractions for the place, but the Rooster's bread and butter was music — loud music! While much of the rest of city's clubs and taverns were featuring glitter and synthesizers, the Rooster strutted gut-bucket blues and other earthy, roots-based music. Some of the Northwest's best bands took their turn tearing the roof off the place, including the Robert Cray Band, Paul deLay's Brown Sugar, Steve Bradley's Sleazy Pieces, the Holy Modal Rounders, and the fabulous Clamtones.

After six years of crowing, the Fat Little Rooster flew the coop and area residents took a simultaneous sigh of relief. In 1983, Mike and Brian McMenamin came and scoured the place inside and out and gave the 50-year-old haunt new life as the decidedly more family-oriented Barley Mill Pub. The place was decked out with exuberant neon lights and imaginative murals painted by Norm Forsberg and Joe Cotter. Also, the pub's namesake, a very heavy barley mill (a kitty litter grinder originally) was set up with great effort in the front bay. It's a prized relic rescued from Oregon's first microbrewery, the Cartwright Brewery (1979-1982).

Word of mouth brought more people and fun to the place, making the Barley Mill, with its laid-back feel, a comfortable gathering spot for folks of all walks and ages. In particular, the pub's rousing summer anniversary party, with its performers, contests, and specially crafted anniversary ale, continues to be a day of family fun and revelry.

Read more Barley Mill History.

  • Hours:
    Sunday-Thursday, 11am-10pm
    Friday & Saturday, 11am-11pm

    Happy Hour:
    Daily, 3-5pm & 8pm-close

    Call in your order: (503) 231-1492

    Order Online

    Online ordering button for pickup only
    Delivery also available: Uber Eats and DoorDash

    Bring your large groups! Walk-ins welcome, but call in advance when possible so we can be ready for you.

    Upcoming Events

    see all events
    Veterans Day
    Monday, November 11
    Passport Day
    Sunday, November 17
    Repeal Day - Celebrating the End of Prohibition
    Thursday, December 05

    What a long strange trip it's been

    In the summer of 1983, the Barley Mill Pub turned up the Grateful Dead, opened its doors, and poured the first beer. Festooned with Dead memorabilia and years of artwork and artifacts contributed from across the company, this cozy pub is the touchstone of McMenamins, the place where Mike and Brian McMenamin perfected the idea of a neighborhood gathering place for all. This is the place that launched a beer-centered universe, the place where Captain Neon was born and traditions began.
     
    The annual Barley Brew is one of those, a most-loved tradition. Each spring Mike, Brian, second-generation McMenamins and a group of employees gather at the Hillsdale Brewery around the anniversary of the opening of the Barley Mill Pub to contribute artifacts and souvenirs to the annual brew. These beers have been “flavored” with such contributions as Lanson Champagne, wine, rum, beer, as well as a Grateful Dead ticket stub, poetry, photos, leaves from our gardens (non-toxic, we promise). Even more so, as songs, toasts and stories fill the air, the brew is flavored with sharing, friendship and a connection with where it all began for us at McMenamins.

    Barley Mill Pub allows pets at our sidewalk seating.

  • Menus

    Menu  Beverage

    Call in your order: (503) 231-1492

    Order Online

    Online ordering button for pickup only
    Delivery also available: Uber Eats and DoorDash
     
    We offer Northwest-style pub fare that incorporates the freshest seasonal ingredients from local and regional growers and producers. We make everything onsite, including pizza, soups and more. Seasonal specials round out our menus – ask your server for details.

    Gluten-free buns available! These light, crisp, locally made products are available for an additional charge with hamburgers and sandwiches – just ask your server. Please note: Although the bun is gluten-free, our kitchens are not.

  • The Barley Mill is a touchstone for McMenamins because of its "first" status among our current pubs. However, in history's eye, it's one in a succession of notable watering holes to roost at the corner of Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard and 17th Avenue. The place is flush with great characters and stories dating back to 1934, when Billy Hahn opened the original beer parlor on this spot. It was a year after Prohibition ended and Portlanders were demonstrating a definite thirst for frosty mugs of brew. Hahn called his joint The Scuttlebutt, an old seafaring term for a drinking fountain. "Red" Dorrigan, a Scuttlebutt bartender in the 1950s, epitomized the Scuttlebutt's atmosphere in those early years. A big, tough Irishman, "Red" had auburn hair and a scarlet face, which, one patron remarked, "he didn't get from falling into a strawberry patch." By the middle 1970s, the 'Butt was ending its 30-year run with the time-honored practice of exotic dancers: They danced... and stripped right on the bar.

    In 1977, new owners reinvented the place with a little more attitude, more surliness, and a new name — Fat Little Rooster. Fifty-five cent Rainiers and pool were definite attractions for the place, but the Rooster's bread and butter was music — loud music! While much of the rest of city's clubs and taverns were featuring glitter and synthesizers, the Rooster strutted gut-bucket blues and other earthy, roots-based music. Some of the Northwest's best bands took their turn tearing the roof off the place, including the Robert Cray Band, Paul deLay's Brown Sugar, Steve Bradley's Sleazy Pieces, the Holy Modal Rounders, and the fabulous Clamtones.

    After six years of crowing, the Fat Little Rooster flew the coop and area residents took a simultaneous sigh of relief. In 1983, Mike and Brian McMenamin came and scoured the place inside and out and gave the 50-year-old haunt new life as the decidedly more family-oriented Barley Mill Pub. The place was decked out with exuberant neon lights and imaginative murals painted by Norm Forsberg and Joe Cotter. Also, the pub's namesake, a very heavy barley mill (a kitty litter grinder originally) was set up with great effort in the front bay. It's a prized relic rescued from Oregon's first microbrewery, the Cartwright Brewery (1979-1982).

    Word of mouth brought more people and fun to the place, making the Barley Mill, with its laid-back feel, a comfortable gathering spot for folks of all walks and ages. In particular, the pub's rousing summer anniversary party, with its performers, contests, and specially crafted anniversary ale, continues to be a day of family fun and revelry.

    Read more Barley Mill History.

@mcmenamins