Above The Rest Homebrewing East

Very close to home. Have better prices on some items, but other things they don;t stock at all. Friendly folks, but no sense of expertise from them.

One of the (if not the) best homebrew shops in town. No one’s pushy or full of unwanted wisdoms. Price and selection is very good. Love how they do hops especially!

Great service — was greeted with «hi, how can I help you?» immediately followed by «I’m the new guy, Raymond». Raymond and I had a lovely chat about what the store carries. Unfortunately, I was looking for cheese cultures. The shop has beer & wine yeasts, hops, glass containers, sanitizing supplies, books on all sorts of things, and corks & stoppers like you’ve never seen. If you make beer & wine, this is the shop for you. If you make soda or kombucha, you’ll find a handful of things. But for cheese? They’ve got cheesecloth, one mold, one book, and no cultures. I hope this changes — it’s a haul to go out to Sellwood to Portland Homestead Supply Co. for cheese culture, and I’d just as soon support a business in my neighborhood. Still, when I’m ready to make a batch of kombucha, I’ll definitely go back.

Wow! So impressed with how thoughtful and helpful the owner was! Helped me out with what I couldn’t find and was STOKED when she found out that I’m making wine for the first time! Would highly recommend!

Support your local homebrew business. Walked in on a whim, they were very knowledgeable and friendly. I picked up some supplies to start kombucha, while my significant other checked out their brew supplies for future purchases.

Its a standard brew supply shop, they are nice and helpful. Had everything I needed and stayed a open a bit late when I called to see if they were open. I did find it strange that I had to purchase specialty bottles by the case thought. I only needed one so I had to go somewhere else.

Wonderful shop with the best prices in town. I’m very happy to have found the aptly named Above the Rest Homebrew shop.

I am brand new to homebrewing and boy am I glad I started here. Sharon was staffing the store that day and I cannot say enough nice things about her. She not only got me set up with all the right equipment and ingredient, but walked me through step by step for my first brew. Prices were more than reasonable and everything was fully stocked. I highly recommend going to ATR homebrewing

This is really a great store. I’ve been going here twice a month for the past year or so. So nice to have in the neighborhood. Sharon, Steve, and Ari have been incredibly helpful and friendly. If they don’t have what you need, they can usually get it pretty quickly. I’ve called ahead and ordered yeast from Ari a number of times. It’s also hard to beat the «virtual» 50lb bag of 2-​row for 33 bucks. Finally, their new grain mill is amazing. My efficiency has gone up about 5% once I started doing my grind on it. If you’re a homebrewer in the neighborhood, this is the place to go.

My wife purchased the beginning brew kit via groupon for me for our anniversary, so I redeemed it and partook in the free brewing class. Now, I hadn’t any expectations — the only shop similar I had been to before was FH Steinbart, and that was overwhelming and not too welcoming for a first-​timer like me. Anyway, I showed up and was greeted by Ari who didn’t treat me like the rube I am, but instead helped me pick out my recipe for a beer I’d love to drink (a citrus IPA). He set me all up, then I sat in on the class which was incredibly informative and insightful (bring a notebook because there’s a lot of information — all valuable), and to my surprise, it included some tasters of home brewed beer (brewed in shop from other classes) and pizza. It’s an incredible way to do business — all these free services show they believe in their shop and what they’re offering and thus they’re making lifetime customers like myself. By teaching me how to brew, I’ll be returning to buy all my products, both long term items like carboys and consumables like grains, from them. I’m very impressed. In fact, this is my first Unilocal review just because I want to support this business whose model I stand behind 100%.

These guys blew away my expectations. I mentioned my brother-​in-​law and I were interested in making a pale ale, and adding a fruit to complement and add some complexity. Ari dove right in and gave us an incredible experience. At other brew shops, they haven’t always had quick, simple recipes to start from. Ari printed one right off — no issues, no delays.
Instead of having to wait and make idle talk while the malt poured, which can take forever, they had 7 lbs pre-​poured. It was a little detail, but it really showed they had the whole operation down to a science.
The shop is small, but not cramped — they have some open space for demonstrations and classes. In particular, the yeasts are well organized and not just set in a pile in the fridge. They also have a fairly wide range of crystal and chocolate grains. Not the most specialized I’ve seen, but a good range. As is the sign of any good brew shop, the clerk let us chew on the grain to taste the flavors it would add to the beer.
I was quite happy to find that Citra hops are finally available again for homebrewers, and that Above The Rest carries them in whole-​hop and pelletized form.
As for the fruit we ended up adding, we got two grapefruits from Portland Fruit & Produce right across the street, and Ari gave us some tips on how to prepare them and when to add them (juiced, and in the cold break following the boil).
I will be coming back to this shop for many more brews.

If you want a FREE, very informative, class on how to brew beer (both from extract and from grain). If you want FREE home brewed beer and pizza with your class. If you want to walk in the door and have Sharon greet you by name even if she hasn’t seen you in years! (This actually happened to my brew buddy.) If you want quality ingredients and equipment, helpful advice or just good one on one customer service. If you need to talk to someone who has been helping folks brew their beer for a coon’s age. Come see Steve and Sharon at the east-​side location (their first store is in Tigard). If nothing else– come take the beginner’s class. You’ll be hooked.