I, for one, am ready to welcome Deschutes as our new overlords, should they decide to take over the world. Yes, I am saying they can do nearly no wrong. And yes, I just paraphrased Kent Brockman. Live with it.

Deschutes kind of just gets the sheer rurban oddities of the Northwest, something that carries over into their “Northwest Pale Ale.” It is a pale, certainly, but still full of surprises. Its color, for example, is deep amber, and the head laces the glass well for a pale.

The smell shouldn’t come as much of a shock for anyone used to the Mirror Pond—sweet, almost perfume like, with a lot of depth. This carries over to the flavor, with sweet caramel-y malts coating the mouth, and just a hint of hops in the back. This is an extremely crisp ale, particularly for a beer just recently released in the midst of what is supposed to be winter.

So I’m ready for the rebellion, at least. And I will drink plenty of Red Chair while the coup d'etat goes down.

Andy’s Bar is a small intimate bar with some lovely re-purposed furniture. This might be why I had expected to be wowed by their restroom too.

Reality is, though, that Andy’s Bar only has a very utilitarian facility. A large-ish room (compared to the rest of the place) with a toilet, a sink, and something that looks like it used to be the base for a shower. That’s it. No crazy recycled mirror frames, fixtures, or—and come on, who wouldn’t want this?!—custom made tin toilets.

So in that sense, I was a bit disappointed.

One the upside, though, the facility is clean. You don’t have to wade through urine or anything, which is always a pretty good thing. It’s all very nice and functional.

But when I think of what could have been… I’m disappointed.