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Breweries For All Ages

If you visit Oregon with a child, you become particularly aware of a little sign often placed in the windows of premises that serve alcohol. Similar to a traffic light, if you see “Minors Allowed” in green letters, it is go time and you may proceed to a good afternoon for all. Otherwise, you come to a sudden stop as you see the dreaded “No Minors Allowed” in bright red letters, indicating that your child is not welcome to enter. As a responsible parent, you should probably change your plans as well.

Thankfully, I have found breweries in Portland to be largely accommodative to families. Of the 100 breweries/taprooms on the list, I have found only 8 that feature the dreaded “No Minors Allowed” sign in their window. Reasons to exclude minors may vary, but I understand that allowing minors entails serving food and/or additional costs as part of their license to serve alcohol. Also, note that even if minors are allowed, they are almost never allowed to sit at the bar (their legs are too short anyways).

Whether it is due to regulations, costs or just a choice of vibes, it is the breweries choice and I support all good breweries. However, it just means additional efforts on my part as a parent if I do indeed want to visit and as such, I tend to visit these places a bit less. These “adults only” breweries/taprooms are;

• Assembly
• Ascendant*
• Ecliptic Moon Room
• Gigantic Tap Room
• Grains of Wrath PDX
• Montavilla Brew Works
• Occidental
• Uptown Beer Co & Market*

*Ascendant & Uptown allow minors on the patios but not inside the taprooms.

Research shows that one of the secrets to raising happy kids is having happy parents, and being able to enjoy the brewery scene in Portland as a family means that the breweries are doing their part.

Brewery Facts imagined by ChatGPT

1. Assembly Brewing’s name pays homage to the fact that its building was formerly used as an assembly plant for Ford Model T’s.
2. The location of Von Ebert Brewing’s Pearl District location is housed in a building that was originally constructed in the early 20th century and was once home to a car dealership.
3. The name Upright Brewing refers to the fact that their beers are brewed in a vertical, or upright, fermentation vessel, which is also known as a “foudre” in French.
4. Scott Lawrence, one of the co-founders of Breakside Brewing, was a former environmental attorney before he made the leap to brewing. His passion for beer led him to start homebrewing, which eventually led to the founding of Breakside Brewing in 2010.
5. One of the co-founders and owners of Great Notion, James Dugan, is a former scientist who worked in the field of genetics. His scientific background has informed the brewery’s approach to brewing, which often involves experimenting with unusual ingredients and flavor combinations.

As far as I can tell, they are all false, although number 2 was the most difficult to disprove as I don’t have the property records through 1909, when the building was constructed. However, I did learn that the location was Piano Showroom between 2003 and 2013.

All the Portland Breweries

Since my arrival to this fine city of Portland in November 2019, I have visited my fair share of breweries. Portland is often noted as having one of the most breweries per capita of any city, making for an enjoyable adventure to explore new ones on the weekend.

At a certain point, I began to think that maybe I could be reaching the end of this journey; a point of sadness as well as a crowning achievement. However, I could not know for sure without a definitive list.

As such, I combed through all the maps of Portland (and the Oregon Brewers Guild website) to craft this list. Along the way, I struggled with the definition of what is considered a Portland brewery. Was it founded in Portland? Does it brew it’s beer in Portland? If a brewery has several locations, how many and which ones do I count? What about a brewery without any taphouse?

While subjective, I decided to be as strict as possible to arrive at 45 “breweries” in Portland, 13 “outposts” and 35 additional locations to receive beer direct from a brewery (note this is a dynamic list so totals will shift over time). There is still some imperfections, as not all “breweries” have operations on site while some of the additional locations do. When in doubt, I say just visit them all!

Click here to see the breweries (list form)!

Improved format published here