Founded as Wildfire Brewing in 2006 by twin brothers Jeremy and Chris Cox. In 2008, they renamed the brewery to 10 Barrel Brewing, later opening the Bend Brewpub in 2010 and expanding to Boise in 2013. After being purchased by Anheuser-Busch (now AB Inbev) in 2014 for an estimate $50M, they opened the brewpub in the Pearl District of Portland in 2015. The Pearl location opens the rooftop in the summer and is great place to grab a West Coast IPA.

The quiet, cozy space is like a Dutch brown cafe with an eclectic draft selection, subdued lighting and a neighborhood-hangout vibe. The very tiny 13th Moon house brewery—owner Ari Moss is fond of Dutch culture, hence the name “Brouwerij”— had just a couple of its own beers on tap during a late-winter visit as well as others from small operations like Labyrinth Forge and Cooper Mountain. Moss has also collaborated with Sellwood’s Unicorn Brewing and Tigard’s Cooper Mountain Ale Works. That means there’s always something interesting on the menu, which also features mead, sake, wine and cider.

Formerly the Homebrew Exchange and Look Long Brewing, Danny Quarrell, Dylan Burgess, and Pete Schuft purchased the space in 2020 to keep a mainstay in the community (the Homebrew Exchange dating back to 2009). Since then, the brewery has been renamed after the neighborhood of Arbor Lodge. The Lodge has a spacious patio on the street and as well as a fenced in back yard with two food carts, ideal for those with kids.

Ascendant Beer Company, previously known as PINTS Brewing Company, is Old Town Portland’s first brewery since the original Liberty Brewing Company opened in 1852. Rebranded in 2018, Ascendant is also under the direction of Brewmaster Alan Taylor. He and his team of excellent brewers focus on the “flawless execution” of classic beer styles like IPAs, lagers, stouts, and reds while also putting an emphasis on small batch and experimental beers. *21+ seating only indoors, all-ages street seating

Assembly is the brainchild of George Johnson, a transplant from Detroit, and partner Adam Dixon. Johnson, one of the few Black brewers anywhere, was a homebrewer who ascended to the pro ranks. Dixon is a friend who liked Johnson’s homebrews and thought they should go into business together. Assembly operates as a beer hall, pizzeria and night spot rolled into one. Producing balanced and beers in timeless styles, it ia a welcome addition to the Foster-Powell neighborhood.

Assembly is the brainchild of George Johnson, a transplant from Detroit, and partner Adam Dixon. Johnson, one of the few Black brewers anywhere, was a homebrewer who ascended to the pro ranks. Dixon is a friend who liked Johnson’s homebrews and thought they should go into business together. Assembly operates as a beer hall, pizzeria and night spot rolled into one. Producing balanced and beers in timeless styles, it ia a welcome addition to the Foster-Powell neighborhood.

Owned by Niki Diamond and her husband Pete Hoppins, Away Days features mostly European ales as well as NW-style beers, and is known for their cask beer program. The taproom on SE Hawthorne is a great place to watch soccer and with a recent expansion in Troutdale in 2022, we should be seeing some more experimental beers from this brewery.

Backwoods Brewing was founded by the Waters family in the Columbia River Gorge town of Carson, WA in 2012. Starting from a small one-barrel system, increasing demand and growing awareness of the brew pub allowed the family to bump up to a 7-barrel, and finally the 20-barrel system that they brew on today. The Portland Pub was opened in 2018 in the old Pearl Tavern space, and boasts their seasonal, special release and core brews, such as Logyard IPA, Copperline Amber and Blueberry Wheat.

In 2014, longtime friends and then-homebrewers Ben Parsons and Richard Hall opened their brewery on Southeast 11th Avenue and called it Baerlic, which means “of barley” in old English. In 2019, they opened their second location, the Baerlic Beer Hall at Northeast 60th Avenue and Halsey Street as the centerpiece for The Barley Pod, a surrounding pod featuring 10 food carts. Their Alberta taproom opened in 2021 in the former home of Townshend’s Tea. Baerlic focuses on clean, well-crafted beer such as its crisp but rustic Dad Beer and Punk Rock Time, a light, clean West Coast IPA.

Breakside Brewing opened in the NE Portland neighborhood of Dekum in 2010, founded by Scott Lawrence. First-time brewer Ben Edmunds joined shortly thereafter and helped propel the brewery to a gold medal at the 2014 Great American Beer Festival in the coveted American IPA category. It’s continued to pile up the awards, including more gold at the GABF and the World Beer Cup. The Dekum location, is a cozy, classic Northwest brewpub in an old building with big garage doors while the Slabtown location opened in 2017 is significantly larger and in a modern-industrial building. The food is top-notch pub fare and the beers run the gamut of styles although IPAs remain the most featured.

The brewery used to be situated on Southeast Powell Boulevard—the name typically associated with the stretch of 26 from the Ross Island Bridge to Gresham—but moved to a quiet corner in the Buckman neighborhood in 2022. Founder Andy Shaw, who owns the brewery with business partner Keith Hattori, was a homebrewer making beer in his Cully neighborhood garage in early 2017 and he decided to turn the hobby into a business. The family-friendly taproom is spacious and includes a basketball arcade as well as other pub games. In addition to offerings from its brewhouse, including the delightful Banjo in the Rye Pale Ale, the taproom features other area nano brewers.

Black metal and occult themed Brujos Brewing is opening their first location in the former Hammer & Stitch Brewing in NW Portland. Brewer Sam Zermeño is formerly of Newport Brewing, Great Notion and Living Haus, and teamed up with insurance broker Scott Lemaster and Jesse McFarland. Brujos, meaning “sorcerer” in Spanish, likening the brewing process to making potions. Known for hazies and stouts, Brujos has gained a cult following distributing out of Living Haus via secret drops. After obtaining their brewery license, Brujos anticipates hosting canned beer drops on the patio with food trucks as early as October, but not likely opening the full brewpub to the public until spring of 2024.

The Cascade story dates to the early days of craft brewing in Oregon. Founder Art Larrance was one of three partners who started Portland Brewing in 1986. Larrance launched Cascade Brewing after he was forced out at Portland Brewing in 1994. A decade later, Cascade landed on a formula for making sour beers that leans on Oregon fruit and lactobacillus fermentation. The beers soon won numerous accolades and put Cascade on the world beer map. That led to the 2010 opening of the Barrel House, which became a magnet for fans of sour beers. Although Larrance sold Cascade in 2020, the Barrel House car

After many years founding and consulting on breweries in Washington and abroad, Mari and Will Kemper moved to Bellingham, WA and opened Chuckanut Brewing in 2008. It didn’t take long for them to be named brewery of the year at the 2009 Great American Beer Festival. Chuckanut has now become synonymous with lagers, making almost exclusively German-style lagers and has won more medals for them than just about anyone else in the U.S. Their legacy also extends towards legendary status thanks to the many acolytes who earned their stripes at Chuckanut, such as the founders of pFriem and Wayfinder. The “P Nut Beer Hall” opened in 2021 on the corner of SE 9th and Carruthers in SE Portland near Tilikum Crossing.

Crux Fermentation Project was founded in Bend in 2012 by former Deschutes Brewery brewmaster Larry Sidor, as well as Dave Wilson and Paul Evers. Taking over the Vagabond Brewing Space in the Hosford-Abernethy neighborhood, the new location will open in summer 2023 and allow the brewery to bring beers to the metro area that previously have been exclusive to the Bend taproom.

Tomas Sluiter founded the brewpub with his wife April in Northeast Portland in 2014 after several years brewing for Old Market Pub and as an independent consultant for brewers. Culmination immediately stood out in the bustling Portland beer market for its boundless taplist, which included everything from a Bière de Garde to an IPA with sauvignon blanc grapes. In its first year of eligibility, Culmination won Best New Brewery in the Oregon Beer Awards and best mid-sized brewery in Oregon in 2020. Operating out of a former book bindery annex building, the taproom also serves up an eclectic menu, including snacks like pickled veggies, candied bacon, and a pimento cheese board.

Deschutes started brewing in Bend in 1988 and opened its Portland location in 2008 in a 10,000-square-foot space formerly home to an auto repair shop. In those days, Deschutes was by far the state’s largest craft beer brewer. Since then, others like Ninkasi and Hop Valley have caught up, but the consistently high quality that made Deschutes’ Mirror Pond Pale Ale and its Black Butte Porter industry icons has never wavered. The beer has always been great, but what makes Deschutes’ Portland location stand out from other beer halls is the food that can compete with the neighborhood’s best.

Hood River’s Double Mountain was founded as a “Brewer's Brewery” in 2007 by former Full Sail brewer Matt Swihart. DM’s beers are unfiltered and long-aged, delivering complex, assertive, and balanced character. In 2016, Double Mountain opened a second pub in the Woodstock neighborhood of SE Portland marking the company's first expansion outside Hood River and in 2023 plans to open a third location in North Portland’s Overlook neighborhood. Double Mountain is named for the two big volcanoes seen from Hood River, Mount Hood and Mount Adams.

Founder Michael Lockwood is a professional chef who has worked at high-profile Portland restaurants but also has experience in beer and distilling. Early in 2020, he hosting a cooking event where he shared some of his homebrew, which received enthusiastic feedback. Coming out of the pandemic in 2021, he started a nano brewery in a repurposed shipping container in NW Portland and recently announced that he has secured a space in the Kerns neighborhood and hopes to open by early summer 2023. Duality’s beers riff on traditional styles with the kind of adjuncts that read like gourmet ingredients such as a kvas-inspired beer using rye bread and fenugreek and Coco Clouds, a classic brown ale amped up with toasted coconut and Ecuadorian vanilla.

Wings and beer, name a better combo. It has certainly proved a winning recipe for Fire on the Mountain, the wing joint that opened in Portland in 2005, expanding to Burnside in 2008 and later became a brewery with its addition of a Northeast outpost in 2011. The chain has proven so successful for owners Sara Sawicki and Jordan Busch they expanded by opening a second restaurant in Denver a few years ago and are in the process of launching Bend’s first FOTM.

ForeLand was founded in the fall of 2020 at the site of Allegory, a draft-only brewery that became a victim of the pandemic. Founded by Sean Burke, previously head brewer of Von Ebert Glendoveer and David Sanguinetti, who owns McMinnville’s The Bitter Monk taproom, the team also includes head brewer Aaron Copelin from Moonraker Brewing. After being named the Best New Brewery at the 2021 Oregon Beer Awards, they expanded an early-20th century bungalow on SE Belmont in Portland that they named the Study. The taproom its flagships beers, Landform Pils and Shape Creation IPA, as well as two cask-conditioned ales. The Study is family friendly and while the kitchen is not up and running, outside food is allowed.

Fracture took over the old Burnside Brewing equipment in 2022 and began distribution with ChefStable’s establishments, such as Loyal Legion and Lardo. Now the brewery has its very own taproom just eight blocks from the source. Fracture’s operators, husband-and-wife team Darren Provenzano and Ny Lee, met in Vietnam, where he worked at 7 Bridges Brewing. Provenzano’s brews at Fracture already taste primed for stateside competition, with a varied lineup of IPAs, Lagers and mixed-cultured ales to pair with food from the taproom’s eclectic collection of carts in the Lil’ America pod in the courtyard.

Gigantic’s original taproom opened in 2012 in an industrial strip of the Reed neighborhood, founded by Ben Love, previously brewing at Hopworks and Pelican, and Van Havig, from Rock Bottom. Despite the name, the founders wanted to start small with a cozy clubhouse-style space, yet this has since expanded with the addition of picnic seating, and later took over an adjoining barrel room. They have opened two more locations, the Robot Room on NE Glisan in 2020 and most recently a family-friendly pub on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard with an in-house kitchen and full food menu. The beer selection has something for everyone, including Gigantress, a citrus sour for people who don’t really like sours, and the flagship Gigantic IPA.

Founded by Bryan Keilty, Travis Preece, Steve Denio and Willis Boyer, Gorges opened in March 2020 in the old Coalition Brewing space in SE Portland. Due to COVID, the owners pivoted and opened the three story Cascade Locks location in 2021, overseeing the mighty Columbia River. As the pandemic waned, the team re-opened the Portland location and renamed it the Trailhead Taphouse. The tiny taproom has an expansive deck that is perfect on a sunny day with food served from Preece’s Ankeny Tap & Table across the street. Former Lompoc Brewer Bryan Keilty does a lot of good things with a lot of different flavors at Gorges, from crisp lagers to flavorful reds and saisons.

Grand Fir is a pairing of Top Chef Alum, Doug Adams, and former head brewer for 10 Barrel, Whitney Burnside that arose out of the old West Coast Brewery space. Whitney has been with some of the best in Northwest brewing, from Laurelwood to Upright to Elysian to Pelican. The beer here are truly fantastic (go for the Silvertip IRA!) which are complimented by some great food.

Since 2016, the Great Notion team has branched out from the original Alberta Street location to destinations near (NW Portland, 2019) and far (Seattle, 2020), which is practically a miracle if you think about their humble beginnings as homebrewers who took over the moldering Mash Tun space. Great Notion is best known for its hazy IPAs, and with good reason. Brews like Juice Jr. are easy to drink, with lots of citrus on the nose, ideal for sitting in the bustling original Alberta location while waiting for food from the built-in Matt’s BBQ Tacos.

Oregon has more gluten-free breweries than any other state, and Ground Breaker’s founder, James Neumeister, helped lead the charge. Since opening in 2011, the brewery has endured a name change (thankfully, it upgraded from Harvester), a pandemic, and a shift in taproom business, now operating with a separately run kitchen, Salvi PDX, which serves Salvadoran pupusas and fried chicken wings. The gluten-free beers sometimes have a hint of flavor or aroma that isn’t exactly barley malt, but their range, body and character all still say “beer.” The dark lager is even better from the nitro tap. Cheers to Ground Breaker for surviving and thriving in its specialty market niche.

Founded in 2008 by Christian and Brandie Ettinger, Hopworks is the first Certified B Corporation brewery in the Pacific Northwest. The flagship is on Powell Boulevard, in SE Portland's Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood, and additional pubs in Vancouver, Washington (opened 2016) and Portland International Airport (opened 2019). Previously, there was an additional brewpub on North Williams Avenue called the BikeBar which opened in 2011 and was shut in 2021, later to be picked up by Migration Brewing. Hopworks’ locations are family-friendly, with a small children’s area in the Powell Blvd location.

Kells, which opened downtown in the ‘90s, is arguably a Portland landmark at this point, best known for its raucous St. Patty’s Day festivities. The younger Northwest Portland brewpub—launched in 2012 by the Kells founders’ son, Garrett McAleese—hasn’t quite earned the same hard-partying reputation, but it’s getting there. There’s live music on Friday and Saturday nights and sometimes a crowd that brings with it college frat vibes. Arrive before the evening rush and snag one of the wood-panel booths with sliding doors and stained-glass windows, the best place to enjoy one of Kells’ classic brews, like the Irish Stout.

Wife-and-husband team Sonia Marie and Theo Leikam launched Leikam Brewing from the backyard of their Southeast Portland home in 2014, selling ales and lagers at restaurants, bottle shops, and farmers markets before moving into a onetime home-turned-taproom on East Burnside Street in 2019. Since then, the kosher-certified brewery has created a delightfully laid-back gathering spot for enjoying an eclectic lineup of ales and lagers, including a spacious patio. Leikam’s core beers include an American lager, a West Coast IPA, and a red ale as well as creative recipes including a Turkish coffee-inspired porter.

Level was founded in 2016 by Jason Barbee, Shane Watterson and Geoffrey Phillips. Level’s three co-founders are well-established in Oregon beer: Jason Barbee is a former Deschutes brewer and Ex Novo head brewer, Shane Watterson is also a former Deschutes brewer and Laurelwood brewmaster, and Geoffrey Phillips was the founder of Bailey’s, the pioneering taproom in downtown Portland. The venture was given shape by their commonalities, as all three are parents of young children who wanted a better option for families.

As co-founder of Logsdon Farmhouse ales, Charles Porter has established a cult-like following for the deep character and impeccable quality of his beers. In 2017, he opened Little Beast Brewing, makers of Belgian-inspired farmhouse beers such as Ferme Rouge, a Flanders red with a fruit-forward, sour and distinctly sharp flavors. Although best known for beers on the sour and funky side, Porter and team also brew a solid selection of classic styles, from lagers to IPAs and my favorite, the Fólkvangr Dark Norwegian-Style Ale. The cozy Craftsman home on SE Division makes for a relaxing spot to get away and have a beer with a friend. For food, there is delicious Kansas City-style smoked meat from resident food vendor Lawless Barbecue.

After brewing with McMenamins Kalama Harbor Lodge, Zak Cate and his wife, Lisa, decided to scale back and open a nano operation at home. Previously selling their beers through Tigard Farmers Market, the Cates recently purchased a trailer and will begin selling draft beer out of the rig April 7. Located next to Planted PDX, a vegan food truck, the tiny taproom and beer garden are open one day a week while the Cates wait for permits to be approved to launch a larger indoor space in an adjacent building.

They say the third time’s the charm, and hopefully that’s true for Living Häus, co-owned by Conrad Andrus and Mat Sandoval and located in the space formerly occupied by The Commons and Modern Times. These are big shoes to fill, but where it differs is in its focus on lagers and clean IPAs. Sure, the team at Living Häus has brewed hazys and imperial stouts, but where they showcase their talent is in their crisp, crushable lagers, bright and piney West Coast IPAs, and overlooked traditional styles, like hefeweizen, grodziskie and festbier. The taproom is filled with plants and bathed in natural light thanks to the abundance of large windows, giving it a relaxed vibe, though it’s somewhat awkwardly bright during the evening.

One of Portland’s oldest brewpubs, "The Lab" was founded by Gary Geist and Alex Stiles in 1994. After struggling with the name for the brewery, the pair settled on Lucky Dog Brewing, figuring if they pulled it off they would truly be a couple of lucky dogs. However the name was already taken by a dog-food company, so Stiles threw out the idea of the “Lucky Labrador" and it stuck. There are a lot of classic NW styles here, but I recommend the Black Sheep CDA.

The company has nearly 20 properties in Portland and more than 60 overall. These include 2 hotels, 5 breweries, and 2 music venues. Most of the company’s properties are rehabilitated historic buildings, several of which are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Migration’s original pub opened in 2010 and welcomes a mix of families, neighborhood dwellers, beer nerds and out-of-towners to its taproom and picnic table-lined patio that is unsurprisingly packed on warm summer days. Though Migration has expanded quite a bit, with its massive Gresham production facility in 2018 and the more sterile space on North Williams Avenue in 2020, the Glisan pub has maintained that small, indie feel, with its no-frills décor, wood trim and pub fare. Besides the patio, the main draw is Migration’s smaller-batch beers produced on the 7-barrel production system inside what’s also known as “The Shop”—a nod to the building’s past as a radiator repair place.

Founder and head brewer Michael Kora was a Michigan homebrewer before moving out to Portland and working at BridgePort Brewing’s warehouse. While at BridgePort Kora immersed himself in learning as much knowledge as possible from the brewers which resulted in the opening of Montavilla Brew Works in 2015 in a former auto garage of the SE Portland neighborhood that inspired the name. Kora sticks with traditional styles such as Blonde, Red and Amber Ales as well as Barleywines and IPAs. The taproom is separated by the brewery by only a low wall so you might see some brewing in action. Food is not a focus or priority so patrons are free to bring in food from outside and there is a large beer garden in the back.

The Mt. Hood Brewing Co. is named for a brewery that originally operated in Portland, Oregon from 1905 to 1913 during the pre-prohibition heyday of American brewers. The current iteration opened in January 1991 in the alpine village of Government Camp, Oregon and shares ownership with the Timberline Lodge, which you might know as the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. The second location was opened in summer 2018 on the east end of Tilikum Crossing in Portland and they added a third location in Maupin, OR in 2021. The Portland taproom sits in a small industrial building with additional seating from two old railcars that were refurbished and parked on the adjacent rails. The restaurant serves up traditional beers and wood-fired pizzas.

Founded by Jason Yerger, who was the original brewmaster of Seattle’s Ghostfish Brewing Company, Mutantis takes up residence in the space that was formerly home to Hi-Wheel Fizzy Wines. The brewery is especially unique as it may well be the first 100% gluten-free dedicated beer bottle shop that represents brands far outside of their own beers. The airy, well-lit taproom exudes a friendly neighborhood vibe, and the bartenders are patient and knowledgeable. Food from the neighboring Tamale Boy and Ranch Pizza outlets pairs well with Mutantis’ brews, and Tamale Boy does have some gluten-free menu items, but be warned there’s no fully gluten-free kitchen on the premises.

Founded by homebrewers Jeff and Chris Althouse in Eugene Oregon in 2006, Oakshire remains privately owned by the family and friends of the company’s founders. In 2013, they opened the Oakshire Public House in Eugene’s Whiteaker neighborhood and in 2019, the Oakshire Beer Hall in Northeast Portland. In addition to its core offerings such as such as Watershed and Citrafonix IPAs, the Beer Hall allows Oakshire to offer its vintage program of barrel-aged beers – including mixed-fermentation and higher-alcohol styles. The space, on the border of the Concordia and Cully neighborhoods, became available after Old Salt Marketplace unexpectedly closed in 2018 and features food cars and is family friendly before 10pm.

Founded by nephew-uncle team Ben and Dan Engler in 2011, Occidental is known for it’s German-style beers, including standards such as the helles and Pilsner, but also a smoky Rauchbier Spezial and tart Gose. The brewery and taproom is a large space in the St. Johns neighborhood that over the decades had housed Portland Woolen Mills, a toy company warehouse and a Columbia Sportswear operation. While still unmistakably a warehouse, the vibes are friendly, the seating ample, and board games plentiful although you’ll have to leave the kids at home. The Urban German Wursthaus across the parking lot serves fortifying sausages and schnitzel should you require sustenance of the non-potato chip variety.

Andy Bigely worked for McMenamins right out of college, enjoying the experience so much that he partnered up with his wife to open Old Market Pub in 1994. The couple opened Old Market a bit off the beaten path for a brewpub, buying a local produce market at the confluence of 3 neighborhoods in Southwest Portland. The pub has shuffleboard, pool tables, and TV sets galore—making it a popular spot for people with kids in tow. A solid lineup of classics can be found on tap, such as the flagship Bombay Bitter, with seemingly little variation in styles in the last 3 decades. The Broadway Grill & Brewery in SE Portland opened in 2006 and despite the different name, features the same beers and food in a slightly smaller setting.

Old Town Pizza was established in 1974 in the Merchant Hotel building in the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood of northwest Portland. Rich in history, it was a favorite of Adam Milne, who purchased it in 2003 and later, opened Old Town Brewery in northeast Portland in 2012. He took on head brewer Andrew Lamont. who has since left for Full Sail in 2022 with Todd Britt taking over the role, formerly of Goose Island and Rock Bottom. OTB still makes a textbook version of a hazy: flagship Pillowfist IPA as well as more adventurous ales such as The Candy Cap Mushroom Ale and Council Crest Cucumber Lager. The tavern-style pizzas are a nice asset and both locations are family friendly.

Named after the river in Southwest Oregon, Rogue was founded in 1988 by three Nike executives; Jack Joyce, Rob Strasser, and Bob Woodell. The group had been inspired by their accountant, an avid home brewer after they sampled his beer. In 1989, John Maier joined as brewmaster from Alaskan Brewing and the brewery moved from Ashland to their current HQ in Newport. Enjoying early success, Rogue at one point totaled 11 locations but has since pulled back to 6 with 3 in Newport, 2 in Portland and 1 in Astoria. Rogue Hall opened on PSU’s campus in 2011 and the Eastside Pub opened in 2016. Both pubs are family-friendly with good pub fare and outside seating, giving you a chance to re-visit their classic Dead Guy Ale.

Brought together by a love of German beer, home brewers Tobias Hahn and Nick Greiner founded Rosenstadt in 2015. Using the German translation of the popular nickname for Portland, Rose City, Rosenstadt operates as a sort of floating brewery with no fixed location. Lately, they have been brewing at Hopworks and Conspirator Beverage in Clackamas, although they source all ingredients themselves. Although it’s not hard to find a Rosenstadt lager on tap around town, Rosenstadt found a sort of home base with Olympia Provisions, which considers them the house beers. The beers are a perfect pairing for OP’s Alpine-themed menu of sausages and schnitzels, and can be enjoyed on the expansive patio.

Ruse was launched in 2015 by two brewers from Culmination, Shaun Kalis and Devin Benware, who are also alums of McMenamins and Old Market Pub. Operating under an alternating-proprietorship agreement with their prior employer, they opened their own taproom in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Southeast Portland in July 2018. They were soon recognized Best New Brewery as well as Small Brewery of the Year in the Oregon Beer Awards. Starting out with barrel-aged, Brett-forward saisons, the taplist is now dominated by IPAs and lagers. In 2021, they opened the Crust Collective on the Vancouver, WA waterfront and in 2023, opened a pop-up pizza kitchen in their Portland location every Friday through Sunday.

Started in 2012 by Sims, a beeper salesman and home brewer, and Beard, the Hillsdale brewpub enjoyed fast success and they outgrow the small 300 square foot on-site brewhouse. In 2017, they opened up in NW Portland to expand production and added a cider brand which was later closed in November 2022, not being able torecover from COVID shut-downs and higher material costs. They will keep running the Hillsdale restaurant and are seeking to restart brewing operations.

Charlie Goman is living what, for many, is the dream: He quit his job to brew beer. The former copier salesman started homebrewing around 2007 and in 2017 he took his hobby and transformed it into a career. The fruits of that labor yielded Second Profession Brewing; the name is a nod to the company’s beginnings. The Eliot taproom is Second Profession’s second attempt at one after originally opening on Northeast Sandy Blvd, where the main brewery is still located. Taking over the former Labrewtory space, Second Profession produces solid IPAs in addition to flavorful lagers and kettle sours. Go for the Rye IPA.

In 2019, a 110 year old Metropolitan Community Church in NE Portland church was on the verge of being demolished and replaced with a condo building. Co-founders Brody Day and Dustin Harder stepped in to save it, renovating the space into Steeplejack Brewing, which opened in 2021. Steeplejack, which refers to the person who maintains those pinnacles, is on its own ascent and was named best new brewery in 2022. The company has already grown by two locations since opening in 2021, Pizza and Beer in SW Portland and a taproom in Hillsboro. Brewmaster and Modern Times alum Anna Buxton favors English- and Scottish-style pub beers and cask-conditioned ales to pair with the upscale pub fare in a family-friendly atmosphere.

Rob Lutz and Dan Malech founded Stormbreaker in 2014 in the former Amnesia Brewing site on North Mississippi Avenue in the Boise neighborhood. Lutz, a former Amnesia brewer, was in the right place when Amnesia decided to move from Portland and the owner offered him the site. Naming the brewery Stormbreaker after Mt. Hood, a nickname earned for its role breaking up storm fronts. They opened second location in the St. Johns neighborhood in 2018, now boasting two of the city’s liveliest patios—and both are open year round No matter the weather, it all pairs well with a rotating lineup of excellent ales and lagers that run the gamut of styles—barrel-aged beers, West Coast IPAs, winter ales, stouts, brown ales, sours and more.

Home brewer Jarek Szymanski, who, along with wife Sara Szymanski and partner David Fuller opened the small Montavilla neighborhood brewery in January 2019. They chose the name Threshold because they want their beers to provide customers a “flavor and aroma experience they haven’t experienced before”. Threshold’s offerings are part of a post-craft beer bubble where anything goes. The lineup changes frequently and can include everything from a chocolate-covered plum-inspired ale to a grzaniec—a hot mulled beer that’s a nod to Jarek’s Polish heritage. You’ll also find an edible tribute to his home country on the small food menu such as zapiekanka, a traditional street food similar to a pizza log with a secret ketchup recipe.

Perhaps the most anticipated new brewery scheduled to open in 2023 is TPK Brewing, which will also be the first tabletop roleplaying game brewpub in the country. TPK stands for “Total Party Kill” a Dungeons & Dragons term for which the brewery will have a custom world with fully fleshed out characters and storyline of which a book is already being published. Jessica “Jess” Hardie is TPK’s head brewer and co-founder and was the inaugural recipient of the Oregon Brewers Guild’s Mashing Barriers internship program and completed a 3 month stint at Von Ebert Brewing earlier this year and at Oregon City Brewing after that. TPK Brewing will open at 5051 SE Hawthorne Blvd. in the current location of Tabor Bread.

By moving its taproom to the ground floor of the Leftbank Annex in 2021, Upright addressed the issue of accessibility. Since it opened in 2009, the brewery was somewhat under-appreciated because its tiny taproom, located next to the brewery in the basement of the same building, was difficult to find. The move upstairs remedied that. In 2023, a long-awaited satellite taproom opened in the Cully neighborhood on Northeast Prescott Street. Both locations lean on a jazz motif, and a local history angle is amplified at the Leftbank space. Owner Alex Ganum is the maestro of farmhouse ales and barrel-aged specialty beers. With the expanded footprint and improved access, there has been a modest shift toward more traditional styles.

Uptown started in 2011, when Stuart Ferris, Chris Shepard and his brother AJ Shepard converted a 7-Eleven into a bottle and home-brew shop. They figured they might as well do some brewing, Johnson says, so in 2015 they wedged a small brewery into one side of the building. In 2017, Josh Johnson was brought in as managing partner and quickly realized a rotating door of previous Uptown brewers had hurt its reputation and a new brand was needed. Binary Brewing was born, bringing along home brewer Roger Wood as brewmaster. In 2021, Binary Brewing spun out into a new production facility in downtown Beaverton, OR while Uptown continues to carry mostly Binary options on its 36 taps. *Minors allowed on patio only

Von Ebert has been on an aggressive growth trajectory since it opened in the former Fat Head’s space in Northwest Portland. That was early 2018. Later that year, Von Ebert expanded into the former RingSide location next to Glendoveer Golf Course on Portland’s eastside. The food menus at both spots feature traditional pub fare. While the original location serves as the primary production space, the smaller Glendoveer brewery focuses mostly on small-batch and specialty beers. When owner Tom Cook says his goal is for Von Ebert to be a world-class brewery, he’s serious. Pearl Location Closed in April. Owners took over old Ecliptic site on Cook Street and plan to open it in August 2024.

Wayfinder was founded by three of Portland's most respected food and drink professionals Charlie Devereux, the co-founder of Double Mountain Brewery; Rodney Muirhead, the barbecue master at Podnah's Pit; and Matt Jacobson, the force behind Sizzle Pie and rock label Relapse Records. Head brewer Kevin Davey has experience at Chuckanut, Firestone Walker and Gordon Biersch. Opened in 2016 in the Central Eastside Industrial District, Wayfinder brews a mix of ales and lagers, although they are beloved by local lagerheads for their Bavarian-style helles and Czech-style pils. The brewery originated the recent trend of “cold IPAs”, or cousins of the IPLs but with a West Coast IPA cleanliness for those summer heat waves.

Zoiglhaus is named after the age-old Bavarian tradition of Zoigl, where residents make wort in a communal brewery, ferment it in their cellars and celebrate together after it is brewed. This idea of community and brewing led co-founders Alan Taylor, Chad Rennaker and Nick Roberts to open in the Lents neighborhood in 2016. The brewmaster, Taylor, got his start with Full Sail and Widmer. Zoiglhaus supports the brewing community with its large brewhouse, making available its brewing line to then-upstarts like Wayfinder, Pono, Level and Ferment as well as a partnership with Ascendant, which Rennaker also owns. As expected, the beer is mostly German, but the food is more eclectic after the space was made available for kitchen stalls.

Founded by Philly native Steve Moore as Philadelphia’s Steaks & Hoagies Brewery in 1993. Rebranded as 13 Virtues Brewing, it was Oregon’s 14th microbrewery and remained as one of Portland’s oldest breweries until a surprise closing in 2023.

Ecliptic Brewing was founded by brewmaster John Harris in 2013 at the southern edge of the Mississippi Avenue corridor. Harris built his résumé crafting some of Oregon’s best-known ales and lagers for the likes of McMenamins, Deschutes Brewery, and Full Sail before opening the cosmos-inspired brewpub—and has since earned acclaim for routinely crafting creative takes on a variety of beloved styles; floral West Coast IPAs, fruity sour ales, and crisp lagers are all on tap. In 2021, Ecliptic took over the former Base Case space in the Buckman neighborhood, calling it the Moon Room. The Mississippi Ave location is family friendly while you have to leave the little ones at home for the Moon Room.

Founded by electrical engineer and former home brewer Joel Gregory, Ex Novo operates as a “benefit company” — a business that takes some profits and turns them back to the community in the form of gifts to nonprofits and other groups. Opening its doors in summer 2014 in Eliot neighborhood, it has since expanded to two more locations in nearby Beaverton as well as Joel’s home state in New Mexico, both in 2019. Ex Novo’s production is led by head brewer Ryan Buxton, previously of Epic Brewing, with past brewers leaving for Level and Boneyard. Ex Novo’s beer lineup is heavy on IPAs, lagers, farmhouses and sours. In March, the owner shocked announced he would be putting both Oregon locations on the market to focus on operations in New Mexico.

The Camas, WA brewery was co-founded by Mike Hunsaker in March 2018, who previously brewed at Fat Head’s Portland location. The heavy metal theme at the Camas headquarters carries on at the much smaller satellite operation in Portland. This was previously Lompoc Brewing’s Sidebar, always a dimly lit space with minimal exposure to ambient light. The beer list rotates seasonally and includes good variety. Although GOW may be best known for its award-winning IPAs, the brewery is far from a one-trick pony. Not everything on the board is brewed here; some of the beers are produced across the river. The kitchen is small, shoehorned into a former office. As such, the food selection is limited, a subset of the more sprawling menu at the Camas pub.

Founded in 2020 by respected veteran brewmaster Ben Dobler, who was the face of Widmer Brothers innovation brewing team for over a decade, Hammer & Stitch’s team includes Laurelwood Brewing and Von Ebert alumni Cameron Murphy in the head brewer role. From day one, H & S staked a claim to sessionable, clear, and classic ales and lagers with simple naming structures like “The Pale” and “The Stout” while playing around with one-offs and seasonals with more fanciful names. After 2 years of operating in NW Portland, the owners shut down the taproom in December for the Winter months to focus on wholesale while we await news of the re-opening. Update: H&S is up for sale as a turn-key brewpub.

Dylan VanDetta is known in homebrewing circles as a member of the Oregon Brew Crew and Green Dragon Brewing, a local collective. In 2019 VanDetta started Labyrinth Forge Brewing, developing recipes and making small batches on the Green Dragon system before contracting for bigger batches, obtaining distribution and selling at local beer festivals. The next big step came in 2023, with VanDetta taking over the old Hair of the Dog location, leasing the space and buying the equipment. Coincidentally, VanDetta began making strong ales similar to what Hair of the Dog built its legacy on, although he is looking to expand the range. The brewpub is open now as part of a soft opening with a target of a grand opening on October 13.

The brewery was opened by Mike De Kalb and his wife, Cathy Woo-De Kalb, in the Hollywood District (where Pono Brewing now operates) in 2001, and expanded over the next decade to Northwest (2004), Portland Airport (2009) and Sellwood (2013). Rising rents and market saturation took a toll on the chain, and now the Sandy Boulevard location (opened 2007) is all that remains after the Northwest, Sellwood and Airport locations closed in 2010, 2019 and 2020, respectively. With 15 GABF awards under their belt , Laurelwood has seeded the Oregon beer scene with alums at Von Ebert, Hopworks and Level Brewing, not to mention Hill Farmstead in Vermont. The pub is family friendly with standard pub fare to pair with classics such as the Workhorse IPA.

Logsdon Farmhouse Ales started in 2012 as an actual farm set brewery in Hood River with a tasting room that never came to be, then a downtown Hood River taproom that was short lived, and then a big brewery relocation to Washougal, WA. After 3 years in WA their brewery and taproom building went up for sale, forcing the acclaimed multi-GABF gold medal winning small OR brewery of the year to find a new home. The intention was for Logsdon Farmhouse Ales to move into their new Portland brewery at 2425 SE 35th Pl in the former SE Wine Collective building in Summmer 2023, however a series of setbacks resulted in this plan not coming to fruition. Alas.

Pono Brewing started as a homebrewing and collaboration project prior to becoming an officially licensed brand that launched in October 2016 with a beer that would come to define them, the Pineapple Kölsch. Pono struck up an early relationship with Zoiglhaus as a home base for production and eventually canning of their beers, moving from contract brewery to a proprietorship licensed at Zoiglhaus. In 2022, co-founders Larry Clouser and Erick Russ were joined by Byron Sina as they prepared to move to their own space. Pono Brew Labs is located in the Hollywood district of SE Portland, familiar as the prior home of several PDX breweries, such as Laurelwood. The beer pairs well with the Hawaiian/Pacific Island/Asia food from the kitchen.

Portland U-Brew and Unicorn Brewing were opened in 2012 in southeast Portland by father-son duo Cliff and Jason Webb. Inspired by the Canadian “brew-on-premises” model, the two created a space where homebrewers could source ingredients for their projects or brew larger batches of their own beers onsite. Zach Vestal, a former elementary school teacher, used the space several times a year until 2018, when he took over the business. There is currently a “For Lease” sign in the window and the current lease is good through July but Vestal says it’s possible things will continue as is for the foreseeable future, so don’t let the potential sale prevent you from visiting this very community-focused business.

Von Ebert has been on an aggressive growth trajectory since it opened in the former Fat Head’s space in Northwest Portland. That was early 2018. Later that year, Von Ebert expanded into the former RingSide location next to Glendoveer Golf Course on Portland’s eastside. The food menus at both spots feature traditional pub fare. While the original location serves as the primary production space, the smaller Glendoveer brewery focuses mostly on small-batch and specialty beers. When owner Tom Cook says his goal is for Von Ebert to be a world-class brewery, he’s serious. Pearl Location Closed in April. Owners took over old Ecliptic site on Cook Street and plan to open it in Q4 2024.