The Micro-breweries of Portland’s Pearl District

Why is Portland a great craft beer city?

Portland is a city rife with roses, bicyclists, gourmet food trucks, and beer. It has long held one of the highest concentrations of breweries of any city in the country, with dozens inside the city limits and many more across the metro area. Neighborhoods like the Pearl District, known for its art scene and lively pubs, helped seed that reputation, even though the brewery map has shifted a lot since the district’s early days.

If one style sums up Portland’s taste, it is the India pale ale. The hop-forward IPA came to define West Coast brewing, and Oregon drinkers have stayed devoted to it for decades, a loyalty that traces back to one brewery in particular.

What was BridgePort Brewing, Oregon’s craft beer pioneer?

BridgePort Brewing was Oregon’s oldest craft brewery and, for years, the brewery most closely tied to Portland itself. Winemakers Dick and Nancy Ponzi founded it in 1984 in the Pearl District, first under the name Columbia River Brewing, and built an early following with the classic Blue Heron Pale Ale, named for Portland’s city bird.

The Texas-based Gambrinus Company acquired BridgePort in 1995, and the next year the brewery released the beer that would make its name. BridgePort IPA was developed with help from Australian brewing pioneer Phil Sexton and envisioned as a niche beer, something different rather than a flagship. It became a sensation, and in 1997 it won a gold medal for Classic English Style Pale Ale at the Great American Beer Festival. The brewery kept marking milestones with new releases, including the Conviction Pale Ale brewed for its 30th anniversary, a citrusy beer made with pale and Munich malts at 5.21% ABV.

By the 2010s, sales had slid and the brewery’s once-industrial corner of the Pearl had become some of the most valuable real estate in the city. BridgePort ceased brewing in early 2019 and poured its last pint that March, ending a 35-year run as Portland’s craft beer standard-bearer.

Where can you find Rogue beer in Portland now?

Rogue Ales & Spirits is based in Newport, Oregon, where it runs its production brewery and distillery. Its longtime Pearl District public house on Northwest Flanders, where Rogue first began distilling spirits in 2003 and ran the state’s early rum operation, closed in 2020 after 20 years. In Portland you can still drink Rogue at the Rogue Eastside Pub and Pilot Brewery and at Rogue Hall near Portland State University.

Rogue built its reputation on inventive beers. Over the years that has meant playful collaborations like its Voodoo Doughnut ales, in bacon-maple, chocolate, raspberry, and pretzel versions, heady and sweet enough to stand in for dessert. More enduring are the Mocha Porter, a dark beer with a bittersweet chocolate note and a balanced melding of malt and hops, and the Yellow Snow IPA, as golden as its name, with a hoppy medium body built on slightly spicy Amarillo hops.

“To remember it is not simply a matter of profit but a highly personal work of art.”

— a Rogue crafting motto

What is McMenamins, and what’s at the Crystal Hotel?

McMenamins is an Oregon institution, run by brothers Mike and Brian McMenamin, that rescues historic properties and turns them into hotels, theaters, concert venues, and breweries across Oregon and Washington. Its Crystal Hotel sits in downtown Portland, beside the historic Crystal Ballroom, and houses the Zeus Café, offering lodging and dining for concertgoers.

The beer to look for here is McMenamins’ own. Hammerhead, the company’s top-selling pale ale, pours a caramel hue with a mellow mix of hops and malt at 5.93% ABV. Terminator Stout is the darker counterpart, a heady ale built on kiln-baked grains, toasty and nutty and redolent of coffee and chocolate, made with black barley, Munich malt, and Nuggets hops at 6.45% ABV. You will also find brews like the Crystal IPA and an Irish Stout on the list.

What makes Hopworks a sustainable Portland brewery?

At Hopworks Urban Brewery, sustainability is the whole point. Founded in 2007 by Christian and Brandie Ettinger, Hopworks is the first Certified B Corporation brewery in the Pacific Northwest. The brewery is renewably powered and carbon neutral, and its 20-barrel brewhouse turns out around fifteen organic, Salmon-Safe HUB beers, including the crisp, award-winning Organic HUB Lager.

Hopworks once ran a second outpost, the BikeBar on North Williams Avenue, where guests could pedal stationary bikes to feed electricity into the building. That location closed in 2020, and the brewery has since refocused on its flagship brewpub on Southeast Powell Boulevard, where the sustainable beer and family-friendly tables remain its calling cards.

Frequently Asked Questions About Portland Craft Beer

🍺 Portland Breweries at a Glance

Current status and signature beers for the breweries in this guide.