Portland's Best Breweries
In Portland, there’s an old axiom that summer doesn’t start until after the 4th of July. So just in time for the sunny season, here is my most popular (and occasionally controversial) feature of the year: the city’s best breweries. The list below is based on the breweries doing the best work right now—it’s an up-to-the-moment progress report on where you’re going to find the most interesting, accomplished, and reliable pints.
I’ve always tried to highlight breweries native to Portland, so explorers get a true flavor of the City of Roses. I’ve also tried to include a range of breweries so any beer fan would find at least one brewery making their kind of beer. Those still represent my guiding principles, but for the first time I’ve expanded my criteria for inclusion. Depending on how you count, Portland has between about sixty and eighty breweries. Defining a brewery or a “Portland brewery” is getting ever harder because they come in so many forms, so for this year’s list, I’ve dropped my somewhat arbitrary requirements and opened it up.
This year, I’m including any Oregon company that operates a brewery in Portland. I’m including companies that make beer in Portland, whether or not they own a brewery, and have a dedicated, physical place to drink it. In the past, I’ve excluded new breweries, but that seems increasingly passé as new breweries often hit the ground running. This expanded list includes just about every brewery that could be called local, but, full disclosure, it does exclude two powerhouses: Washington-based Grains of Wrath and AB InBev-owned (and Bend-founded) 10 Barrel. It was a tough call because both are routinely cited as some of the best in the Northwest, but at least for 2023, it seems valuable to focus on Oregon-headquartered breweries.
I’ve also limited—or expanded?—the list from last year’s fourteen breweries. This year I’ve focused on a top ten, but with some trepidation. The problem is that it’s hard to draw neat lines. I would place four of Portland’s breweries in a tier by themselves (Von Ebert, Breakside, Upright, and Wayfinder), but add another handful that sometimes come close. Following that group of 6-8 breweries is another tier in which the breweries are very, very good, and people of goodwill will definitely disagree. The difference between Portland’s 7th-best brewery and 17th-best is paper-thin. Indeed, if I wanted to establish Portland’s bona fides in terms of overall quality, I’d compare its second-ten best breweries up against any in the US. Portland is such a good beer town because the beer is so good across the city. And, since that’s the case, I’m also including those next ten, albeit with less detail. I hope this rewards the breweries really doing great work right now without excluding breweries that are arguably their equal. (Let the debates begin!)
Departures: Ex Novo, Fearless, Hair of the Dog, Hammer and Stitch, Raccoon Lodge, and West Coast Grocery.
Arrivals: Grand Fir and Living Haus. Duality and Fracture, which had no locations to visit, added taprooms.
How I Select the Breweries
As the years have gone on, I’ve done what anyone does who wants to assure themselves they’re being “objective”—I created a spreadsheet with different dimensions of quality. Ultimately, trying to empiricize this process is foolish, but these metrics do help me distinguish among different kinds of accomplished breweries:
I look at how many of a brewery’s beer might plausibly be grouped among the top 2% of all Portland beers (about a hundred, by my back-of-the-napkin calculations).
If we use a modified bell curve and break all the beers into thirds, how many of the brewery’s beers are above average, and also how many are below average?
Does a brewery have a recognized regional “classic?”
Finally, I do consider awards, and this year I’ve listed total medals in three important competitions: Oregon Beer Awards (OBA), the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), and the World Beer Cup (WBC). If a brewery doesn’t win them, that’s not necessarily a demerit (some breweries just don’t enter competitions), but it’s hard to overlook a brewery that continues to win buckets of medals in blind tasting competitions with their peers.
Beyond what I can quantify, I look for breweries with strong identities and those making beers that are easily identifiable.
Finally, I look for breweries who demonstrate subtlety and mastery, that ineffable quality of accomplishment.
I base my assessments on regular visits to breweries, a process that picks up in frequency the closer I get to releasing the list. Any such list is going to be individualistic, but I don’t take this lightly and do apply some standards as I go along.
Finally, for just the second year, I’ve identified a “brewery of the year.” It’s something I will do only when a brewery clearly had an exceptional year and deserves special recognition. This year, one really stood out.
A Note on the Listings
Most of the breweries listed below have multiple locations—and some even have mini-chains. I have listed each brewery’s main location or its most central. I also include a link to each brewery’s website, which contains open hours, menu info, and alternate locations. This year I’ve listed the breweries in reverse alphabetical order to mix things up. Photos come from the breweries’ social media or were taken by me.
All right, on to the breweries.
Known for: lagers, hoppy ales, wild ales
Key Beers: Volatile Substance, Pils, Pierre la Chat
Recent Awards: 3 OBAs, 1 GABF, 1 WBC
When Von Ebert debuted five years ago, owner Tom Cook laid this eyebrow-raising marker on the table: “My vision for Von Ebert is: I want an all-around world-class brewery.” It seemed a bit outlandish at the time, but damned if his brewing team didn’t deliver. Starting in 2021, when they won an IPA gold medal at both the GABF and OBA for Volatile Substance through this spring, when their Pils managed a silver-gold in the GABF and World Beer Cup, no one has been doing better work than Von Ebert. These weren’t outlier wins, either—they reflect the impressive standard Sam Pecoraro and his team set for their entire line. The brewery has three main domains of competence—lagers, IPAs, and wild ales—and they consistently set the standard for all three (I didn’t even mention the medals their wild ales have won in recent years). This isn’t to say they’re one of those breweries focused on brewing for hardware—they have plenty of experimental beers that never get entered into competition. They also have beers they brew just for fun, and one of these may be the one that impresses me the most. Von Ebert’s second location in East Portland is the clubhouse of a golf course—so naturally they made a light lager for the duffers who have a postgame pint. Called Clubhaus (of course), it’s just 4%, but has impressively aromatic malts and a hint of citrus. It’s extremely difficult to infuse much character in these kinds of beers and make them distinctive—unless you’re Von Ebert. Right now, there’re doing everything right.
Multiple locations; main brewery and taproom is downtown at 131 NW 13th. Website
Known for: Lagers, cold IPA
Key Beers: CZAF, Hell, Cold IPA
Recent awards: 2 OBAs
Few breweries bear the imprint of their brewer more than Wayfinder did of Kevin Davey. Famous in equal parts for his expressive lagers as the cold IPA he popularized, it was always easy to spot a Davey beer. That’s why his departure this year was a big deal. Enter former Breakside R&D brewer Natalie Rose Baldwin, who has free rein to introduce her own line and tinker with Davey’s established beers—a transition that will change Wayfinder’s character. Fortunately, in Baldwin Wayfinder has found a brewer just as confident and opinionated as Davey, someone ready to make the beers her own. Early releases have been promising—and Baldwin’s work at Breakside (including Rusalka, a fantastic tmavy) speak for themselves. Wayfinder might have chosen a brewer who would have kept the beers tasting like Davey’s, but with Baldwin they’ve chosen a bolder path. Fans of the brewery should be excited.
Pub (with fantastic patio) and brewery are at 304 SE 2nd. Website
Known for: lagers, barrel-aged ales, and cask ales
Key beers: Engelberg Pilsner, Fantasia
Recent awards: 1 OBA
Upright has always been one of the hardest breweries to characterize. It has gone through stages of passions, starting with farmhouse ales and delicate, intricately-composed wild ales, to rustic, characterful lagers, and lately to cask ales. In each case, founder Alex Ganum explores the lines between tradition and his own, distinctive approach. More than any brewer in Portland, he climbs into the tradition fully, exploring all the ingredient and techniques that define it. But rather than limiting himself by the tradition, he finds his access point, making them his own. There are no better examples than the recent-ish series of IPAs he’s done, which manage to taste both like modern IPAs and like Upright beers. The latest passion is cask ales, lovely, delicate little Upright-y beers that are always pouring. This past year, the brewery opened a second outpost not far from the airport—perfect for a drop-in on your way out of town.
Two locations; brewery and main taproom are at 240 NE Broadway. Website
Known for: characterful session-strength beers
Key beers: Alewife Mild (cask), Luminosa Pale
Recent awards: 3 OBAs
Founded two years ago in a beautiful old turn-of-the-20th century church, Steeplejack immediately became one of the prettiest places to have a pint. The beer was unusual and promising as well—but sometimes more ambitious in concept than refined in execution. Head brewer Anna Buxton loves tasty beers in small packages—Belgian table beers, cask milds and bitters, Irish stouts, and session lagers—and these are harder to make than gale-force IPAs. Even her hoppy ales tend to be closer to 5% than over 6%. This year, however, the beers came into focus and Steeplejack has matured into one of Portland’s best. In addition to taking a lead in the cask-ale revival in Portland, Steeplejack is also the place to go when you’re looking for true rarities, like the Norwegian farmhouse-inspired Stjørdalsøl, a smoked ale, they served this Spring. The brewery has big ambitions, and opened a big production brewery and third location in the western suburbs, so expect to hear more about Steeplejack going forward.
The original brewery and church location are at 2400 NE Broadway. Website
Known for: IPAs, both hazy and clear
Key Beers: Translator, Imaginary Lines
Recent awards: 3 OBAs
As the post-Covid realities land, most breweries are shoring up their flagship lines and cutting back on one-offs. Ruse continues to court experimentation. Really the only beer you see reliably on return visits is Translator, their excellent Northwest-style IPA, a juicy beer with firm bitterness. You’ll usually see a lager or two, probably a fruit sour, and something traditional like a witbier or kölsch, but the balance will be hoppy ales of all varieties. With many breweries, that means a fair number of misses along with the hits, but not at Ruse. Brewers Shaun Kalis and Devin Benware have enough experience working in the hoppy idiom to avoid misfires. As a consequence, Ruse becomes an ideal stop for sampling the state of the art in IPA. I’d highlight Imaginary Lines as an example of their skill. A hazy, it has that deeply-saturated fruity flavor the style demands, but the components have been precisely calibrated to hit maximum pleasure without going overboard. It’s a reminder of why this style was so popular in the first place. If you want to satisfy your hop tooth, it’s hard to beat Ruse.
Two locations. Main brewery and taproom at 4784 SE 17th. Website
Known for: Lagers, West Coast IPAs
Key beers: Delores Pils, Harris IPA
In past years I haven’t included breweries in their first year, but both Living Häus and Grand Fir had such accomplished brewers that their performance is hardly the work of beginners. Moreover, brewers Mat Sandoval and Conrad Andrus are brewing on their old Modern Times kit, so they didn’t even have a learning curve. They hit the ground like a brewery in its third year, just knocking out fantastic beer after fantastic beer. Having a two-headed brewing team (the third brewer, Gavin Lord, mainly works on contract brewing and his side project, Hetty Alice) gives the brewery two voices instead of one, and the beers in some ways act as counterpoints. Take Mat’s very punchy Delores Pils and Conrad’s soft Bethine Helles. Mat comes from Southern California, and loves dry, bitter IPAs like Nate, his homage to San Diego. Conrad’s Harris is softer, more in the vein of Northwest IPAs. The beer list always includes some interesting experiments, whether the very traditional, like a grodziskie or výčepní-strength Czech dark lager, or a recent American-hopped pilsner that is pushing the line on a cold pale ale.
Located in the lovely old Commons/Modern Times space at 628 SE Belmont. Website
Known for: Hazy IPAs, pastry beers
Key beers: Juice Jr., Double Stack
Recent awards: 3 OBAs, 1 GABF
Great Notion’s reputation is well established at this point. This is the brewery that took the East Coast model of hazy IPAs and pastry beers and spun them into gold. It’s also getting less and less accurate. Over the past few years, Great Notion has been quietly developing other aspects of their lineup. Most recently, that has included some very impressive West Coast IPAs. I was surprised to find their classic hazy Ripe reworked as a clear beer and—this may be blasphemy—I actually liked it better than the original. You do still find pastry beers on the menu, but not as many, and in fact, you’re likely to find more lagers and traditional beers instead. When they’re working outside their comfort zone, the beers don’t always land, but it shows a brewery that is continuing to evolve and reach out to fans who like something other than hype beers. That doesn’t mean they’ve taken their eyes off the ball, mind—if you want a great hazy, Great Notion is still the place to start.
Great Notion now boasts seven locations from Seattle to Berkeley, but start with their original homey pub, which now features Matt’s BBQ Tacos. 2204 NE Alberta. Website
Known for: IPAs, classic styles
Key beers: Kölschtastic, LP Stout
Like many breweries, Gigantic has gone through different phases of life. With the opening of their latest drinking hole, this time a pub with a kitchen on Hawthorne, Gigantic has evolved from a production brewery making collectible one-off bottles to a draft-focused brewery. Always known for its youthful art, rotating line of new beers, and quirky vibe, Gigantic has lately developed some of the most faithful fans in the neighborhoods it serves. The beer has followed in this pubby direction, with two new cask engines at the Hawthorne site. For my money, it’s those beers rather than their buzzier IPA offerings, like Cloudberries and Fluffy Tufts, that are Gigantic’s true calling. If you can catch LP Stout when its on cask, you’re in for a real treat—it’s one of the best dark ales I’ve ever had from an engine. As they demonstrated with their Blond IPA collab with Portland’s legendary drag queen Darcelle, however, they can still show their inventive streak.
Three locations, and all have their virtues, but check out their new Hawthorne site (with an awesome beer garden) at 4343 SE Hawthorne. Website
Known for: Classic pub ales, diverse offerings
Key beers: Black Butte Porter, The Abyss
Recent awards: 2 GABF, 1 WBC (Portland site)
Deschutes has long been one of Portland’s standout breweries, and typically has more variety and more interesting offerings than the flagship pub in Bend. Indeed, with 20+ beers, Deschutes has one of the most diverse offerings in Portland—a great option for mixed parties. Brewers in Portland have always been given the latitude to follow their whim, and sometimes it takes them in directions like their award-winning Hachimitsu Mai, a Japanese lager made with honey. Bend and Portland have distinct consumer preferences, and of the two, Portland is by far more lager-friendly. The brewers at Portland Deschutes lean into this, and they routinely have interesting lagers on tap. Of course, they have classics, too, and these really are American standards. Even Fresh-Squeezed IPA, now in its 14th year, counts as something of a classic. Finally, Deschutes is a great place to stop during fresh-hop season, when they always have a full line-up.
Located downtown in the Pearl District at 210 NW 11th. Website
Known for: IPAs
Key Beers: Wanderlust, Breakside IPA
Recent awards: 7 OBAs, 3 GABF, 1 WBC
(Full disclosure: this year, Breakside became one of my three sponsors. The brewery has made the list every year I’ve posted it.) Be Long the standard-setter for Oregon IPAs, Breakside caught some people by surprise when they introduced a new witbier to their core line this year. No matter. As the brewery turns 13, it’s still leading the way on Northwest-style hoppy ales. In the past year, I enjoyed beers like that new white ale, their impressive, complex barrel-aged stouts, and their clean, crisp lagers. The beers that always seemed to stop me were the IPAs, though. No brewery is more thoughtful or methodical in perfecting technique amid a sea of new hops and hop products. One I especially enjoyed over the past year is a good example: Industrielle, a sleek West Coast IPA with dense aromatics that was also delicate and very dry. In 2023, Breakside’s little empire grew beyond the city with a new taproom opening in Astoria. Meanwhile, head brewer Ben Edmunds was awarded the most prestigious honor in his field, a Schehrer Award for innovation. Even after nearly a decade and a half, Breakside continues to push the boundaries.
The brewery has six locations, but try Slabtown at 1570 NW 22nd. Website.
Now we come to the ten breweries that, owing to the rigors of mathematics, didn’t fit into the list above. Several of them have been on past “best” lists, and are one strong year from returning. Others have been improving for years and might crack that list in a year or two. In short, these are excellent breweries, and I highly recommend them. In some other cities, they’d be your top ten.
Zoiglhaus
Known for: German-style lagers. Key beers: Zoigl Pils, Berliner Weisse.
German-trained Alan Taylor is one of the city’s best lager brewers, and has a GABF gold for Zoiglhaus’s flagship North German-style pilsner. The brewery is a showcase for clean, delicious lagers and German styles—plus a few hoppy beers for locals.
Brewery and expansive pub located at 5716 SE 92nd. Website
Threshold
Known for: Hazy IPAs, experimental beer, lagers. Key Beers: Green Prophesies, Neptune. Recent awards: 1 OBA
One of the more interesting breweries in Portland is run by Sara and Jarek Szymanski, the latter a Polish immigrant who dabbles in Central European styles, particularly lagers and a Baltic porter. His calling card, however, is his line of well-made hazy IPAs and Green Prophesies is a must-try if you happen to catch it on tap.
Brewery and taproom are located at 403 SE 79th in Montavilla. Website
Rosenstadt
Known for: German-style lagers. Key beers: Helles, Kölsch, Dunkel. Recent Awards: 1 OBA
Rosenstadt (“Rose City” in German) has never owned their own brewery, having to brew on kits around town. Nevertheless, they’ve built a solid reputation for making authentic, characterful German ales and lagers, including their OBA gold winning Dunkel.
They are the house beer at Olympia Provisions (3384 SE Division), which serves as their brewpub. Website
Little Beast
Known for: Fruited wild ales, lagers. Key Beers: Tree Spirit, Pine Top. Recent awards: 1 GABF
Little Beast has a shifting personality. Co-owner and veteran brewer Charles Porter started with a lineup heavy on fruited wild ales and saisons, but in recent years has made more lagers and even IPAs. On a hot day, a lager hits the spot—but don’t leave without trying one of the wild ales, which are some of the best in Oregon.
Cozy pub and beer garden located at 3412 SE Division. Website
Level Beer
Known for: Balanced classic styles. Key beers: Pixelated Pale, Let’s Play!
Level specializes in traditional styles brewed to be drunk in multiples—preferably at one of their three whimsical locations. Level’s beers impress by their accomplishment, not their intensity. Along with Deschutes, they offer the most variety of any brewery in town.
Three locations, but the most central is the Level 3 taproom at 1447 NE Sandy. Website
Grand Fir
Known for: Classic IPAs and lagers. Key beers: GF IPA, Ulmo. Recent awards: 1 OBA
Longtime 10 Barrel head brewer Whitney Burnside teamed up with her husband, a chef, to create one of the most successful new launches in years. Whitney loves flavors, and her beers always tend to have something unexpected going on (including an extra bit of kick—she likes her beer strong). Check out the Ulmo, a honey kölsch, for a great example of her sly style.
The brewpub is located at 1403 SE Stark. Website
Ecliptic
Known for: IPAs, fruit sours. Key beers: Phaser, Capella.
Oregon’s most legendary brewer, John Harris, started Ecliptic a decade ago after spending time at three pioneering breweries. Ecliptic reflects John’s experience, stretching back to the mid-80s, but also his curiosity and willingness to experiment and evolve.
Two locations; main brewery and pub at 825 North Cook. Website
Culmination
Known for: Hazy IPAs, unusual and eclectic styles. Key beers: Obscured by Clouds, Sour Flower
Culmination has divided its attention between IPAs on the one hand—hazies, predominantly—and experimental, historical, and unusual styles on the other. The chalkboard even observes this division. If you want a Belgian style, a brown ale, or a lost historical style, Culmination is probably the place to find it.
Brewpub tucked away in a leafy neighborhood at 2117 NE Oregon. Website
Baerlic
Known for: A broad range, IPAs. Key Beers: Punk Rock Time, Chill. Recent awards: 1 OBA, 1 WBC
Baerlic is one of the most reliable breweries in Portland, and they always have an interesting selection. In the past year, they have turned toward IPAs and away from some of the older-school pub favorites they once specialized in. While this may disappoint some, their IPA game is one of the best in the city—and I consider their helles, Chill, to be a true Portland classic.
Three locations; the original pub and pizza parlor is at 2239 SE 11th. Website
Away Days
Known for: British styles, cask ales. Key Beers: Milner’s Mild, Away Days IPA Recent awards: 1 OBA
The font of Portland’s current cask-ale boom, Away Days is a small brewery focused on classic English styles. That includes the kinds of modern ales craft breweries are making in the UK, with lush base malts and expressive yeasts along with modern hops and hopping techniques. It’s an often overlooked brewery doing fantastic work.
Brewery and wee pub are located at 1516 SE 10th, on the east side of the Hawthorne Bridge. Website