The Portland area has the largest craft brewing market in the US, with nearly 100 microbreweries in the state and 30 within Portland city limits—more than any other city in the world. The pub culture is an important piece of the social fabric of Portland.

America’s love affair with beer began as colonists brought shipments of the beverage from England. The first Help Wanted ad ever placed in the fledgling country was an ad looking for a brewer, in 1609; in 1612 Adrian Block and Hans Christiansen established the first known brewery in the New World, at the southern tip of what is now Manhattan. The adoration continued until the fateful hand of Prohibition intervened; since its repeal in 1933 brewing continued, but the small brewery fell by the wayside in drastic numbers over the next five decades, in favor of huge brewing giants such as Coors and Anheuser-Busch.

In 1983 the Oregon legislature changed the law to allow breweries to sell their beer on the same premises where it was brewed, largely due to efforts by veteran winemakers Nancy and Dick Ponzi, who patterned new legislation based on what was being done at winery tasting rooms. Once the law was passed, the Ponzis partnered with UC Davis Brewing Sciences graduate Karl Ockert and opened BridgePort Brewing Company in a century-old rope factory in downtown Portland.

Ockert and his assistant, Matt Sage, began experimenting with recipes that are still going strong at their 25-year anniversary. “We didn’t know if we would be around for three months or 30 years and I’m happy to say we are closer to the 30 year mark,” says Sage. BridgePort’s signature ale is the IPA that they started with, which won the gold medal and Champion Ale Trophy at the Brewing Industry International Awards, making it the first American brewery to win in the two-year history of the awards. Brothers Mike and Brian McMenamin have one of the most recognizable names in Northwest beer. Beginning in the 1970s, the brothers were highly involved in Portland’s local good food/good beer/good wine movement and ran Produce Row Café, where they offered a dizzying array of quality import beers.

Once the state law was changed, they opened McMenamins Hillsdale Brewery & Public House in 1985, and today operate an ale empire that includes more than 50 pubs throughout Oregon and Washington—some housed in unexpected places such as abandoned schools, lighthouses and churches—as well as eight theaters and eight hotels. “Be wary of things too formal, too complicated and too orthodox” became the company’s rallying cry—a bit like the motto of Portland itself.

The first Oregon Brewers Festival in 1988 drew 15,000 people to sample 16 beers from 13 breweries under a big top tent in Portland. By 1990, with more craft breweries and brewpubs per capita than any other city in the United States, Portland was proclaimed “America’s Microbrew Capital,” but unofficially, it’s known simply as “Beervana.” Indeed, the brewpub culture here is a bit more of an obsession than an industry, thriving on a voracious thirst for great beer and the bounty of high-quality local ingredients.

In recent years, a new and increasingly popular concept is organic brewing. Laurelwood created Oregon’s first certified organic beers, and other local organic brewers include Hopworks Urban Brewery —whose eco-friendly practices even extend to the green-built brewpub itself—and Roots Brewing Company, a community gathering place in the old public house tradition. Brewmaster Craig Nicholls has gained wide recognition for his use of surprising elements such as roses, juniper branches and sage, while implementing sustainable business practices and supporting local organic farmers. The Roots motto is “Save the planet, one beer at a time”—a call to action that many in the Northwest eagerly heed.

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Photo credits:

Image 1 – A tasting tray at Hopworks Urban Brewery

Original photo by Shelley Seale

Image 2 – The McMenamin Brothers

Photo courtesy of McMenamin’s