When Art Larrance and Ron Gansberg left Portland Brewing and started Cascade Brewing in 1998, they had no idea it would be leading the way in sour brewing over 20 years later. While they were Initially specialists in traditional ales, Larrance and Gansberg quickly grew tired of the dominance of big IPAs. Capitalizing on the region’s abundance of local wine barrels and fresh fruit, Cascade took a gamble and began making sours long before they were trendy, stealing hearts and Great American Beer Festival medals.
Bright, tart kettle sours, so named because they’re quickly soured in stainless steel tanks during the brewing process, have become all the rage, but Cascade’s beers take their time, engaging with bacteria and developing complexity as they sour in the barrel. With at least 20 funky, oaky, fruited sour beers on tap, Cascade’s Barrel House on SE Belmont Street, nicknamed the “House of Sour,” is one of the best places in the world to sample different iterations of the style, and to taste how their components interact.
