They’re widely adored, and the beer keeps us coming back. This was tricky. Like many Portlanders, I frequent and love a lot of breweries that aren’t on this list; as my winnowing-down process demonstrates, any “best of” list can only scratch the surface. Most of the breweries I’ve selected here offer a combination of great beer, food, and ambience, yet the actual beer is the star of the show. These are the breweries we’re all excited to introduce to visitors. We go back to see what’s new, get our hands on something we’ve just heard about, pay respect, visit an old love, or simply drink a beer that’s better than the rest.
Of course, to refresh my memory of these breweries’ offerings, I’ve also been doing more solo day-drinking lately, as well as taking my toddler straight from day care to visit possible candidates, where she samples the kids’ menu while pointing to my glass and ordering me to drink “mama milk.”
