Instead of picking your favorite fruit or brew style off the menu, I’d recommend springing for a pretty rainbow of tasters. It’s fun to experience how dynamic sours can be, and the beers’ differences are best savored side by side. On a recent visit, options ranged from the Pêche Fumé (a smoked wheat ale barrel-aged with peaches) to the Sang Noir (a bourbon-barrel-aged red ale with cherries) to the Bourbonic Plague (a blend of sour and imperial porters with dates, vanilla, and orange peel), and there’s often a sour beer on nitro. If you’ve never sampled the latter, put that one at the top of your list: Due to the lack of carbonic acid from carbonation, and the thicker mouthfeel imparted by nitrogen, nitro sours are rounder and allow drinkers to distinguish more of the complexity in their flavor.

The Lodge is the original location, and where Cascade brews its beer; around six of its 18 taps are also reserved for non-sours, which are resurfacing in importance for the brand. But the Barrel House is easily accessible in the city. It serves a full menu, although I like to keep it simple with a cheese-and-charcuterie plate, which pairs well with all that fruited beer. While you’re there, keep an eye out for exciting additions—right now, Cascade is tapping funky fresh-hop sours, something you don’t see every day. The brewery also just began releasing its first cans, including Casual Friday, a sour hazy IPA made in collaboration with Trap Door Brewing.

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.

The transition into fall is officially fresh-hop time, and right now Slabtown is celebrating the season with four fresh-hop IPAs on tap, as well as the option to add a French-pressed fresh-hop infusion to a beer of your choosing. The brewery innovated a fresh-hop method (in the vein of Cryo Hops, developed by Yakima Chief Hops) that it’s been using exclusively since 2013. The fresh hops are first frozen on liquid nitrogen, then crushed to extract the lupulin—a fine powder that contains the hop’s essential oils, i.e., its flavor—from the flower, making a homemade cryo powder that avoids the dirt-like taste that can come with using the whole flower. “The process for making fresh-hop beers this way has definitely caught on with a handful of brewers in the Northwest, but it hasn’t become a major national trend,” says Breakside brewmaster Ben Edmunds.

Also of note: The team behind the beers includes three women, among them R&D brewer Natalie Baldwin (known locally as the former lead brewer at now-closed Burnside Brewing Co.), who oversees operations and beer development for the Dekum pub. Sadly, this is still unusual in 2019, so let’s give credit where it’s due.

Almost-10-year-old Breakside Brewery is a major Portland institution, and its impressive range of beers still rakes in awards every year. In 2019 alone, Breakside dominated at the North American Beer Awards, with wins in 10 different categories, and the Oregon Beer Awards crowned it Brewery of the Year within its size division.

Breakside’s third location opened in the rapidly expanding Slabtown neighborhood in 2017, providing NW Portland fans with a huge, high-ceilinged, two-floor brewpub and a big patio. While I love to soak in the vibes at the NE Dekum location, enjoying my beer among the cute hipsters, dogs, and children occupying the sidewalk patio, I think the larger beer selection at Slabtown gives visitors more of a treat. And, though the Dekum spot may offer a more authentically Portland experience, Slabtown is where the brewery workshops more of its hoppy new recipes—always among the most exciting things to taste here, since Breakside makes some of the best IPAs around.

Do yourself a favor and order a flight, so you can taste a few different special releases. Personally, I also like the food better at the Slabtown brewpub, and I often get a hearty vegetarian bowl or fish entrée to offset the impossible-to-resist wings and giant, house-baked soft pretzel with cheese sauce.

The transition into fall is officially fresh-hop time, and right now Slabtown is celebrating the season with four fresh-hop IPAs on tap, as well as the option to add a French-pressed fresh-hop infusion to a beer of your choosing. The brewery innovated a fresh-hop method (in the vein of Cryo Hops, developed by Yakima Chief Hops) that it’s been using exclusively since 2013. The fresh hops are first frozen on liquid nitrogen, then crushed to extract the lupulin—a fine powder that contains the hop’s essential oils, i.e., its flavor—from the flower, making a homemade cryo powder that avoids the dirt-like taste that can come with using the whole flower. “The process for making fresh-hop beers this way has definitely caught on with a handful of brewers in the Northwest, but it hasn’t become a major national trend,” says Breakside brewmaster Ben Edmunds.

Also of note: The team behind the beers includes three women, among them R&D brewer Natalie Baldwin (known locally as the former lead brewer at now-closed Burnside Brewing Co.), who oversees operations and beer development for the Dekum pub. Sadly, this is still unusual in 2019, so let’s give credit where it’s due.

Almost-10-year-old Breakside Brewery is a major Portland institution, and its impressive range of beers still rakes in awards every year. In 2019 alone, Breakside dominated at the North American Beer Awards, with wins in 10 different categories, and the Oregon Beer Awards crowned it Brewery of the Year within its size division.

Breakside’s third location opened in the rapidly expanding Slabtown neighborhood in 2017, providing NW Portland fans with a huge, high-ceilinged, two-floor brewpub and a big patio. While I love to soak in the vibes at the NE Dekum location, enjoying my beer among the cute hipsters, dogs, and children occupying the sidewalk patio, I think the larger beer selection at Slabtown gives visitors more of a treat. And, though the Dekum spot may offer a more authentically Portland experience, Slabtown is where the brewery workshops more of its hoppy new recipes—always among the most exciting things to taste here, since Breakside makes some of the best IPAs around.

Do yourself a favor and order a flight, so you can taste a few different special releases. Personally, I also like the food better at the Slabtown brewpub, and I often get a hearty vegetarian bowl or fish entrée to offset the impossible-to-resist wings and giant, house-baked soft pretzel with cheese sauce.

Today, the region’s seasonal bounties—the city is surrounded by local farmland that’s verdant with hop vines, fruit trees, and wine grapes—provide a ton of inspiration and fresh ingredients. Oregon is well known for its beer and its role as a leader of the cannabis revolution, but the Willamette Valley is also home to some of the best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the country, and local breweries are happy to take cues from them, experimenting with grapes and knowing when to put a good wine barrel to use.

Lucky for you (and me!), Portland’s breweries don’t just offer some of the best beer in the country: The city’s creative farm-to-table movement means that even brewpubs can’t get away with lazy food. Because these breweries already use or draw inspiration from seasonal ingredients for their beers, most also serve great food that’s made from scratch with locally sourced produce, meat, dairy, and more.

And I’ve been reading and listening. Brewery staff, beer-nerd friends, and the baristas who support my writing habit all perked up upon learning what I was doing. They asked (with excitement and visible deep concern), “Oohhh, are you including [brewery name]?” I knew I was on the right track, because I never had to say no. It was sweet to hear, in all those sighs of relief, how tied we Portlanders are to our community, and how personally we take our beer.

Consistent high quality. Many of these breweries win accolades year after year, and most release new beers on a regular basis. Some have been around forever and focus on the same recipes Portlanders have loved for years. Whether their beers are mainstays or more gimmicky, they reliably knock our socks off.
They’ve pushed the craft-beer industry forward in some way. These are the breweries that others in the field look up to, which doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve been around for decades—some of the new kids are impressing the old guard, a fact made evident by collaborations and the goodwill of those helping new arrivals get off the ground. All of these are early adopters of new methods and styles; some are bona fide pioneers.

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.”

Many craft-beer trends can be traced to the availability of a new ingredient. It’s fair to say that the modern US craft-beer industry began here in 1972, when Oregon State University in Corvallis released the assertive, disease-resistant Cascade hop. That hop would soon become the backbone of two beers that kicked off the boom: Anchor Brewing Company’s Liberty Ale and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Later, between 1984 and 1986, during a time when there were only about 50 breweries in the entire United States, Portland saw the openings of the now-shuttered BridgePort Brewing, Portland Brewing Co., Widmer Brothers, and Oregon’s first brewpub, McMenamins. Back then, Horse Brass Pub, which opened in 1976 and is still around today, was already favoring local beers and microbreweries over major producers. The Criteria
With so many great options within striking distance, choosing just a handful of favorites was no easy feat. I spent a whole mountainous road trip thinking and talking about the favorite breweries of every beer geek and casual drinker I know…and then winced as I crossed off enough names to narrow my list down to 11 spots.

Korean BBQ is traditionally eaten in ssam form. Ssam just means wrap, but the implication is a one-bite-sized wrap of fresh cold lettuce with a small piece of grilled meat and topped with sauce (ssamjang).

Grill some meat (above). If it is too large to eat as one bite (as in the case of short ribs) use a pair of kitchen shears to cut it down. This is traditional.
Wrap it up in lettuce and perilla.
Top or dip it in sauce.
One bite it.
Savor and repeat!
What should I buy for Korean BBQ at home
To be honest, you can probably buy everything you need at H-Mart or a local Korean grocery store. They’ll even have marinated meats for you. If you don’t live near a Korean grocery store, you can buy meat and marinate it yourself. Don’t sweat it if you don’t have any banchan. At its core, Korean barbecue is about wrapping delicious meat in lettuce and dipping it in ssamjang.

Lettuce: You’ll need lots of lettuce and perilla to wrap up your grilled meats in little bites. I like providing a bunch of different lettuces. Lettuces for for Korean barbecue to try: red leaf, green leaf, butter, romaine, iceberg, really, any lettuce you enjoy can be used as a wrap.
Perilla: Pick up some perilla when you’re at the Korean market. It’s a flat wide leaf that is sometimes labeled as sesame leaves. Perilla are in the mint family but they don’t quite taste like mint, more like Japanese shiso (if you’ve had that) or a fresh herby flavor with a hint of anise.
Chili: It wouldn’t be Korean food without a bit of spice. Most Korean restaurants will have sliced Korean green chilis, but you can sub sliced jalapeños or serranos.
Green onions: A huge pile of slivered or shredded green onions adds freshness and flavor. Usually the green onions are tossed in a bit of soy, toasted sesame oil, sugar, and sesame seeds for a quick green onion slaw that tastes amazing with pork
.

Lettuce: You’ll need lots of lettuce and perilla to wrap up your grilled meats in little bites. I like providing a bunch of different lettuces. Lettuces for for Korean barbecue to try: red leaf, green leaf, butter, romaine, iceberg, really, any lettuce you enjoy can be used as a wrap.
Perilla: Pick up some perilla when you’re at the Korean market. It’s a flat wide leaf that is sometimes labeled as sesame leaves. Perilla are in the mint family but they don’t quite taste like mint, more like Japanese shiso (if you’ve had that) or a fresh herby flavor with a hint of anise.
Chili: It wouldn’t be Korean food without a bit of spice. Most Korean restaurants will have sliced Korean green chilis, but you can sub sliced jalapeños or serranos.
Green onions: A huge pile of slivered or shredded green onions adds freshness and flavor. Usually the green onions are tossed in a bit of soy, toasted sesame oil, sugar, and sesame seeds for a quick green onion slaw that tastes amazing with pork
.

Korean BBQ is traditionally eaten in ssam form. Ssam just means wrap, but the implication is a one-bite-sized wrap of fresh cold lettuce with a small piece of grilled meat and topped with sauce (ssamjang).

Grill some meat (above). If it is too large to eat as one bite (as in the case of short ribs) use a pair of kitchen shears to cut it down. This is traditional.
Wrap it up in lettuce and perilla.
Top or dip it in sauce.
One bite it.
Savor and repeat!
What should I buy for Korean BBQ at home
To be honest, you can probably buy everything you need at H-Mart or a local Korean grocery store. They’ll even have marinated meats for you. If you don’t live near a Korean grocery store, you can buy meat and marinate it yourself. Don’t sweat it if you don’t have any banchan. At its core, Korean barbecue is about wrapping delicious meat in lettuce and dipping it in ssamjang.