Top 5 Oregon Breweries

Definitely didn't have that mountain, though.

 

Same here.

 

Emporia, home of Clint Boyer!

 

Great Notion
Fort George
de Garde
Breakside
Ruse

 

Leaving Breakside and Ruse off of my list broke my heart, but I suppose it's just a testament to all of the great breweries in Oregon that I could easily list a dozen that deserve to be in my top 5.

 

I hate that I neglected to mention Ferment and Oakshire. Especially Ferment.

 

In no order:

1. Ruse
2. Upright
3. Block 15
4. Great Notion
5. Fort George

I'm pretty Portland-centric. There are plenty of other great breweries, for sure, but I haven't had a bad beer from those breweries.

 

Input from a Californian who spends about a month in Oregon per year.

Top 5 no order
pFriem - Everything i've had across many styles has been excellent.
Breakside- I've been impressed with many of their offerings as well.
Great Notion- They nail down the crazy flavor profiles they go for, and make killer juicy ipas
Ale Apothecary- Some of my favorite sours, their beers are very distinct.
Claim 52- Thought they were making the best beer in Eugene last time I went.

On the Cusp
Fort George
Block 15
Crux
Boneyard

Need to try more from
Wayfinder
Upright
Barley Brown
Heater Allen

 

I'm not familiar with Claim 52 and haven't seen them around Washington, but I'll be on the lookout now.

 

I'm looking at their cans and nothing looks familiar yet. I'll see if my sister in Bend can snag some for me if I can't find it around here.

 

They definitely jumped on the bandwagon but they were also one of the first hazy producers in Oregon - I first had Fluffy in mid-2016. They're also doing adjunct stouts, sours, and excessively fruited goses so I'd think of them more as the Great Notion of Eugene - both in terms of styles and quality (some hits, some misses).

 

I went to the Claim 52 taproom twice last summer in Eugene and thought they had a few nice big stouts. A couple hazy beers, there was one in particular that blew me away. I believe it was a DDH fluffy. Am interested to see how they've progressed on my next trip back to Eugene.

 

You mostly see Claim 52 on tap around Seattle and i have seen their cans all over town at better bottleshops. I think their beer is good overall but most people dont know who they are so their normal canned beers tend to gather dust on the shelf so i usually steer clear of the packaged stuff but always willing to try on draft.

 

Man...I forgot about coldfire. When I was there last July I thought the beer was really solid. Found a few styles at whole foods I enjoyed. I probably forgot about them due to the atmosphere of the taproom. It was cramped, children were running wild, and the people working there didn't seem too enthused to be on shift.

 

Very difficult to pick five let alone rank them. In no order:

1. Block 15
2. Wayfinder
3. Heater Allen
4. Fort George
5. Ruse

 

Manifest and Gratitude are both doing some good stuff as well

 

Ferment is sooooo good and they've been super consistent across all their styles. I actually look forward to visiting them more than Pfriem now largely due to how insane Pfriem can get.

 

I've been following them for the last four years or so and they've been pretty damn good from the get go. Everyone I've taken there have been really surprised at how good all the beers were across different styles. Also it's my go to spot for pre Duck Football Imbibing

 

pFriem
Hair of the Dog
Crux
Logsdons
Yachats

Yachats is the sleeper, I never hear any love.for them.but I have found.their beer to.be good to amazing.
Hair of the Dog is a.legend for a reason but their expertise is a bit narrow so I get.why.they don't hit for everyone.
Crux blew me away when I visited some years ago with their quality across a wide range.
Logsdons just cause I'm a sucker for their style and find their stuff more balanced than what I've tried from de garde
And pFriem seems to put out little else but perfectly put together, clean, simple, beer. Sign of the times that it can stand out from the crowd as.much as it has for me

 

Yachats has a good reputation but they’re definitely under the radar still; their location helps with that. You may want to check out beers from Allegory if you have the chance, Charlie at Allegory was previously the Head Brewer at Yachats and was at Logsdon before that.

 

sounds like I might be a fan of Charlie. Where is Allegory out of?

 

McMinnville, about an hour out of Portland. Bonus: one of the best lager breweries in Oregon/the US, Heater Allen is in McMinnville, too.

 

You get a do-over on Logsdon, as they are now a WA brewery.

 

oh really, when did that happen? also how did that happen? aren't/weren't they a 'farm house' brewery? they bought a whole new farmhouse?

 

Ah seems like a quest to mcminnville is in order. Been through once before, super beautiful area. I got a couple of heater allen cans a few months back and they were not too shabby. They were also about 9 months old so I'd love to give them a fresh shot

 

Heater Allen is a gem. An Oregon treasure.

 

Well, it's complicated. They had the original brewery on the farm. Then opened a storefront in Hood River. Their neighbors complained, so they closed the farm.

Somewhere in here, the original owner sold it to (IIRC) his brewer. I forget just when, but at some point they moved across the river.

 

alright then I'm changing out my logsdon vote for the super norcal homer vote of Chetco Brewing

 

I'll play.

Upright
Block 15
pFriem
Ft. George
de Garde

Upright is the best brewery in the state and if you don't agree with me, you are wrong . B15, pFriem, and FG all make great beers across just about every style, though FG doesn't do wild/sours, unlike the other two. de Garde is definitely niche, but they just keep getting better, IMO.

I really debated replacing dG with Heater Allen or Wayfinder because of their lagers, but again, B15, pFriem, and FG make enough great lagers of their own to justify leaving those two off.

 

pFriem
Block 15
Occidental
Upright
De Garde

 

I like clear West Coast IPAs/PAs, so that heavily influences my list.

Barley Brown's - Pallet Jack is my jam, am a huge fan of Comrade Brewing"s Superpower in Denver, Marks (make IPAs clear again), the head brewer got his start in Baker City, Hand Truck and Moxee Water are solid pale ales
Boneyard - RPM, CBD elixir
pFriem - flagship IPA, great food menu
Breakside - loved that I could get a $3.99 bomber of Wanderlust when I lived in Tucson, AZ
Ex Novo - Eliot, awesome business model

Von Ebert - Volatile Substance, don't get up there enough anymore since I moved from Longview, WA to Milwaukie in October
Block 15 - Sticky Hands, a little high on the ABV for me, but not boozy at all, just pure hop
Ferment - gorgeous taproom next to pFriem, solid clear IPA, great food menu
Deschutes - after Bert Grant's went out of business and I could no longer get Perfect Porter, Black Butte became my new staple, until I tried my first Stone IPA, haven't fallen in love with any of their IPAs/PAs
Migration - Straight Outta Portland

I like what Great Notion does and will stop in just to keep my palate memory fresh for the style. I've only had de Garde's Hoses, so I'll have to try some of their more complex offerings. I like an occasional sour, but they usually mess with my stomach. I don't really care for sweet double/Imperial/triple IPAs. Not a huge fan of adjuncts.

Quite a few others I'll have to try listed in this thread.

 

By what is readily available on the central coast
Deschuttes
Block 15 (self distributed)
Bier One
Wolf Tree
Ft George

 

Based on a catalogued list of unique beers I've had from Oregon breweries since 2010:
Deschutes (35)
Upright (13)
Cascade (13)
Pelican (12)
Logsdon (10)

Honorable mentions to de Garde, Ale Apothecary, pFriem, Boneyard, Hair of the Dog, Commons, Fort George, Hopworks, Crux, and Breakside, all of which were in single digits, among a few others.

 

@Reidrover , now that the zombie nomination thread is revived, do we get a poll thread to vote on?

Everybody loves voting on internet polls, and, we're all bored......

 

So not dissuading anyone from posting a poll, but I compiled the number of votes received by each brewery, which I think may be an even better method of crowdsourcing the community's feelings than a poll:

Oregon Brewery Rankings (# of list appearances in parentheses)
1. pFriem (26)
2. Block 15 (23)
3. Fort George (22)
4. Upright (12)
5. Boneyard (11)
6. Hair of the Dog (10)
6. de Garde (10)
6. Deschutes (10)
9. Breakside (9)
10. Wayfinder (8)
11. Great Notion (6)
11. Sunriver (6)
13. Heater Allen (5)
14. Ruse (4)
14. Cascade (4)
16. Ale Apothecary (3)
16. Alesong (3)
16. Gigantic (3)
16. Crux (3)
20. Barley Brown (2)
20. Logsdon (2)
22. Baerlic (1)
22. Bend Brewing (1)
22. Buoy (1)
22. Claim 52 (1)
22. Ecliptic (1)
22. Ex Novo (1)
22. Little Beast (1)
22. Occidental (1)
22. Yachats (1)
22. Pelican (1)
22. Bier One (1)
22. Wolf Tree (1)

Obviously this becomes less useful/meaningful as you get down to the lower numbers, but there seems to be pretty broad agreement on the Top 3, and it's a pretty good guide through #13 or so. I should also note that I excluded any lists that didn't have exactly five breweries.