Stormbreaker Brewing, the brainchild of co-founders Rob Lutz and Dan Malech, opened in the Boise neighborhood almost ten years ago, with its second location in St. Johns open for nearly half as long. Stormbreaker, a name given to Mt. Hood in the book Night Dogs, pumps out the crowd-pleasing westies and hazies, with quirky and colorful can art featuring endless pop culture references to everything from Star Wars to The Office. Lutz says regardless of their popularity next to the hop-forward offerings, he keeps a kolsch and a stout on tap year-round.

In the era preceding St. Johns’ long-awaited expansion, Occidental Brewing Company opened shop near the bridge and began production of top-tier German-style ales and lagers. When Oktoberfest is in full swing, this is a necessary stop for festbiers and German hefeweizens along with bratwurst and schnitzels aplenty from neighboring Urban German Wursthaus. On brighter days, locals can be seen lounging on the spacious patio, taking in the scenery of Cathedral Park and the Willamette River, or hiding inside the homey space among the backdrop of forestscape murals, replete with fly agaric mushrooms.

Once a functioning farm and bustling produce market, Level's main location first underwent a sizeable transformation, and is now cranking out 8-bit video game-themed beers in cans and kegs. While hazy IPAs and pale ales like the Pixelate Pale and Game On! IPA are its flagships, Level offers a diverse beer selection, spanning from stouts to saisons. Multiple food trucks outside Level Beer ensures a tidy selection of culinary options, from shawarma to burritos. Families visiting the flagship location ("Level 1") have access to a spacious greenhouse structure with a children's play area, making weekend afternoons potentially lively with hyperactive toddlers bouncing around. Its "Level 2" spot in Multnomah Village as well as the "Level 3" location on Sandy Boulevard make for better options for folks not wishing to commute so far east.

Steeplejack first opened its pub-style brewery in an 111-year-old church, and since then, the brewery has expanded vigorously, opening Steeplejack Pizza and Beer in Hillsdale and a third location in Hillsboro. With brewmaster Anna Buxton at the helm, Steeplejack won a gold for its Alewife mild-dark English style beer and Best New Brewery at last year's Oregon Beer Awards.

Pioneers in Oregon farmhouse-style ales, Upright brews French and Belgian-style beers with a hint of Northwest influence. Located in the Leftbank Building, this taproom is the sort of hidden hole-in-the-wall that attracts locals and beer nerds. Limited releases often rely on cool, somewhat uncommon brewing techniques, from a barrel-aged gose darkened with squid ink, to a fresh-hopped nectarine saison that spent some time in oak. Both the main taproom and the new taproom at 72nd and Prescott are open daily.

Culmination had been an unswerving brewery in Portland for years, until a recent shake-up hinted at its potential closure. Fast forward to now, and Culmination has taken itself to task to survive, now bringing former team member and consultant Steven Shomler back on board as the face of the brand. Culmination also offers offers great range in a bevy of creative concoctions, from big boozy breakfast stouts to sour cherry lime ales. The Kerns brewery offers indoor seating as well as a covered and heated patio.

Migration opened its doors on Glisan back in 2010 and built a solid following with locals in the area, but in 2018 it began an aggressive expansion campaign that has now seen the brewery explode into four locations throughout the city, one of which features a rooftop bar. Its flagship, Straight Outta Portland IPA, is one of the top westies in the city. Migration doesn’t seem like it’s out to reinvent the wheel, here; producing top-tier West Coast and Hazy IPAs is the main goal, but some kettle sours and its award-winning NW-style red ale help to round out the portfolio.

Wayfinder opened in the fall of 2016, drawing crowds not just for its beers, but also for the large outdoor patio — one of the most popular gathering spots at any brewery in town, with ample seating and a cozy fire pit for those not-so-warm evenings. Though it’s lager focused, Wayfinder still offers a few inventive IPAs and other, more obscure styles. Most recently, the brewery made waves in the local scene and online with its Cold IPAs. Locals rave about the simple-yet-focused pub fare, such as the sausage plate with sauerkraut and fries, which also has a vegan friendly option using Beyond sausage.

Cascade Brewing is not only a mainstay in Portland; it’s a serious powerhouse in the larger American sour scene. Though purchased from founder (and now-retiree) Art Larrance by a team of brewery and taproom owners, Cascade’s been using local fruit and wine barrels to make world-class sour ales for years. Now, it seems to be making an effort to adapt to changing consumer demands, as its canning beers in smaller formats and making IPAs, stouts, and other beers more similar to those found at other breweries. The taproom offers small plates and sandwiches to accompany the beers.

Taking over the former “Belmont Fermentorium” space is Living Häus Beer Co. Founded by veteran brewers Conrad Andrus and Mat Sandoval, who cut their teeth at Pfriem and Modern Times, Living Häus exemplifies the ability of a brewery to pull off experimental brews while honing in on lagers with clarity, balance, and complexity. While Living Häus has a rotating selection of seasonal and monthly “one-off” beers, the core beers offered are a Munich-style helles lager (Bethine), a spicy pilsner (Delores), a West Coast IPA (Harris), and a Hazy IPA (Herman) — each named after family members of Sandoval and Andrus. When it's not out making deliveries, the Living Häus van (a blue and cream 1988 Chevy G30 called Cousin Shannon) can be spotted parked inside by the entryway.

Owners of the now-closed Toffee Club, Pete Hopkins and Niki Diamond, moved into the former Scout Beer spot to open Away Days, bringing in former Alameda brewer Marshall Kunz to brew a wide range of styles. This pub feels bright and spacious despite its size, thanks to the roll-up doors and bright, minimalist decor. Though the European influence is evident in beers such as Bus Stop Bitter and Milner’s English Mild Ale, Away Days also brews ever-popular IPAs. Two particular new-ish hits: Deadline Day Fresh Hop pale ale, offered in both an American and English style.

Located in the former Lompoc Hedge House spot on Division Street in Southeast Portland, Little Beast is the brainchild of husband-wife team Charles Porter and Brenda Crow. The brewery’s name is a nod to the yeast and bacteria that makes the magic happen: Little Beast sells a lot of small-batch, barrel-aged sours and mixed-fermentation ales in cans as well as bottles, so customers should be prepared to pick a few up to-go. Little Beast currently hosts Lawless Barbecue in the kitchen space, dishing out Kansas City-style barbecue. The back patio is covered, heated, and is dog friendly. Little Beast also operates a tasting room in Clackamas, on highway 212.

For beer tourists making their way to our fair city in search of fresh IPAs, Ruse is a must. Its rotating selection of new and inventive dry-hopped pales and IPAs are among the best on the West Coast. Ruse also doesn’t distribute much to major vendors, so making the journey to the brewery to stock up on cans is the only move. Though Ruse’s flagship Portland location hosts food pop-ups from time to time, diners looking for something substantial to accompany those pints should consider checking out Ruse’s new Crust Collective location across the river in Vancouver.

Zoiglhaus’s great German-style beer hall is a standby for the Lents neighborhood, with plenty of board games, a play area for kids, as well as billiards, shuffleboard, and foosball for adults. The blue-and-white streamers launching upward above the bar to the giant skylight give drinkers the Oktoberfest vibe, and all the German-style pub fare — from schnitzel to sausage — completes the theme. Those in need of a break from IPAs can check out the best Portland has to offer in cold-conditioned lagers and other, more obscure, German styles. The brewery sits within the Zed, a distinctive food hall featuring a Deaf-owned and accessible restaurant, a momo vendor, and more.