Back before St. Johns finally hit its long-anticipated growth spurt, Occidental Brewing Company set up shop near the bridge and quietly started brewing some of the best German-style ales and lagers in town. On nice days, St. Johns neighbors lounge out on the large patio space with excellent views of Cathedral Park and the Willamette river. The patio is shared with the Urban German Wursthaus for those looking to pair their Maibock with a brat.

Nestled on Dekum, Portland’s self-described “gluten-free beer geek paradise” is a trailblazer in the gluten-free beer scene, brewing distinctive ales and lagers that push beyond the typical offerings of gluten-free breweries — think: Mochi Donut Sesame Porter and Oyster Mushroom Stout. Founder Jason Yerger, former brewmaster at Seattle’s Ghostfish Brewing, opened Mutantis in early 2021 as a bottle shop and began brewing operations in March 2021. As part of its mission to advance the overall gluten-free beer scene in Portland, Mutantis publishes all its recipes online under a creative commons license, and is transparent about its malt sources. Mutantis does not serve food, but does share a space with Tamale Boy Dekum.

What was once a farm and produce market now houses some great beer and a whole ton of 8-bit-style art. Though the most popular beers are hazy IPAs and pale ales — such as the Pixelate Pale and Game On! IPA — this brewery also offers a range of beers from stouts to pilsners and everything in between. A handful of food trucks outside Level Beer give customers plenty of options, ranging from shawarma to burritos. The large greenhouse has a kids’ play area as well, so visitors should be aware that popping in on a weekend afternoon could lead to a tricky game of dodging energetic toddlers underfoot. Be sure to check out Level Beer’s “Level 2” in Multnomah Village and its “Level 3” location on inner Sandy Boulevard with Portland-famous food cart Mid City Smash Burger.

In the saturated and competitive Portland craft beer market, it can be helpful for breweries to find a niche to help separate them from the competition. For Ecliptic Brewing, that niche is “space.” But besides naming most of the beers after celestial bodies, the team at Ecliptic is wide open stylistically. Ecliptic won gold at the 2022 Oregon Beer Awards for the triple-dry-hopped Orange Giant barleywine, and receives frequent accolades for its IPAs and lagers.

A relative newcomer on the scene, Steeplejack debuted its pub-style brewery in an 111-year-old church in July 2021. 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, the brewery won a gold for its Alewife mild-dark English style beer and best new brewery at the 2022 Oregon Beer Awards. The Broadway location hosts trivia every Thursday and serves pastries and coffee every morning.

Since its eponymous IPA was given the gold medal at the Great American Beer Fest in 2014, Breakside has been on a roll. Nine years later, the brewery shows no signs of stopping — it took home a lot of hardware at the 2022 Oregon Beer Awards, nabbing a total of 12 medals for its beers and winning Large Brewery of the Year. Visitors will find everything from sandwiches to nachos at Slabtown, Lake Oswego, and Dekum brewpub locations, or just grab a brew at its Milwaukie location, where customers are encouraged to bring food, if they choose.

Culmination has been in the beer game for years now, celebrated for its hazy IPAs, but the brewery offers great beer in a wide range of styles, from big boozy breakfast stouts to sour cherry ales. Culmination’s transparency about hop sourcing is ideal for IPA aficionados, but the brewery’s range of fruited beers are particularly special. The Kerns brewery offers indoor seating as well as a covered and heated patio.

A trip to Leikam Brewing feels more like knocking a few back at a friend’s place rather than a big night out, and it’s no wonder, as the brewery takes up residence in a converted house. From the bar in the “living room” to the laidback front porch and cozy side patio, drinkers are made to feel at home while sipping on pints with pop culture monikers like Haziana Grande and Janis Hoplin. Oly’s Pizza supplies the brewery with pies. Check the brewery’s Instagram for regular events like comedy nights, trivia, and sip ‘n’ sketch.

With its dimly lit dining room and sultry R&B on the speakers, stepping inside Fracture Brewing’s new taproom feels more akin to entering a late-night cocktail lounge than the typical Pacific Northwestern industrial brewery. Both the vibe and beers of Fracture are a collaboration between husband-and-wife team Ny and Darren Provenzano, who first met in Vietnam where Provenzano worked for various breweries. Fracture’s beers are crisp, full of clarity, balance, and tropical vibes; for example, the West Coast IPA is everything you’d want out of a West Coast IPA — minimal bitterness but fresh hoppiness, with just the right amount of pine and tropical notes. The New Zealand style-pilsner, brewed in collaboration with New Zealand’s Trap Door Brewing, has tasting notes of white peach, berry, and Valencia orange, while Fracture’s hazy is unmatched in juiciness and clarity. Should you get hungry, food is located just outside in the newly opened food cart of Lil’ America.

Located just off Stark Street in the heart of Montavilla, Threshold puts out impressive, experimental beers reliant on an eclectic range of hops. Co-founders Jarek Szymanski and David Fuller first developed a following for their hazy IPAs, but now, Jarek and Sara Szymanski’s brewery has become the place to be for layered barrel-aged beers and nuanced farmhouse ales. The space is pretty simple, with picnic tables and a modest bar, but the bar also serves a hard-to-find Polish street food, zapiekanka, for sustenance.

Located in the former West Coast Grocery space, Grand Fir Brewing brings together two of Portland’s most famous brewers and chefs — Whitney Burnside and Doug Adams. Burnside has brewed beer across the Pacific Northwest, from Laurelwood to Upright, Elysian to 10 Barrel; Adams’s expansive repertoire includes Paley’s Place, Bullard, and Holler Hospitality. Burnside’s beers include a classic blend of ales, stouts, and pilsners: The Lichen IPA has notes of red grapefruit, dank hops, and pineapple, and the Tack Shack East Texas Lager is a Czech-style Amber lager that is clean and bready. The food at Grand Fir is classic brewpub but done with Adam’s excellent Texas flare — think: fried chicken on Texas toast, Frito pie with smoked elk, and Calabrian pepper hot sauce wings. Weekends are a must visit for a beer-soaked brunch.

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. One particular new-ish hit: Away Days’ Great British Pale Ale, brewed with Olicana hops.

Baerlic, meaning “of barley” in Old English, produces a lineup of traditional standards, but also pushes boundaries in both its style and process, as exemplified by the omnipresent Dad Beer Lager and the seasonal Dark Thoughts Black IPA, which is 6.66 percent ABV. It’s an iconoclast in terms of its space, as well, opting for a sleek café aesthetic combined with an open ceiling concept and barrel storage in the taproom along with a faux-hedge obscuring a section of booth seating. Baerlic shares a space with square pizza fave Ranch PDX at the Southeast taproom.

Assembly Brewing co-owner George Johnson founded the Assembly in 2019 on the belief that well-brewed beer should be accessible and straightforward. Assembly’s beers are often simply called “Amber,” “Kolsch,” or “Pale,” to reflect this vision, though some beers — like the malty Live IPA or the Collage Palace Pale Ale — get into more creative territory. The well-crafted beers are true to style and brewed with attention to detail. They pair perfectly with the brewpub’s Detroit-style pizza, which comes in a smaller two person size or a larger family size.

Gigantic Brewing Company is another legend in Portland beer, and the company continues to pump out new and creative beers while keeping folks coming back for the flagships. Gigantic is Portland beer done right, in every sense: The brewery makes the same classic West Coast IPAs that put Portland on the map, while not being so inexorable that brewers Van Havig and Ben Love are unwilling to adapt to changing trends or experiment. The Reed-area taproom features eclectic artwork and seating in the bar area, while the Rocket Empire Machine taproom is a small haven for beer among an eclectic set of culinary stalls. The newest location, on Southeast Hawthorne, is the first in Gigantic’s brewery to serve food, with things like patty melts and totchos.

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 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.