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The History of Beer in Portland

1852

German brewer Henry Saxer settles in Portland and opens Liberty Brewery.

1856

Henry Weinhard, a young German immigrant, moves to Portland. With a partner – the aptly named George Bottler – he establishes Portland's second brewery, City Brewery.

1862

Saxer sells Liberty Brewery to Henry Weinhard.

1864

Weinhard buys Bottler's interest in City Brewery in what is now Portland's Pearl District. (The modern Blitz-Weinhard Brewing Company, Inc., operated at this site until 1999.) Henry Weinhard's lager becomes famous throughout the Northwest and is shipped as far away as China and Siberia.

1888

Weinhard offers to pump beer from his brewery via Portland's fire hoses through the pipes of the Skidmore Fountain for the fountain's grand opening. Weinhard's generous offer is vetoed by nervous civic leaders, who fear that residents will help themselves to the beer before it reaches the fountain by poking holes in the city's valuable fire hoses.

1912

Lumber baron Simon Benson donates 20 beautifully sculpted bronze drinking fountains to the city. Benson, a teetotaler, wants to make a liquid other than beer available to Portland’s residents. Following the installation of the “Benson Bubblers,” beer consumption reportedly drops by nearly 25 percent. (Although the fountains still grace Portland’s streets, the popularity of beer has never been greater.)

1914

A stateside prohibition on the manufacture and sale of liquor is passed in Oregon – five years before the 18th Amendment is ratified by Congress. Weinhard’s City Brewery survives by producing non-alcoholic beer, soft drinks, fruit drinks, syrups and flavorings.

1920

Prohibition begins nationally.

1928

Prohibition inspires a merger of the Weinhard City Brewery and Portland Brewing Company, owned by Arnold I. Blitz. The Blitz-Weinhard merger reduces competition and increases profits, allowing both businesses to weather the dry years.

1933

Prohibition is repealed when Congress ratifies the 21st Amendment.

1979

Home brewing is signed into law by President Jimmy Carter. The Cranston Bill, introduced by Senator Alan Cranston, allows a single person to brew up to 100 gallons (378 liters) of beer annually for personal enjoyment and up to 200 gallons (756 liters) in a household of two or more persons aged 18 or older.

1981

Winemaker Charles Coury opens the Cartwright Brewing Company, Portland’s first craft brewery since Prohibition. Coury’s business, although short-lived, provides valuable lessons for future craft brewers.

1984

BridgePort Brewing Company, Portland’s oldest existing craft brewery, begins operation under the moniker “Columbia River Brewery.” The facility is housed in an 1888 building, a former hemp rope factory in Northwest Portland. Founded by the Ponzi family, owners of Ponzi Vineyards in the Willamette Valley, the brewery is renamed following the success of one of its beers: BridgePort Nut Brown Ale.

1985

Kurt and Rob Widmer establish the German-style Widmer Brothers Brewing Company in Northwest Portland, just one block from BridgePort. Sales of Widmer Weizen skyrocket and continue to grow after the 1986 introduction of Widmer’s most popular brew – Widmer Hefeweizen (aka “America’s Original Hefeweizen”), a light-bodied, lemon-flavored wheat beer. (The Hefeweizen is the first step in mass consumer acceptance of the fresh, assertive beer styles produced by Portland’s craft brewers.)

1985

The Oregon Legislature passes a law enabling brewers to sell beer directly to the public. Mike and Brian McMenamin take advantage of this law to open Oregon’s first brewpub, the Hillsdale Brewery and Public House. The McMenamin brothers go on to open nearly 60 breweries/brewpubs in Oregon and Washington, including eight theater-pubs. Other McMenamins properties include the Crystal Ballroom and seven hotels and bed-and-breakfast-style inns. Among these is the 38-acre McMenamins Edgefield, a 100-room historic landmark inn with on-site brewery, winery and distillery, theater, golf course, restaurants and bars, meeting rooms and gardens.

1986

The BridgePort Brew Pub opens at the BridgePort Brewing Company.

1986

The Portland Brewing Company, founded by Art Larrance and Fred Bowman, opens as Oregon’s fourth craft brewery. Mid-’80s Favorable legislation, an abundance of readily available beer ingredients, and a growing demand for specialty beers by Oregon residents encourage an explosion of breweries. Over the next 10 years, dozens of new craft breweries will open.

1987

Full Sail Brewing Company begins operation in Hood River, Ore. Full Sail is one of the first craft breweries to market its product in bottles.

1988

The first Oregon Brewers Festival, held in Portland’s Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park, attracts a crowd of 15,000 to sample 16 beers from 13 breweries. The event grows to become North America’s largest gathering of independent brewers. The four-day celebration, which now features about 90 beers from 72 of the nation’s best craft breweries, attracts more than 50,000 people.

1990

With more craft breweries and brewpubs per capita than any other city in the United States, Portland is proclaimed “America’s Microbrew Capital.”

1992

The Oregon Brewers Guild is founded with the primary goal of promoting the common interests of its members and the brewing industry in Oregon.

1995

The Ponzi family sells BridgePort Brewing Company to The Gambrinus Company, the company responsible for transforming Corona Extra from a little-known import to a high-demand yuppie brew.

1996

Widmer Brothers moves to a $20 million, 65,000-square-foot brewery in northeast Portland. In May the company begins bottling its signature brew, Hefeweizen, then the top-selling craft beer in Oregon.

1998

The Oregon Brewers Guild introduces the "Quality & Integrity Mark," the nation's first craft beer quality-assurance program.

1999

The Blitz-Weinhard Brewery closes its doors after 143 years. On their last day of work, employees hang their work boots from various high points in the brewery as a parting gesture. Rights to the Weinhard name are purchased by Miller Brewing Company.

1999

Full Sail Brewing of Hood River, Ore., becomes "America's only employee-owned brewery" when ownership is transferred to the 54 employees.

1999

The Oregon Brew Crew is named "Homebrew Club of the Year" by the American Homebrewers Association.

2000

Portland Brewing Company becomes the first Northwest craft brewery to can its beer.

2001

Self-distribution legislation, championed by the Oregon Brewers Guild and allowing small brewers (those whose production capacity is less than 500 barrels) to sell their beer without having to join a distribution network, takes effect.

2003

Full Sail Brewing Company is tapped by the Miller Brewing Company to brew some of the Henry Weinhard-brand beers, marking the return of the brand to Oregon.

2003

The Oregon Brewers Guild helps to double the production capacity for self-distribution from 500 to 1,000 barrels.

2004

Seattle-based Pyramid Breweries buys Portland Brewing Company in August. The brewing and bottling of 22-ounce Pyramid Hefeweizen moves to the Portland location.

2004

In October, Robert "Mac" MacTarnahan, the patriarch of the Portland Brewing Company, dies in his sleep at age 89. He had just attended a party celebrating the renaming of the former Portland Brewing Company's Taproom as MacTarnahan's Taproom.

2004

Beer production in Oregon grows by an unprecedented 10 percent.

2005

Oregon's first all-organic brewery, Roots Brewing Company, opens in southeast Portland.

2006

Under the leadership of representatives Peter DeFazio (Oregon) and Sherwood Boehlert (New York), the U.S. House of Representatives gives unanimous consent to House Resolution 753, which commends America’s craft brewers for their many and varied contributions to our nation’s communities, economy, culture and history. In addition, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski and Portland Mayor Tom Potter declare July – the same month in which the annual Oregon Brewers Festival is held – to be Oregon Craft Beer Month.