Craft Beer Issue 2018

Rosenstadt Brewing Keeps Up Tradition, Untraditionally

And Now There's a Permanent Place to Drink Their Line of German-Style Beers

Beer Crawl: Sipping in Richmond

Southeast Hawthorne and Division

Little Beast’s Beer Garden Is a Feast for the Senses

The Farmhouse-Style Brewery Also Has a New Production Facility

Thirsty Monk Spreads the Gospel of Belgian Beer

Food Flights and Unique Brews in the Former Bazi Bierbrasserie Space

Beer Crawl: At the Foot of Mount Tabor

Belmont, Hawthorne, and Division

Ruse Brewing Steps into Its Own

A Peek at the Art-Forward Beermaker’s Forthcoming Brewery and Tasting Room

Beer Crawl: Brewery Blocks and Beyond

Drink Your Way Across the Pearl District

Von Ebert Brewing Shows No Signs of Stopping

The Pearl District’s New Brewpub Rises from the Ashes of Fat Head’s

Beer Crawl: Brews Across Buckman

Inner Southeast Might Be Portland’s Most Beer-Drenched Neighborhood

West Coast Grocery Company: The Brand-New Brewery with the Really Old Name

The Forthcoming Buckman Neighborhood Brewpub Keeps a Family Name Alive

StormBreaker Brewing: Where You Can Throw an Axe and Sip an IPA

The Brewpub Settles into Its Spacious New St. Johns Outpost

Beer Crawl: Suds in St. Johns

Lots to Drink Along Lombard

Grains of Wrath Arrives in a Changing Washington Mill Town

The Award-Winning Brewpub Is a Sign of Camas’ Future

Beer Crawl: Pints Across the River

Brew-Hunting in Camas and Washougal

Four years after opening their first brewpub on North Mississippi, StormBreaker Brewing owners Dan Malech and Rob Lutz expanded in May to a second location in the St. Johns neighborhood.

While I sip a hazy Jurassic Juice IPA (which I’m told was not named to coincide with the release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), Malech explains that watching the build-up around their rented outpost on Mississippi made them realize it was time to seek more permanent roots elsewhere.

“My main reason was, looking at our current location and our current space, which we love, it could be bought or torn down or turned into a condo,” he says.

After a yearlong process, the duo’s search for stability finally paid off, and they purchased the building on North Lombard that formerly housed Plew’s Brews and the St. Johns Dentist Office.

With the wall separating the two previous businesses torn down, the space is flooded with natural light, and features lumber-heavy décor with high ceilings, booths, old photos of the neighborhood, decorative saws, and rustic woodwork salvaged from the building’s original rafters and walls. Outside, there’s a covered, dog-friendly patio with a mural of the St. Johns Bridge painted by local artist Chris Bigalke.

The new space presents plenty of new opportunities for StormBreaker: There’s a full bar and kitchen, allowing the team to expand their non-sudsy offerings. The menu features slightly more adventurous pub fare, and it’s worth noting that on a recent visit the “Jucy Lucy” cheeseburger—despite being stuffed with Fontina and smothered in bacon jam—was a lowbrow paragon of greasy goodness, adorned with the unholiest of all toppings: bread-and-butter pickles.

The new spot also has a gigantic back room where they’re in the process of setting up a small brewing system, though 95 percent of production will remain at the original location for the foreseeable future. For now, Lutz says they’re doing their best to keep up with demand and maintain variety at both locations throughout the busy summer season.

That back room will also contain something less expected: axe-throwing lanes. When asked to elaborate on precisely what the sport entails, Malech explains, “It’s basically like darts with a giant wood target.”

It’s not exactly uncharted territory: Last month, local collective Portland Axe Throwing—which will oversee the flying blades at StormBreaker—found a permanent home at Feckin Brewery in Oregon City.

Though drinking alcohol and flinging hatchets might seem like a risky combination, Malech insists it’s not actually as dangerous as it sounds: “The way it’s set up, the blades are pretty dull. It’s in cages. It’s super-safe; it’s monitored. Nobody’s gonna come murder anyone,” he adds, knocking on one of the new pub’s reclaimed-wood tables.