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 Beastâs 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
Brewed by Gnomesâ Uniquely Herbal Beers Just Got a Lot Easier to Find
Brewer Shay Hosseinion Listens to the Gnomes
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 Iâm 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.
âMy 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,â he says.
After a yearlong process, the duoâs search for stability finally paid off, and they purchased the building on North Lombard that formerly housed Plewâs 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 dĂ©cor with high ceilings, booths, old photos of the neighborhood, decorative saws, and rustic woodwork salvaged from the buildingâs original rafters and walls. Outside, thereâs 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: Thereâs a full bar and kitchen, allowing the team to expand their non-sudsy offerings. The menu features slightly more adventurous pub fare, and itâs worth noting that on a recent visit the âJucy Lucyâ cheeseburgerâdespite being stuffed with Fontina and smothered in bacon jamâwas 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 theyâre 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 theyâre 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, âItâs basically like darts with a giant wood target.â
Itâs not exactly uncharted territory: Last month, local collective Portland Axe Throwingâwhich will oversee the flying blades at StormBreakerâfound a permanent home at Feckin Brewery in Oregon City.
Though drinking alcohol and flinging hatchets might seem like a risky combination, Malech insists itâs not actually as dangerous as it sounds: âThe way itâs set up, the blades are pretty dull. Itâs in cages. Itâs super-safe; itâs monitored. Nobodyâs gonna come murder anyone,â he adds, knocking on one of the new pubâs reclaimed-wood tables.