820 NE Dekum St.
Portland, OR 97211
503.719.6475
First night in Portland and I explored a new brewery, I am a very lucky girl. I know I've said this before, but it's very hard being away from Portland when all these new breweries are popping up. When I moved away from Portland in 2009 I had been to every brewery in Beertown, now I can't keep up - even with multiple vacations south every year.
Mr. Peter Price picked me up from my lovely airport hotel. (I'm in town for my job with the Copper River Salmon Association.) My family lives in Southwest and Jonah's in Southeast, therefore accessing Portland from the Northeast made a handful of breweries much more accessible. In no time, Peter and I were in the Woodlawn district, walking up to the brewery. The first thing I noticed was the architecture; I am a BIG FAN of the melding of industrial and organic, a mix of metal and wood. The second was that Breakside Brewery is the essence of a neighborhood brewery. Man I wish I had a neighborhood brewery!
Peter and I sat outside on one of the many picnic tables. They had the garage doors open, letting the warm fall air into the building. We started with an IPA and the Dark Mild. I won this round, the Dark Mild was DELICIOUS: light, crisp and full flavored - I could drink a hundred of these beers. The IPA is no slouch though; maybe the opposite of the Dark Mild, it's a big beer with dramatic flavoring. Second round was the Oatmeal Stout for Peter and the Farmhouse Golden for me; Peter won this round. The Oatmeal Stout had a royal flush of flavors: coffee, chocolate, and a smokiness. The Farmhouse Golden was a little intense for me; I'm still working on my saison knowledge.
When I first came into the brewery I questioned the bartender about the beers on tap to figure out my game plan. After two beers, I think the bartender was worried we weren't going to get to all his suggestions - he brought us out samples of the Aztec and the Dry Stout. Ah! These were the best beers we had! Both of these beers are on their VERY short year-round list so count yourself lucky when you visit Breakside. When I visited in October, the brewery was a year and a few months old and had already produced 37 beers. The BEERS page of their website is by far the most extensive section with tabs for YEAR ROUND, SEASONAL, BEERS OF THE PAST, UPCOMING RELEASES, and most excitedly, there's a tab for the current beers on tap. Usually that wouldn't be big news, but the list changes so often the tab is a blog, less than a week in between the posts.
Here's what it looked like the day I visited:
I wonder what it will look like when I visit next!
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