The Most Anticipated New Oregon Breweries of 2019

The most anticipated new Oregon breweries of 2019 makes up an interesting group of nano, coastal and Portland metro area brewery productions, from new industry novices to 25-year native brewing veterans. Oregon continues to be a beer mecca with a seemingly nonstop parade of brewery openings throughout the state, even as more breweries and taprooms seem to be closing each month. This year's crop of new breweries will surely see successes and failures, and we look forward to trying them all.

Hammer & Stitch Brewing - Portland

The Slabtown neighborhood in NW Portland is getting another brewery, and we all get to see the comeback of 25 year brewing veteran and native Portlander Ben Dobler. You may remember Dobler for his memorable stint at Widmer Brothers, where he last held the role of Innovation Brewer and brewer media spokesman. For Hammer & Stitch Brewing, Dobler has found complementary partners in brothers Adam and Jason Babkes. Hammer & Stitch will occupy a redeveloped 6,000 square foot space near Montgomery Park in NW Portland, with construction beginning soon. The plan is for an open layout with clear lines of sight into the brewery and production floor, indoor and patio seating, a full kitchen operated by an outside group, and family-friendly atmosphere. As far as the beer goes, Dobler plans for an uncomplicated and approachable lineup of 2-3 year-round beers, seasonal releases, and plenty of innovative high-end one-offs that will run from ale to lager. This won't be an IPA house or a lager house, but you can expect to find both on tap.The brand, as well as the name, “Hammer & Stitch,” is an homage to the Babkes brothers’ parents, who were makers by nature; their father was an engineer and their mother was an apparel designer. Both parents emphasized with their kids and the business they built that purpose and love should be the foundation for everything you do; the brewery plans to do the same.If everything stays on track Hammer & Stitch Brewing will open in summer 2019. Much more info on them coming soon to this space.

Newport Brewing Co. - Newport

It's kind of strange that Newport, one of Oregon's largest coastal cities, is only home to Rogue Ales, something that Newport Brewing founder Brodie Becksted thought himself. Often when you have a brewery as large, old and influential as Rogue, there are many local off-shoots from ex-brewers and others inspired by their local craft brewery, but for some reason that has not been the case here. By next summer, though, we should have a new destination in town just up the hill from the bay in Newport Brewing Co.Becksted is a real estate developer and owner of  Ocean Equity Real Estate & Investments LLC and a lifelong resident of Newport."I just think we need a new brewery & restaurant in Newport that embraces Newport, and something different than Rogue for the locals," said Becksted when I asked him why he wanted to get into the brewery business. He is quick to add that he grew up drinking Rogue beer, but that it's time for more options.Newport Brewing Co. will operate a 75 seat pub and an 18 seat patio, with the pub going by the name The Anchor at Newport Brewing Company. The bar will seat 19 and there will be 21 parking spots. The space bumps up against a public parking lot that holds 50 vehicles. It's a prime location."I bought this sweet property a couple years ago on the Bayfront and acquired more property around it for parking over time and started construction about 1 year ago," says Becksted who has clearly well thought out the project.Newport Brewing will have a 15bbl brewhouse from Portland Kettle Works with 4 x 30 bbl jacketed tanks, 2 x 15 bbl jacketed tanks and 2 x 30 bbl horizontal lagering tanks. So yes, you can expect lagers alongside classics like Kolsch, Pale Ale, Stout, and yes, Hazy IPA when Newport Brewing Co. hopefully opens in April or May. 1118 SW Canyon Way Newport, Oregon 97365 https://newportbrewingcompany.com

Long Timber Brewing - Monroe

You may have never even heard of Monroe, Oregon, but it's about to become the home of one of the largest startup brewery projects in Oregon of the last few years. Hull-Oakes Lumber Mill owners Todd and Amy Nystrom are pivoting into the brewpub business with Long Timber Brewing. Construction got underway with a groundbreaking celebration last October. Old logging and sawmill equipment will feature heavily in the brewery's decor, and 218 beams of old timber logs will be featured in the construction. This will be a 2-story building with dining room, bar, a wine bar and meeting room, second floor mezzanine seating, and a 10bbl brewhouse seen behind glass windows. The whole 10,000 sq. ft. project is budgeted at $1.8 million and will be one of the biggest projects in Monroe in years, and a giant boost to the community. 180 N. Fifth St. in Monroe, Oregon. https://www.facebook.com/Long-Timber-Brewing-Company-1770444313283160/

Assembly Brewing - Portland

One of our most anticipated breweries on last year's list, we hoped to see Assembly Brewing open in 2018, but are even more excited for a likely March or April opening date. Founder and ex-Devil's Point bouncer/bartender George Johnson has leaked to us that he plans to bring Detroit-style pizza to his impressive new brewpub and 15bbl operation at 61st and SE Foster this spring. Johnson is from Detroit and trained with one of the top pizza chefs credited with popularizing Detroit-style pizza, and it just so happens that the deep dish style has really started gaining in popularity over the last few years.Assembly Brewing features a new 15bbl brewhouse from Portland Kettle Works and a full sized restaurant and pub with outdoor seating and its own parking lot. This is great news for the brewery-less Foster-Powell neighborhood and for adults, because Assembly Brewing will be 21+ with a full bar and live music stage. Don't expect a loud concert venue or rowdy bar, though; Johnson just wants a spot for locals to enjoy a drink and some comforting food without little ones. Besides, he says, Hopworks and Double Mountain PDX are family friendly and not far away. Johnson is still tight lipped about his beer, but it will be mostly classical pub style ales that should go great with that pizza. 6112 SE Foster Road Portland, Oregon 97206 https://assemblybrewingco.com/

Bevel Craft Brewing - Bend

If Bend, Oregon didn't already seem over-saturated with breweries, it might soon. The new Bevel Craft Brewing will become Bend's twenty-something craft brewery, in addition to the brewery boom in nearby Redmond. Bevel is extra interesting for its ownership, two professional disc golf players who are parlaying success in outdoor sports to indoor beer drinking. The husband and wife duo Valarie and Nate Doss have scraped together the funds to construct a brand new building for their 7 barrel brewery and taproom in 9th Street Village in Bend.Traveling the world competing (and winning) disc golf tournaments brought the Doss's a lot of experience meeting other brewers, leading to investors in Bevel Craft Brewing and 11 collaboration brews. Nate Doss became enamored with homebrewing in 2011, and after traveling from the east coast to west coast, hunkering down in Santa Cruz, CA, for a while, they finally decided Bend was the place to put down roots. Construction on the building is nearly completed, featuring a full 50 seat taproom with four food carts outside and another 50 outdoor seats in a space heavily influenced with disc golf design elements and beer names. The Bevel Craft Brewing brewhouse is nearly operational and they hope to be brewing before the end of January. 911 SE Armour Rd, Bend, OR 97702 https://www.bevelbeer.com/

Threshold Brewing & Blending - Portland

Another brewery in the small, gradually waking up Montavilla neighborhood on the east side of Mt. Tabor will come to pass in early 2019. We have been following Threshold brewing since late 2017 through an early indiegogo financing round and through construction at a renovated garage just doors off the SE Stark business strip. Co-founders/brewers Jarek Szymanski and David Fuller are homebrewers with a love of wild yeast, mixed culture beers and juicy IPAs, the kind of beers that you might find at Vermont's famed The Alchemist Brewery. As of this writing, Threshold Brewing already has three brews in the tanks and is planning to open the small tasting room in a matter of days. Threshold Brewing will be the second brewery in Montavilla and shares the same block as Montavilla Brew Works. You can actually make a pretty solid beer crawl just on SE Stark between three blocks starting at 81st with Roscoe's, then to the Beer Bunker, and closing it out on 78th with MBW and Threshold Brewing. 403 SE 79th Ave Portland, Oregon 97215 https://www.threshold.beer/

Burnt Field Brewing - Boardman

Who would think a city of only 4.17 square miles and a population of less than 4,000 would be the home to two breweries? Brewer and co-founder Logan Mayfield has teamed with Michelle Seeley, a 14 year resident of Boardman, to open a brewery and pizzeria this January. Mayfield had moved to Boardman in 2014 to become the head brewer at the town's other brewery, Ordnance Brewing. Mayfield started brewing at Standing Stone Brewery in Ashland about 9 years ago before relocating to Denver to brew, and then back to Oregon. Seeley and Mayfield want to bring more food options and a family friendly neighborhood hangout for good beer to a town that's lacking variety or many places at all. "We want to take care of the local community first," says Mayfield, who will be brewing on a 10bbl brewhouse, but for now is contract brewing while the pair fast track the pizza pub side of the business. The building/property being built out for Burnt Field Brewing is the former (and nearly 100 year old) train depot. "The property the brewery sits on is almost a full acre and most of that is grass surrounded by trees," says Mayfield on the Burnt Field Brewing property. "Even during construction it's been a blast to see kids hit the grass and loose their shoes as they run around so the adults can get to work (or have a beer eventually)." 1 E Marine Drive Boardman, Oregon 97818 https://www.burntfieldbrewing.com

Beachcrest Brewing - Gleneden

The Oregon coast is looking a whole lot more frothy thanks to upcoming and new breweries like Beachcrest Brewing in Gleneden Beach. OK, so technically Beachcrest Brewing is opening on New Years Eve 2018, but we think that's close enough by one day to be included in our most anticipated of 2019. It's high time the Oregon coast had more breweries outside of its northern tip of Astoria, and the clean, crisp and evocative branding and taproom at Beachcrest Brewing looks promising.Beachcrest is founded by married music teachers Amy and Matt White from Denver, who moved to the Oregon coast to start a brewery. After about 9 months securing a building, the Whites were joined as partners in the business by friends from Denver, Megan Leesley and Sean Sissel. After securing the building, the two couples brought in a 3 barrel brewhouse and Matt White is scaling up his homebrew recipes like Mole Stout, Hazy IPA, and a Belgian Amber. In addition to the beer, customers of all ages will be able to enjoy cider, kombucha, wine, Italian cream sodas, and a small/light food menu at Beachcrest Brewing. 7755 N Highway 101, Gleneden Beach, Oregon 97388 https://beachcrestbrewing.com/

Vagabond Brewing Portland - Portland

Salem-based Vagabond Brewing opened in 2014 and has been successful enough to spin off a downtown Salem beer bar called Victory Club and the Vagabond Outpost in Albany. In 2019 Portland will become the next location for a Vagabond Brewing, which will have its own brewery and restaurant to boot. As we first covered the news of Vagabond PDX in February 2018 and checked in on its much delayed progress last month, co-owner and founder Dean Howes tells me they are still on track to soft open the brewpub first quarter of 2019, hopefully by Zwickelmania this February. The location is the newly renovated Dairy Blocks on SE 8th, located between Powell and Division, not far from The Beermongers. One of the cool features of the new Vagabond Brewing PDX is a reclaimed 1958 Cessna plane that is now hanging above the pub. A 10 barrel brewhouse will produce beers unique to Portland, and a veteran chef of Olympia Provisions will put out higher end pub grub. 2715 SE 8th Ave Portland, Oregon 97202 https://www.facebook.com/vagabondportland/