Portland Brewing Closes; Founder and former brewers respond to news

Another legacy Oregon beer brand is dead, Portland Brewing and it’s associated MacTarnahan’s brand will cease production on February 5th, 2021. The Portland facility will be closed for good, and their 27 employees will be let go with severance pay. Parent company Florida Ice & Farm Company (FIFCO) will move production of their Pyramid Breweries beers to a facility in Rochester, New York.

Founded in 1986 by Art Larrance, Fred Bowman, and Jim Goodwin, Portland Brewing was one of the original brewing pioneers of beervana.

Art Larrance, Fred Bowman and Frank test Portland Brewing's first brew in 1985

Robert Malcolm "Mac" MacTarnahan was a major investor in the company, in 1992 Portland Brewing introduced MacTarnahan’s Amber Ale in his honor. It quickly became the brands flagship beer, and in 1998 “Mac” rescued the company by buying it out of debt and then merging it with Saxer Brewing in 2000. Four years later Mac sold the company to Pyramid Breweries of Seattle which renamed the Portland facility to MacTarnahan’s Brewing Company. Mac died a year later in 2005. The brewing company then went through another dizzying round of ownership, as Pyramid Brewing was acquired by Magic Hat Brewing in 2008, they were then purchased by North American Breweries in 2010, and finally by the Costa Rican company Florida Ice & Farm Co. in 2012 which still holds ownership of Portland Brewing and Pyramid. The name/brand of Portland Brewing was brought back in 2013 as the corporation attempt to save the flailing brand and reconnect it with it’s roots.

Pyramid Brewing is also in big trouble, their flagship Seattle location closed in May of 2020 and the taproom/brewpub in Portland had closed to the public back in 2018.

“We wish there were an alternative. The history of the Portland brewery and its brands made this a very difficult decision. We appreciate the hard work and determination of our Portland staff who made good efforts to gain momentum behind our craft beer brands,” said Rich Andrews, Chief Executive Officer, FIFCO USA. “It’s always difficult to separate good people from an organization.”

“It just no longer made sense to sustain the operation given the brand footprint, competitive craft beer landscape, and capital investments needed to update the brewery,” said Andrews.“Instead, we will continue to focus our resources behind our brands, innovation and categories that are growing and strong.”

The New School reached out to current and former owners and brewers of Portland Brewing for their comments, thoughts, memories on how we came to this historic but disappointing milestone.

“This is what happens when the no one that manages has a stake in the business…absentee owners with no connection to the city. The brands were not marketed and got out shined by smaller breweries when canning became popular and small producers could get into the grocery stores. I haven’t seen their products on the shelves of large grocers for some time now. Too bad as we all don’t like to see brewery closures. Evidently the market changed and they were unable to adapt and promote. They spent their advertising dollars on the Blazers which is expensive and only reaches a limited audience.

When management doesn’t have an ownership position there is no face for the company…tears to my eyes.

Ezra, it’s tough out there in the beer world now. I don’t want to get into politics, but this state has no feelings for the business world. Just shut up and send us your tax money.

This city and state can not solve the violence and homeless situation so how do expect them to understand how to run a business which none of our political leaders have even done.

This bleeding of the states enterprises will affect all aspects of the business world. Downtown Portland is likely to never return to it’s glory. I predict a Detroit comparable for Portland downtown.

The city and county political leaders are not capable of solving the issues with their current mentality. They blame everyone but themselves. Listening to them reminds me of a junior high school council meeting where everyone talks at once, no one wants to hear the other person and nothing gets accomplished. Sad that these adults have such a personal agenda that they can not communicate to the masses and be successful in solving any issue other than throwing more money at the problem in hopes of a solution which never comes.

The issue is more that the owners of Portland Brewing in Costa Rica have had enough of the lawlessness of Portland and want to escape before they become more of a victim that they already have endured. Companies will be fleeing Portland in masses as the rioters continue to damage the integrity and property of this once fair City. Downtown businesses are leaving the filth by allowing for home offices which will clean out the offices downtown and thus customers.  I don’t have confidence people will want to visit this city in the near future for festivals and sporting events. If you want to be trouble maker come to Portland and tear up the City as the District Attorney will not prosecute because he’s afraid to the ACLU !

That’s more than what you asked for but I lay the blame directly on the Mayor and his group non decision makers for business failures…they don’t really care about us…just give me your tax money as I know better than you how to spend your tax dollars.”

- Art Larrance, founder and former owner of Portland Brewing, Cascade Brewing and owner of the Oregon Brewers Festival.

”I was only over there a short time. But what saddens me is there’s an entire generation now that really has no clue about Portland Brewing and the quality beers that came out of there. Hell all the owners after Art never really appreciated what they had and the brand heritage that was established early next on.

I hope all the brewers are able to find spots to land. It’s a miserable time to have done this to them, and the comments from ownership seem especially callous and uncaring.”

- Bolt Minister, owner/brewmaster at 54-40 Brewing Co.

“I took a job at portland brewing during an interesting moment in my life. I’d just been working at Rock Bottom, with an awesome crew, in a brewpub. Very chill yet on-point, very organized and humane. PBCo was two orders of magnitude larger then my prior brewery jobs, and I was moving into a more brewing/scheduling/manager position. Frankly, it was a meat grinder sort of brewing job. In bright beer alley by five am, signing off for packaging and tasting beers. Working night shifts until 1am or later. It’s the first time I’d seen the glassy eyed stare of someone who was beyond exhaustion and overwhelmed. Sometimes it was me. That said, the difficulty of the situation created a bond between the brewing team, and I have some friends who I still am in contact with today, even though I’ve moved across the country. Tom Bleigh was a great collaborator and inquisitive and curious mind. He gave me a lot of support and with that we were able to bring really fun beers to life. Both Pyramid and Macs were really thirsty for new seasonals, so we’d write what felt like four or more recipes a quarter, which is a ton for a large brewery like that. We also got to make tweaks to the portfolio and make great beers like the Macs Amber even better, do fresh hop versions and all sorts of things. When I think back on that time, it was a growth phase for me. I got so much more perspective and maturity. I’m very thankful for the leeway I was given to grow and how much freedom I had to create, amongst the daily grind of a large production operation. I’m thankful for the brewers I worked with, even if we didn’t leave on great terms (as I said, it was a tough environment), in most cases we got together later and recognized the fever of the work we did there and made up. I’ll miss the beauty of working on that copper brew house. It felt like a beautiful palace in the front room, even if the rest of the plant was much less so. The branding and ownership and marketing was always a head scratcher, but thankfully we were mostly shielded from that (thanks Tom). I look back with pride on the work we did and gratitude for the opportunity.”

- Vasilios Gletsos, former head brewer at Portland Brewing, alumni of Laurelwood Brewing, Hill Farmstead and the founder of Wunderkammer Biermanufaktur

“PBCo was an instrumental part of my brewing career that helped shape my fundamental skill set and anchor my decision to make brewing a career. I experienced amazing relationships with folks that I still maintain to this day. Folks like Fred Bowman, Alan Kornhauser, and Brett Porter that continue to be my mentors and inspiration. I was always proud of the quality, breadth, and exploration of the beer styles we made- Woodstock IPA, Mac’s Amber Ale, Uncle Ottos Weiss, Portland Ale, Portland Lager, BlackWatch, Highlander, and Bobby Dazzler are beers that still wax nostalgic for me. I’m saddened to see another legacy and historical brewery disappear from the Portland and Oregon brewing landscape. I’m also saddened to see the impact it has on my friends and colleagues that continue to work there. Hopefully, there’s lessons to be learned from this loss and I know its legacy will continue to leaves its trace through the people that worked there.”

- Tom Bleigh, former head brewer and operations director of Portland Brewing and current innovation brewmaster for Craft Brew Alliance.

About FIFCO USA

FIFCO USA, headquartered in Rochester, New York is among the top 10 brewers in the United States. FIFCO USA’s portfolio includes: Seagram’s Escapes, Labatt USA, Genesee Brewing Company, Magic Hat Brewing Company, and Pyramid Brewing Company. FIFCO USA also brews beer and alcoholic beverages on behalf of other companies. For more information:https://www.fifcousa.com/