Porter Brewing, Oregon’s only all-Cask “Real Ale” Brewery is Relocating
Cask beer has been in the midst of a resurgence in Oregon that started in 2018 and continued on even post pandemic. The English-style method of brewing, but especially conditioning, is most famous for being served with little carbonation from barside pumps and has been infamously derided as “warm” beer. Many beer connoisseurs have embraced them for their intriguing delights that highlight malt, hops and yeast in a very different light then filtered and ice cold artificially carbonated beers that we are most familiar with.
Beloved, small, central Oregon brewery Porter Brewing Co. helped kick off the mini local renaissance of cask beer when they opened in Redmond in 2018. Despite being the only brewery in Oregon to make 100% cask beer they haven’t garnered the recognition of some of the even more recent examples of brewers and breweries embracing the tradition. Perhaps that’s because of their location and because of their size, which prevents them from being found in more prominent places. So it was cause for concern when Porter Brewing Co. recently announced they would be leaving Redmond and shuttering their original taproom. The bad news is that Redmond’s up and coming craft brewery scene headlined by Wild Ride Brewing with newcomers like Kobold, and Initiative Brewing will be without their most unique brewery, the good news is that Porter Brewing is moving 46 miles down the road to La Pine with their eyes on expansion.
Ever since Oakridge, OR’s Brewers Union Local 180 was sold and rebranded and owner/brewer Ted Sobel passed away, Oregon has not had a brewery as dedicated to cask beer as Porter Brewing. Brewers Union opened in 2008 and was an inspiration to Porter Brewing husband/wife founders Avara and Deven Roberts. In Portland, the equally beloved Away Days Brewing, Upright Brewing, and SteepleJack Brewing help carry the torch of cask beer traditions, as does Santiam Brewing in Salem, but you have to look all the way to Seattle, Washington’s Machine House Brewery (also relocating) for a real equivalent to Porter Brewing’s commitment.
“Being a strictly cask-ale pub & brewery definitely sets us apart from other places in town. Of course, we know that cask isn't for everyone, and there are plenty of other great local pubs for folks to patronize if they're looking to sip on a PNW IPA, for example,” says Avara Roberts.
The New School, isn’t aware of anywhere else in Oregon with more than two cask beers on the regular. And Porter Brewing might be the only one making truly authentic “real ale” in the British tradition with mostly European ingredients, and served in the proper European method. Instead of traditional stainless steel 50ltr kegs, all of their vessels are 10.8 gallon firkin casks. After primary fermentation the beer is transferred straight to those casks for secondary fermentation rather than a cold crash in a separate brite tank as is tradition on most industrialales and lagers. Soft carbonation occurs in the natural cask conditioning process with a small amount of active yeast. All of Porter Brewing’s beers are served from beer engines that came out of old pubs in the UK, and dispensed with a manual hand pump and a “sparkler” tip to aerate/spray the beer as it hits the glass and creating a fuller mouthfeel and dense head. They don’t cut any corners such as storing them in 40 degree refrigeration or dispensing them with gas, Porter Brewing keeps casks in a 52 degree temperature controlled cellar serving temperature. For this reason you will not find Porter Brewing Co. on tap at even the best local beer bars.
“Most places that serve beer do not have the means to properly store or dispense our beers,” says Avara. “For this reason, our distribution currently consists of bottles only, which are bottle conditioned.” The brewery keeps a temperature controlled kegerator with a cask engine that they call a “caskerator" for outside events. But their bottles can be found in Bend at Newport Market and Midtown Yacht Club, and in Portland at Belmont Station, The Beer Mongers, and both John's Marketplace locations, but that’s a very different experience then drinking them from the firkin on the beer engine.
Redmond has been good to Porter Brewing Co. The tiny 3-barrel startup self-distributes, and despite no prior industry experience and very few potential accounts that could even pour one of their cask conditioned firkins the brewery has thrived since opening their second location in Bend. Despite being a tiny, windowless underground basement space opening in the middle of the pandemic in early 2021, Porter’s The Cellar bar has been a runaway success with it’s charming and cozy old-world atmosphere according to Avara:
“The Cellar, our downtown Bend location, has been seeing steady growth since we opened in early 2021. More locals are finding out about us, and word has been spreading. Bend has been very receptive to the pub and cask ales, as well as our scratch-made savory pot pies.”
Having The Cellar as their new primary, and only taproom helps ease the pain of Redmond locations closure. Avara says that Porter Brewing is moving to the southeast part of La Pine, but isn’t ready to reveal the exact location as they don’t plan to have any public facing part of that operation. But the lot is about a half-acre, with room to hold events in the future if they decide to do that.
“It is bittersweet, since we will be saying goodbye to our OG space in Redmond.” says Avara. “We have so many memories there from just starting out, and we're going to miss the friendships we've built with the community. That being said, the choice to move the brewery just made sense for us, for both the business and our family. We live out near Sun River, so La Pine is much closer to our home than Redmond. Bigger space, we own the building, and shorter commute. It just made sense.”
Porter Brewing’s Redmond brewery and taproom (now closed)
Porter Brewing’s 5-year lease on a section of building in Redmond is coming to an end, partially prompting the move. But the brewery was able to purchase the entire building in La Pine and maximize production space , so instead of trying to squeeze in a taproom they have room to spread out the equipment and expand cold and dry storage and an office. But the move could result in some downtime in availability, this is where their size and dedication to cask conditioning is very much an asset. Avara hopes to be able to disassemble their entire brewery and get it operational in La Pine within 2 weeks. And the downtime in production is consistent with the more time intensive cask conditioning time their beers already require, so they should be able to brew enough in advance to feed demand inbetween relocation.
And if you are worried or wondering if Porter Brewing Co. is going to expand and branch out into non-cask beer offerings like Brewers Union did when they became 3 Legged Crane Brewing, Avara has an answer.
“We have had people ask us if we would ever add regular draft taps, and the answer to that is a simple ‘no’.”
If anything, Porter Brewing’s commitment to cask beer is stronger than ever. “We chose cask because it is something that we love, that was missing from the Bend beer scene. We wanted to be able to offer something different to the community, and that's what we've stuck with,” adds Avara Roberts.
Avara and Deven Roberts