Gateway Brewing celebrates 8th Anniversary as one of Portland’s longest-running nanos

Gateway Brewing celebrates their 8th Anniversary at Rossi Farms on Saturday, May 20th from 3-6pm with 8 beers for 8 years, lets call it the G8Way Party. The outer NE Portland brewery is one of the longest-running nano breweries in Oregon, surviving and thriving even through the pandemic with beer delivery and a devoted following mostly in the outer eastside of the city near the gateway neighborhood they call home.

Though often classified as a nano, Gateway Brewing is more of a stepping stone production brewery, brewing on a small-ish 5bbl system as compared to the 1-3 barrel brewhouses more common in nano home setups. Also unlike most nano breweries, Gateway Brewing’s production is headed up by an experienced pro brewer with three decades of experience in the industry.

Joel Sheley is a trained brewer who studied at the American Brewers Guild in Sacramento before landing a job at Nor’wester Brewing in Portland (which closed in 1997.) From there Joel found his way to Widmer Brothers Brewing, where he had a 15 year tenure that started in the cellar and ended as a production lead.

It was at Widmer where he met his wife and future business partner, Karen, and together they started Gateway out of their garage in 2015 when the concept of a nano brewery was considered new. Launching with a 10 gallon all grain “home brew” setup, they quickly moved to a professional grade two bbl system and later scaled to their current 5bbl system. Their brewery and beers are typically more refined, and tackle primarily approachable staples like classic pilsner, IPA, hefeweizen, and stout, with hazy IPA, red ale, ambers, and even the occasional Belgian-style abbey ale or fruited sour. When he isn’t brewing his own beers, Joel also contract brews for other nanos around town.  

More recently Gateway has been expanding their portfolio to include more seasonals, one-off experimentals, festival beers, etc, and expanding production to get grocery store placements and into more places outside of the direct-to-consumer model that has sustained them as a smaller operation. AND, a public facing taproom or brewpub is not out of the question in the future.

“We've been especially grateful for the warm reception by the buyers and customers at east side Wincos since it is a big new channel for us, yet it is still in our backyard and allows us to even better serve the East Portland community where we live,” says Karen Sheley.

Over the years, Gateway has blossomed from a 2-person team to 4, with Kenny and Sheena. Still, the brewing is mostly a one-man operation for Joel and it’s obvious how much the entire team puts into the operation to keep it sustainable without the help of a taproom or a wholesale distributor.

Gateway Brewing is celebrating not only their 8th anniversary this Saturday, May 20th, but also making it through the pandemic with still a bright future ahead. The party is going to be held at the little urban bar/events oasis Rossi Farms, centrally located in the Parkrose neighborhood of NE Portland, but feeling like it’s out in the country.

Rossi Farms, is a fifth generation active farm in Portland, OR since 1880, and is a popular spot to host weddings, private events, and community parties and festivals. One of their regular beneficiaries from events in thee local community is the Parkrose High School athletic programs.   The red barn is the focal point of the farm and over the years Gateway Brewing has been part of events there such as Taste of Parkrose and numerous community fundraisers. 

Parking at Rossi Farms is FREE, and students from the fantastic organization Elevate Oregon will be on hand to keep traffic flowing.   

At the party this Saturday, Rossi’s in-house caterer will be grilling bratz and have fresh pretzels and a popcorn stand. Non-Alcholic GT’s raw kombucha. There will also be lawn/yard games for the entire family, and live music from Sean Daly & the Shams

 GATEWAY ANNIVERSARY BEER LIST:

NEW!!  Strawberry Sour  4.8 ABV

New!!  Gateway Pale Ale  5.5 ABV

Parkrose Pilsner  5.5% ABV

Exit 7 IPA   6.9% ABV         

Mahogany Dark Lager 5.5 % ABV

Hazy IPA  6.0% ABV  50 IBU

Ventura Park Red   7.3% ABV

 East Holladay Park Hefeweizen  4.5 % ABV

Gateway Brewing 8th Anniversary

Saturday, May 20th 3-6pm
Rossi Farms, 3839 NE 122nd Ave, Portland, OR 97230
Cost: Free to attend for music and games, $15 for 4 beer samples or 2 full pours, food available for purchase

Learn more about the brewery at http://www.gatewaybrewingpdx.com/