Portland’s Coziest Brewery Taproom is Closing
ForeLand Beer is closing the book on The Study. ForeLand Beer’s Portland taproom ‘The Study’ that has been the showcase for the McMinnville, Oregon based brewery’s cutting edge west coast IPA, lagers, and cask beers since late 2021. Built into a lovingly well worn and woody 1913 built craftsman bungalow at 25th and SE Belmont, The Study has been a welcome change of pace for brewery taprooms that largely occupy industrial or cold new construction developments. But before this chapter of ForeLand closes, there are 2 weeks left to discover this hidden old Portland gem before the final day on December 31st, 2025.
David Sanguinetti, who also owns the McMinnville taproom/bottle shop The Bitter Monk, founded ForeLand Beer in 2020 with brewmaster Sean Burke. ForeLand’s brand featuring valleys and mountain ranges and beers named after land, sky, and water and other natural features of the terroir that makes for beers core ingredients. Burke left the business management in 2022 and original head brewer Aaron Copelin left to become Ex Novo Brewing’s head Brewer replacing the late great Ryan Buxton who tragically passed in 2022 as well. Over the past 4+ years ForeLand beers have been made by former Pizza Port brewer Brandon Barclay, former Zoiglhaus head brewer Noah Palmer, and Lily Hulsman who now brews at Grand Fir Brewing. The brewery has continued to win awards since inception when they were named the Best New Brewery at the Oregon Beer Awards in 2020 to a silver medal for Carnelian Eyes Vienna lager at this year’s competition.
“We're choosing to close this location now because beyond the financial strain of multiple locations in a changing environment for breweries, it has become obvious that we need to focus and streamline the brewery operations,” says Sanguinetti, who refers to the decision as a “strategic shrink” emphasizing that the brewery and taproom in McMinnville will remain open.
ForeLand entered the planning stages pre-pandemic, but had the bad luck to launch in the early days of the shut down and had to factor that into their search for a Portland location.
“We had a small list of ‘must haves.’“ says Sanguinetti on their search for a PDX location. “Around 1,000 sq/ft, plenty of outdoor seating, infrastructure for what we wanted to do, a location in an actual neighborhood, and architecturally interesting. We looked at well over a dozen spaces and nothing quite fit or the buildout would have been way outside our budget. For a while we gave up hope and were ready to punt on the project for a year or so (might have been a good idea!) until we saw The Study building.”
The Study was formerly the Rocking Frog cafe, a coffee shop that frequently hosted live music and made their own donuts. Closed since the onset of the pandemic, Rocking Frog’s space had become a home for rats and the houseless. The house was in bad shape, with rooms painted mismatching colors, the front yard overgrown with plants and the back patio with bamboo that was becoming a forest. The first contractor ForeLand hired to do the rehab work quit the project for a bigger job almost immediately, and the second one turned in an estimate that was so high that Sanguinetti and Burke decided to tackle it themselves. “The bones were in good shape and it had so much character, we knew we could bring it back to life,” says Sanguinetti.
With the help of friends and family and their own handyman skills, Sanguinetti and Burke spent a solid six months of cleaning, painting, plumbing, excavating, planting, wood working, to get the taproom open. “Once floors were completed we had to scrub every other wooden surface with toothbrushes because the previous tenant had made donuts in the space for years without a hood. The floorboards smelled like donut grease. I couldn't eat a donut for over a year, and I love donuts!,” says Sanguinetti.
The Study’s craftsman house at 2511 SE Belmont St, Portland, OR 97214 sets up at least 5 or so feet off of the sidewalk with a small front yard with room for a few picnic tables, up another set of steps to the front porch with another covered seat and through the doors to a creaky wood floor home. The space, which was once a book shop, is made up of intimate rooms and small tables with shelves of books and board games, and small antiques like glass orbs, figurines, miniature ships, tiny lamps, vintage beer cans, and lots and lots of succulents. Although the intimate cozy interior may be The Study’s greatest feature, there is also a secluded backyard beer garden lined with bamboo and peppered with fire pits and moody night lighting. It’s a common sight to find regulars quietly sipping a pint while working on their laptop or enjoying a good book. On Tuesdays there is a chess club that fills nearly every table and that is about as lively as it gets.
“We did too good of a job making it ‘The Study.’“ says Sanguinetti. “It's a small space with not a ton of tables so while we loved that people felt comfortable to come in and read a book over a quiet pint, that doesn't keep the lights on.”
The Study is a locals favorite, popular to those who love authentic pub beers and appreciate the considerable ambience and charm unlocked in the loving remodel. But there were problems from the beginning. The building is slightly less approachable as it is above street level and in typical ForeLand brand fashion is understated to begin with. There is also not much foot traffic at that stretch of SE Belmont, and most vehicles fly around the corner up to Morrison as the street becomes one-way going east.
“I think the biggest mistake we made was not having a food program (we didn't want to be a restaurant) and not putting in a proper bar. We thought it would be a long time if ever after COVID that people would want to sit at a bar with a stranger so we focused on a cool order area and lots of small tables. Turns out, we were wrong!” says Sanguinetti.
There were many highlights, and more still to come as the Study closes out at the end of the month. Among those that stood out: holding a somber and joyous wake for the industry after brewer Ryan Buxton’s death. Hosting a month-long weekly residency series for breweries that had no taproom of their own with guests Hetty Alice, Oak Union, Kings & Daughters, and Nebuleus. Becoming one of the first places, if not the first place in Portland to host bierstacheln (aka hot beer poking.) Hosting the inaugural Hop Dogs West Coast IPA and Hot Dogs Throwdown during the 2024 Portland Beer Week. And just recently the ForeLand Best Bitter collaboration with Kings & Daughters Brewing being named one of the best beers of the year by Em Sauter (of Pints & Panels) in Forbes.
“Our staff at The Study have been amazing this last year through the ups and downs,” says Sanguinetti wistfully. “Overall, the thing all of this has in common is that they involve collaboration and celebration with people in the industry. I'll really miss having a space where we could host people in our industry to come together. I hope people appreciate what we tried to do with the space but even more, and I realize it has been said so many times by folks in this same predicament, I hope that they know that it is so very hard right now for small businesses and if you want to see them survive and succeed, please support them as much as you can but also champion them to your community.”
Looking Forward:
On a more optimistic note, ForeLand the brand will be doubling down on what has worked from the beginning as well as trying a few new things. “I truly think ForeLand is going to be pretty surprising to people on how it operates over the next six months,” says Sanguinetti.
Despite the upcoming closure of The Study after December 31st, ForeLand beers are appearing in more places than ever thanks to a newish partnership with Day One Distro across Oregon. And in the brewhouse in McMinnville, an exciting new team took over this summer with new head brewer Darren Provenzano taking the reigns. Provenzano, known for his career as an acclaimed brewer in Vietnam, was also the original founder of Fracture Brewing in Portland before parting ways with the parent company Chefstable in 2023. Pete Mallon, a well-traveled brewer who had stints at Off Color Brewing in Chicago, had previously met and brewed together with Provenzano at Heart of Darkness in Vietnam, has also joined the ForeLand brewing team.
Provenzano, Mallon, and Sanguinetti are steering the ForeLand ship into both new and well trodden terrain. ForeLand remains committed to lagers, both neo-American and international, and clear West Coast IPA and other neo-interpretations, but they have also become more enamored with English beers like cask conditioned Porter, mild ale, and ESB. But on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, ForeLand recently made their first ever Hazy IPA.
“We've actually been talking about making a Hazy IPA since before we started but given the market at the time we didn't want to have to make it all the time and ignore other styles. Well, the years have changed the market and we thought it was time to branch out.”
Provenzano and Mallon are very into new experimental hops and hop products that go well in clear IPAs but can have totally different attributes well showcases and revealed in hazy NE-styles. “We decided the time was right to try and put out one that had our core characteristics, dry and balanced, but still be identifiable to the fans of the style. It's been super well received and we actually have some really fun plans with some notable friends of ours for releases next year. Now that the hype has gone down we can brew it and show our range and fit it into our portfolio.”
But you are not going to find ForeLand Beer becoming a hazy bro brewery anytime soon either. “Darren is a true student of the craft and is consistently trying new avenues to improve every aspect of our beer from the head retention to dry-hopping process. These results can especially be seen in the hop-forward realm.”
The ForeLand team is currently excited about the return of old-school clean, non-barrel-aged adjunct beers like the refreshing recent release ‘Paloma Lager’ made with rice, grapefruit, lime zest, and sea salt. As the winter sets in even further, look for the rich and intense but balanced Cast Shadow barrel-aged imperial stout - now available in cans. Dropping soon is a variant of their Baltic Porter, this one conditioned on rum soaked figs, vanilla, and cinnamon. “The mantra in the brewhouse has shifted from "tradition" to "flavor first" while still making true-to-style beers.”
On the horizon is a new Italian-style Pilsner brewed for one of Portland’s best new pizzerias - Dimo’s Pizza, and beers for Tree Fort Music Fest's Ale Fort, Ales for ALS, and Oregon Seaweed. McMinnville will also see the side effect of The Study’s closure in a more positive light as this will free up the team to focus on more hometown events like live music, pop-ups, and maybe a festival or two. And another big positive is that ForeLand is keeping the beer engine from The Study and bringing it to the McMinnville taproom which will then be the first place in McMinnville to serve real cask ale from a hand-pump.
As for ForeLand’s Portland home ‘The Study’ the future is still uncertain as the space is now available as a turnkey pub with all of the physical assets inside (sans cask engine.) Everyone at the brewery urges people to visit The Study while they can as it remains open 7-days a week through December 31st. The final two Mondays will serve up hot dogs from the roller and discounted $6 pints for those that work in the food/drink industry. And the very last day will be the final night of the popular chess club before the Study calls checkmate.
ForeLand Beer Portland pub ‘The Study’ is open now through December 31st at 2511 SE Belmont St,
Portland, OR 97214. Hours: Mon-Thurs 3 - 8PM, Friday 3 - 9PM, Saturday 2 - 9PM, and Sunday 2 - 7PM.
Interested parties in sub-leasing the turnkey taproom should reach out to david@forelandbeer.com
