RIP 35+ Oregon Breweries, Cideries & Taprooms that Closed in 2024

The New School tracks Oregon brewery, cidery, and taproom closures as well as openings as a morbid but important record of the industry’s defeats as well as triumphs. In 2024 over 35 breweries, cideries, and taprooms closed in Oregon. While that number may be bad, overall Oregon’s craft industry fared far better than the disastrous 2023. This year’s closures spanned the state from Cottage Grove to Astoria, from Yachats to Portland. Our comprehensive guide to this year’s closures is exhaustive, if not perfect as it can be easy to miss a few.

Cascade Brewing suddenly shutters after founder Art Larrance’s death

The highest profile closure of 2024 was undoubtedly the legendary Cascade Brewing. Founded by craft beer hall of famer Art Larrance in 1998, Cascade Brewing was a pioneering brewpub in SW Portland before brewmaster Ron Gansberg stumbled upon sour fruited beer which was almost unheard of in the U.S. Gansberg, Larrance and Cascade Brewing invented the “NW Sour” using only lactobacillus bacteria to sour complex beers in barrels, often with carefully sourced fruit and unique wine and spirits barrels. With time, money, craft, and experience, Cascade Brewing helped make fruit beer and sour beer cool, achieving worldwide acclaim and pushing the American craft beer industry forward at the same time. Art Larrance sold Cascade Brewing in 2020 and semi-retired from the industry, a few years earlier Gansberg had done the same. With the degradation of both the craft beer industry, and the premium sour beer movement having already peaked, Cascade was struggling. In May the legend Art Larrance passed away suddenly and unexpectedly, not long after the dominoes began to fall as it became clear that Larrance was still financially supporting Cascade Brewing’s new owners and that the company was under incredible debt and was forced to close without notice when the true nature of the business was revealed. After months of dock sales that attracted beer nerds from across the country for vintage bottles, barrels, and the beers that legends are made of, Cascade Brewing is now closed for good but with a real legacy that will never be forgotten.

Via Beer - Portland, OR

Via Beer had a splashy debut in early 2022 thanks to founder Charlie Devereux’s industry pedigree and phenomenal track record. In 2007 Devereux co-founded Double Mountain Brewing, years later he sold his stake and opened Wayfinder Beer with partners Rodney Muirhead and Matt Jacobsen. After taking a backseat into more of a consulting board role at Wayfinder, Devereux began scratching his itch to brew again by helping John Harris at Ecliptic Brewing. Via Beer was the next step for Devereux, a ghost brewed brand made at the recently launched contract brewing/alternating proprietorship brewery/distillery Conspirator Beverage. Via Beer launched with psychedelic branding from Wayfinder artist Orion Landau, and signed with buzzy local distributor Day One Distro. Cans and draft were all over Portland for a bit, but complications with their contract brewery shutting down and trouble keeping up caused Via Beer to come to a slow stop.

Gateway Brewing - Portland, OR

For the last nine years Gateway Brewing has served the thirsty neighborhoods east of 82nd Ave.  Husband-and-wife team and industry veterans Joel and Karen Sheley were regular fixtures at holiday festivals in Gateway, summer nights-out in Historic Parkrose and pop-ups and community fests throughout east Portland and Gresham.  They self-distributed to a solid core group of loyal bars and taprooms and had a reliable following of home system customers. COVID sped up their canning plans and got their beers into a healthy handful of grocery stores and bottleshops.   But with this past year's market shifts and headwinds, they decided it was time to wind things down and free up time for some of the other projects on their list. Joel now works as a brewer at Threshold Brewing & Blending, and will remain an advisor and industry confidant that he has been for years. Karen will switch her beloved Pink Boots Society membership from Owner to Retiree.  

Funhouse Brews Portland Nano Shuts Down for Insurance Reasons

At 8 years old, Funhouse Brews is one of Oregon’s oldest nano breweries and was one of the very few left that had their own taproom attached. According to owner Jason Rizos, he was forced to close Funhouse not because of financial reasons but because he could no longer find anyone to offer liquor liability insurance for on-site consumption with a blended residence/business. The on-site consumption was the key to making any revenue at all given the margins on per ounce price of liquid produced at such a small scale. And since the OLCC requires liquor liability, it was just not worth it for Rizos to keep the operation going. However they may keep the taproom open as a friends and family hang, and there is always the chance that insurance and licensing could be sorted out in the future, but for now Rizos says they have exhausted all options.

Gilgamesh Brewing no longer brewing beer

Salem, Oregon’s Gilgamesh Brewing appears to have given up on brewing. Gilgamesh made a splash after debuting at the Spring Beer & Wine Festival in Portland to win the people’s choice beer, and repeat that win for the following 2 years. Once a talked about up and comer, Gilgamesh Brewing signed with the large wholesale house Columbia Distributing and brought their beers all over the state. In recent years Gilgamesh Brewing went quiet, it's become rare to find their beers outside of their three still operating locations in Oregon. Their social media has also gone quiet and without an update since July. From all indications, Gilgamesh Brewing remains open with locations in south Salem, Independence, Oregon, and a new location on the coast at Lincoln City. But their entire Salem brewhouse and production equipment appears to have been put up for public auction beginning January 22nd 2025 with a note that only the Salem location is closing.

Mazama Brewing Sells Brewery to Become Hillsboro Restaurant

Mazama Brewing is dead, but Mazama Brewing at Orenco Station lives on. Confused? You should be. The Corvallis, Oregon founded Mazama Brewing opened in 2012 focusing on Belgian-style beers when those styles were more in vogue. Located next door to 2 Towns Ciderhouse, the two brands grew alongside each other before diverging paths as cider grew and the craft beer landscape became much more competitive. In 2018 Mazama Brewing embarked on a retail/hospitality expansion that could have blunted the lagging sales of distributed product by opening a large restaurant in downtown Corvallis called Big River, and a Portland-area outpost in the suburbs of Hillsboro at Orenco Station. The Big River was a disaster, closing less than 2 years later partly because of the pandemic. Mazama distribution dropped to almost nothing. An online auction for the entire Mazama Brewing production operation went live on December 10th of 2024 as they get out of the business of brewing beer. However the taphouse and restaurant at Orenco Station has been a hit, and will remain open. It remains unclear if they will drop “brewing” from the name.

Steelhead Brewing - Eugene, OR

The iconic Eugene, Oregon brewery is the oldest in the city and an introduction point for generations of craft beer drinkers. In addition to being a staple of the 5th street neighborhood shopping and dining area, the Steelhead Brewing launched the careers of many industry leaders such as Ninkasi Brewing founder Jamie Floyd, and Pink Boots Society founder Teri Fahrendorf. Known primarily as a brewpub, Steelhead began distributing their beers and had to change the brewery brand name to McKenzie Brewing to avoid confusion with Mad River Brewing’s Steelhead. The Steelhead brewpub was acquired by Urban Restaurant Group in summer of 2024, the same company that owns BRIX Tavern in Portland, Gordon Tavern, Carlita’s Rooftop, 86 Speakeasy in Eugene. The brewpub has been converted to a steakhouse, but supposedly the brewery itself lives on with a standalone tasting room that reopened this fall. However after numerous emails and social media messages that were not replied to we were unable to reach anyone to verify that the brewery was still operational.

Mt. Tabor Brewing closes in Portland and Vancouver

The convoluted history of 13 year old Mt. Tabor Brewing came to a close in August. The brewery started as a nano from two friends brewing on the hills of Mt. Tabor in southeast Portland. Pretty soon they struck up an arrangement to use a Montavilla neighborhood bar about a mile down the road as their official/unofficial taproom. In 2011 Mt. Tabor Brewing relocated to downtown Vancouver, Washington and upgraded to a larger brewhouse (though still quite small.) By 2016 only owner/brewer Eric Surface remained, and the brewery lept into expansion with a larger brewhouse and taproom in a warehouse space at 124 SE 11th Avenue in Portland, and as a pizzeria pub in the Felida neighborhood of Vancouver, Washington. Mt. Tabor retained cult status, but distribution sales had fizzled and the grind of operating a small brewery after COVID-19 finally got the better of them and they officially shut down their remaining locations.

Coin Toss Brewing - Oregon City, OR

After 8 years in operation, Oregon City, Oregon’s Coin Toss Brewing closed on their own terms with their last day of service on February 11th, 2024. Coin Toss is exiting gracefully, and handing the keys to their space to hungry nano startup Yovu Beer. Coin Toss was founded by former KPAM-AM radio personality and host, Tim Hohl, and cultivated a brewery that saw experienced veteran brewers like Dave Fleming of Lompoc Brewing, Lucky Lab, and Kells Brewery, and Chip Conlon of Burnside Brewing Co. and Roots Organic Ales making a solid and varied lineup of beers for the Clackamas County beer community. Read the full story here.

Ankeny Tap & Table - Portland, OR

Beer bar and gastropub Tap & Table closed their last location at 2724 SE Ankeny St on November 23rd. An anchor tenant of the Ankeny Promenade street closure that was a bright spot during the early days of the pandemic. Owner Travis Preece once operated a second Tap & Table which took over Lompocn Brewing’s tavern space in NW Portland, but was short-lived. Preece is also one of the owners of Gorges Beer Co., which is located just across the street on SE Ankeny and relied on Tap & Table for customers and their kitchen. Gorges Beer Co. larger location is still open in Cascade Locks, the Portland location of Gorges Beer called the “Trailhead” is closed for the season and no longer brews their own beer.

Reach Break Brewing - Astoria, OR

The beloved Astoria, Oregon brewery and food truck pod at Reach Break Brewing closed suddenly and without warning in the final days of 2023, not making an official announcement until January 5th 2024. The closure felt unusually abrupt as they had only recently announced an expansion into their adjoining suite for a new barrel room. Reach Break was one of two big closures in Astoria as last year wrapped up, the other being Fortune & Glory Cider (formerly Astoria Cider Co.) Read the full story here.

Fortune & Glory Cider - Astoria, OR

Since 2016 Astoria Cider Co. also known as Reveille Ciderworks was Astoria’s only cidery, and they built up a big fan following from their production facility and taproom that shared the building with Reach Break Brewing. Astoria Cider’s were available in bottles and distributed in the pacific northwest, earning them a larger fanbase. In 2022 Astoria/Reveille Cider moved out of their original location and into a larger suite above Fort George Brewing and changed their name to Fortune & Glory Cider. That move was apparently a last ditch effort to find success, and the cidery closed not long after. The retro/futuristic taproom and arcade Galactix in underground Astoria shares the same owner. Read the full story here.

Stickmen Brewing - Lake Oswego, OR

Founded as Stickmen Brewery & Skewery in 2012, the restaurant and small brewery sat on prime waterfront property on the Portland suburbs  namesake Lake Oswego. This was homebase for an experimental brewery that played with fermenting beer with sake yeast, and a food menu featuring Japanese skewers. After expanding to Tualatin with a production brewery and industrial taproom with a pizza menu, Stickmen almost completely reimagined themselves with new beers and brand dropping the “skewery” and focusing on more traditional styles and food. Stickmen Brewing lives on, now with their brewery still in Tualatin but full bakery and pizza focused restaurants and pubs in Happy Valley and in McMinnville, Oregon. Read the full story here.

Elk Horn Brewing - Eugene, OR

Stephen and Colleen Sheehan, founders of popular Eugene, Oregon Southern-style food cart Delacata, opened the Elk Horn brewpub in 2014. Elk Horn was decked out in animal taxidermy and served a full food menu of Southern, Cajun, and American pub grub with their own housemade beers and ciders. For nearly a decade Elk Horn was a popular destination spot near the University of Oregon campus. Public sentiment began turning on Elk Horn in 2019 when frustrations with homelessness and vandalism led Stephen Sheehan to form a coalition of small businesses called Eugene Wake Up. Activists targeted Sheehan and Elk Horn for being anti-homeless, and staged protests inside the brewpub, and when the George Floyd driven Black Lives Matter protests began in 2020 they also found themselves a target. Elk Horn Brewing was up for sale, and closed in June before finding a buyer.

Yachats Brewing + Farm Store - Yachats, OR

Little known but beloved farm store and brewery in the tiny coastal town of Yachats put out some great and wild beers such as a Salal berry sour. Known for its charm, good food, and eclectic beers, Yachats Brewing was especially popular as a getaway for the Lane County communities. In 2024 the brewery and farm store ceased making beer and was put up for sale. We are happy to report that Eugene, Oregon’s Wildcraft Ciderworks has purchased the building and opened the WildCraft Cider & Pantry in Yachats this past October.

New Spring Brewing - Albany, OR

One of our most anticipated new breweries of 2020 is both a sad and happy story rolled into one. The brewer/owner, sole employee of New Spring Brewing was Dave Marliave, well-known as the co-owner/brewmaster of Corvallis, Oregon’s Flat Tail Brewing. After Flat Tail closed in 2020, Marliave started up New Spring by moving his old brewhouse into Calapooia Brewing. It came out in July of 2023 that Marliave’s business partners Ian and Tonya Duncan had embezzled money from the company and engaged in all sorts of unscrupulous business practices that ultimately resulted into the brewery shutting down and nearly ruining the lives and futures of those involved. After years of fighting, Marliave was able to win a judgement against the Duncans in court that has yet to be paid. The good news is that after winning his battle, Marliave retired New Spring Brewing to become the head brewer at Eugene’s ColdFire Brewing where he continues to put out award-winning beers.

Earthlab Libations - Portland, OR

Matt McDonalds and Dan Denison, two veterans of the now closed NW Portland establishments The Abbey Bar & Bottleshop, opened Earthlab Libations in September 2021. Earthlab was a 1988 Italian box truckin with 12 taps that was located in a tiny gravel lot food truck pod at 2623 SE Belmont St. While tap trucks at food cart pods are not uncommon in Portland, Earthlab was unique for not only the vehicle but the highly curated draft selection and regular hosting of events like tap takeovers and holiday events that could bring in the beer geeks. Unfortunately the food truck pod was never built out and had no permanent all weather structures, and the entire lot was closed in early 2024.

Swift Cider’s N. Portland Taproom - Portland, OR

Swift Cider Co remains a stalwart of the Oregon cidery scene, and is the oldest Portland cidery remaining open that we can recall. However their on-site taproom inside the General Industry building they share with Happy Mountain Kombucha and others, closed early in 2024 not long after the disastrous snow and ice storm that took place in January coinciding with the national CiderCon in Portland. You can still find Swift Cider all over Oregon via Point Blank Distribution.

Portland Cider House - Portland, OR

The first satellite taproom from Portland Cider Co. opened on Hawthorne Blvd and offered the neighborhood a wider variety of ciders and snacks in addition to their house brand. It was one of the best places in Portland to sample a large selection of cider on draft. Luckily for us their is still a cider taproom in this location as it is now the Portland home of Salem, OR based cidery La Familia Cider.

Labyrinth Forge Brewing - Portland, OR

Homebrewer Dylan VanDetta first launched Labyrinth Forge as a garage based home brewery in 2012, and then grew to partner with larger commercial breweries like Ordnance Brewing out of Boardman, Oregon and Gateway Brewing in NE Portland to make larger batches and get his beers into distribution. After self-sustaining via canning, distribution, and home delivery during the pandemic, VanDetta struck up a deal with Alan Sprints of Hair of the Dog Brewing to take over his space in southeast Portland in July of 2021. However the big expansion from nano into one of the most hallowed and respected breweries in Oregon did not last long and Labyrinth Forge permanently closed in April.

The Ram Restaurant & Brewery - Salem, OR

Chain restaurants don’t get a lot of love these days, but the Salem, Oregon location of The Ram restaurant & brewery was different. The location had a 52 year run and introduced thousands of people to craft beer. The location was reportedly in disrepair and the business was no longer viable, in 2023 part of the ceiling had collapsed over the dish pit. The Ram - Salem closed abruptly June 18, 2024 leiving dozens out of work with no notice. Management says they are attempting to reopen in a new space. The Ram still operates a pub with a brewery in Medford, and another restaurant in Wilsonville, as well as locations in Washington and Idaho.

Von Ebert Brewing closes NW Pearl and Cascade Station locations

Von Ebert Brewing closed their flagship brewpub and primary brewing facility in northwest Pearl District at the end of April, as well as their lesser known pizza pub at Cascade Station near the Portland International Airport. But this is more of a restructuring for expansion rather than a contraction. Brewing operations continue at Von Ebert’s Glendoveer brewpub in NE Portland, and they still operate a satellite taproom in Beaverton. Their big expansion comes in 2025 when they will open their new production brewery, taproom, and beer garden at 825 N Cook St in the former Ecliptic Brewing space. Read more on this story here.

Three Creeks Brewing restaurant sold, Production Brewery/Taproom Closed

The 16 year-old Three Creeks Brewing has been a staple of Central Oregon since 2008, first as a restaurant and brewpub and then growing into a second tasting room and production brewery in Sisters, Oregon. Over the years Three Creeks Brewing won a lot of medals, particularly for beers like Five Pine Chocolate Porter, and Cone Lickr fresh hop IPA. Just 4 years ago Three Creeks was named Brewery Group and Brewery Group Brewer of the Year at the prestigious Great American Beer Festival® Earlier this summer Three Creeks owner Wade Underwood sold the original brewpub which is living on as a smaller operation. The 1.1 acre 30bbl production facility and taproom at 265 E Barclay Dr., Sisters, OR was shuttered and is currently still for sale. More on this story here.

Cascade Lakes Brewing Century Drive brewpub in Bend

Redmond, Oregon founded Cascade Lakes Brewing is the 11th oldest brewery in Oregon. The breweries second location on Century Drive in Bend had become the flagship for the brand. But under the more recent third ownership group, Cascade Lakes shifted their focus to a brand new development and purpose built construction on Bend’s growing eastside as their new primary home of the brand and closed their Century Drive brewpub in January 2024. Cascade Lakes is now a not-for-profit, and has rebranded themselves with new beers and business model while keeping some of their longtime classics like 20 Inch Brown Ale in production.

Second Profession Brewing - Portland, OR

Second Profession Brewing was the second brewery at 5846 NE Sandy Blvd replacing BTU Brasserie brewery and szechuan restaurant. Second Profession was the second job for owner/brewer Charlie Goman. After a few years struggling at their original location with a contemporary German/midwest taphouse, Goman leased the space out to another restaurant and moved over to the former Labrewatory space making it also the second brewery in that location. Second Profession Brewing quietly closed sometime around June, though we cannot say exactly when as the social media fell silent and no formal closure was ever announced. The brewery and taproom is currently for lease as a turnkey operation. Read more on this story here.

Covered Bridge Brewing - Cottage Grove, OR

Opened in 2020, Covered Bridge Brewing was a brewery and beer garden, coffee house, with food trucks based in the “Covered Bridge Capital of the West.” With all day coffee service and weekly events such as live music, trivia, comedy shows, and more, it was a community hub.

Creekside Brewing / Iron Tap Station Tigard Taproom

The Hillsboro, Oregon nano brewery has been a beer fest staple, and opened their own taproom in the former Iron Taps location at 8840 SW Hall Blvd, Tigard. However it was short lived, and Creekside’s retail location closed down on November 27th. The brewery lives on, and plans to pivot into canning their beers and showing up at even more events. More on this story here.

Ordnance Brewing - Wilsonville, OR

Boardman, Oregon’s Ordnance Brewing was once everywhere around the state with draft, bottles, then cans. With a 50bbl brewhouse capacity, they could make a lot of beer, and built out a sales and distribution team to do so. However they never could make that production worth it, as sales were not there and you slowly saw cutbacks taking place resulting in less events, less placements, less company representatives in the field. Ordnance Brewing closed officially in August of 2023, but their taproom in Wilsonville stayed open pouring some Ordnance beers along with guest taps. It too threw in the towel and closed in September.

RidgeWalker Brewing - Forest Grove, OR

Forest Grove, Oregon’s second brewery opened in 2016 and closed on November 3rd 2024. The nano brewery started as an operation between friends and brothers brewing off-site with a public facing beer hall style taproom in a former post office at 200 N 26th Ave Cornelius. The numbers just never worked out however. During the pandemic Ridgewalker Brewing had a failed merger with Yakima, Washington’s Hop Capital Brewing in March 2022, and a short lived second location in SW Portland’s Johns Landing neighborhood. Earlier this year Ridgewalker Brewing merged with Cooper Mountain Ale Works of Tigard, Oregon, but the pub was just hit and miss on breaking even and ultimately decided to consolidate. Ridgewalker beers are still being tapped, and it is possible that we will see the brand live on in some form. Read more on this here.

Schilling Cider House at Goat Blocks closed, new location TBA

The Seattle, Washington based cidermaker has closed their Portland based taproom and is in the process of moving it to a new TBA location somewhere in southeast PDX. Known for their location at The Goat Blocks with an elevated patio view of the neighborhood, the Schilling Cider PDX bar also draws in a following for their gluten-free food and boasts the largest selection of hard cider on draft at 50 taps. The cidery is promising the new location will be even better.

The Brown Owl - Bend, OR

After The Brown Owl opened in 2013 it was highlighted as one of the best new beer bars and taphouses in Oregon on the New School. The scratch made kitchen, custom cocktails, and extensive rotating taplist in a well designed rustic suite in the Old Mill District’s Box Factory building made it a popular attraction for regular events. The interior was especially cozy, dressed as a wood laden hunting and fishing cabin that you would expect to find secluded in the woods. The Brown Owl closed on March 15th, 2024.

The Park Taphouse - St. Johns/N. Portland

Short-lived St. Johns neighborhood beer bar The Park Taphouse was a clean and beer focused taproom that showed games and hosted events like trivia. In their 16 months in business, The Park Taphouse had already changed owners, and was plagued by inconsistent hours after a series of break-ins and accidents. They closed in November 2024.

Buoy Beer leaving Astoria Food Hub location

After the collapse of the waterfront pier where Buoy Beer Co. was based, the Astoria, Oregon brewery quickly pivoted to opening a new taproom and restaurant in the incomplete Astoria Food Hub building. For the past 2 years the Buoy Beer Astoria Food Hub location has provided great beers and local seafood to the downtown strip, and a great way to connect with one of the best breweries on the coast. However that time has come to an end as the location will soon be taken over by Sisu Beer expansion, while Buoy now calls the former Reach Break Brewing home.

ForeLand Beer closing Portland taproom The Study

One of the coziest and most unique taprooms in Oregon is closing on December 31st, 2024. The Portland outpost of McMinnville, Oregon based ForeLand Beer has been a homey sanctuary for finely crafted west coast IPA, lager, and pub-styles of English beer since 2021. The space and all of the physical assets are available as a turnkey operation, and with some adjustments like adding a kitchen and liquor could be a successful location. We will miss sitting around the fireplace with a book, a board game, and good company. Read the full story here.