New School Beer & Cider’s annual New Breweries Showcase is back for Portland Beer Week on Thursday, June 20th at Imperial Bottle Shop & Taproom. This free to attend event functions as a first taste of breweries, cideries, (and this year a meadery) that have just launched in the Pacific Northwest, a chance to try their beers and meet-the-brewers and owners in-person.

The 2024 New Breweries Showcase is continuing our mission to highlight 10 small breweries from all over Oregon and Washington, coming from as far south as Ashland, Oregon and north as Washougal, Washington. Each participant has a distinct creative vision and flavors, either creating new spaces in underserved areas or popular destinations, others reviving old spaces and defunct breweries to breath new life into them. Its an exciting lineup of newcomers coming to Portland, many of them for the first time outside of their hometowns and taprooms.

20 different beers or meads will be featured from 10 different breweries including Coattails Brewing, Spinning Wheels Brewing Project, Noble Fox Brewing, TPK Brewing, Recluse Brew Works, Ilk Beer, Lazy Z Ranch Mead, Commensal Fermentation, Irrelevant Beer, and Lazy Days Brewing.

Drinks are individually priced and available by the taster, half pour, pint or imperial pint, all served from the Imperial Bottle Shop Bar on their outside closed street patio beer garden or indoors in the bottleshop/taproom. No cover charge, but no kids allowed either. Outside food welcome! The event runs all-day on Thursday, June 20th starting at 3pm, but you will have a rare chance to meet all the Brewers/owners in person from 4-7pm.

Noble Fox Restaurant & Brewery

Ashland, OR

The Standing Stone Brewery was a landmark in downtown Ashland, Oregon for 25 years, functioning as a stepping stone for Brewers to cut their teeth and for locals and visitors to discover craft beer for the first time. In 2022 Standing Stone closed, its beautiful building up for sale with tons of potential in one of the most populated cities in the state with a surprising lack of options. Then Silverton, Oregon’s Noble Fox stepped in to save it, purchasing the building and reopening the restaurant while reviving the brewhouse with veteran brewer Tim Campos formerly of Napa Brewing Company, and Maui Brewing, behind the kettle. Reopened in spring 2024, Noble Fox Restaurant & Brewery is eager to show off the revamped brewpub and in-house beers.

Coattails Brewing

Newberg, OR

In recent years we have seen breweries take up winemaking, but wineries brewing their own beer has been almost unheard of. Not since the Ponzi family launched Bridgeport brewing in 1984 has there been an Oregon winemaker that we can recall taking up the art of brewing until the recent quiet launch of Coattails Brewing. Nathan Etzel, the youngest son of the well-established and respected Etzel winemaking family behind such legacy wine brands as Beaux Frères and Sequitur, is now practicing the popular saying among winemakers that ‘it takes a lot of beer to make great wine.’ Coattails is both a wine brand, and now a brewery, after Nathan purchased a 5bbl brewhouse and installed it into the Sequitur winemaking facility in Newberg. The small output of Coattails, and the premium expectations from the brand, have given Etzel a chance to focus on the underappreciated artisan craft maltsters to make nuanced beers that are less dominated by hops.

Lazy Z Ranch

Sisters, OR

The New School is excited to have our first meadery in the New Breweries Showcase! The showcase has been ongoing for a decade and featured numerous breweries and a handful of cideries, but we have always been semi-closeted fans of the world’s oldest fermented beverage. The historic Lazy Z Ranch in Sisters, Oregon was purchased by Renee and John Herman in 2020, and they turned into a new farming venture with a regenerative bee farm and launched an estate brewed mead line in 2023. Incorporating sustainable practices, Lazy Z Ranch's bee pastures are home to an array of vibrant flowering plants that build soil fertility and maintain a healthy ecosystem. Lazy Z Ranch Mead line encapsulate the essence of nature’s diverse floral kingdom through regenerative agriculture and estate honey, and are available in bottles at specialty stores including their own seasonal tasting room. At the New Breweries Showcase will be a rare opportunity to try them on draft and meet the Herman’s in-person.

Ilk Beer

Olympia, WA

The capital city of Washington has a long legacy of brewing. From the original Olympia Brewery on the banks of the Tumwater Falls that inspired generations of drinkers and Brewers, their ilk has called this area home launching a contemporary home for small craft breweries to thrive. Ilk Beer is the latest, an exciting new project from former ilk of Three Magnets Brewing and Matchless Brewing that have moved into the home of the now defunct Fish Tale Brewing. If you know your Washington Brewers well, you may be familiar with Pat Jensen, the founding brewer from 3 Magnets and Matchless that brought the hazy IPA to Washington in one hand and nurtured the up and coming mixed-culture and farmhouse beer segment in the other. A few years after leaving his role as Matchless Brewing brewmaster, Jensen has teamed with Abe Burt, a fellow veteran of both front of house at 3 Mags and a pro in sales and business administration, to open Ilk Beer. THeir beers are all over the map and eclectic as the founders and the city they call home; from hoppy clear to hoppy hazy, from winter ales and reds, to brown and British.

Commensal Fermentation

Portland, OR

Brewer Mike Mathis is the latest industry veteran to take on the former Lompoc Brewing Sidebar and Grains of Wrath PDX space on N. Williams. Mathis built a name for himself as head brewer at Cascade Brewing, so you might expect him to brew with a lot of fruit, barrels, and bacteria, but so far Commensal has specialized in focused and mostly low abv versions of popular beer styles like hazy and west coast session IPA’s and pales, Amber ale, and European Lagers. As of late they have branched out into playful beers like an imperial blonde stout with coconut and coffee, and a lime zested and salted kolsch, and Mathis says at some point fruited sours will be in the mix. The Commensal brand is lowkey, minimalist, and tasteful. Like Mathis’ beers, Commensal is not splashy or in your face but simple and elegant just like the ambiance of their taproom’s cozy but refined atmosphere with the chic aesthetic of a cocktail bar and the welcoming qualities of a traditional Oregon brewpub.

TPK Brewing

Portland, OR

Every good beer has a story waiting to be told. TPK Brewing has one of the best stories, with games masters and storytellers, characters, maps, and world-building encyclopedias devoted to the world of Val'Ruvina. Founded by Elliot Kaplan, Jess Hardie, and Dana Garve, TPK Brewing is the world’s first dedicated tabletop roleplaying game dedicated brewery with a diverse team of players, artists, and actors from a diverse set of backgrounds. To enjoy the modern rustic TPK Brewing brewpub you don’t need to be into Dungeons & Dragons or own your own 12-sided die, you just have to be into the inclusive community and outgoing beers that leave everything to the imagination.

Recluse Brew Works

Washougal, WA

Recluse Brew Works exists between the thrum of industrial production and serene natural landscapes at the gateway to the Columbia River Gorge. Among the first projects announced by the Port of Camas-Washougal efforts to develop the eastern edges of waterfront adjacent land next to the Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Recluse Brew Works occupies a brand new production based building walking distance from natural beauties and calm waters of Cottonwood Beach where herons and White-faced Ibis nest. This is exactly what founder August “Gus” Everson was looking for when he set out to build his own brewery after leaving his gig as assistant brewer at Portland’s Wayfinder Beer. Brewing beer is similar to this seemingly disparate landscapes, in that contrast between art and science, where natural resources are essential and when done right so is respect of the environment. The beer is cutting edge and modern but also classic, almost exclusively clear German-style and American Lagers, West Coast Pales, and the occasional British-style pub staple.

Irrelevant Beer

Vancouver, WA

With a record number of youth spurning alcohol or saving their money for cheaper ways to get buzzed, does craft beer even matter? Vancouver, Washington’s new brewery makes a good case for relevancy. Opened in September 2023, Irrelevant Beer is a sister business of downtown coffee roastery , cafe, and noted cold brew maker Relevant Coffee. The Irrelevant Beer brewery is next door, and shares some production space with cold brew processing, with an A-list brewing team of former Trap Door head brewer Sebastian Lynch, and veteran Quin Tinling of Wayfinder, Hop works, Pinthouse Pizza, Westward Whiskey, and on and on….so far Irrelevant opens up the garage brewery for an intimate taproom experience 4 days a week, but they have a full restaurant planned on the other side of the block. In the meantime you can find their IPA’s, Lagers, and occasional coffee beers via Day One Distribution and meet the team in person at the New Breweries Showcase on 6/20.

Spinning Wheels Brewing Project

Hood River, OR

Things are always turning at Spinning Wheels Brewing Project in Hood River, weather its owner Andrew Rosette’s turntables or bicycle, or the spinning of the rake in a later tun. Coming all the way from the Cleveland, OH area, Rosette moved to Hood River looking for a smaller-town closer to mountains, valleys, and craft beer. After learning the ropes at Double Mountain Brewing and studying as Siebel Institute, he went on to become head brewer at Thunder Island Brewing and even did a stint at Killarney Brewery in Ireland before opening his own place. Spinning Wheels is a bit off the beaten path, but also right downtown in Hood River. Hidden around the back of the Lake Taco house in a lower level basement, Spinning Wheels has serious izakaya speakeasy vibes and ambiance, where Rosette often slings his own easy drinking ales and records. For the first time Rosette is bringing Spinning Wheels to Portland where you can try them and meet up in person on 6/20 at Imperial Bottle Shop & Taproom.

Lazy Days Brewing

Portland, OR

Anything but lazy, Ryan and Grace Still and Jake Elder jumped head first into the cutthroat world of restaurant, brewery, bar, and business ownership when they purchased the Oregon assets of beloved brand Ex Novo Brewing. In less than a year of existence, Lazy Days Brewing is operating a popular Portland brewpub that was once the Ex Novo flagship on N. Flint, plus the Detroit-style pizza haven and taproom in Beaverton, and recently purchased the Bethany Public House in Beaverton. Lazy Days may be as young and fresh as a newborn, but they haven’t forgotten what came before them and have revived much of the fan-favorites of Ex Novo from some of the brewing team, to the food menu and hospitality. Inspired by

NEW BREWERIES SHOWCASE 2024

Thursday, June 20th / Meet-the-brewers 4-7pm

@ Imperial Bottle Shop & Taproom, 3090 SE Division St, Portland, OR 97202