USA, OR: Breakside Brewery moving forward with expansion

Nearly everyone feared for Oregon's craft brewing community last year, the Willamette Week reported on January 21.

But as we head into 2021, a number of breweries are moving forward with expansions despite still facing COVID-19 serving restrictions.

Breakside Brewery is among those with the most ambitious projects, as The New School first reported. The Dekum-born brand is branching out to the suburbs and opening venues in Beaverton and Lake Oswego. It will also serve as the core beer bar at a developing food hall on Southeast 82nd Avenue.

That location, nestled among a collection of food carts and micro-restaurants, is scheduled to launch first. CORE, which stands for Collective Oregon Eateries, will put to use Breakside's Winebeergo, a 1973 RV retrofitted with a glycol chiller and draft lines that made its debut at the brewery's Milwaukie location to serve customers as that space was remodeled.

The Winnie, emblazoned with a retro orange, yellow and brown Breakside logo, was supposed to become a rentable attraction for weddings and other large events, but it's largely sat idle for the better part of a year due to the pandemic. In the next few weeks, you should be able to find it and the passenger-side taps flowing with beer once again at the CORE marketplace.

Up next is the Beaverton venue, which joins a number of popular Portland spinoff restaurants and one other brewery in the downtown core. Breakside's owners are aiming for a June opening in a space that nods to the rollicking beer gardens of Munich.

Situated on the opposite end of the block that holds Ex Novo's second taphouse, the design plans include covered patio seating along with open-air picnic tables on turf, room for games like cornhole, and a polka stage.

Breakside co-founder Scott Lawrence tells WW he was drawn to the neighborhood after visiting and discovering it was thriving with activity, even during the global health crisis.

"It was a lively outdoor scene with locals enjoying patio and sidewalk seating. Just had a great feel, so I started exploring," Lawrence says. "I think it will have a somewhat similar feel to what Prost offers—I love their spot and am there frequently—but with beers from Breakside and a bit more space to move around outdoors."

Breakside's owners expect that it will take longest for the Lake Oswego restaurant to open in the Windward Apartments, a complex that features a mix of ground-level shopping and residential living above. Like Beaverton's Old Town, the site has snagged a couple of Portland dining spinoffs, including a Bamboo Sushi and Salt & Straw.

Breakside is not alone in its objective to grow.

Just today, Migration Brewing announced it is opening a fourth pub in the former Hopworks BikeBar building. And last week, Stickmen Brewing shared plans to continue its move west by bringing a third pub to Cedar Mill.

A building is currently under construction across the street from the shopping plaza that includes Great Notion's taproom and a By Design Pizza that is essentially a stealthy Von Ebert, which the company plans to rebrand and officially usher into the "Hail the Boar" family in the coming months.

Stickmen's 5,000-square-foot taproom, slated to open this fall, will feature wood-fired pizzas, salads and 28 taps—an experience similar to what you'd find at the Tualatin Beer Hall. One departure is that the space will function as an Italian-inspired coffee bar in the morning.

Finally, you will no longer have to descend into the bowels of North Broadway's Leftbank Building to pay Upright Brewing a visit: The revered Portland producer is taking over the Stingray Cafe, situated just above its tanks and barrels, on the ground floor, The New School reported.

A second taproom at Northeast 72nd Avenue and Prescott Street should follow, which is a pretty dramatic departure for a business once known for its limited hours, speakeasy vibe and cash-only service.

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