Skip to main content
Heathen
5612 NE 119th St., Vancouver, 360-601-7454, heathenbrewing.com. 4-7 pm Thursday-Friday, 1-7 pm Saturday, by appointment only Tuesday-Wednesday.
Don't blink or you'll miss the knee-level sandwich board marking for the turnout to Heathen Brewing's ad-hoc tasting room. The retrofitted aluminum shed behind owner Sunny Parsons' house is the young Vancouver nanobrewery's production facility, so plan on dodging sanitation equipment as you edge toward the taps. As one of Clark County's first homebrewing operations to become licensed as a "major home business," Heathen can't serve you a pint but can tempt visitors with free samples while selling growlers, kegs and merch to go. Acolytes needing full pours can now find the aggressively expanding brewery's RIP Porter and Transcend IPA on nearly 100 taps across Oregon and Southwest Washington, or hire the brewery's vintage 1956 firetruck, kitted out as a mobile kegerator, for private parties. Parsons hopes Heathen will outgrow its current 2,500 barrel capacity within a year or two, at which point he plans to open a destination brewpub off Highway 99. RAMONA DeNIES.
DRINK THIS: The people's choice–literally–is Heathen's Transgression IPA, which was so honored at the 2013 Oregon Brewers Festival. If West Coast IPAs aren't your style, try barrel-aged confections like a nutty, fudgy RIP Porter maturing for two months in Ransom Bourbon barrels.
Portland-Area Breweries from A to Z | Beer of the Year | Favorite Beers #2-10
Portland-Area Cideries | Top 5 Ciders of the Year | Beer Bars and Bottle Shops
Local Growler Makers | Surprising Growler Fills | Homebrew Shops
Restaurants With Great Beer | Local Beer and Liquor Pairings
An Oral History of BridgePort IPA | Beer Events Calendar | Beer Tours
Day Sips: North Oregon Coast, Hood River, Eugene, Seattle
WWeek 2015