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1406 NW 53rd Ave., 206-784-2859, reubensbrews.com.
Reuben's tasting room is an industrial block filled with families, tours and the Ballard neighborhood's larger social groups. Albertsons stocks the brewery's bottles all the way down to Vancouver and partiers can special order kegs to go. The Roasted Rye IPA is a refreshingly lighter and sweeter twist on the classic with 80-plus IBUs softened by chocolaty warmth.
Populuxe Brewing
826 B NW 49th St., 206-706-3400 populuxebrewing.com.
Barbed-wire fencing and the industrial outskirts of the Fremont neighborhood deter showy trend-drinkers from the sapphire shack housing the new Populuxe nano-brewery. Populuxe hosts local food carts and cornhole competitions in the huge back lot on sunny days. Most brews play it safe, but the sunshiny saison is slowly gaining a deserved cult following.
Urban Family Public House
5329 Ballard Ave. NW, 206-861-6769, urbanfamilypublichouse.com.
Urban Family's brewery deserves to be a sitcom. The story: Three D.C. boys unite via Craigslist to build a primetime-worthy haunt with a minimalist steel bar and unfinished brick. Tucked behind the taps, two tanks compose the small brewery. Four house taps offer mainstays like oatmeal stout, and the guest taps are familiar Port Orchard or Upright brews with occasional Europeans.
The Pine Box
1600 Melrose Ave., 206-588-0375, pineboxbar.com.
A trendy beer bar inside a former mortuary, the Box's vaulted ceilings and pewlike booths recall a Bavarian boarding school. The young Capitol Hill crowd and Big Ass Chocolate Chunk Cookie ($5) mitigate any stuffiness. Thirty taps are almost all Northwest beer, up to half from Oregon.
Black Raven Brewing
14679 NE 95th St., Redmond, 425-881-3020, blackravenbrewing.com.
Is it worth fighting traffic to get to a remote industrial park in Redmond? Yes, if you're headed to Black Raven's Wednesday tapping of an experimental cask ale or looking for the Corvus Kriekus Wild Sour Ale. Rotating food trucks and a stack of takeout menus stand in for the kitchen. Everyone eats so they can enjoy more of the hoptastic Wisdom Seeker Double IPA.
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