Ruse Brewing Makes Some of the Finest Farmhouses in Portland

Brewing and selling select drafts and bottles at Culmination Brewing, 2117 NE Oregon St., 503-353-6368, rusebrewing.com. Noon-9 pm Sunday-Thursday, noon-10 pm Friday-Saturday. New brewery opens this year at 4784 SE 17th Ave.

At Ruse, it's all about the yeast. Specifically, it's all about custom Brett strains called Stargazer and Suburban Brett that owner-brewers Shaun Kalis and Devin Benware developed with local lab Imperial. Ruse's table saison Clock Keeper and New Move farmhouse pale, present almost purely as soft, and almost velvety, seemingly entirely free from the often needling or foot-funky notes of too much Brett. The Stargazer also offers a beautiful landing pad for the more complex flavors in their dark-malted Architect saison, pinot-gris-barrel-aged Lily Tiger and mixed culture Multibeast. That doesn't mean Ruse doesn't make a richly oaky, dark-fruited kriek or a trio of excellent late-addition IPAs. But as with pFriem, their house yeast has provided the three-year-old brewery with a trademark character that strongly defines a Ruse brew, even as Kalis and Benware still brew on the system at Culmination Brewery while waiting for new Southeast Holgate Boulevard Ruse Brewery to open in Eastmoreland. For now, the flavor is best when it's purest: The Clock Keeper and New Move are already two of the finest farmhouses in Portland.

Nearby: When Ruse's brewery opens by the Holgate orange line stop, it'll be about a 15-minute walk south of one of the city's best urban wineries, Teutonic Wine Company (3303 SE 20th Ave., 503-235-5053, teutonicwines.com), and the same distance from the country's first dedicated cider bar, Bushwhacker (1212-D SE Powell Blvd. D, 503-445-0577, bushwhackercider.com), which offers the city's best bottle selection of local and international ciders in its coolers.