Vote for the best brewery or cidery in the Portland area: Readers Choice Awards

It’s time to vote for your favorite brewery or cidery in the Portland area for The Oregonian’s Readers Choice Awards.

Nine of the finalists below received the most reader nominations. There was a four-way tie for 10th place, so Andre Meunier, The Oregonian’s beer and beverages writer, cast the tie-breaking vote to get us to 10 finalists.

You can vote once a day at this link or at the bottom of this post until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. We’ll reveal the results on Friday, Nov. 1 at oregonlive.com/readers-choice.

Baerlic Brewing

Named for the Old English word meaning “of barley,” Baerlic offers well-crafted beers featuring a sessionable lineup that effortlessly spans styles. Add in their celebration of Demin Vest Friday every week and you have as quintessential a Portland brewery as you’ll find. “They make some of the best IPAs, and all their spaces are really cool,” said one reader.

2239 S.E. 11th Ave., 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily; 6035 N.E. Halsey St., 12-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday; 2223 N.E. Alberta St., 4-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday; baerlicbrewing.com

Bauman’s Cider

The first tasting room and restaurant for Bauman’s Cider opened in April in Southeast Portland’s Buckman neighborhood. The highly acclaimed cidery has won four consecutive titles of mid-size cidery of the year at two of the most prestigious cider competitions in the U.S. The food menu at Bauman’s on Oak highlights locally sourced, seasonal ingredients. Cider, wine and beer are served from the more than 30 taps. “The food and cider pairing experience is top notch,” said one reader.

930 S.E. Oak St., 4-9 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 2-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday; baumanscider.com

Breakside Brewery

In 2019, Meunier ranked the top 20 breweries in Portland and Breakside was the winner. “The young brewery came out of nowhere in 2014 when it brought home the top prize in the Great American Beer Festival’s coveted IPA category, and Breakside Brewery has set the standard in Portland and the nation since,” he said. That hasn’t changed. Our readers like the quality and variety of their beers.

Five Portland area locations; breakside.com

Brujos Brewing

Sam Zermeño wanted his brewery to have a name reflecting his Hispanic heritage, and landed on Brujos, Spanish for warlocks or sorcerers. Zermeño spent a decade working toward the opening of Brujos in March. He built his reputation on boldly hopped yet balanced beers, drawing particular praise for his double and triple hazy IPAs. The taproom has a gothic aesthetic, and readers who nominated this brewery cited the vibe almost as often as they cited the great beers.

2377 N.W. Wilson St., 12-9 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 12-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday. 12-9 p.m. Sunday; brujosbrewing.com

Great Notion Brewing

In a rare sweep at the Oregon Beer Awards earlier this year, Great Notion took all three medals in the Hazy or Juicy IPA category — and added a silver in Imperial IPAs. The tally earned Great Notion its first Medium Brewery of the Year honor. One reader nominated Great Notion because of its “great spaces for gatherings” and “amazing IPAs and sours.”

Four Portland area locations; greatnotion.com

Level Beer

The brewery founded in 2016 in the Argay neighborhood, a mostly industrial area east of Portland International Airport, has become a destination for a wide swath of patrons: craft-beer connoisseurs, Costco customers, families looking for a relaxing spot to take the kids and dogs, airport-goers and outdoors adventurers returning from a day in the Columbia River Gorge. With a 1980s video game branding motif, Level offers a variety of beer styles. Readers love the beer, food carts and dog run at the brewery location on Northeast 148th Avenue.

5211 N.E. 148th Ave., 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 7840 S.W. Capitol Hwy., 3-10 p.m. daily; 1447 N.E. Sandy Blvd., 12-10 p.m. daily; levelbeer.com

Mutantis Cult Brewery

This dedicated gluten-free and vegan brewery is a one-woman show from Deja: “Yes, that means all the brewing, canning, delivering, tending bar, label design, maintenance, cleaning, bookkeeping, marketing … I even designed this website!” she says on the site. “As a queer, nonbinary, transgender woman, I wanted to create a space for those of us alienated by the macho patriarchal culture that dominates craft beer. I look to the alewives of old for inspiration–the witchy brewmistresses whose modest pubs served as nuclei for town social life,” she says. As one reader said, “Mutantis isn’t just making great gluten-free beer; it’s great beer period.”

6719 N.E. 18th Ave., 12-8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 1-7 p.m. Sunday; mutantis.beer

Portland Cider Co.

Oregon’s second-largest producer of craft cider (2 Towns Ciderhouse is the largest) closed its Southeast Portland taproom earlier this year as it moves its focus away from operating taphouses and toward distribution, co-founder Jeff Parrish said. But the production cidery and pub in Clackamas still catches the attention of people speeding by on Interstate 205 with its big sign and red apple logo. “The cider is simply the best, and the cidery has great food and atmosphere,” one reader said.

8925 S.E. Jannsen Rd., Clackamas, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday; portlandcider.com

Ruse Brewing

The Oregonian’s Brewery of the Year for 2019, Ruse began focused on farmhouses and IPAs before evolving to crank out styles across the spectrum. It’s one of those breweries that inspires awe with their ability to take any style and knock it out of the park. “The beers have spark or energy about them,” said one reader.

4784 S.E. 17th Ave., 3-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 3-10 p.m. Friday, 12-10 p.m. Saturday, 12-9 p.m. Sunday; 650 Waterfront Way, Vancouver, 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday; rusebrewing.com

TPK Brewing Co.

This Mount Tabor neighborhood tavern pairs beer with an immersive tabletop roleplaying experience. Jess Hardie, co-founder and brewer, crafts the beers to pair with characters or experiences within the games being played at TPK. One reader nominated TPK because of the “great beer, food, and amazing community.” They said, “I’m a westsider, so getting me to cross the river requires something special. TPK has that in spades and then some.”

5051 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Wednesday-Monday, 5-10 p.m. Tuesday; tpkbrewing.com

Vote here

You can vote once a day until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. We’ll reveal the results on Friday, Nov. 1 at oregonlive.com/readers-choice.

Mims Copeland is a social media producer and covers trending topics for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach her at mcopeland@oregonian.com

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