Breweries of Portland: Hopworks

I'm kind of surprised I've not yet written about Hopworks - it's one of my favorite breweries to visit if I find myself in Portland. There's a lot of good reasons for that.

The number one draw for any pub should be the beer, and Hopworks has always made interesting, varied, and high-quality brews. The brewers seem equally adept at making crisp light lagers as they do heavy barrel-aged sours and stouts. Hopworks is one of those rare breweries where I haven't had a single misfire. There's definitely been some beers I didn't care for, but it's always been because they're not to my taste, not that they're conceptually flawed or poorly made.

Here are some highlights from my most recent visit:

IPA - Has fantastic dry hop aroma and is exceptionally well-balanced. A really fine blend of malt and hops that finishes slightly bitter.

Abominable - This is what winter ales should taste like. Definitely more malt-forward than the IPA, but it still has prominent hopping, and it nearly balances out on the finish, with a slight lasting sweetness.

Totally Radler - I was really surprised by this. I've had plenty of shandies and radlers in the past, but nothing quite so good. This uses Hopworks' lager as the base, which is an excellent beer in its own right, and adds lemonade. It's a very sessionable 3% ABV, and the beer adds a bit of bitterness and character to the lemonade. Even on the cold blustery day of my visit, it was still incredibly refreshing.

Seven Grain Survival Stout - Somehow I'd never noticed that this stout is made with coffee (as well as the eponymous seven types of grain). It's definitely on the roastier, acidic side of the coffee beer spectrum, but remains quite enjoyable even so.

Of course, with all this great beer, one needs equally great food to pair it with. Hopworks here does nothing especially flashy, just consistently above-average and reasonably-priced pub fare like burgers and pizza. My criterion for knowing if the food is worthwhile is whether I could bring a non-drinker here and have them come away happy with the experience. By that metric, Hopworks succeeds handily.

Finally, there's the sense of atmosphere. Hopworks is a very industrial, spare setting, with plenty of seating on multiple levels, and a definite bike theme running through the whole restaurant and brewery. I also really like the design choice of having the brewery proper set below the restaurant - it's clear a lot of thought went into the design of the building.

On the whole, Hopworks remains one of the best overall food-and-beer experiences in Portland - no easy feat, as there's lots of great options around the city. It's definitely worth a visit.