The secret is out: Portland has good beer. We've got more than 100 craft breweries within an hour's drive of the city—all of which you can learn about in our craft beer guide in print or on wweek.com—but 2016 has seen a handful truly stand out from the pack. Although you should certainly visit every single brewpub in Portland, here are some that have been particularly impressive this year.
Upright Brewing
240 N Broadway, Suite 2, 503-735-5337, uprightbrewing.com.
In Upright's basement tasting room, you can enjoy its small selection of top-quality Belgian-style beers to a soundtrack of quiet conversation and Frank Zappa's Hot Rats on vinyl. Beers are cheap, and the cash-or-check-only policy reflects owner Alex Ganum's homebrew roots. It feels like you've stumbled on an incredible secret: It is very possibly the best brewery in Portland.
10 Barrel Brewing
1411 NW Flanders St.
10 Barrel's Bend-brewed beers are good and all, but what you really want is this Pearl outpost's house beverages from brewer Whitney Burnside, who's knack for lagers and sours has made her among the city's most consistent brewers.
Fat Head's Brewery
131 NW 13th Ave.
A short walk from 10 Barrel, head brewer Mike Hunsaker's Semper FiPA was voted by a panel of Portland's beer experts to be the city's best IPA in a blind taste test. Hunsaker's IBUsive was voted second-best. Go and drink some IPAs at Fat Head's.
Great Notion Brewing and Barrel House
2204 NE Alberta St., No. 101.
Great Notion is making what are probably the best fruity, juicy, low-IBU IPAs in Oregon, and is the best brewpub Alberta has ever seen.
Cascade Brewing Barrel House
939 SE Belmont St.
Sultans of sour Cascade Brewing release a new beer literally every Tuesday. There's your midweek beer covered.
Willamette Week