PORTLAND, Ore. — It turns out that being a No. 1 seed — the four largest craft breweries in the state — didn't necessarily endear their beers any more to Oregon Beer Showdown voters.
The sweet (or malty) spot seems to be the next few rungs down, as the semifinals' "Foamy 4" include two No. 3 seeds — Fort George Brewery vs. Breakside Brewery — and a No. 2 and a No. 4 seed — pFriem Family Brewers vs. Crux Fermentation Project.
This quartet of popular Oregon breweries represent the state well geographically, with beer-makers from Astoria, Portland/Milwaukie, Hood River and Bend, places known internationally for great beer.
All but one, Fort George, now have locations in the Portland metro area, with pFriem recently announcing it will open a taproom in Milwaukie. In 2012, pFriem began brewing on the Columbia in Hood River's waterfront where windsurfers glide along the river every summer.
Since then, its beers have won many awards including a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2022.
Last summer, Crux opened an outpost in Southeast Portland and it might get a boost from forthcoming redevelopment around OMSI. Crux started in 2012 out of an old AAMCO transmission shop in Bend where it fashioned its tasting room as a "craft beer playground" with an outdoor area for lawn games and relaxing for outdoor enthusiasts of all stripes.
Breakside launched in Northeast Portland's Woodlawn neighborhood in 2010 and has since opened a production brewery in Milwaukie as well as pubs in Northwest Portland's Slabtown, Beaverton, Lake Oswego and Astoria. Reporter Jonathan Bach explored Breakside's suburban expansion last year.
Since its founding in 2007, Fort George has stayed put in Astoria, focusing its operations in one downtown block where it operates the brewery, a pub, a pizza restaurant and a specialty taproom. The company also does a lot of local community building and events like Festival of Dark Arts, celebrating stouts and other dark beers in February.
Despite their well-earned respect, none of these breweries has ever won the Showdown, now in its eighth year. Each faced very different challengers in the four rounds leading up to the Foamy 4 — see the full bracket — so who knows how they'll compete, but below is a chart showing how many votes they've each accumulated in prior rounds.
The link to vote in this year's Oregon Beer Showdown Semifinals is here and the poll ends Sunday, March 17, at 11:59 p.m.
Read our Voting Rules here, and note that: Publisher, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any business or person tampering with the voting process or the operation of the website or otherwise attempting to undermine the legitimate operation of the poll. Use of bots or other automated process to vote is prohibited and may result in disqualification at the sole discretion of Publisher.
The Portland Business Journal, a news partner of KGW, has more details on the Oregon beer showdown developments.
