Once upon a time all beer was brewed on farms, using ingredients sourced off of the nearby land like fresh water, native yeasts and local flora and fauna. The beer experience was naturally rustic, going from farm-to-table and grain-to-glass. For good and ill, breweries moved away from farms after Louis Pasteur discovered pasteurization and the role of yeast in fermentation, and then the industrial revolution perfected the science and engineering that turned beermaking into factory production techniques. We can all appreciate the precision, science and control of modern day brewing advances, but sometimes it’s nice to take a step back, touch grass and enjoy a beer in its most natural setting — on a farm.
Public Coast Farm | Banks, Oregon
The 10-year-old Public Coast Brewing is named after Oregon’s 363-miles of uninterrupted, publicly owned coastal shoreline known as “The People’s Coast.” Public Coast is known primarily as a brewpub that sits three blocks from Cannon Beach’s seaside access point, Whale Park. Their beers like ’67 Blonde Lager, and fruit beers and blueberry hard seltzers consistently win awards. Lesser known is where they source some of the key ingredients for food and beer — the Public Coast Farm in Banks, Oregon. This 40-acre plot of land on Sunset Highway 26, is just 30 minutes from Portland and supplies the brewery, their sister property the Stephanie Inn, and Zupan’s Markets. From a 5,000-square-foot solar-powered greenhouse they grow tomatoes, green beans, peppers, squash, cucumbers, microgreens, herbs and carrots year-round. On another 10 acres outside, they grow hops and blueberries, and house custom bee boxes for honey production with Jacobsen Salt Co. The Public Coast Farmstand opens to the public from July through August with fresh fruit and vegetables like heirloom tomatoes and apples, and jars of housemade jam, preserves and honey. And, of course, you can grab their own cold beer by the can, the perfect accompaniment when perusing the grounds and picking fresh blueberries to take home with you.
Root & Rye Hop Farm and Brewery | Carlton, Oregon
This brewery, taproom and lakeside beer garden was one of Oregon’s hidden gems from 2021 to 2025 when it was the family-owned Crowing Hen Brewing. When Shelly Bigley, co-founder of The Old Market Pub & Brewery in southwest Portland, learned it was for sale, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to run a much more rural brewing venture. As the name implies, Root & Rye Hop Farm has its own 15 acres of hop fields, in addition to a private lake and rolling hills with indoor and outdoor covered areas, fire pits, a picnic area, a preserved barn that hosts live music and special events, and an on-site five-barrel brewhouse. And this is just the beginning. Bigley aspires to add a pickleball court to the property, and open a bed & breakfast in the home adjacent to the brewery where the previous owners’ grazing hens gave the estate its original name.
TopWire Hop Project | Woodburn, Oregon
Technically TopWire Hop Project does not make their own beer, but they do grow, harvest, kiln, bale and distribute beer’s most popular ingredient at their surrounding farm. Found down a half-mile rocky road called Lupulin Lane is the TopWire Beer Garden nestled in the middle of a Centennial hop field on fifth-generation Crosby Hop Farm. The seasonal all-outdoor beer oasis is a sprawling grassy lawn dotted with tables, food trucks and a permanent taproom built inside storage containers. The tap, bottle and can selection features a diverse choice of craft beer, soda, cider and seltzers from providers across the country — nearly all of which is made using hops grown on-site. TopWire is much more than a beer garden, as they have their own rare beer club, and can comfortably host big events like a hop harvest festival, the Oregon Brewers Guild’s annual industry conference, and the Best of the West Beer Awards. Relaxing in the hop garden at peak harvest season is a magical experience as you take in the 18-foot tall bines gently swaying in the breeze, with the floral scent of ripe hops permeating the air.
Dragon’s Gate Brewery | Milton-Freewater, Oregon
Situated on a 10-acre farm adjacent to the wineries of Walla Walla, the Dragon’s Gate Brewery rises in Milton-Freewater, Oregon, as a destination that feels out of time and place. Outdoors, the grassy and bright gardens offer serene picnic-style seating, gazebos — and a setting straight out of Middle Earth. If the beer garden seems like a Hobbit Shire, the brewery and tasting room are more like Westeros. Dressed in black and steel with bold blood-red flourishes, the Dragon’s Gate brand recalls a world of dragons, swords and sorcery, with an interior that resembles a candle-lit castle keep or old world apothecary. Celebrating the art of monk-brewed beers of Belgium and beyond, the beer is rustic and medieval, but classic and European in nature. Ales are brewed with water from an underground aquifer, and from their small hop field they nurture a wild hop variety they dubbed “Drallion.” The taplist rotates regularly with small batch variety, but often you can find farmhouse-style saisons, and abbey-style Belgian blondes, golden strong ales, and the occasional tripel, with nods to contemporary IPAs for the American hopheads. All the beers are brewed by Jennifer Gregory who owns the brewery with her husband, Adam. Dragon’s Gate is open only on Friday and Saturdays, and hosts annual events like Renfaire, Viking Fest, Freya Fest and Wizarding Weekend.
Mt. View Brewing | Parkdale, Oregon
Mt. View Orchards is a 50-acre apple and pear farm perched over the Columbia River Gorge and nestled just north of Mt. Hood in Parkdale, Oregon. Katrina Galloway and her husband Kenny Galloway planted a vineyard in 2016 and in 2019 opened the Grateful Vineyard with a taproom hosting visitors coming for their high-elevation sparkling wine, housemade soda and farm-to-table pizza. As if the gorgeous views of the iconic snow-capped Mt. Hood behind a rolling vineyard wasn’t enough, they opened Mt. View Brewing and Golden Row Cidery in 2020. From a small four-barrel brewery, they make beers and ciders with homegrown cherries, peaches and pears in every brew. At Mt. View/Grateful Orchards & Vineyard you can bring the family and walk through a u-pick orchard with more than 125 varieties of apples and pears, then settle down on the grassy meadow with a glass and enjoy the views.
