BridgePort Brewing Company was a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, in the United States. It operated from 1984 until 2019. Brewery operations ceased in February 2019, and the brew pub closed on March 10, 2019.

History

BridgePort was founded in 1984 by local

winemaker A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to de ...

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

and Nancy Ponzi. The brewery claimed in their trademark to be "Oregon's Oldest Craft Brewery". Their first brewer was Karl Ockert. The initial brewing facility, the Columbia River Brewery, had a 600 barrel per year capacity. BridgePort was acquired by the Gambrinus Company, owned by Carlos Alvarez, in 1995, which expanded its capacity in 2001 to 100,000

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden stave (wood), staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers ...

s. BridgePort's beers were distributed to 18 U.S. states. BridgePort beer production in 2005 ranked 41st in the nation; for 2009 beer sales, this ranking fell to number 47. The building used by BridgePort was built in 1887 and originally housed a

rope A rope is a group of yarns, Plying, plies, fibres, or strands that are plying, twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have high tensile strength and can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger ...

factory. It is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as the Portland Cordage Company Building. A fictionalized version of BridgePort appeared in the fifth season of the heist series '' Leverage'' in 2012. In the show, the brewery was a front company for the protagonists' elaborate cons. On-location filming included the exterior and some internal transition scenes. In 2012, BridgePort ranked fourth in the state of Oregon for most barrels sold, over 24,000. In 2018, its sales diminished to under 6,200 barrels sold. In February 2019, the company announce plans to close. Brewery operations ceased that month, and the brew pub closed on March 10, 2019.

Beers

The BridgePort India Pale Ale, perhaps the brewery's best known beer, had won a number of awards in the United States and abroad, including a Gold Medal at the 2005 Brewing Industry International Awards, in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Germany; a Gold Medal and Category Champion Trophy at the 2000 Brewing Industry International Awards in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England; and a Gold Medal for Classic English Style Pale Ale at the

Great American Beer Festival The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is an annual beer festival hosted by the Brewers Association, held in Denver, Colorado. Typically held in late September or early October, the event is currently held at Denver's Colorado Convention Cente ...

, in

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, in 1997. Blue Heron Pale Ale, named after Portland's official city bird (the

great blue heron The great blue heron (''Ardea herodias'') is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America, as well as far northwestern South America, the Caribbea ...

), was first brewed in 1987 as a special release for the Audubon Society of Portland. The

pale ale Pale ale is a golden to amber coloured beer style brewed with pale malt. The term first appeared in England around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke, which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at th ...

featured Northwest ingredients, such as

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

from the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, the ...

and

malt Malt is any cereal grain that has been made to germinate by soaking in water and then stopped from germinating further by drying with hot air, a process known as "malting". Malted grain is used to make beer, whisky, malted milk, malt vinegar, ...

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

from Eastern Oregon, and won a gold medal at the 2006

World Beer Cup The World Beer Cup is an international beer competition organized by the Brewers Association, a trade group A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organizatio ...

."Bridgeport Blue Heron Pale Ale Takes Gold At World Beer Cup 2006"

BeerAdvocate Beer rating is the process of assessment and evaluation of beer by use of a points-based system. The process is similar to that used in beer judging competitions, such as those organised by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) in America, th ...

, April 18, 2006. Bridgeport brewed a

barleywine Barley wine is a strong ale from 6–12% alcohol by volume."Barley wine"

Fred Eckhardt.

References

{{Pearl District, Portland, Oregon 1984 establishments in Oregon Beer brewing companies based in Portland, Oregon Food and drink companies established in 1984 Defunct restaurants in Pearl District, Portland, Oregon Privately held companies based in Oregon

History

Beers

See also

References