Craft Beer and City Walking Tour of Portland West Side

Deschutes Brewery’s Portland Public House—opened May 2, 2008 inside the historic 1919 G.G. Gerber Building in the Pearl District—is the brewery’s first location beyond its Bend origins and a vibrant local gathering place. Founded in Bend in 1988 by Gary Fish and named for the Deschutes River, the company started as a community-focused brewpub selling just 310 barrels its first year; by the early 1990s it expanded into full-scale production and became known for flagship beers like Black Butte Porter and Mirror Pond Pale Ale. At the Portland pub, customers enjoy core, seasonal, and experimental beers brewed onsite exclusively for that location, served in a warm, timber‑accented space blending Northwest charm with Scottish pub sensibility.

Al's Den is underground, beneath a tiny flatiron building that opened in 1900 as a tire store, in what, for a period of time, was a bathhouse. It is a place where people enjoy drink, food, and music under the sidewalk, which still has the 1900-era glass prisms that allow light to pass through. It is one of McMenamins' 55 establishments across Oregon and Washington, many of which are located in structures that are on the National Register of Historic Places. McMenamins is Oregon's oldest and largest microbrew, providing the full range of beers, but as the first brewery in the US to legally use fruit in the brewing of ales post-prohibition, they are most known for their Ruby, which could be thought of as a raspberry shandy. Here, in The West End, across the street from the now-defunct Blitz-Weinhard Brewery, guests can taste McMenamins' beer in an underground atmosphere of 1900 whimsical, with a creepy psychedelic twist, and an element of steampunk.

World's largest new & used independent bookstore.

Romanesque Revival armory annex built in 1891 to deal with rioting.

Former hub for psychedelic culture, and home to one of the only three remaining floating dancefloors in the US.

The legacy of the world's oldest drag queen.

Only dual independent lift bridge in the world.

Opened in 2000 as part of a cultural exchange between Portland and it's sister city Suzhou.

This iconic sign is located on the former headquarters of White Stag Sportswear.

Houses the world's largest Foucault pendulum.

A memorial to the camp victims.

Location of Skidmore Fountain and Saturday Market.

Henry Weinhard proposed running beer through this fountain.

Kells is Portland's premier Irish pub, offering classic Irish beer, whiskey, and food. The McAleese family opened Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub in 1990 in the historic Glisan Building, which opened in 1889 as the last cast-iron building constructed in Portland. It is one of our finest specimens of Queen Anne Italianate cast-iron architecture. On this tour, you'll enjoy beer in an atmosphere reminiscent of Victorian Dublin, and you might even stick a dollar bill to the ceiling. After the tour, you could return to Kells, on your own, to enjoy food, and maybe even the underground cigar room that was grandfathered in when smoking was outlawed in Oregon bars. Kells is more than just a pub & restaurant. Kells and the Glisan building are icons of Portland's Skidmore/Old Town Historic District.

Handcrafted and locally made.