Grand Fir Brewing announces the Outpost beer garden and outdoor venue?

Grand Fir Brewing, one of Portland’s most acclaimed breweries, is planning to open their second location near Happy Valley this year. 

“We are opening our first satellite location of Grand Fir Brewing!” exclaims founder/brewmaster Whitney Burnside. “I’ve always wanted to have Grand Fir near our home in Oregon City so this is a dream come true.” 

Grand Fir Brewing was already one of the most anticipated new restaurants and breweries when they first opened in November 2022. The bar was set sky high for the first project between accomplished husband/wife team of food and fermentationistas; Top Chef finalist Doug Adams brought a wealth of culinary and restaurateur experience from his time at Bullard, Imperial, and The Woodsman; and Whitney Burnside was Portland’s first female brewmaster at 10 Barrel Brewing PDX, and earned numerous awards and valuable experience brewing at some of the Pacific Northwest’s most hallowed brewing institutions like Pelican Brewing, Elysian Brewing, and Upright Brewing. 

Grand Fir Brewing both met, and quickly exceeded expectations before their first anniversary.

Just five months after opening their doors, Grand Fir Brewing won silver and bronze medals at the Oregon Beer Awards and was named best new brewery in the state. In 2024 Grand Fir outperformed their initial impressive launch by starting out the year with 3 more medals at the Oregon Beer Awards and recognition as the small brewery of the year. But that was just the start, with 3 more medals from the prestigious international World Beer Cup following in May, and capping off an incredible year being named Great American Beer Festival’s Brewer and Brewery of the Year (501-1000 barrels) among thousands of contenders from across the country.

And yet 2026 and 2027 may be Grand Fir Brewing’s biggest yet.

Following the success of their spinoff supper club The Bitterroot and growing demand for their beer, Grand Fir is a success story that comes during a difficult time for the industry with sales down nationwide.

The brewery’s recent tank expansion has pushed their output from about 1,000 barrels of beer in 2025 to an expected 1,400 this year and 2k or more projected in 2027. To help shepherd the expansion and growing demand for Grand Fir beer, they recently brought on 2-time back-to-back Great American Beer Festival gold-medal winning brewer Jake Watt to join the brewing team alongside Burnside and Cassidy Mack-Rife.

With their 4 year anniversary coming in November, Grand Fir Brewing has not only already amassed an enviable list of accolades, they have made their mark in the Buckman neighborhood and are for their next challenge.

Grand Fir Brewing’s Outpost is a natural expansion of Whitney and Doug’s vision for a rural celebration of the outdoors centered around great food, drink, and company. At their Portland brewpub, Grand Fir Brewing brings the charm of the Pacific Northwest indoors with a wood paneled three-tier taproom decorated with ferns and hanging plants. At Grand Fir Outpost they will take the experience back outdoors with a sprawling garden, indoor and covered event areas, live music, games, play space, and regular cook-outs.

Grand Fir Brewing is joining the eclectic rural development at 15252 SE Highway 224 where Clackamas Highway OR-224 and 212 meet at the edge of Happy Valley and Damascus. The 7-acre plot is surrounded by a nature area and the nearby Rock Creek flows into the Clackamas River. Carver Park - a popular swimming, floating, and picnic area, is less than a mile away. 

“You will be able to get off at the Carver Clackamas boat ramp and have a beer at the GF Outpost in about 3 minutes,” says Doug Adams. “We are excited to create a place where people can come off the water and come hang with us and enjoy some beer and some barbecue.”

Grand Fir Outpost will open in the space that was once home to Bigfoot Growlers, and more recently Ruzzo’s Retreat - a taproom for the popular Ruzzo’s hard citrus brand. 

Among the many features of the location is a 1,100 sq. ft. indoor taproom, and a nearly 13,000 sq. ft. expansive beer garden, and a year-round heated solarium. Around the beer garden is Abel’s Garden Center’s massive nursery and plant selection that adds a lush backdrop that Grand Fir hopes you will eventually be able to browse with a beer in hand. On-site there is plenty of parking out-front and spillover in a tree-lined open field out back. 

“I’ve had my eyes on this location for a long time,” says Whitney Burnside. “Driving our daughter to preschool in Happy Valley I would go that route coming down from our house in Oregon City and I’d pass by and think about how cool it would be for a taproom that fits our vibe of having a lot of outdoor space, fire pit, music - it checked all the boxes.”

Grand Fir will refresh the taproom with new upgraded equipment, a fresh coat of paint, televisions for sports, and their signature Pacific Northwest branding highlighting trees and ferns with clean bold lines and a touch of Portland refinement. Behind the bar they have 30 draft lines with half to be filled by their house beers and the rest with beverages from a list of their favorite beers from other award-winning breweries. 

Chef Doug Adams plans to make the most of the open-air space, firing up the grill and putting a newly acquired smoker from East Texas to work on BBQ and food specials. 

Doug Adams: “First and foremost I want to introduce the community to Whit’s phenomenal beer. And then just make it a really fun place where people can get something from the smoker outside. People can look forward to things like a Bitterroot Club-style steakhouse night one weekend, or another weekend smoked chicken, or a crawfish boil, or a crab boil - really activate that space and keep it moving.”

During the weekdays the pub will offer a small menu with items like BBQ sandwiches, clam chowder, seasonal salads, chips and queso, and custom sausages, while permanent on-site food trucks offer a full set of food options as well. 

*Grand Fir is going for big Austin, Texas beer garden vibes on the patio. There will be a stage for live music, the heated solarium with its own TV, a large fire pit with adirondack chairs, and activities for kids to roam and play in an enclosed wide open area. And, behind the building there is a grassy field where they envision having drive-in-style movie nights with folding chairs and popcorn during the warm and dry summers.

Whitney Burnside: “One of the main things for us is since we are parents is we would love to go somewhere in the area that is not so Chuckie-Cheese, a place where we can have our daughter and she can have a good time and have a lot of stuff to do. This is going to be a really great location for people to bring their families while mom and dad have a beer.”

Grand Fir Brewing plans to open the Outpost this fall at 15252 OR-224 Ste A, Damascus, OR 97089.