The Pacific Northwest is well known for its robust craft beer scene. They’ve got locally grown hops with cool names like Chinook, Cascade, Glacier, or Willamette. There’s hundreds of nano- and microbreweries. Plus, there’s so many different new and interesting beers to enjoy.
As an avid hiker and a beer lover, it didn’t take too long before I began wonder about the best way to combine these two passions in a single adventure. Could I come up with a decent brew-hike that amounted to something more than they typical 3-hour brewery walking tour in Portland or Seattle?
After a bit of research and inspiration, I stumbled the perfect answer. It’s a relatively unknown trail that already passes by more than 20 local breweries!! And it’s along an actual long-distance trail – where you can hike, backpack, and sleep in a tent!
Where does this magical place exist? Right along the picturesque Oregon Coast!!
The Oregon Coast Trail (or OCT) is a 400-ish mile hike that follows the rugged coastline down the western side of the state.
The trail runs along sandy dunes, rocky shoreline, and over forested headlands that form the diverse Oregon Coast. But it also goes through small beach towns nearly every day or two. Many of these towns have their own small breweries, providing the ideal thirst quencher for a long day in the sun (or rain – as is more often the case!).
With that in mind, as I set out to try to visit as many of the local Oregon breweries along the route as possible. If it was within 5 miles of the OCT, I was willing to sample their wares. And so, I christened my journey on this trail as my 2021 Brew-hike Thru-Hike.
How Many breweries?
After numerous hours of planning and research (and weeding out the breweries that were still temporarily closed because of Covid-19), I discovered I could potentially visit up 23 microbreweries and 1 cider mill during my journey down the Oregon coast.
That’s 24 unique opportunities to whet my whistle over the course of 400 miles! Not a bad beer-to-mile ratio, if you ask me. In the end though, I only was able to visit about half of these locations during my 18-day hike on the Oregon Coast Trail.
Falling short of my goal to visit every coastal brewery wasn’t for lack of desire. More often than not, it was just a simple matter of timing.
Sometimes my journey took me through town at 8 am, well before the brewery was going to open for the day. Other days, I’d arrive there on a the sole day of the week when the brewery was closed. That’s just the nature of the beast when your entire journey is on foot.
If you’re considering setting out on your own brew-hike adventure along the Oregon Coast Trail, here’s the complete list I used in my planning – along with the breweries’ names, their general location, and current hours.
| BREWERY | CITY | HOURS | Approx. Mile |
| Sisu Brewing Co. | Seaside | Sun-Thur (11am-10 pm) + Fri-Sat (9am-10pm) | 16 |
| Seaside Brewing Co. | Seaside | Daily (11am-9pm) | 16 |
| Public Coast Brewing Co. | Cannon Beach | Thur-Mon (12-8pm) | 27 |
| Pelican Brewing Co. | Cannon Beach | Thur-Mon (12-6pm) | 28 |
| De Garde Brewing Co. | Tillamook | Thru-Sat (12-7pm) + Sun (11am-5pm) | 65 |
| Werner Brewing Co. | Tillamook | Tue-Sat (11am-7pm) | 65 |
| Pelican Brewing Co. | Tillamook | Thur-Mon (12-6pm) | 65 |
| Pelican Brewing Co. | Pacific City | Sun-Thur (10am-10pm) + Fri-Sat (10:30am-11pm) | 90 |
| McMenamin’s Lighthouse | Lincoln City | Daily (11am-10pm) | 107 |
| Rusty Truck | Lincoln City | Wed-Fri (12-9pm) + Sat-Sun (11am-9pm) | 110 |
| Beachcrest Brewing Co. | Shalishan | Mon-Thur (2-7pm) + Fri-Sat (12-8pm) + Sun (12-7pm) | 116 |
| The Horn | Depoe Bay | Sun-Thur (12-7pm) + Fri-Sat (12-8pm) | 122 |
| Newport Brewing Co. | Newport | Tue-Thur & Sat (11:30am-8pm) + Fri (11:30am-9pm) | 145 |
| Rogue Ales | Newport | Sun-Th (11am-9pm) + Fri-Sat (11am-10pm) | 146 |
| Wolf Tree Brewing Co. | Newport | Wed-Fri (3-9pm) + Sat-Sun (12-9pm) | 147 |
| Yachats Brewing Co. | Yachats | Th-Sat (12-9pm) + Sun (10am-6pm) | 170 |
| Homegrown Brewery | Florence | Fri-Tue (11am-8pm) | 207 |
| 7 Devils Brewing Co. | Coos Bay | Wed-Sun (11am-8pm) + Mon (11am-9pm) | 260 |
| Bandon Rain* (cidery) | Bandon | Mon/Th (12-6pm) +Fri-Sat (12-8pm) + Sun (12-5pm) | 285 |
| Bandon Brewing Co. | Bandon | Tue-Fri, Sun (11am-8pm) + Fri (11am-9pm) | 285 |
| Arch Rock Brewing Co. | Gold Beach | Tue-Fri (11am-6pm) + Sat (11am-5pm) | 345 |
| Chetco Brewing Co. | Brookings | Sun-Mon/Th (12-7pm) + Tue/Fri-Sat (12-8pm) | 375 |
| Misty Mountain Brewing Co. | Brookings | Wed-Th (1-8pm) + Fri-Sat (1-9pm) + Sun (1-7pm) | 375 |
| Wild River Brewing Co. | Brookings | Daily (11am-10pm) | 375 |
Looking for more HOP-Based Adventures?
Check out some of my other hiking and beer blog posts, including: