Grand Fir Brewing is preparing to open a second location this fall, a sprawling riverside taproom and beer garden set along Highway 224 near the edge of Happy Valley and Damascus. The new spot, called The Outpost, will sit at 15252 SE Highway 224, where Highway 224 meets Highway 212 in rural Clackamas County, and it marks a major leap for the Portland brewery founded by Whitney Burnside and chef Doug Adams.
According to oregonlive.com, the brewery is preparing to open the second location this fall, expanding well beyond the footprint of its original Southeast Stark Street taproom. Grand Fir Brewing first opened in November 2022, according to KOIN.com, and has since built a following around Burnside's beers and Adams's food program. Burnside is Grand Fir's founder and brewmaster, while Adams is a Top Chef finalist whose cooking has helped shape the brewery's identity from the start.
A Beer Garden Built for the Outdoors
The scale of The Outpost sets it apart from Grand Fir's original location. Plans call for an approximately 1,100-square-foot indoor taproom paired with a nearly 13,000-square-foot beer garden and a year-round heated solarium, per newschoolbeer.com's report on the project. The venue is also expected to include indoor and covered event areas, live music, games, a play space and regular cookouts, giving the site a much larger hospitality footprint than a typical urban taproom.
Behind the bar, the brewery plans to install 30 draft lines, with half dedicated to Grand Fir's own house beers, the same report notes. That leaves significant room for guest taps, a detail that suggests The Outpost is being built as a broader beer-garden destination rather than simply a satellite pour station for Grand Fir's existing lineup.
Barbecue, Food Trucks and an East Texas Smoker
Food will carry real weight at the new location. Adams plans to put a newly acquired smoker from East Texas to work on barbecue and food specials, according to newschoolbeer.com, and oregonlive.com reports that visitors can look forward to steak or smoked chicken nights, along with crawfish or crab boils. Weekday offerings are expected to include barbecue sandwiches, clam chowder, salads, chips and queso, and custom sausages.
Two food trucks, Taqueria Las Palomas and Bangkok Station Thai Street Food, are already on site, with a third truck planned, the outlet reports. The combination of a dedicated smoker program and rotating food trucks points to a venue designed for long visits rather than quick pints.
Timeline Hinges on Permitting
A firm opening date has not been set. If permitting proceeds as planned, the official opening could land in late November or December 2026, according to youroregonnews.com, though that timeline remains conditional on the permitting process playing out as expected.
Expansion Against an Industry Headwind
The move comes as Grand Fir projects its own beer production will climb from about 1,000 barrels in 2025 to an expected 1,400 barrels in 2026, with 2,000 or more projected for 2027, per washingtonbeerblog.com. The brewery added tanks and cellar space in 2025 specifically to boost output, a step Burnside described in comments to newschoolbeer.com's three-year anniversary interview, where she said the industry is shifting toward an old-school brewpub model as younger drinkers gravitate toward cider and low-alcohol options.
That growth stands in contrast to a broader contraction across the craft-beer sector. Total U.S. craft beer production fell 4% in 2025 to 22,034,000 barrels, and the number of operating U.S. craft breweries declined 2.9% to 9,578, according to the Brewers Association. The same report found that hospitality-driven models such as brewpubs and taprooms remained comparatively resilient, a trend that lines up with Grand Fir's bet on a large-scale beer garden and events venue rather than packaged beer alone.
Grand Fir is not alone among Oregon breweries chasing growth through a second hospitality-focused location. pFriem Family Brewers opened a Milwaukie taproom seating more than 100 people with a large patio and private events space, while newschoolbeer.com has also chronicled St. Helens-based Crooked Creek Brewery following its own path toward expansion. For now, Grand Fir's plans for The Outpost remain centered on permitting, with the Damascus-area beer garden positioned as the brewery's biggest undertaking since it first opened its doors.
