He was an expert in mixed-culture beers with over two decades of brewing under his belt at places like Logsdon, Full Sail and Deschutes.
She was a veteran of the specialty-food industry who for decades has championed artisan food-makers.
So while most people don’t get married then plunge headlong into starting their own business, it made sense for Charles Porter and Brenda Crow.
The result is Little Beast Brewing, a maker of unique saison-style farmhouse ales that last year found a home in the former Lompoc Hedge House spot on Southeast Portland’s Division Street. There, the couple offer Porter’s wild, aged and mixed-fermentation beers and a small menu featuring Crow’s twists on classic American pub fare.
The setting is a blend of classic converted Portland bungalow meets old-world beer garden, with a little French Impressionism picnic thrown in. The vibe is easy – regulars line the bar trying the latest intriguing tap offering, friends catch up at sun-drenched picnic tables, kids and dogs frolic while their people stretch out on the front lawn.
The couple say they set out to create “a laid-back atmosphere that’s warm and inviting.”
Little Beast has won wide praise for its beers despite having only one full year of operation under its belt. Porter, the founding brewer at acclaimed Logsdon Farmhouse Ales, brings inventive twists to classic Belgian and European style beers, including saisons and pilsners. And he uses cultures such as Saccharomyces, Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus to create traditional and tart profiles as well as fruit, wild flora and wood-aging to build depth and character.
“I’m just trying to continue what I’ve been doing for the last 15 years, which is working with mixed-culture beers, and making unique flavor profiles,” says Porter, a 44-year-old who started his career in the Midwest and in 2000 moved to Oregon. “I like a lot of fruited beers, barrel-aging.”
Among Little Beast’s best-known beers are Bes, a tart wheat ale, and Fera, a saison with Brettanomyces tartness. The brewery also produces seasonal beers, many of which are aged with fruit such as strawberries, tart cherries, pears, peaches and raspberries.
“This is my 26th year of brewing, so I do have a good background,” says Porter, who had worked at small breweries in the Midwest but got hired to brew at Deschutes and Full Sail in an effort to learn their processes and “hone my craft.” He continued to push his creativity by experimenting at home, then he helped launch Logsdon in 2009, the start of an award-winning run there.
Portler and Crow married, and he left the Hood River brewery as the couple made Portland home. In 2017, they started Little Beast in Beaverton, eventually building a production facility in Clackamas then opening the pub in Portland, now home to Little Beast.
When they took over the Lompoc Hedge House – previously a residence that would become home to a fortuneteller – Porter and Crow remade the cramped interior by ripping out booths and building a taproom featuring a walnut-topped bar and a new draft system. The beer garden outside also features a covered back porch that’s heated and enclosed in winter.
The menu continues to evolve, says Crow, a 42-year-old who went to culinary school in Italy and for two decades worked in sales and distribution at well-known craft-food makers, including California’s Laura Chenel and Marin French Cheese, then Portland’s Olympia Provisions. At Little Beast, the menu currently features pub favorites like nachos and sandwiches, complemented by potato croquettes, artisan cheese plates and an arugula and goat cheese salad. The mac and cheese boasts piquant Fera cheese sauce, charcuterie crumbles and powdered chicharrones.
“It really is just elevated bar food,” Crow says. “It’s meant to pair well with beer. It’s pretty simple, but I think it’s a good complement to the beers we make.”
The name – Little Beast – is “an ode to the little critters that ferment beer,” Porter says. “The yeast and bacteria” in the brewery’s mixed-culture beers.
Porter and Crow said brewing such niche beers made sense because of Porter’s background, even if such styles don’t carry the demand of the ubiquitous IPA (though Little Beast does brew an IPA). In 2018, the brewery produced just under 300 barrels, and while they are distributing in Oregon, Washington and California, they’re not looking to become a big brewery.
“I think it’s wise to specialize,” Crow says. “We’re comfortable working in that setting where it doesn’t need to be volume. We’re both passionate people. We’re strategic in the way we need to be to move a brand that is specialty at a higher price point.
“We do a lot of demos, a lot of tastings,” she says. “But it is more work to sell a beer that a lot of people have never heard of, that didn’t even know this style of beers exists.”
Porter says although his beers may be different, they are widely approachable. Bes, for example, is a “sour beer with training wheels.”
“When I first made Bes, I gave it just enough acidity to where it’s mouthwatering,” he says. “So people that come up and are like, ‘Oh I don’t like sours,’ and I’m like, ‘Well try this.’ Then it’s like ‘Oh, I do like sours!’”
Little Beast sampler
Why go: Top-notch farmhouse and mixed-fermentation ales, many with tart and/or fruit profiles. Cozy taproom for the beer connoisseur, plus a quaint and laid-back beer garden where the kids and dogs can play.
What to drink: In addition to Bes and Fera are year-round Animal Family, a foeder-aged farmhouse ale; and Ferme Rouge. The seasonals and new releases should not be avoided at any cost.
What to eat: Potato croquettes and cheese basil bread, Oregon grinder with Olympia Provisions capicola; the kids snack board features honey butter nori snack mix.
Details: 3412 S.E. Division St.; 503-208-2723; noon-10 p.m. Wed-Thurs and Sun-Mon, noon-11 p.m. Fri-Sat, closed Tues; 14 Little Beast taps, one tap cider, one tap white/rose wine; dogs welcome, kids welcome until 8 p.m.; littlebeastbrewing.com
Check out my reviews of Little Beast Brewing’s beers on Untappd and more content on Instagram.
-- Andre Meunier
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