The lower level dining area at Grand Fir Brewing that is now open at 1403 SE Stark Street in Portland, Oregon.
This past Friday, Grand Fir Brewing, Portland’s latest brewery opened its doors to a line of waiting patrons outside. These folks were excited to be the first to enjoy the beer and food from this new brewpub that’s been creating a buzz around Portland.
Grand Fir Brewing is a new brewpub from award-winning brewer Whitney Burnside and celebrated chef Doug Adams. The married couple brought their dream of opening their own brewpub to reality last weekend.
Located in the historic Luxury Bread Building that dates back to 1929, Grand Fir Brewing has created something special. The space was previously the home of West Coast Grocery Co. that had their rough four-year run end this past summer.
Prior to beginning her brewery career, Whitney took her culinary degree from Johnson & Wales University to become a cheesemaker at Herbfarm Restaurant in Woodinville, Washington. While there, she took the fermentation process in cheese to her newfound hobby of homebrewing.
She then made the jump into professional brewing in 2009 when Laurelwood Brewing hired her. From there she went on to work in the brewhouse at Upright Brewing and back to the Puget Sound are to brew at Elysian Brewing. Then she returned to Oregon to take the Head Brewer position at Pelican Brewing in Pacific City. From there she was hired by 10 Barrel Brewing in 2015 to become the Brewmaster at its new Portland outpost. There she brewed award winning beers, including one of our favorites, Whitburger, a Bohemian Style Pilsner.
Old Growth Fresh Beer at the newly opened Grand Fir Brewing.
Doug also came from a culinary background, but ended up making it a career, one that has taken him from the kitchen to the small screen. During his career he has worked in some of the best restaurants in Portland. He spent nearly a decade working for Vitaly Paley at Paley’s Place and then as the Executive Chef at Imperial. During this time he made his small screen debut in 2015 as a finalist on the television program, Top Chef.
He then left Imperial to open Bullard in 2019 where he presented a menu that was inspired by his Texas roots. Doug then went on to co-found Holler Hospitality where he opened Holler in the Portland’s Sellwood neighborhood. But this all came to a halt in mid-2021 when Doug announced that he was departing from both Bullard and Holler Hospitality to focus on his family.
It was the pandemic that made him readjust his priorities in life and begin to conceptualize the dream that he and Whitney had of opening their own brewpub.
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