Our founder, Tom Sims, once worked just north of here as a weld grinder and ship fitter at Nichols Brothers Boat and Barge. He helped to build a lot of the steel tugs and cruise boats that still run up and down the Willamette. Later he moved to Knappton Tug and Barge where he sent weldments and other equipment over to the Galvanizers to be coated. Thirty years later, he’s brewing beer across the street from the Galvanizers in the same neighborhood where he found his love of working with his hands and building things to last.

Tom applied everything he learned in those year of shipbuilding to the NW Brewery & Taproom. Under the arching bow truss of an old warehouse behind Montgomery Park, we’re brewing beer in one of the last true industrial areas in Portland. We welded the tables, the bar, the beer board and the sign.