Clackamas County Brewery Taprooms, Bars, and Restaurants Reopen During COVID-19 Pandemic

On Saturday, May 23, Clackamas county allowed its brewery taprooms, bars, and restaurants to reopen under Phase 1 of Oregon’s three phase reopening guidance. Clackamas county is Oregon’s third-most populous county to be allowed to reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With Marion and Polk counties reopening this week to enter Phase 1 yesterday, and today’s reopening of Clackamas county, now 34 of Oregon’s 36 counties are back open. Only Multnomah and Washington counties are the only two that remain closed. And Washington already submitted its paperwork to Governor Kate Brown and has its sights set to start Phase 1 on Monday, June 1.

Being that Clackamas county is part of Oregon’s largest metropolitan area, government officials would like to see residents of neighboring counties not traveling into the recently reopened county or any other reopened counties. An influx of non-residents could jeopardize the progress that has been made.

These brewery taprooms, bars, and restaurants were instructed to close its doors for onsite consumption over two months ago. The reopening of these businesses is quite different and is a challenge for business owners. All of these businesses will be operating on very limited capacity and hours, all the while sanitizing more frequently.

Breweries that opened on Saturday in Clackamas county include Mt. Hood Brewing, Vanguard Brewing, Fearless Brewing Company, Bent Shovel Brewing – Beer Garden, Bunsenbrewer, and The HiVe Taproom featuring Shattered Oak Brewing and Hillock Brewing. On Sunday, Breakside Brewery’s Milwaukie Taproom opened its doors to the public.

A couple of Clackamas county breweries have plans to open later this week. These breweries include Oregon City Brewing planning on opening on May 29 and Stickmen Brewing – Lake Oswego later in the week. Both Coin Toss Brewing and Boring Brewing continue to plan on offering to go beer only for the time being.

Here’s a look at what Phase 1 in Oregon requires for brewery taprooms, bars, and restaurants.

Additional info on COVID-19 updates from the Oregon Health Authority can be viewed here: https://govstatus.egov.com/OR-OHA-COVID-19. Multnomah county has its own webpage that one can follow to see where the county stands on reopening in Phase 1. This can be viewed here: https://multco.us/novel-coronavirus-covid-19/reopening-multnomah-county-amid-covid-19.