Bull Run/ Little Sandy Watershed – Portland Brewshed®

Portland has bragging rights to some of the best drinking water in the country thanks to the Bull Run/Little Sandy watershed, but that delicious H2O and the plethora of Portland breweries that rely on it wouldn’t be if not for the decades of work to keep the watershed pristine.

Closed to human entry since 1895, the Bull Run Reserve collects its water from rain, fog drip, and snowfall in the forested wildlands west of Mount Hood. In the 1990s, when storm runoff and erosion from reckless logging projects on federal land threatened to foul Bull Run’s water, Oregon Wild pushed the city of Portland to take a stand and help Oregon Wild in stopping these destructive projects, eventually protecting the 95,000 acres of forestland surrounding the Bull Run/Little Sandy watersheds.

But it didn’t end there – in 2009 when the clean, natural waters were at risk of chemical treatment, Widmer Brothers and Oregon Wild teamed up to safeguard Portland’s water supply. This was how the Oregon Brewshed® Alliance concept was born! So as you sip that refreshing Widmer Hefe in the summer heat, savor a Glisan St. Dry Hop on the Migration patio, enjoy an Ex Novo Mexican Lager, or drink a Hopworks Abominable Winter Ale on the slopes of Mount Hood, remember the wild protected in every pint!