Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery

A farmhouse brewery on Springbrook Farm, a working hazelnut orchard in Newberg that has been farmed since roughly 1850. Founder Christian DeBenedetti grew up here — his parents took over the filbert operation in 1967, working an orchard that had been in production since the 1920s. The brewery occupies the 1912 barn where the family once processed and shipped nuts, and takes its name from a tag game DeBenedetti and his brothers played on the property as children.

DeBenedetti built a career as a beer journalist, writing for National Geographic Adventure and Men’s Journal, publishing two books on beer, and spending a fellowship year in Europe studying traditional brewing methods. He returned to Newberg in 2011, launched a Kickstarter in 2014 to convert the barn, and opened to the public in May 2016. The eight-barrel brewhouse and several fermenters were purchased from Heater Allen Brewing in McMinnville; the nine-foot Douglas fir doors were salvaged from Rainier’s original 1884 Portland brewery.

The beers are farmhouse ales in the truest sense — saisons, grisettes, mixed-culture pales, sours, low-ABV stouts, and lagers, brewed on the principle that a farmhouse brewer uses whatever the land provides. Hazelnuts from the orchard go into beers including Nutfarm, an imperial porter, and La Truffe, brewed with farm filberts and local white truffles, which debuted at a truffle festival and returns each late winter. Honey comes from hives DeBenedetti keeps in a meadow near the barn, with microbe-rich honeycomb used to start yeast cultures for saisons. Farm-grown figs, plums, and blackberries have all gone into barrel-aged releases, and foraging extends to wild plants across the property.

The tasting room and beer garden look out over hazelnut trees. There is no kitchen — snacks only — but outside food is welcome, which makes it a natural stop with a picnic.