beer, cider and spirits

The Salem area’s handcrafted-beverage culture embraces countless brewing styles, culinary influences and tasting-room vibes. It also goes far beyond the expected flights and offers quite a few firsts.

Salem’s Xicha Brewing is the first Latino-owned brewery — not just in Oregon but in the entire Pacific Northwest. Its tortas and tacos infuse Latin-American flavors into traditional pub fare, and the beer selection is equally eclectic. The golden ale is crafted with guava for a sweet finish while the Mexican-style lager, Chela, is brewed with flaked corn and holds biscuity notes.

McMenamins Thompson Brewery & Public House was the region’s first brewery to open following Prohibition, and head brewer Jen Kent is one of the area’s only female brewers. Kent cooks up the standard four beers loved at all McMenamins breweries — Ruby, Terminator, Hammerhead and IPA — plus her own concoctions, like the easygoing Briseno Mexican Dark Lager and fruity Oregon Night ale with hints of hatch chilies.

Also in Salem, Bine Valley Brewing has carved out a space for itself by handcrafting an ever-changing selection of small-batch pilsners, IPAs and porters that

Brewer Jen Kent

Brewer Jen Kent not only creates tasty concoctions for McMenamins’ Thompson Brewery & Public House, she’s one of the growing number of female brewers in the state. Kent started as a prep cook at the pub in 2006, but she found herself drawn to the brewing process and eventually landed the job of brewer. She’s run Thompson Brewery for well over a decade now, and is the brewer behind favorites such as A Beer Called Death, a coffee-noted imperial stout, and Noche Cigano, a tart cherry stout aged in a pinot noir barrel. Kent also shows off her artistic side when it comes to her brewing process. She loves being inspired by a subject and then putting the concept into a recipe. For example, she created her Lyrics to Go double IPA in honor of rapper Phife Dawg from A Tribe Called Quest. (McMenamins.com) can only be tasted in the taproom. Some brews repeat themselves occasionally, but many are expressions dreamed up and poured on draft for merely weeks before cycling through to something new.

The first brewery to land in Stayton, Snow Peak Brewing is owned by two husband-and-wife teams with local roots and solid beer chops. Brewing and pouring from an old brick building with glass doors that open onto the street, they’re family-friendly until 9:00 p.m., and you can bring your own food. Their hyperlocal brews include the hoppy Therapy Session IPA, chocolaty Schmokin Porter and the Saint Brigid Irish red ale.

Divine Distillers is the first distillery in the Salem region, located in Independence, and specializes in exceptionally smooth brandies, rums and spirits made from local ingredients. (The award-winning apple brandy is made with Jonagold apples sourced from a century-old farm in Dayton.) Try a farm-to-glass tasting flight or sign up online for an hour-long distillery tour. You can also enjoy 1859 Cider Co.’s hard cider — which has a cult following for its full-fruit flavors — from the tasting room. Keep an eye out as the distillery plans to eventually produce 1859 cider on the premises.