Metrofactual

It’s no secret, we like our beer.

The Portland area’s microbrew cluster, anchored by longtimers such as Bridgeport, Widmers and McMenamins, offers up a total of 49 microbreweries and brewpubs, scattered from Vancouver to Clackamas to Hillsboro.

Make that an even 50, starting May 2, when Bend-based Deschutes Deschutes opens its hip-cool new brewery in Portland’s Pearl, across from the Gerding Theatre.

Deschutes invested a reported $5 million to renovate an auto body shop that now includes a grain silo nestled into the building’s roof, tables crafted from massive reclaimed beams, and a brewhouse that was trucked across the country from North Carolina to brew 650 gallons per batch here in Portland.

Deschutes expects the new brewery to produce 130,000 gallons of beer annually for Portlanders. And we expect to drink them.

Check out Deschutes’ April 26 pre-opening benefit for Oregon Trout, whose good work helps clean up our rivers and streams.

More Metrofacts:

Where there’s beer, there’s pizza.

Greater Portland, with 352 pizza places, is the pizza capital of the West.

With 16 pizza joints per 100,000 residents, the metro area outranks Seattle (with 13), L.A. (10) and San Francisco (a mere seven).

The US Census Bureau’s just-released population estimates for metropolitan areas suggest we’re a nation of sun seekers.

Of the 50 major US metros, 43 added residents in 2006, with the biggest gainers dotting the Sun Belt. Topping the list were Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix, Houston, and Riverside-San Bernadino, California. Of the 10 most moved-to metros in ’06, four were in Texas.

Then there are those, Portland among them, that are defying the trend and attracting residents with amenities other than relentless sunshine. In the top 15, joining the southern metros were Chicago, Denver, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Portland.

While the greater Portland region’s growth was a modest 2% from 2006-2007, Charlotte, Austin and Raleigh grew at the fastest clip – more than 4% each. The US overall grew by 1%.

The Portland region welcomed some 41,000 new residents in 2006 – nearly the same number that moved to twice-our-size Washington, D.C. The increase puts our estimated total at 2,175,113 residents and makes us the 23rd-largest major metro in the US.

More Metrofacts:

Biggest population losers in 2006 were the Rust Belt metros of…

Detroit (-27,000 residents)
Cleveland (-9,000 residents)
Pittsburgh (-7,500 residents)
Buffalo (-5,000 residents)