Oak Union Brewing lands permanent taproom and restaurant in Milwaukie

Oak Union Brewing has finally secured the kind of home that can change a brewery’s trajectory, moving from an alternating proprietorship into a permanent taproom and restaurant at 10909 SE Main Street in downtown Milwaukie. The space sits in the former Collector’s Mall inside the Perry’s Pharmacy Building redevelopment, giving the Portland-brewed brand a fixed address in a part of town that is quickly becoming one of the region’s most closely watched beer corridors.

The new site covers about 2,651 square feet in all, with roughly 1,750 square feet upstairs devoted to the brewery and restaurant and another 900 square feet below for storage, cooler space and back-of-house operations. That footprint marks a major step for Oak Union, which launched in January 2023 and had been building toward a brick-and-mortar base in Milwaukie and nearby Oak Grove. For co-founder and head brewer Trevor Lauman, the move represents more than a lease. It turns years of planning into a place where Oak Union can build a regular rhythm around food, fresh beer and a neighborhood presence that a temporary setup never quite allows.

Lauman’s path to this point runs deep in Oregon beer. He got his start as a homebrewer, studied fermentation science at Oregon State University and worked at Ancestry Brewing and Zoiglhaus before launching Oak Union. His personal connection to ALS also has shaped his work, adding another layer to a project that has long been about more than just getting beer into tanks. A permanent taproom gives Oak Union a steadier platform for the dark, folkloric European and West Coast-inspired beers that have defined the brand so far.

Milwaukie is the right kind of gamble for that next step. pFriem Family Brewers opened its Milwaukie tasting room at 10722 SE Main St. in April 2025, and Migration Brewing announced it would anchor the 1847 Food Park at the corner of SE Scott and Main streets. Breakside Brewery’s main facility is close by, and Beer Store Milwaukie remains part of the draw. The city has also pushed downtown redevelopment with public investments such as a festival street and public plaza, while the Perry’s Rexall Building project is meant to activate commercial space for restaurants, retail, creative studios and offices.

Oak Union benefits from that momentum and from a landlord already doing part of the heavy lifting. The redevelopment has left the building in a gray-shell state, which cuts down on some of the expensive tenant-improvement work that can sink a young brewery. That matters because Oak Union is no longer just hunting for visibility. It is planting a flag in downtown Milwaukie, where permanence is the real prize and the new taproom is built to last.