Von Ebert and Grand Fir release light lager Sacred Stone in Portland

Portland’s summer beer scene has always been strongest when the pint and the plate show up together, and Sacred Stone was built for exactly that kind of outing. Von Ebert Brewing and Grand Fir Brewing released the 4 percent American lager as a collaboration with HarBQ, then gave it a barbecue-driven launch at Von Ebert’s North Mississippi taproom, 825 N Cook St., where the beer landed as a destination rather than just another can drop.

Sacred Stone fit the season with a lean spec and a bright flavor read. Von Ebert listed the beer at 4.0% ABV with tasting notes of water cracker, pineapple and lime, which points to a light lager that stays crisp but still pushes past plain cracker malt territory. The brewery made it available in draft and 16-ounce cans at its locations, and said it was also reaching some Northwest retailers, restaurants and bars while supplies lasted. That wider footprint matters because it gives a small-format lager more than one lane: taproom pour, package pickup, or a food pairing in the wild.

The collaboration also says something about where Portland beer is right now. Grand Fir Brewing, founded in 2022 in Southeast Portland by Brewmaster Whitney Burnside and Chef Doug Adams, has built itself around a beer-and-food concept rooted in community. Von Ebert, meanwhile, has used its collaboration series to turn beer releases into part of a larger production and distribution strategy, and Sacred Stone sat alongside future collaboration releases on that program page. In other words, this was not just a one-off beer name. It was a proof of concept for how breweries are using partnerships to pull drinkers into the room.

The barbecue hook made that strategy visible on May 30, when HarBQ chefs Harlan Porterfield and Evan Alvarado joined Chef Doug Adams for a grill-out at the North Mississippi taproom. That kind of event turns a lager into a reason to leave the house, and it gives beer fans a concrete place to chase the release instead of just reading about it after the fact. With Von Ebert now saying it has three Portland-area locations, and its Pearl and Cascade Station sites permanently closed, the North Mississippi room at 825 N Cook St. has become the kind of place where a summer collab can actually feel like a summer plan.