A photograph of the outside of TPK Brewing Co., showing three stairs up to the main entrance along with a ramp along the front of the building on Hawthorne Blvd.

LIKE MOST GOOD ADVENTURES, YOURS BEGINS IN A TAVERN

TPK Brewing Co. is a craft brewery with the nerdiest of twists: we have full-time professional Game Masters on staff running a variety of tabletop roleplaying games daily for our patrons.

OUR STORY

A photograph of Elliott Kaplan, Jess Hardie, and Dana Ebert posing in front of the brick wall at 5051 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

A photograph of Elliott Kaplan, Jess Hardie, and Dana Ebert cheersing beer in front of the brick wall at 5051 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

A photograph of Elliott Kaplan and Dana Ebert having spilled beer on Jess Hardie during the cheers in front of the brick wall at 5051 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

TPK Brewing Co. was founded by three equal-part owners: Jess Hardie, Elliott Kaplan, Dana Ebert.

Jess, our Head Brewer, and Elliott, our CEO, met while working in the video game industry back in 2012. A lifelong Game Master, Elliott introduced Jess to the tabletop world with a 24 hour roleplaying stream as part of the Extra-Life charity fundraiser, and she's been hooked ever since. The pair started homebrewing together in 2016, and were inspired to develop their craft further, going on to study brewing at the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago in 2018. Shortly after, Jess began brewing amazing beers inspired by her group’s roleplaying games, and the seeds for what would eventually become TPK Brewing Co. were planted. Jess and Elliott went through Portland State University’s Business of Craft Brewing program that same year to tune up TPK’s business plan, and they began looking for the right time to bring the vision to life.

Dana joined up as our Creative Director in the summer of 2021, just as the building search had begun in earnest. Jess and Elliott were looking for a published tabletop roleplaying author, game designer, and professional voice actor with a history of running games in pubs to round out the founding team. It was not an easy search, but they were tipped off to a popular local Dungeons & Dragons podcast called The League of Ultimate Questing where Dana is a mainstay. Dana was in the process of making the leap from marketing analytics into game design full time, and it was immediately apparent this was the right founding trio.

We had long admired the aesthetic and location of the Tabor Bread building, a whimsical bakery nestled in a neighborhood right at the base of Mt. Tabor. When they moved into a new space that better matched their future plans, we purchased the building and began renovations that took the majority of 2023 to complete. We preserved the front half of the building, including the massive wood burning brick oven that continues to be the focus of the main room, but expanded the front gable roof all the way to the back of the property to add room for gaming tables upstairs, overlooking a 7 BBL brew system.

We partnered with En Vida PDX to bring the food side of the tavern experience to life and the rest is history!

MISSION STATEMENT

MISSION

At TPK Brewing Co. we believe that imaginative social tabletop gaming is a transformational experience that has historically catered to a very small, exclusionary subset of the population. We exist to help break down those barriers and welcome everyone into the hobby by providing an accessible space to learn, adventure, and explore without judgment.

We believe beer pairs perfectly with this mission, as there’s nothing quite like sharing stories and adventures over a few good pints. At TPK Brewing Co. we know the best adventuring parties aren't all wizards, the best taplists have more than just IPAs, and the best breweries have diverse ownership teams directly involved in the day-to-day operations.

Gaming and brewing can both be so much more to so many more; we're here to change the narrative and do our part to open both industries to everyone. As such, we are avowedly antisexist and antiracist, tolerating neither from nor toward our staff, vendors, or customers.

You can find our Code of Conduct here.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

LAND

We honor the Indigenous people whose ancestral lands we reside on: Clackamas, Multnomah, bands of the Chinook, the Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, Yamhill, and many other Indigenous tribes whose homes were along the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. Through genocide, relocation, termination, and assimilation, various governments (past and present) have stolen this land, yes, but also language, ceremony, food, housing, education, healthcare, governance, medicines and kinship.

We recognize we are benefiting from this land as a result of a legacy of colonization. Land acknowledgments do not exist in a past tense, or historical context: colonialism is a current, ongoing process, and we seek to build an understanding of our present participation.

As guests on these lands, we respect the work of Indigenous leaders and families, and pledge to make ongoing efforts recognize their resilience and resistance. We commit to continuing to educate ourselves and others about the history and peoples of the land we occupy and honor that history as stewards of this space. We are also committed to the Native Land Beer Collaboration to celebrate Native American Heritage Month, in addition to finding other ways to give back financially as we grow.

Here are a few organizations that will put your donations to good use:

NICWA: Working to eliminate child abuse and neglect by strengthening families, tribes, and the laws that protect them.
NAYA: Enhances the diverse strengths of Native youth and families in partnership with the community through cultural identity and education.
NWNC: Dedicated to working with all members of the Native community to advance the educational and economic opportunities for Native Americans in Oregon and Southwest Washington.
NARA: Providing education, physical and mental health services and substance abuse treatment that is culturally appropriate to the Native community.
Landback: Putting in the work to get Indigenous Lands back into Indigenous hands.