Brotherly love extends beyond beer making and managing their company for the famous McMenamin brothers.

Brian and Mike McMenamin, Northeast Portland natives, actually like each other, even after 40 years into being business partners.

“We agree to disagree a lot,” said Brian, 65, and almost seven years younger than Mike. “We just kinda got along. He would always include me in stuff, which was fun. Classic, good old story, nothing too sinister there.

“We’re still laughing. And, if we can survive the past three years, we can do a lot of things.”

Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc with the McMenamins’ business, which includes a variety of 56 establishments, from flagship Barley Mill Pub to Hillsdale Pub to Mission Theater to Crystal Ballroom to Kennedy School in Portland, McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale, Hotel Oregon in McMinnville, the Old St. Francis School in Bend, Cornelius Pass Roadhouse in Hillsboro and places near and far (as in Washington state, including the Kalama Harbor Lodge of all places). There are brewpubs, breweries, music venues, historic hotels, theater pubs and more.

McMenamins has been celebrating its 40th anniversary, and every place will feature some sort of festivities on Monday, July 3 (see mcmenamins.com).

The history goes back to the opening of Barley Mill and then Greenway Pub in Beaverton and Hillsdale in 1983; the McMenamins had a bar in Hillsboro briefly and delved into other projects, including wine, before teaming up for what became one of Oregon’s signature hospitality and beer/restaurant companies.

Pamplin Media Group caught up with Brian for a rousing question-and-answer session:

Pamplin Media Group: Recall the beginnings with your brother 40 years ago?

Brian McMenamin: My brother was 6½ years older. When growing up as a little kid, I didn’t know him, he was older and it was a whole different world he lived in. I was in high school and college and we began communicating, we got along really well. We decided at some point we wanted to do a pub together. He had got into it with Produce Row in the mid-1970s, and I helped out washing dishes or whatever hanging out with older brother. We wanted to get into business together. Here we are. (Both brothers went to Oregon State University.)

Our first McMenamins pub together was in 1980 (2020 NE Cornell Road in Hillsboro, now called O’Brien’s Pub) and we sold that, and formed McMenamins as we know it in 1983 and started brewing in 1985 (when a state law allowed bars/restaurants to serve beer they brewed on premises). Back in those days (in Hillsboro bar), it sounds weird in today’s world, we tried to serve every draft available; starting late ‘70s and early ‘80s, we’d have up to 35 beers on tap. Lot of places that do that now, back then it was crazy. We tried to serve every bottle available.

PMG: Then along came brewing, and the likes of Hammerhead, Terminator and Ruby.

McMenamin: We experimented with all sorts of stuff. People thought we were nuts for throwing fruit into a beer. Give everything a try and see what stuck. A lot of beer was not good, but we were trying.

PMG: You’ve engaged in so many bar/restaurant projects, renovating old facilities or building your own (such as a replica Hawaii hotel in Kalama, Washington). What are your favorites?

McMenamin: Each place has its own little story. That’s what we love about the whole thing. The Kennedy School (on NE 33rd Avenue off Killingsworth) was a big one, getting there when the city accepted our offer and decided to go with us, the first time we had been accepted by the community to do a project (by Portland Development Commission). In the early years we had to go to church meetings and school meetings about why we wanted to be in the neighborhood, why we would be good guys and not bad guys. Lot of skepticism there. Kennedy was the first one where there was a public ceremony really, they were giving us the key to neighborhood. … And, now I go to Rock Creek Tavern (in Hillsboro), which burned down a number of years ago, and the community came out and helped us rebuild, that was neat to see.

PMG: The funny thing is you and your brother like wine these days.

McMenamin: I’m a wino, I love a wine. He had a distributorship for while, we not only brought beer into the state but also lots of wine, too. We have a winery at Edgefield, and we started making wine. We do red, white, everything now.

PMG: Which beers are your favorite?

McMenamin: I’m more of an IPA kind of guy, love the hops, but I guess I’m supposed to show the business side and say I like lighter beers, because we can sell more of it. There’s a push on IPA and hazes, but I like to see the trend back to pilsners and lager. Brother’s more into wine. We both are.

PMG: How’s the yin-yang work with you and your brother?

McMenamin: He’s more of the visionary, I’m more of the backroom guy, maybe more nuts and bolts. That’s pigeonholing a bit. We both do a little bit of everything. We delegate a lot these days. Mike’s three kids are involved (sons Dan and Sean, daughter Shannon), my son is involved (Conners, in IT). We’re getting them to understand and see what we’re doing, stepping back and letting them do it, which is good. … I’ve never worked a day in a life so what do I retire from?

PMG: You sought investors during COVID-19 pandemic, and were successful, raising millions of dollars for operations. Happy with that?

McMenamin: (Pandemic) was a dark time. We did the takeout thing, something we never really did. Our places are more about, in my mind, the experience. There’s more than just eating and drinking. That was the hardest part, transitioning to takeout. Thankfully, it worked, and we made the transition. We were shocked, thought we were asking at a bad time, the chips were down and things were tough. We had a lot of loyal fans out there and they stepped to the plate. That money is there for future improvements, future capital.

PMG: It’s a competitive industry, even without a pandemic thrown into the mix.

McMenamin: We’re stubborn Irishmen.

PMG: How many employees have been around for 40 years?

McMenamin: There’s a gal called Thursday Jane, who started at the Barley Mill when it opened. She runs tours out at Edgefield, and talks about the company — way smarter than we are. We have a lot of people with us forever. We do dinner every year to celebrate people who have been with us 15 years and then more in five-year increments. If you say 20 years, there’s probably a few hundred people.

PMG: What does the future hold?

McMenamin: We started one project in Kalama, where we took over an original port building, and we’ll be opening that in couple months — gives us additional space for meetings, another little pub, which will be great. At Cornelius Pass Roadhouse, we have permits, but we’ve not started building the hotel there. Been working on that for years. At Edgefield we’re continuing to want to expand, we purchased property north of Halsey called the Pig Farm and have ideas, drawings, we’re getting the ship back together.

PMG: The Kalama Harbor Lodge is a cool place, patterned after a Lahaina, Hawaii hotel and named after town’s founder (John Kalama).

McMenamin: It’s going nuts. Really crazy, really fun, the (Kalama) port continues to be great to work with. We’ve only been there a handful of years, and cruise ships stop there now, all the river cruises.

PMG: What’s a favorite McMenamins event?

McMenamin: UFO Festival (in McMinnville) is one of my favorites. It’s all about community, the whole thing is about fun, whether you think it’s real or not. I’m not a believer or disbeliever, what do I know?

PMG: Favorite establishment?

McMenamin: I try to go to all of them, for a beer or lunch. Each one is unique and has its own story, that’s what’s fun about all of it, at least to me, and customers like that also.

PMG: You’re a moustache guy, and your brother has the full beard.

McMenamin: I had a beard, but I looked too much like my father, and I wasn’t ready to go there, yet.