Mike McMenamin (left) and brewer Conrad Santos make a beer in 1985 at Hillsdale Brewery & Public House, early in the existence of the McMenamins empire.

Today, there is seemingly a brewpub on about every corner in the Portland metro area, and certainly in most towns in Oregon. But, there was a first, and it was Hillsdale Brewery & Public House, which the McMenamin brothers opened in 1985.

Thanks to some lobbying by Mike McMenamin and others, it became legal in Oregon to serve the beer you brewed at the same location where you brewed it. So, Hillsdale Brewery started making beer and offering it up to drink at the flagship brewpub, 1505 S.W. Sunset Blvd. — basically across Southwest Beaverton Hillsdale Highway from Ida B. Wells High School, and just up the hill, site of an old Skippers.

Bridgeport and Widmer had opened breweries also about the same time, and Henry’s had a tasting room — but none of them could sell beer on the property.

So, that’s the historic backdrop to the 30th annual Hillsdale Brewfest, which takes place from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, at Hillsdale Brewery & Public House. My Siamese Twin provides music, 12:30 to 2 p.m. and 3 to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

But, it’ll be mostly about the beer. The Hillsdale Brewfest has included a fun competition, the “Battle for the Belt,” held throughout the years. Traditionally a one-day event, it’s taking place over three days to mark the 30th anniversary, and it entails McMenamins brewers vying for the title of best brew and the notorious championship belt.

Tasting and voting kicks off on Friday, and closes Sunday evening. There’ll be two taster trays with 11 beers on each, and then it’s in the hands (and mouths) of visitors to vote. The samples cover a wide variety of brew styles — from amber ales to chocolate porters to lighter lagers and hop-forward IPAs.

Almost every McMenamins brewery enters the competition at Hillsdale Brewfest.

Bart Hance, now the Cornelius Pass Roadhouse (Hillsboro) distiller, was one of the first winners of the Hillsdale Brewfest competition with a barley wine called Old Bushwacker. It was the third year of the brewfest.

After winning with Old Bushwacker, Hance showed up the next year with a leather belt held over his head, a la Portland Wrestling grappler, “defending against all comers. Of course, I got trounced that year,” he said. That’s how the champions belt tradition started.

Hence said it’s a friendly competition, but brewers “work the crowd” to try to sway voting — “friendly bribery,” he added.

“Brewers get a chance to bring what they want,” he added, of the brewfest, in which he competed close to 20 times before becoming a distiller. “And, it’s good market research. When you’re faced with 18 choices like that, often the beer that gets voted for is the beer that stands out, but not one you want two or three pints of. You need a beer that stands out amongst the crowd.”

Just think, back in 1985, the McMenamins brothers and brewers such as Conrad Santos were trying to perfect their three traditional beers — Ruby, Hammerhead and Terminator Stout — right there at Hillsdale Brewery & Public House.

“Terminator Stout was originally the best seller, then Hammerhead. Ruby has risen, and nobody else makes anything like Ruby. She’s the queen, still the best selling beer we make,” said Rob Vallance, McMenamins director of brewing operations.

“Ruby was the first beer (McMenamins) brewed with fruit. They were experimenting with fruits, and raspberry presented the best; and we make Purple Haze with blackberry. (Ruby) is an easy drinking beer, and the recipe is simple: water, malted barley, yeast and raspberries. It is the genius of its simplicity that makes it so good.”

In the early days, it was Hillsdale, Cornelius Pass Roadhouse and Lighthouse Brewpub in Lincoln City where Santos and the McMenamins brothers made beer. Interestingly, the McMenamins have long used the Barley Mill in Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard as a source of ground grain, and still do once a year, because it has a huge mill in the middle of the pub.

Brewers have added to the McMenamins catalog with dozens of other beers throughout the years, and many of them providing them at the Hillsdale Brewfest. McMenamins still has decentralized brewing — no major brewing operation, but individual breweries at all of its breweries/pubs, with Edgefield in Troutdale being the biggest producer (averaging about 450 barrels a month, one-third of company output) and Anderson School in Bothell, Washington, Elks Temple in Tacoma, Washington, and Cornelius Pass Roadhouse and Crystal Brewery and Kennedy School in Portland also ranking high.

And, brewers are given freedom and encouraged to make their own brews, Vallance said. The thing is new beers are made in small batches, 10 to 12 barrels, just in case they don’t work out.

“Mike’s interested in having beers made on site,” Vallance added. “Personal touch; patrons can meet the brewer. It’s all part of his philosophy, keep everything local and smaller.”

Meanwhile, the 38-year-old Hillsdale keeps plugging along, one of the nearly 60 McMenamins properties. Along with being the first brewpub, it was the site of one of Oregon’s first beer festivals in its parking lot, a gathering that led to the formation of the Oregon Brewers Festival.

“The interior has gone through some polishing,” Vallance said. “It’s not, like, dramatically different. Mike’s always looking at making interiors better. The brewery used to be a three-barrel system, now it’s six, and we got a local manufacturer to build new copper kettles, so we got a six-copper kettle system. When at full production, we do about 40 barrels a month there.”

For more on McMenamins and Hillsdale Brewfest, see McMenamins.com.