I first encountered Andy McMillan in 2022, when he was running Portland’s now-defunct pop-up bar, Suckerpunch. Now he’s the successful founder of Heck Brewing, an NA beer brand based in Portland.
But before all that, he was an event producer. He ran a festival called XOXO. “The origin story for all of this is that we had had a dedicated nonalcoholic bar program at the festival,” Andy told me. “But then that turned into me wanting to open a bar, that then turned into me wanting to open a brewery.”
Thanks to his business partnership with Justin Miller, Andy has been able to bring Heck to the market. “He’s a beer guy who’s been in the industry for a long time,” Andy said. Justin worked at Hopworks for 16 years, ending his stint there as head brewer. “He’s one of the most accredited and accomplished NA specialty brewers in the country at this point. And he’s my business partner. I got really lucky that I met this guy,” Andy said. “The beer that he makes is exceptional. Justin is behind the beer.”
In 2021, Andy hired Justin to make a special beer for Suckerpunch. But when he saw how much people loved Justin’s NA beer, he decided that would be his next direction.
It took a few years to get going. “All of the work that had to go into conceiving it, developing the recipes, getting something we were happy with, regulatory stuff, packaging design, the business investment, like all of this stuff just strung over the course of the last few years,” Andy said. Now Heck is available in 115 locations across Oregon and Southwest Washington. “We’re starting to get into specialty NA bottle shops and bars around the country now as we start to look to national expansion. We hit the market a year and a half ago. It’s been a whirlwind, for sure.” A Portland taproom might also be in the works for Heck in 2026.
Heck describes its Silver Linings IPA as bitter, balanced and full-bodied, with notes of spruce, mandarin and pineapple. Gentle Persuasion Golden, inspired by classic European lagers, is crisp and bright.
Heck has done some community events, including partnering with Ariel Dunitz-Johnson of EverAFter to set up an NA bar and beer station at a huge pride party in July. The shindig was held at Sports Bra, Portland’s bar dedicated to women’s sports. “That was a big success,” Andy said. “Everyone really loved that. That’s a rager, right? People show up to that Pride block party to get drunk and dance their asses off.” Many partygoers told him how much they appreciated having special NA options. “They felt safe and considered.”
But most exciting of all? Spotting Heck in the wild. “What I really love is when I’m out and there are people sitting around having lunch and they’re drinking it. And I walk past. They don’t know that it’s mine; I made that. It’s so cool to see people out in the world enjoying it.”
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