It's old, it's new and it's salvaged for brew
Hopworks brewpub took 21 months to build and is a showcase of sustainability
Thursday, March 20, 2008
JOHN FOYSTON
The Oregonian
Christian Ettinger's new beard is growing in nicely, but he'll be happy to shave Tuesday, when Hopworks Urban Brewery is scheduled to open after a 21-month gestation.
His general manager, head brewer and chef also started beards a few months back, vowing not to shave until the doors opened at the brewery/restaurant/pub on Southeast Powell Boulevard. "I originally thought we'd be open a year ago," Ettinger said, "that was a naive fantasy, as it turned out: The rule seems to be double your timeline and double your budget."
When it opens, the brewpub will occupy 9,200 square feet of the former Sunset Fuel Co. building -- about half -- and will likely be Oregon's greenest and most sustainable. The brew kettle and the brewery truck run on biodiesel made from the deep-fryers' used oil; waste heat from the pizza ovens warms brewing water; the landscaping (native species except for the Scotch broom stabilizing the soil) is irrigated and the brewery washed down with runoff caught from the roof and saved in a 5,000-gallon tank; and the reflective roof provides a substantially cooler environment for air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment, increasing their efficiency.
As befits the acronym HUB, the place caters to Portland's love of two-wheeled transport with dedicated motorcycle parking, a bicycle repair stand by the front door and meeting space for clubs and community groups. You can buy a new bicycle inner tube at the bar with your pint of Hopworks organic ale -- which pours from a hexagonal stainless steel tap rail that looks like an Allen wrench plugged into the head of a huge socket bolt.
"All the creative stuff takes forever," Ettinger said as he showed off the bar's superstructure -- 42 bicycle frames skewered on a pipe-work frame and suspended over the copper-clad bar. Ettinger's architect dad, Roy Ettinger, provided much of the creativity and the nuts-and-bolts common sense as well. "I would've never attempted a place this big without his help," Ettinger said.
That creativity shows up everywhere, usually in the form of reducing/reusing/recycling. The bar, dining booths and other furnishings are made from timbers, joists and paneling saved during a monthlong deconstruction of the original interior. Other interior elements, such as Roy Ettinger's staircases, are built from traffic-sign standards and industrial materials. Together, the Ettingers built the massive steel deck the juts out over the long back lot. It's quiet back there, remote from Powell's unending bustle, and the view of the West Hills promises some spectacular sunset sessions to come.
Don't worry: There'll be beer to go with those sunsets. Some have worried that the beer might be overshadowed as the project grew ever more involved, but Ettinger remains a national-award-winning brewer at heart. Hopworks organic beers are available at 50 pubs and restaurants around the area and will soon be pouring at the source.
The pub also features planters made from beer kegs sawn in half, after a Pennsylvania brewery deemed it cheaper to scrap them in Portland than ship them home. The pub's gas fireplace is reworked from an old English pub fermenter bought for its scrap value and the Vault is just as it sounds: An old Mosler walk-in bank vault fitted as a private booth with a pedal-powered Lazy Susan -- and a nonlocking door.
Spent brewery grains will feed livestock; organic grain is used in bread and pizza crust; sauces and dressings are scratch-made to reduce packaging; and the coffee comes from Stumptown a few blocks away on Division Street. The napkins are 100 percent recycled material and RC cola is on tap because it's sold in returnable steel canisters, not the throwaway plastic bladders used by other companies. Order it to go, and it'll be served in a compostable corn-based cup.
No pub has more completely embraced Portland's passions, which is just as well because it's been almost two years since Ettinger, the former head brewer at Laurelwood Brewery, exchanged his rubber boots for a contractor's tool belt. In that time, the economy has lost its fizz, and a worldwide shortage of hops and barley has made it harder for craft brewers to find the makings of good beer.
"It is a scary time," said Ettinger, whose father-in-law bought the building and property and is the major investor, "but that's why I acted as my own contractor -- I've probably saved 50 percent or more than what it would have cost." He figures the project has cost about $2 million and includes almost 9,000 square feet of commercial space next to the pub to be leased out. There's also a half-acre of land in the back zoned for future development with condos, apartments or loft space, he said.
The investment in energy efficiency should pay off, too: Ettinger expects a 15 percent savings in energy consumption.
But in Portland, the real bottom line is the beer. Ettinger and brewer Ben Love brewed the first Hopworks organic ale at a McMinnville brewery for last June's North American Organic Beer Festival. In the most sincere "welcome home" possible, the crowd drained the Hopworks keg first -- a telling mark of honor among brewers. They've been brewing in the brewery downstairs since October, have 50 wholesale customers and are brewing at double the projected pace, all before the doors open.
"We're on track to brew 1,800 barrels (about 56,000 gallons) in our first year," he said, "We planned on 1,000, but we had no idea that the beer would take off like it did. So we are having to scramble for some ingredients, but that's a good problem to have." Stay up to date with Portland's beer scene at
http://blog.oregonlive.com/thebeerhere/
John Foyston: 503-294-5976;
johnfoyston@news.oregonian.com
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/o...510.xml&coll=7
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