Steeplejack Brewing plans Manzanita taphouse and pub, plus hotel, arcade, ice cream shop
Author
Andre Meunier
Date published
October 25, 2022
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Brody Day and Dustin Harder don’t think small.
When they opened Northeast Portland’s Steeplejack Brewing over a year ago, they transformed a century-old church into a stunning brewpub. Five months ago, they opened their second location, Steeplejack Pizza and Beer, in an expansive Southwest Portland space that was formerly home to the IBU Public House.
Two months later in July, they opened a production brewery and pub in Hillsboro with another eye-popping transformation: turning a concrete industrial space into an elegant, richly modern facility that seamlessly melds a brewery, bar, pub and storage areas.
Now, for their next trick, Day and Harder are trying something new: Starting from scratch.
For their fourth location, Steeplejack Brewing in Manzanita, the business partners plan a community gathering space that includes a family-friendly pub, taphouse and bar with a rooftop deck, a pinball and games arcade, a small hotel, a bocce ball court, and, just for good measure, an ice cream shop.
Just another step in the life of Steeplejack Brewing.
City officials have approved initial design plans, with some conditions that Day and Harder are working out. In a recent interview, Day said the partners were diligent in designing the complex to blend into downtown Manzanita and align with the vibe of the small coastal town, recently named among the 55 most beautiful in the United States.
“We’ve been really clear that we’re a family friendly destination that’s going to give the community, both locals and tourists alike, the ability to enjoy our space,” he said. “It’s not about being only for those over 21, but about family and community, too.”
Day said Manzanita city officials didn’t want big buildings that would “turn the town on its head. They wanted to see how it would fit in, and I think they’re really happy with it.”
The partners commissioned materials that would fit into the coastal aesthetic.
“In every design decision, we tried to make sure we would complement the existing buildings in downtown,” he said.
The double-lot complex, at 220 Laneda Ave., is across the street from Manzanita Grocery and Deli — The Little Apple. It is flanked by Dixie’s Vino wine tasting room to the west and finnesterre home goods store to the east.
Plans for the site are “set-ish,” Day said, with construction scheduled to start sometime next year. Challenges such as supply-chain issues, procuring material and labor for building such a complex on the coast, and figuring out staffing for the location mean opening isn’t anticipated until 2024.
Initial design illustrations show a complex with modern lines and rustic touches, with blond cedar siding on the exterior and light fir ceilings and wooden support beams inside. Slate gray accents inside and out create an elegant contrast for the decor of the buildings, whose construction employs laminated timber structural panels instead of traditional framing of wood and drywall.
The east end of the complex will include a two-story taphouse that can accommodate about 100 people, with wraparound decks plus indoor and outdoor firepits. The west end will feature the ice cream shop and arcade, which will include the rooftop deck for a “hanging out” community space, Day said. A three-unit small hotel is planned for behind the street-facing retail components.
Lawrence Gable, the chef who oversees food offerings at the three current Steeplejack locations, will develop a “coastal-inspired” menu that will include seafood, but not exclusively, Day said. The taphouse will offer a full bar of liquor, plus wine and Steeplejack beer on tap and to-go.
Steeplejack’s most recently opened location, the Hillsboro brewery and taphouse, is beginning to hit its stride after opening in July and has become most popular among the post-workday happy hour c“We’re getting traction in the community,” he said. “People in Hillsboro are coming to see us and starting to discover us.”
Part of the attraction is the space itself. Ignore the business park outside, walk through the doors and be immediately greeted with a view of the brewhouse, its two rows of glistening stainless steel fermenter tanks mimicking church organ pipes. To the left is a spacious tasting room, filled with dark, rich wooden tables and chairs similar to the original location.
To the right is the full bar, appointed with white tile and more chrome, including a gothic arch Steeplejack logo above the row of taps, all topped by an A-frame open steel-beamed “roof” designed like a chalet.
“The main purpose of Hillsboro is to have people familiarize themselves with our beer and tell the story of what we’re trying to achieve,” Day said. “It’s tailor made for that. No glass partitions, no fences around the brewhouse. The brewers are right there; it’s an experience.”
Dark, wooden booths offset by a modern, airy decor welcome taproom patrons, as does a high-tech indoor firepit and indoor food cart with a custom-designed pizza oven cranking out a variety of pies that are joined on the menu by an array of salads. In addition to Steeplejack taps, the bar also serves cider, wine and cocktails.
Day and Harder, college buddies who have dreamed of and planned Steeplejack for 20 years, from the beginning envisioned multiple locations, and the 17,000-square-foot Hillsboro facility — with its 10,000-barrels-a-year capacity, plus room to grow — was designed to supply beer to those locations.
The mission for every location, they say, is creating a community gathering space built around beers that have lower alcohol content and are different from the hop-driven styles commonplace in the industry. They brew versions of those as well, but brewmaster Anna Buxton and brewers Kevin Hanny and Gracie Nelson’s main focus is more on English styles, creative lagers and sessionable ales, along with cask and barrel-aged beers, that allow friends and family to gather for longer sessions together without having a higher alcohol content become a factor in the experience.
Steeplejack took a significant step this month as well, when it signed on with Maletis Beverage to begin distributing its beers. Over the winter, plans call for the canning line in Steeplejack’s Hillsboro facility to begin putting 12-ounce cans into the market, in addition to the 16-ounce it now produces.
Day acknowledges opening four Steeplejack locations so quickly and ramping up distribution is ambitious — and expensive — but it’s part of a well-constructed plan the partners say employs responsible cash-flow forecasting and preparation.
“There’s no corporate backing or anything like that, it’s just him and I saving for a long, long time,” Day said. “We wanted to do it the right way. We didn’t want to owe anybody money, and we didn’t want any outside influences telling us what to do.
Day said Steeplejack is growing in confidence in the beers it produces, it’s honing its focus of community-experience locations, and it’s on a mission to make its beer accessible for everyone through distribution.
“That’s the goal — we set out and said we want to make something that everyone is going to enjoy and that we’re going to be proud of,” Day said. “So we had to figure out, how do we produce beers that people didn’t know they loved until they tried them. I would say we’re succeeding.”
