February 22, 2008 -- By Angelo De Ieso

It seems all of Portland’s craftbrewing community has been enthusiastically awaiting the arrival of a promising new brewpub, the HUB. An acronym for Hopworks Urban Brewery, the HUB is the brainchild of former Laurelwood brewmaster Christian Ettinger. A leader in craft innovation and the Oregonian champion of sustainability and organic living, Ettinger is a strong fixture in Portland’s craft brewing community as well as an emphatic defender of our earthy goodliness.

The amazing potential of HUB is evident in an unlikely area on Portland’s SE Powell Boulevard. Perhaps better known for fast food restaurants and strip joints, Powell is now home to HUB’s working brewery (beers are available at several local establishments like the Night Light Lounge — check online for a complete list of restaurants & bars serving HUB brews). The family-friendly restaurant and bar, where healthy food and a bicycle-friendly attitude rules, will be open soon. 

Assuming one half of the 19,200-square-foot former Sunset Fuels building last June, the east half of the expansive space is set to be leased to local businesses while about 5,000 square feet will be the restaurant. This is atop 4,400 square feet of brewing, bottling, and barreling production space. The HUB is now a 20-barrel bio-diesel fired brewery. Their estimated starting capacity is 6,500 bbl/year.  

But Ettinger and his assistant brewmaster Ben Love (formerly of Pelican Brewing) will be offering the community more than just locally brewed beer. In addition to the highly sought after brews, HUB will feature mouth-watering kitchen fare based on local and sustainable ingredients. Head cook Andy Litka brings expertise in artisan pizza, previously running three kitchens for Lane Splitters Pizza in Oakland, California, while kitchen general manager Lionne Decker adds 12 years of experience with Pacific Coast Restaurants, overseeing the operations of several well-known area restaurants like Henry’s, Portland City Grill and Stanford’s. 

The brewpub is C-shaped around an eliptical bar made of recyled materials; circular shapes reoccur in the windows and the high ceiling. According to Ettinger, the southern part of the building will be the family-friendly side and the northern part is going to be the 21-and-over bar. On the acre of land south of the building there will be a unique beer garden, and a quarter-acre parking lot will provide plenty of off-street parking. HUB’s more than 170-person capacity still feels cozy considering the size when it is partitioned. 

Despite being busy with now running the brewery and cramming to open the public space, Ettinger took a moment with LivePDX to shed some light on his extraordinary undertaking.

---

So you must be pretty excited about the HUB undertaking despite it being a lot of hard work. Why did you chose the SE 29th and Powell location?
I chose this location because by the time a neighborhood has been discovered, you can’t afford it. Powell is kind of a distressed corridor. It’s not earmarked for development any time soon. There’s great neighborhoods to the north and south and we’re two miles from downtown. There hasn’t been any new growth to this street in a long, long time.

It really became obvious once we got into the building and started poking around that this had a huge potential. You’ve got 50,000 cars a day going by the front door and we’re on the outbound side of the road, so there’s accessibility with a big parking lot…it’s a quick right turn. You don’t have to search, you’ll see the name, Hopworks Urban Brewery. We found this site could be the HUB for Southeast Portland because within two miles there’s 100,000 people. 

What has been the most rewarding part of the undertaking?
As challenging as it has been, the best part has been the education. I know so much more than I thought I would ever have to know about commercial construction of breweries. I think…I hope it’s going to make me a better business person. Dealing with so many different trades, you go from being so naïve on day one — and I still feel pretty naïve — but I feel a lot smarter than I did eight, nine months ago. At the end of this, hopefully I’ll never have to work on a project like this again. It’s been the most challenging period in my life, far and away. 

In a city with so many breweries, what do you think will set HUB apart from others?
What I really think is going to set us apart is a sustainable approach. Not only through organic ingredients and brewing organic beers, but through the development of the building and the business that is going to contribute to the community. We really want to develop some programs whereby we can help out the school [Cleveland High School] across the street. I basically want to start an art program over there; get some of their artwork in here and sell it. We’d give half of that money to the student and the other half we’ll take and earmark for whatever they need over there. There’s some really cool things. We want to be really community-focused. I think one of our strongest points is going to be our philanthropic arm. What we do for the community is really going to set us apart.

What will your line-up of beers look like?
Everything will be certified organic. There are five brands to start: organic lager, organic red, organic IPA, an organic multi-grain stout — I am looking at some exotic grains right now like amaranth, spelt and kamet. Some really cool, off-the-wall stuff. I’m trying to get seven really cool grains for this one. Also, there will be a single-hopped pale ale that will always revolve (hop varieties) called “the Revolver.” The goal is to always have those five standards. With the lager yeast, there will always be a lager seasonal on. There will be an in-house yeast and another yeast, like a Belgian yeast or something. In our barrel room, we’ll do some barrel-aged stuff as well. There’s two beer engines, two casks.

Any final thoughts on beer?
Beer for me has always been about bringing people together, and the beer kind of falls by the wayside when you’re having a good conversation. The beer is like icing on the cake. I think it fosters a great social experience.