Born To Us Yesterday, A New Brewery

Yesterday I had the privilege of going to a brand new brewery here in Portland. It was in fact their grand opening. What and where is this new purveyor of fine beers you say? Well, Hopworks Urban Brewery or H.U.B. is located on SE Powell and 28th. Their beers have been available around town for the last several months and I have been lucky enough to sample, and enjoy, many of them.

The building is an old industrial office that owner and brewmaster, Christian Ettinger, restored. They proudly were able to reclaim a lot of the original timbers in the structure. The entire project was very green as are all of their organic brews. It has a well balanced mix of the outdoorsy and industrial, perfect for Portland. It also incorporates bicycles quite prominently in the motif. Over the bar is a lighting structure made from bike frames and the lights over the booths are suspended by make-shift pulleys made from bicycle wheels. As my friend Nathaniel said, it does have a bit of corporate feel, but that largely comes from the staff all wearing their matching H.U.B. t-shirts.

Now for the good stuff, the beer. I have a good feeling that H.U.B. is soon going to be one of Portland's best brewpubs. They have an outstanding selection of beer that will suit any taste. I am personally a big fan of their I.P.A. (which is available on cask), as well as the Velvet ESB and 7-Grain Stout. All have quickly become favorites of mine in their respective styles.

After waiting an hour for a table we enjoyed some of the delectable food. Pizza being the most prevalent item on the menu. We decided to try the Sicilian style, which is deep-dish and delicious. We also had to get an order of fries as an appetizer just so we knew if it was worth ordering a burger or sandwich on a future visit.

All in all, I would highly recommend that anyone check it out. It's very family friendly, but also has ample bar space should you not want to consort with younger generations. As I said earlier the wait for a table was long, and worth it, but that was largely due to the grand opening. However, I expect that Hopworks Urban Brewery will remain busy since it has so much going for it.