Inside Portland’s new church turned brewpub SteepleJack Brewing
The most highly anticipated new Oregon brewery of 2021 opens in a 112-year old formerly Christian church in northeast Portland this week. SteepleJack Brewing will celebrate their grand opening on July 31st, but locals can confess their sins to the bartenders as soon as this weekend.
SteepleJack Brewing first garnered attention for it’s location and preliminary art designs that showed of an elegant, classy and ambitious brewpub in planning. They continued to build buzz after introducing the all women lead brewing team of Anna Buxton and Anne Aviles. Now that the construction is finished and the early previews have wrapped, the question was whether SteepleJack could live up to the hype… In this rare instance, the real life experience of entering the church of beer actually exceeds expectations and presents a truly, stunningly beautiful place that will make you believe in a higher power.
THE HISTORY
In 1909 then president of the United States, Howard Taft, laid the cornerstone to the First Universalist Church of Good Tidings in a dedication ceremony. More recently the congregation of the Metropolitan Community Church called the building home from 1977-2019 before selling it to SteepleJack founders Brody Day and Dustin Harder. At sizable care and expense Day and Harder have restored and refurbished the church to look as nice, or better, than when it was brand new.
Many elements of the old building remain the same, including much of the woodworking including beams, tresses and design elements including the colorful stained glass which illuminate the main hall. The most significant change made was tearing up the floor to put in a sunken brewhouse centered below the focal stained glass fixture so that the tanks would not blot out the view. With a raised top high seated rail around the brewhouse for customers to sit with a pint, they are at nearly eye level with the brewdeck and have excellent sightlines both into the production process as well as the main room.
Warm salvaged wood booths and beer hall style tables fill the main hall which rises up like a snow globe to the arching and ornate support beams overhead. On opposite ends of the domed drinking and dining hall is the brewery against the west wall and the bar against the east. The full service bar has a small but carefully chosen selection of spirits and cocktails. Local pros NW Draft Tech has installed perhaps their nicest system to date, drawing 30 draft lines through a centerpiece tap board hand made in Quebec with Czech slow pour faucets. 8 of those draft lines come from brite tank serving vessels in the basement for the freshest house brewed beer possible.
SteepleJack owner Brody Day (left) and general manager Billy Cook (right)
THE SERVICE
General Manager Billy Cook has worked in a few restored historic buildings before, he spent 12+ years managing McMenamins Breweries and Hotel properties bar and restaurant programs previously.
“I definitely have been a part of some renovated historical spaces with my previous experience,” says Cook, but “that’s about where the comparisons stop. This space feels completely different than any I have worked in in the past.”
Cook’s experience at McMenamins taught him how to do a lot with a little, but at SteepleJack they aren’t sparing any expense. They have went all in with creating a historically accurate representation of the space with a back end of the house behind-the-scenes like no other. From the Wi-Fi to the IT platform, sound system and eco-friendly lighting scheme that bathes the space in soft natural warm light. This extends to hiring A-list candidates in all the key positions.
The bar program is lead by Ian McLaughlin, formerly of The Botanist.
“Ian has a pallet for cocktail development…we are lucky to have him” says Cook. “Spirits on hand are curated based on our collective appreciation for different aspects of cocktails as well as what we really just love to drink ourselves. There will be a pretty solid whiskey list that will continue to grow with time. We aren’t shying away from putting together a broad cocktail and spirit menu.”
SteepleJack is first and foremost a brewpub and community gathering spot, that means the food must be as on-point as the beer and service. For this they brought in accomplished chef Lawrence Gable who had the unenviable task of making a smallish kitchen in the basement that can serve large crowds at a quick pace without scaling back on quality.
“The size of the space has been a huge challenge,” says Gable. “Due to the immaculate build out and seats available cross utilization is incredibly important. As a team, we are constantly trying to maximize the space we operate in.”
Gable has been working in kitchens since he was 16, starting in a food truck and working his way up through various positions server, cashier, cook. After attending culinary school in Eugene, he came to Portland and worked up the ranks at Woodstock neighborhood brunch favorite ‘Toast’ before being tapped to help lead the kitchen at the late lamented Country Cat Dinnerhouse. Working at Country Cat shortly after they were catapulted into the spotlight after being featured on Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives television show taught him how to get things done. He continued to work at a string of notable and high profile restaurants in Portland’s foodie world like the acclaimed Ava Gene’s, then as executive chef at Bird & Bear, followed by a stint at Andina, and then Mama Bird bistro.
SteepleJack’s food menu delivers a handful of approachable dishes designed to be like and please anyone from the casual drinker to the sophisticated foodie. Portions are large and designed to satisfy with a beer.
Some of the menu items sampled include an Asian-inspired Fried Chicken Sandwich with Gochujang honey, tempura batter and peanut sauce, a Steeple Burger with a thick patty made from prime rib and ground beef with a beer cheese sauce, horseradish aioli and carmelized onions. A shareable plate of Deviled Eggs which unexpectedly came on a bowl of Frites with prime rib bits tossed in. Chili Verde Pork tacos with guacamole, pickled red onion on house made corn tortillas. And the item that Gable is most proud of; Jamaican Jerk Veggie Tacos which are dressed up with sweet potato, peanuts, shaved carrots, and a cauliflower cooked in jerk sauce.
“I have never been a part of something like this, I truly feel honored to be working in this space! We have an amazing leadership team and I feel grateful to be included,” says Gable.
SteepleJack’s cafe and lounge area
Secondary to the beer, but treated with the same care, is a coffee program and morning cafe service. Co-owner Dustin Harder is a coffee nerd passionate about small roasters and proper cafe service. They have dedicated a cafe lounge space to 7am morning coffee service for locals to grab a drink to-go, or sit down and read a book or catch some early morning soccer games. Assistant general manager Heather Clark has been tapped to run the service which will offer a custom proprietary blend of beans for the house coffee, espresso and cold brew. And if you don’t drink coffee they have a selection of 5 different Steven Smith Teas as well as a non-caffeinated sparkling strawberry honeybush tea on draft.
The building is broken up into side rooms and private spaces around the globe-like center pub. This allows private parties or groups to gather with their own activities in coffee lounge, or a game room with big screen tv and foosball, a board room style area with long table and fireplace, or an elevated seating area on a stage that can be used for music and live performances.
With all the hidden corners of the building and large area to manage table service, SteepleJack needs a comprehensive service plan. To start off with, they want to get to know their customers and thus will open with ordering done at the bar, but with runners and servers floating across the pub with handheld POS devices that can add items or close out your tab without customers getting up. They plan to expand ordering options with tableside QR codes for “order and pay” from the phone, while still having the option to interact with the staff.
“We want the experience to be that of community and fun. We are setting up a customer loyalty program, building out a house Stamtisch program, and moving toward a neighborhood discount plan for the folks closest to us,” says GM Billy Cook.
It is no secret that the service and hospitality industries have been in a state of crisis, not just because of COVID-19 but of broken service models that are hard to sustain for business owners and for sometimes underpaid staff. SteepleJack wants to level the playing field for their employees with equity across the board. That means the hourly staff will all make the same wage and share equally the tips and a compensation package for them to earn additional credit towards food, beer, spirits, and coffee based on hours worked.
THE BEER
SteepleJack brewers Anna Buxton (left) and Anne Aviles (right)
And if you think the restaurant and pub side of the operation is ambitious, the brewery and beer side of the business just as much so. As head brewer Anna Buxton turns her focus to the upcoming Hillsboro production facility and taproom later this year, brewer Anne Aviles will be leading small batch production at the brewpub with both popular and more niche styles of beer.
“When Anna and I met for the first time and we were talking about our favorite styles, smoked beer came out of our mouths at exactly the same time,” says Aviles. “We'd love to have a dedicated "rauch tap" in which we expose the guests to different types of smoked beers and experiment with different malts and smoke processes.”
Of course it won’t all be alderwood smoked Helles, the women lead brew team wants to master lagers, West Coast IPA, and cask beers just to name a few. Aviles cut her teeth at Breakside Brewery, a company known for trying to nail a vast amount of different beer styles that worked their way through an evaluation process. At SteepleJack, it will be a little more independent.
“When developing recipes here, Anna and I have a pretty good idea going in how we want a beer to turn out, but especially dialing in a new system, a lot of things are decided on the fly,” says Aviles.
One of the main features of the brewery is also a challenge, the brewer is on display to the entire restaurant on an elevated platform and below the majestic but fragile stained glass window. This makes simple tasks like cleaning and spraying with chemicals tricky. Aviles is used to working behind-the-scenes at Breakside and before that at De Garde Brewing where the breweries are not visible to the public.
“Brewing here is unlike any other space I've brewed, let alone worked in,” she says, bringing a little superstition about brewing inside a neighborhood landmark that may have more than a few ghosts. “I have yet to sage the space, but I'm very sensitive to energy and would like to let the previous residents of the space know we are here to bring joy and hopefully they won't haunt us.”
Aviles also doesn’t want to be haunted by past and current trends. While acknowledging pastry, smoothie and glitter beers were fun to experiment with and a way to stand out, she wants to bring it back to simple but balanced beers that got people like herself into craft beer in the first place.
“I just want to keep making actual beer and make pub beer cool again.”
Anne and Anna have already brewed half a dozen beers on the 10bbl brewhouse, but not all of them will be ready when they open. To supplement the taplist they have made collaborations with friends and colleagues, some of these beers already on the market in cans. Ace of Cups is a Summer Pale Ale made with Ruse Brewing. Maid in the Mist is a Tropical Pilsner made with Von Ebert Brewing. Hazymodo is a Hazy IPA made with Trap Door Brewing. Forest Moons of Elder is a rice lager brewed with Old Town Brewing. By the time of their grand opening you can expect to find their first house brewed beer, a Saison called First Kiss brewed with the same yeast strain that The Commons Brewery used. Beer alternatives run the gamut from hard kombucha and cider, to gluten-free, non-alcoholic, and even a house-made hopped soda water and non-alcoholic cocktails.
SteepleJack Brewing is hard to miss at the corner of 24th where Weidler turns onto Broadway
“There is a clear and definite homage to the way that church fit into this community,” says SteepleJack general manager Billy Cook. “Whether it is the communal event space the church offered for so many decades or the open and proud approach to welcoming every single person from all walks of life. We are building this brand on equality, equitability, and community. This will be apparent to anyone that works with us, joins us for a pint, maybe some coffee, or stays for a meal. We are pouring our heart into every aspect of making sure we stand by that ethos.”
SteepleJack Brewing celebrates their grand opening on Saturday July 31st, but will begin quietly opening their doors to the pub on Friday, July 23rd at 3pm. 2400 NE Broadway Portland, OR 97232. Beginning August 1st the brewpub will start opening at 7am for cafe service and close at 10pm on all 7 days of the week.