Working Hands Beer & Slopeswell Cider open “The Heights” taproom in Hood River
Working Hands and Slopeswell Cider’s “The Heights” taproom in Hood River, Oregon
Hood River, Oregon is one of the regions most well known beer destinations and it’s only getting more diverse. Last year Hood River lost it’s longtime tourist favorite brewpub Big Horse Brewing, but it has since gained one of the state’s best new breweries in Working Hands Beer. While the Working Hands brand quietly launched into the market in late 2020, they just recently opened a renovated taproom at their shared production space with Slopeswell Cider on the ridge of the Hood River heights just 5 minutes from the bustling downtown area.
Founded by brewer Kasey McCullough, the Working Hands beers largely fall into two camps; crisp and hoppy interpretations of classic lager styles like Helles and Pilsner, and cutting edge American IPA’s. McCullough previously was the lead brewer at Ferment Brewing, and brings that experience making refined beers and inspiration from other west coast brewers on styles like Cold IPA and their first Fresh Hop beer which is in the works. If you haven’t yet heard of Working Hands, it’s probably because they have been able to sell all of their output so far to key gorge accounts, but that may change soon.
Working Hands and Slopewsell’s taproom called “The Heights” is a friendly and relaxed gathering spot to sip a combo taster flight of beer and cider. Slopeswell has been around since 2014 and previously operated a taproom of their own on the same site. As the pandemic was raging last year, Working Hands and Slopeswell decided to take advantage of slow season and reinvest in each others business as an alternating proprietorship under the same roof, that partnership called for a complete overhaul of the space.
They took the moment to close the cidery tasting room for the winter and spring to rebuild the space with help from friends and investors. During an extended 8 month permitting process they rebuilt the bar as a centerpiece to the room, and in the process more than tripled the seating capacity, added a stage for evening performances that become a kids play area in the day, doubled production space, added a second bathroom, and put in the bones of a space that will become a kitchen in the future.
“In renovating our old cider tasting room, we knew we wanted to be as sustainable as possible,” says McCullough. “Slopeswell was full of beautiful pieces of black walnut, cherry, and others, that we really wanted to reuse.”
McCullough and one of their investors, Justin Seichter, took the walls out of the old space and deconstructed the old bar. Now it has a copper top with rivets and nails on the seams, and a hand painted patina to finished with epoxy to give it the aged feel they were looking for while adding a protective and glassy finish. The front of the bar has variable rough cut cedar with a black iron pipe food rail.
live edge walnut tables with epoxy resin at the new Working Hands Beer taproom
One of the notable elements is the live edge walnut tables made with wood sourced from a local arborist, an ocean blue epoxy resin snakes down the middle of the slab like the Columbia River streaming through the gorge.
“Every one of our owners put in serious hours on these tables, and it truly was a labor of love. Each table is named after a river of our region and marked with the coordinate of the confluence with the Columbia River or Pacific Ocean.”
Working Hands/Slopeswell is all about involving the local community in every aspect of the process. Local artist Chris Potheir painted a mural on the front of the building and fellow artist Audrey Mae is painting a 30’ long mural inside the taproom featuring drinking glassware and native plants. The taproom shows off prints, and paintings, and custom Working Hands ceramic mugs from other members of the artistic gorge community. Soon they hope to bring live music every week, trivia nights, pop ups, art gallery events, movie nights on the back patio, and anything and everything else possible to engage the public.
But the taproom is also a work in progress. Currently they don’t serve more than snacks, but permits to put in a full kitchen to serve a Bavarian style menu are pending. In the meantime they want to host pop-up guest menus, and eventually have a kitchen operator who will take charge of the menu as a partner.
While all three of Hood River’s more established breweries now make lagers, McCullough thinks there is room for Working Hands to be the first truly lager focused brewery.
“I feel like each brewery kind of complements the overall beer scene in the Gorge in a different way, with not a ton of overlap, as surprising as that is with so many good breweries out here,” he says. “There are breweries that are geared towards the tourist industry, with ultra sleek and highly curated feel, and we wanted to be the opposite, with tons of character, personality, lots of local art, and a welcoming feel. I think that makes us very unique in this area. There truly is a taproom that fits everyone in the Gorge beer world, and you can see the diversity by visiting each one!”
One of the most unique aspects of “The Heights” taproom is the chance to try in-house made beers alongside the ciders. Slopeswell was itself a melding of two brands when the founders of Hawksong Cider and the Gorge Cider House opted to combine their two brands rather than compete with each other. Slopeswell is specializing in old world ciders with northwest inspiration, these aren’t fruited sweet ciders with berries and stone fruit overwhelming traditional apple character, these are clearer expressions of the varietals, yeast, and fun hybridizations. Examples of this include a swiss apple cider blend called Edelweiss, a funk centric sweet blend called Countervail, a cider and wine co-fermentation called Melange, a wild fermented cider called Homestead, and English, Heirloom, and Kingston Black among the lineup of 9 ciders on tap.
Working Hands Beer’s have been difficult to find outside of Hood River’s local establishments and that has contributed to them being relatively unknown even in nearby Portland. But that may be a feature and not a bug.
“I had full intentions of launching into the Portland and Bend markets early, but we have had such a great reception here that I've had to limit what we are selling even in the local market, as we have some amazing accounts that are flying through the beer in Hood River, The Dalles, Cascade Locks, and Welches,” says McCullough.
He is also not willing to rush his time intensive lagers out to market, but is interested in expanding their production to ease the pressure for supply and demand and raise the awareness of the brand. The brewery has already twice added tanks, and the goal is to expand relatively soon into a production facility. Working Hands have recently launched 6-packs of 12oz cans of their Freshet Helles, Origin Story Pilsner, and Big Egos IPA, but so far they are primarily available at the taproom with draft-only releases like Hello Friday Kolsch.
“Our taproom is about community” says McCullough. “We appeal to the every day beer drinker who wants a pint after work, as well as a seasoned beer enthusiast that can trace the complexities in each pint”
The Heights, is Hood River’s only brewery outside of the main downtown area and is a welcome respite to the traffic and bustling streets during tourist season. Street parking is plentiful and the vibe is as chill as the lagers.
Working Hands Beer / Slopeswell Cider “The Heights”
1021 12th St Suite 102, Hood River, OR 97031
Tel: 541-436-4646
Open Thu & Fri 5-10pm, Sat 3-10pm, Sun 3-7pm
Lounge & Bar 21+ only
Family-friendly seating & patio until 9pm
Dog-friendly patio
Follow @working_hands_beer on instagram for the latest.