Oregon City Brewing expands to Canby’s former public library
It was on, then off, and now it’s back on (for good).
Oregon City Brewing is officially taking over the former Canby Public Library, vacant since 2016, renaming it The Canby Beer Library, and expanding its brand with a taproom serving 40+ beers, a space for a barrel-aging program, a cidery, as well as spaces for other tenants, including restaurants, to fill the huge space.
“There will be four micro kitchens similar to what we have on the corner of our Oregon City brewery, completely self-contained,” said Bryce Morrow, Oregon City Brewing Company. “That will open up almost as a food hall concept to our main brewery area where we'll have cider production, but mainly it’ll be for barrel aging. Then, we'll have a big 25-foot bar. It'll be cool.”
Morrow says they are going to try to retain as much of the existing building as possible, including parallel cross-truss beams but also a seismic upgrade to accommodate all the loads from the rooftop patio and a large opening that they’ll have for the overhead doors. Wait, rooftop patio?
Initially, Morrow wanted to do an indoor atrium but from an engineering perspective, it wasn’t practical (while losing net square footage). “Then I came up with what I think is a really elegant solution: a rooftop patio. It'll be the only one I believe in Clackamas County.”
Morrow says they won't have a brewhouse there but will be increasing production to supply the additional location, mostly doing packaging and barrel aging for their program. They’ll house roughly 200 French oak barrels for the program and package directly from there. “Legally, yes, we will be doing production there onsite of a malt beverage, but we're not going to have a brewhouse there.”
They also have plans to do some cider production onsite and will start experimenting with different styles more seriously as they get closer to opening.
So, why Canby? “I think part of it is if I was to get in my car directly from our parking lot and drive there, it's 10 minutes. It's nine miles away. You can get there right down Highway 99 and it's the largest city by population without a brewery in the state and certainly within the Willamette Valley,” Morrow said.
Growing at the original location
In addition to the new space at the Canby Library—currently in the city entitlement process—Oregon City Brewing is also expanding its footprint at the original location with a food cart pod. (You might remember their battle (and victory) with the city over the legality of food carts in the downtown mixed-use area.)
Just across the street sits Corner 14, which offers craft cocktails, their own food carts, beer, live music, and axe throwing. Located in the former Spicer’s building, the wonderfully retrofitted space has brought more life to downtown Oregon City and to the corner, making for a symbiotic relationship between the two businesses.
“There's a reason why usually nightclubs are all in the same row or same area,” said Morrow. “It's been great to have people that can come down. They can try a whole variety of different food offerings. We've always been encouraging and open to people to bring in any kind of food of course.”
When they originally purchased their location in 2018, it came with four different lots including the brewery building and three parking lots, adding up to approximately 21,000 -square-feet between the three of them.
Like many breweries during the pandemic, they expanded and did some outdoor seating there for most of 2020. “We put down 1,000 feet of AstroTurf, then fenced it off and had a bunch of picnic tables back there, which was great for the past 15 months or so. It was terrific. But, I always had the idea of not having that as just a gravel parking lot and to develop it into something better.” The expanded space will allow for numerous food carts, including The Meddling Lime, Ko Sisters Seoul Food, E-San Thai, Jackpot Foods, Nacho Time, Alani Mediterranean, Pete’s Meats BBQ, and the existing Olympia Provisions.
Officially breaking ground in late August, Morrow says the estimated completion date for Oregon City Brewing Co. patio expansion/ food cart pod is November 15.
Oregon City Brewing Company
Expanded food carts: Coming soon
1401 Washington St, Oregon City, OR 97045
Canby Beer Library
292 N Holly Street, Canby, OR 97013
Opening Summer 2022 (currently in the city entitlement process)
