Block 15 Brewing revives European-inspired Caves Public House
Block 15 Brewing is a premiere beer destination in Oregon’s central valley with two taprooms and two breweries in Corvallis. In 2011 owners Nick and Kristen Arzner were presented with an opportunity to open a separate bar inspired by their recent trip to Belgium. Their goal was to bring the experience of a European bistro to Corvallis that showcased the best beers of the world. More than a decade since they first founded Les Caves, and 2 years since the bar closed down, it is now reopened as CAVES public house with a refocused and streamlined vision with swankier decor, a deeper wine and cocktail list, an elevated gastropub menu, and an even more carefully curated beer list both on draft and from a basement cellar.
Front and center of the new Caves is a fresh logo by Portland designer Jordan Wilson depicting a nearly opaque corked bottle with steps leading down to the bottom. Beyond the obvious connotations to beer, liquor and wine, the mark represents the Block 15 barrel cellar that is buried beneath the tavern in a historic Corvallis block. The cellar is where the brewery’s magic happens from the clean and single-spirit rare barrels of Pappy Van Winkle to the wild beer program and coolship responsible for the Turbulent Consequence series, to the collection of Caves vintage bottle list.
“Our logo is a great visual aspect to tell the story, it’s basically wine, spirits, beer, and below us is the cellar and that’s what’s represented on the bottle,” says Block 15 and Caves marketing director Kelsea DeFilippis.
When owner Nick Arzner first dreamed up Les Caves he had the idea to source oak barrel staves from breweries that inspired him along the way and reform them into a gorgeous bar top symbolizing the art, history and time that go into worthwhile endeavours of the liquid arts and hospitality business. The smooth and finished bar top is a stitching of oak staves re-purposed, cut up, straightened, and aligned from breweries like Upright Brewing and Cascade cross-hatching each other in jutting angles. Other than just being beautiful, it really speaks to the love and respect of oak barrel-aging.
Alicia Allen started as a server at Block 15, and worked her way up to front-of-house manager for both brewery locations, and has recently taken the reins on the Caves beverage program and staff as the hospitality manager. Her hand in everything from the draft selection to the experience.
“We wanted to bring back the theme of beers from around the world, new and interesting cocktails, and I would say the wine list is what has changed the most as we are focusing on bio-dynamic organic grapes and low intervention processes in winemaking,” says Allen.
Low-intervention wines are part of the natural wine movement that eschew sulfites and fining and instead rely on native yeasts found on the grapes for the fermentation and a true expression of their terroir. Unsurprisingly this growing category is of interest to craft brewers who are more impacted by climate change, rising costs, and balancing the use of highly processed ingredients from large corporations against the small artisanal producers local products.
Also an emphasis at Caves is the cocktail menu centered on classic drinks with a few fresh takes. “The most popular is called the Autumn Almanac, it’s an Old Fashioned with Eagle Rare, maple syrup, walnut and angostura bitters,” says Allen. “We also have less classic cocktails like the Fluff & Ease which is kind of a play on Aviation but with blackberry because it was in-season here when we were getting started. Our liquor list is well thought out but smaller with a couple good representations of each kind to keep options open but focus on our house cocktails.”
Naturally, beer is the main draw at Caves, and they take their selections seriously rathern than just another opportunity to showcase Block 15 beers. With their 16 draft lines only 1-2 will ever be from Block 15, 4 taps are dedicated to rotating seasonals from their favorite breweries, others are dedicated to specific styles of beer to be represented by current world-class takes, and a handful will showcase beers from Block 15’s distributor which includes Ferment Brewing, ForeLand Beer and De Garde Brewing. Lager fans will be overjoyed to see a Czech side-pull faucet dedicated to pour pilsners in dimpled mugs.
The taplist is eclectic, not only did we find a fresh hop beer from Ruse Brewing, a pilsner from Chuckanut, and a pumpkin beer from pFriem, but a rare keg of St. Bernardus Wit bier out of Belgium, an Ayinger Marzen out of Germany, a spontaneous marionberry BuVeux from De Garde, but also an Imperial Stout from Alesmith and a Porter with doug fir tips from Ferment Brewing. Beer nerds will geek out most about the bottle list, stacked with vintage imports and local cellarable classics, highlights include: 2018 Tres Fontaine Hommage lambic w/ raspberries and cherries, Chimay white and rouge from 2018, 2018 Orval, 2017 Rodenbach Grand Cru, 2015 Westmalle Dubbel, and Deschutes Abyss from 2017, just to name a few.
When it came to re-evaluating the food menu at Caves, they called on Block 15’s veteran chef Patrick practicing a new ethos: “It’s a concept we call northwest by northwest,” says Allen. “Our menu is inspired by and focused by northwestern Europe cuisine from Belgium, France, Germany, etc. etc. but we use local pacific northwest ingredients.”
Dishes are designed to be satisfying, mouthwatering, and complementary to the beverage program. Pairings like fresh shucked oysters and funky geueze, cheese boards with pale ales, and a fried ravioli with a rich malty Belgian abbey ale. The menu is filled out with crowd-pleasing pub favorites like a grass-fed rock cheddar beef burger, and moules frites, and more adventurous fresh cheese pie, and bone marrow.
In reconceptualizing Caves, Block 15 Brewing tapped local design agency Shelter NW and Jay B. Construction to make a more clean and polished pub, removing the partial wall between bar area and seating areas and presenting a more open casual warm and inviting space. Little of the before times furnishings are still there except for the bar, some lighting fixtures and tables. Instead they leaned on the help of local tradesmen for more handmade and functional touches to comfortable seating and minimal decor accentuated by plants and the new fireplace, mantle and paintings that align around a cozy den. Kristen Arzner’s original photography from the trip to Belgium that inspired Caves is still hanging along the walls and inspired parts of the remodel like the white brick wall near the back of the room, similar to Les Caves Dupont.
Caves Public House soft reopened last Thursday with expanded outdoor seating under heat lamps, and bookings indoors by reservations with half the seating available for walk-ups. For now the tavern is dinner service only 4 days a week, but plans to expand to brunch service in the near future.
Caves Public House
308 SW 3rd St.
Corvallis, OR 97333
HOURS:
Monday - 4 to 9 pm
Tuesday - CLOSED
Wednesday - CLOSED
Thursday - 4 to 9 pm
Friday - 4 to 10 pm
Saturday - 4 to 10 pm
Sunday - CLOSED