Living Häus Beer set for July opening in the former Commons/Modern Times space
Living Häus Beer Company marks the growth and rebirth of the former The Commons Brewery and Modern Times PDX Belmont Fermentorium space in southeast Portland. The ambitious new startup was formed after the break-up of Modern Times, and by two of their Portland brewing operations leaders - Mat Sandoval and Conrad Andrus. Joining them after a year of traveling and the van life is former pFriem Family Brewers head brewer Gavin Lord. But don’t expect a version 2.0 of what came before.
Living Häus represents the evolution of the space, harnessing experience and knowledge of those that came before them. Their focus is on modern, but historically inspired lagers, with a secondary expertise on IPA’s both clear and hazy. Sin Marca Beverages is the parent company and contract brewing part of the operation headed up by Gavin Lord, Living Häus Beer is the public brand with beers created by Andrus and Sandoval. Since Modern Times closed earlier this year, the Living Häus team has been racing towards a summer reopening that will see a lineup of 4 brands, and a series of collaborations with their friends to kickoff a July 15th grand opening date.
The core Living Haüs Beer lineup:
Bethine - Munich Style Helles - 4.5%
Munich Style Helles brewed with a blend of Prairie Select pilsner malt and Weyermann Barke Vienna. This malt accented lager uses exclusively Spalter Select hops and has a soft biscuity flavor with floral and mild spicy aromatics.
Dolores - Unfiltered Pilsner - 4.8%
This beer has a simple malt bill of Prairie Select pilsner malt which is layered with precise amounts of Tettnang and Hallertau Mittlefruh hops that give it a bright and complex aromatic profile. Our pilsner is spicy and herbaceous with a hint of citrus underneath.
Harris - India Pale Ale - 6.5%
West Coast classic is brewed with Citra, Centennial, Chinook, and Amarillo hops. We use a large addition of Citra Incognito to give this beer a resiny citrus pop! This beer boasts flavors of Pine, Orange Marmalade, and Lime.
Herman - Hazy India Pale Ale - 7%
Pilsner malt lays the foundation for this beer while malted and flaked oats are added to give it a full and rounded mouthfeel. Nelson, Strata, Centennial, and Amarillo hops are added for notes of pineapple, candied berries, and orange zest.
Initial collaborations with Great Notion, Breakside, Von Ebert, and Ruse will fill out the opening taplist. The in-house brewed beers exploring the contrasts between malts and hops, lighter more drinkable beers in general, but dipping into fruited kettle sours and developing a small clean barrel-aging program.
Living Häus Beer taproom is bright with plush chairs, live edge tables, and porcelain surfaces
Living Häus will not operate a kitchen but has struck up a partnership with their popular neighbors Afuri to make a selection of their baked goods available at the bar, and a special small menu of ramen and side-dishes designed just for the brewery and available to order via QR code and delivered right to your table.
The name “Living Häus” alludes to both the brands philosophy and sensibilities that drive their vision.
“Living” comes from their goal of continuous growth and evolution as a company and as humans, it’s also about appreciating the natural world and surroundings that grow and change just as the lush, green plants that decorate their taproom. “Haus” is about providing a comfortable place and dynamic to enjoy their beers, as well as alluding to the focus on German-style lagers.
“I feel like a lot of my brewing experience has been from a place where I could make what I want and experiment. I think being able to focus and make really approachable and fun beers is what I've always wanted to do, so really this is an opportunity for us to do that but with a lot more experience surrounding us,” says co-founder Conrad Andrus.
Conrad is a veteran of Breakside Brewery, and Culmination Brewing before he landed a job in brewing operations at Modern Times Portland working with brewmaster Mat Sandoval who had moved up from California to take the reins of production when it opened in 2018. Previously specializing in hazy IPA’s, pastry dessert beers, unbelievably fruit puree packed sours, Mat was working more facilitating production behind the scenes than on the brewdeck before MT’s closing. He is looking forward to getting back into it and brewing styles he likes to drink, “It's actually really nice because I get the chance to actually operate the brewhouse and work in the cellar compared to constantly being on a computer,” adds Mat.
The surprise closure of Modern Times in February 2022 was both a shocker and an opportunity for Mat and Conrad even though their positions and livelihood had a sudden and somewhat unexpected change they were already well underway on starting their own brand.
“We planned on a much smaller brewery operation,” says Conrad. The duo already had financing lined up, but had to retool their business plan to make a bid on the MT equipment and space and lay down even grander plans for what they could do with Living Haus. Conrad calls it “Kind of one of those doors closing and another one opening situations.” Adding a contract brewing component to the operation that Gavin Lord will oversee was a key addition that would help them fill out excess capacity they can grow into and help secure long-term viability with the uncertain market for a startup brewery.
Gavin Lord left his gig as pFriem Family Brewers head brewer in early 2021 to spend a year with his wife Giselle reconnecting with old friends, making new life connections and experiences, and generally recovering from burnout. Before Gavin and Giselle had moved from Portland to Hood River for the pFriem job in 2011 he was living in Portland, and that city-life and the creativity of brewing was drawing him back when the Sin Marca/Living Haus opportunity came up.
“The break was restorative,” says Gavin. “Somewhere during the pandemic, I lost sight of the exuberant passion to create that had so long driven my career….and reminded me over and over again of why I love this industry and why I started brewing in the first place.”
Contract brewing may not be as sexy as ever rotating one-off small batch beers and experimental hype beers, but Gavin finds it uniquely challenging and rewarding adding,“There have never been more challenges facing Craft Brewers than there are today. And in an industry as friendly and collaborative as this one, it's exciting to be in a position to help our friends.”
Living Häus/Sin Marca expects to be a long-term partner to expand brewing operations for some contract brands, but with others with others simply to be a temporary bridge or helping hand up to meet production needs. They already have a number of contracts in the works, including some familiar names we will learn about in the future.
“Eventually, I'd love Sin Marca to represent a collaborative hub for the industry in the Northwest, a place where Brewers share ideas and inspiration, and work together to overcome obstacles.”
To that end Living Häus/Sin Marca will have an on-site canning line in the area of the space that formerly housed the original The Commons Brewery brewhouse and later became a Modern Times merch/beer to-go area. The clean and bright high-ceilinged brick building has been restored to the inviting airy feeling of The Commons diverging fully from the colorful and busy Modern Times rendition. The giant “Macho Man Randy Savage” pinata that hung above the bar has been disassembled and trashed, the floppy discs glued to the front of the bar are gone, as is the bright tiles and pop-culture installations. Some of the stylish wallpaper remains, but the rest of the space has reverted to the clean simplicity that brings into focus the pleasures of malt, hops, yeast, water, and time.
“I think there has to be a level of intentionality to change the feeling of a space that has such a heavy design element to it,” adds Mat Sandoval on the re-envisioning of the familiar space. “There are plenty of aspects of the MT design that we love, but that's not us so why not put our own ideas out there?”
Draped from planter boxes hanging near the 30’ ceiling, newly installed living greenery accents the entire space lending to the feeling that an old building is being reclaimed by the natural world. From above the marquee-style backlit tapboard, to the entry walkway and large street facing windows is the beginnings of a lush tropical foliage that is all living and real, rather than stagnant and artificial. Living Haus is excited to let those plants breathe the same way their beers will, growing over time in the constant state of flux and change that echoes the death and rebirth of yeast cells and the beers that came before them.
Living Häus Beer - 600 SE Belmont St, Portland, OR 97214
