A brewery grows in wine country, from the Sequitur Winery in Newberg, Oregon comes the new Coattails Brewery; a new project from the Etzel family of winemakers.

Among the many legendary families you’ll find spread across the Willamette Valley wine country, the Etzel family is among the most lauded. They are most famously associated with brands like Beaux Frères and Sequitur, which have earned the family praise and high scores primarily for their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Though Michael G. Etzel is the patriarch and founder, the grape clearly doesn’t fall far from the vine as his three sons all involved in the wine scene in various ways. 

While brothers Michael Jr. and Jared chose to follow in their father’s footsteps and work full-time in the wine industry, Nathan, the youngest, only dabbled, choosing to pursue a career as an electrical engineer. As a side project, the three Etzel brothers have been making wine together and releasing it under their Coattails label since 2008. Nathan clearly has the talent for winemaking that runs in the family, as is evidenced by Coattails’ exceptional Pinot and Chardonnay, but he also has another talent and passion that has now led to the Willamette Valley’s newest brewery.  

“I first started making wine in 2008, and ever since, it’s been pretty small, like 500-700 cases of Pinot and Chardonnay. I’m the beer guy [in the family] and this year we started the brewery,” says Nathan, who has also homebrewed for years and has always been obsessed with achieving a high level of quality and freshness in his beer. “I grew up in wine. Instead of going into viticulture and enology like my brothers did, I went into electrical engineering. I homebrewed for 15 years and then with the new farm here [at Sequitur], my dad gave me the space for the brewery, so we got it going.” 

Sourcing a 5-barrel brewhouse for a low rate from a brewery in Nevada that failed to get off the ground, Nathan built out his small brewing operation in the Sequitur winemaking facility and farm just outside Newberg. His intimate facility is nestled between Sequitur’s barrel aging room and their cold storage just across the courtyard from their winemaking barn and tasting room. He brewed his first batch in December 2023 with a vision to bring his beers to restaurants and bars mostly within the Willamette Valley region, and to provide quality beer to those who might be looking for a palate cleanser while in wine country. 

As a brewer, Nathan is open to every style and finds himself taking an approach similar to winemaking where a major component of the final beverage is the quality of ingredients and lower intervention. “In every aspect, there’s no cutting corners with ingredients, processes, and not trying to rush through the beers. Not fining and filtering or beating the beers up, being as gentle with the beers as possible. When you’re trying not to filter or fine, you risk the hazy component,” he says, before going back to his obsession with giving people the freshest beers possible. “The biggest thing is consuming fresh and not sitting on beer. As we know it, beer in cans and on the shelf, it’s not the representation of the beer. That’s what plagues the industry. That’s why, with what I’m doing on a small scale, I’m not going to sit on beer,” he says. 

Nathan draws inspiration other winemakers who also brew, including Screaming Eagle’s Nick Gislason with his extra fancy crispy boi operation Hanabi Lager Co., and Nile Zacherle, who runs the Napa Valley brewery Mad Fritz while also making wine for David Arthur Vineyards. Not since the Ponzi family founded Bridgeport Brewing in 1984 have winemakers turned to brewing in Oregon. “I want soulful beers. I’m still navigating the realm of creating a commercially viable product. Hopefully the intent is that my beers will have more opulence and soul and not be one dimensional like so many beers are, and I think that’s achieved through process and the least amount of manipulation, like wine.” 

The ten or so batches that Nathan has brewed on his system so far and released under the Coattails label have included a German-style pilsner, helles lager, a West Coast IPA, and a Double IPA made with Chico yeast and Citra, Simcoe and Mosaic hops. Discussions about Nathan’s brewing approach and philosophy often steer towards his fascination with craft maltsters and showcasing their characteristics primarily in his lagers. “Ingredients-wise, malt is huge in terms of being able to easily find craft maltsters that are doing special stuff. Being able to buy from a maltster that’s tied to farming and the craft is cool. Those nuances come out more in your lighter-style beers.” 

On a recent visit to the brewery, Nathan previewed Belgian blonde made with Chardonnay yeast, a beer incorporating an ingredient and technique that he sees as a potential distinguishing factor for this winery-based brewery. 

“We harvested Chardonnay yeast and send it to OSU, they sent it to Imperial Yeast, who propagated it and banked it. I brewed with it not knowing what would happen, and it is a beast of a yeast. It’s POF-positive, so it’s a Belgian style yeast, and it created a Belgian blonde that’s very good,” says Nathan. “I don’t know of many people going from the wine side [with yeast], because this is from the skin of the Chardonnay. We’re going to do that more and get some of that Beaux Frères Vineyard terroir. I’d like to explore the diversity of this.” 

Eventually, Nathan hopes to do some aging in wine barrels and maximize the capacity of his brewing system. For now, he is still focused on balancing his day job, the brewing, and the business of Coattails “schlepping kegs, dealing with accounts, learning how to finesse your way in and not be annoying, knowing the nuances of each bar manager and owner and how they operate.” 

For now, Coattails beers can be found on tap at restaurants and bars around the Willamette Valley wine country in towns like Newberg, Dundee, Carlton and McMinnville. It’s been spotted on the taplist at Two Dogs Taphouse, Pizza Capo, and Social Goods: Beer & Pizza among other spots. Reception of the beers has been positive and enthusiastic thus far, according to Nathan. As he steers the operation to a more consistent and established state, he hopes to package - likely in Belgian-style bottles - and maybe even start hosting beer and wine tastings at Sequitur. As the wine industry struggles to attract new consumers, this kind of tasting approach could be appealing. After all, they say that it takes a lot of beer to make good wine, so why not give consumers the best of all worlds? As Coattails starts popping up more on draft lists across the Willamette Valley, it’s clear that wine country is ready for a new brewery.