Oak Union Brewing’s vision for dark folkloric new taproom & restaurant
Another craft brewery is coming to Milwaukie, Oregon’s already bustling downtown corridor
Rendering and concept images courtesy of Oak Union Brewing
Portland-brewed Oak Union Brewing has always had their heart in Milwaukie, now they will have a taproom there too.
More than three years after launching Oak Union Brewing, owner Trevor Lauman has found a permanent home in downtown Milwaukie for his mystical dark folkloric European and West Coast inspired beers and vision.
The future taproom and restaurant will open at 10909 SE Main Street, the former Collector’s Mall, putting Oak Union in the middle of Milwaukie's growing downtown scene that includes beer destinations like pFriem, Beer Store Milwaukie and the recently opened 1847 Food Park that’s anchored by Migration Brewing, with Breakside Brewery’s main brewery not far away either.
“We're the new up-and-coming brewery with something to prove. The hope is that when people think of Oregon beer, they also think of Milwaukie,” says Lauman about the quickly growing world-class beer scene in the Portland suburb.
Back in 2023, New School covered Oak Union’s launch as an alternating proprietorship with plans to eventually put down roots in Milwaukie and next-door Oak Grove.
Brittany and Trevor Lauman front of the future Oak Union Brewing taproom and restaurant
Lauman, who grew up in Oak Grove, graduated from Oregon State University’s Fermentation Science program. While at OSU he received the Columbia Distributing and Rogue Ales Jack Joyce scholarship. After graduation, he was hired by Ancestry, at the time just entering the market, where he helped develop their beer recipes.
“It’s scary to be responsible for a loan or a lease that you’re on the hook for for hundreds of thousands of dollars,” says Lauman, who co-owns the brewery with his wife, Brittany. “But at the same time, I’ve worked towards this for literally the past 15 years.”
He says the new space will total 2,651 square feet, including 1,750 square feet upstairs for the brewery and restaurant and another 900 square feet downstairs for storage, cooler space, and other back-of-house functions.
The taproom and restaurant is part of the larger retrofitting of the Perry’s Pharmacy Building that will include multiple businesses, from a soda shop, bakery and comedy club, each with its own entrance and access to a shared interior corridor and restrooms. (Older locals also know the building as the drugstore soda fountain where JFK famously once sat.)
Lauman says many of the spaces he toured over the past three years required extensive tenant improvements upfront, but this location offered something different.
Because the landlord is already redeveloping the building, Oak Union will be handed a “gray shell,” allowing Lauman to choose wall placement, plumbing, electrical, and kitchen infrastructure without having to shoulder costs at the start.
“We don’t have millions of dollars to invest right up front,” Lauman says. “We’ve seen what’s happening in the market and we don’t want to get tied down with so much debt that we can’t service it.”
Art & Community Focused Brewpub
Though Oak Union is a brewery at heart, Lauman says the new space will be more than a taproom and restaurant and will offer food and non-alcoholic options, minors allowed, and a space that doesn’t feel like a high-turnover restaurant but more like a neighborhood pub.
The vibe of the space will be consistent with Oak Union’s dark folkloric and ornate imagery.
“Our can art draws from ancient ritualistic cultures that were deeply bonded with their environment, and we're carrying that thread into the taproom through natural materials and design. The artwork itself will make an appearance, but exactly how is a surprise we're saving for opening,” says Lauman.
The atmosphere will be complemented by warm lighting and natural light from windows that wrap around the corner of Monroe and Main. Overhead an exposed-beam barrel vault ceiling arches above a long communal table in the center of the room. Behind the bar, a textured end-grain wood wall will frame a large blackened steel and backlit Oak Union logo.
“It’ll be dark mixed with a lot of natural light during the day and warm light at night. Shou Sugi Ban (charred wood) elements at the bar, oak slab tops for the tables, natural elements, like hanging plants. A connection between light and dark, modern and the past,” Lauman says.
The kitchen will offer gastropub quality burgers, salads, but Lauman also wants to bring in some central European fusion of flavors. One dish already planned is an Americanized Döner Kebab with sliced steak grilled with house seasonings, lettuce, tomato, thinly sliced onion, garlic, and a house sauce on a freshly baked Turkish-style flatbread sourced from the (soon-to-be opened) bakery next door.
“The menu will keep evolving from there to suit our community's needs and our chef's exploration of interests,” says Lauman, emphasizing that he wants someone who will continue to tweak recipes and rotate items for quality over staticity. “We’ll have a simplified menu to open up with, and then as time goes on, we'll have things our chef can add in for specials or for special events like Oktoberfest or whatever the occasion calls for,” he says.
Day One Distribution partners
Even with a brick-and-mortar location finally on the way, Oak Union is powering growth and spreading the word via wholesaler Day One Distributon.
Lauman says he’ll continue brewing Oak Union’s standard line-ups, like the Shinbatsu Rice Lager, Green Idol, Oak King, and Hel's Garten at Zoiglhaus, where he will keep producing larger-volume beers in cans and kegs for distribution on their 10bbls system. He’s also entering into an alternating proprietorship with Spotlight Brewing, the former Pono Brewing space, that will provide him with a seven-barrel system that offers more flexibility for small-batch experimentation at the new location.
Lauman now is focused on the buildout, with construction on the shell expected to begin soon and plumbing and electrical permits to follow with a late 2026 opening as the target.
Oak Union will employ local people, he says, and of course, be run by one.
“We're the hometown brewer. We grew up in Milwaukie, we live in Milwaukie, we drink our beer in Milwaukie, and the taproom is being built by us, for our neighbors,” says Lauman.
“We plan to be deeply involved in the community, hosting our own unique events, such as Krampusnacht, and showing up for the ones our neighbors are putting on. Being smaller can be a great advantage for us. We can be nimble, collaborate with others on a dime, change plans, evolve our offerings, and stay accountable to the community rather than broad industry trends.”
