Ex Novo Brewing Opening New Beaverton Pub Featuring Detroit-style Pizza

May 10, 2018

Portland's popular Ex Novo Brewing will be the latest in the new school of craft breweries to open a second location in the suburbs with a Beaverton restaurant and taproom scheduled for late 2018. With the help of City of Beaverton officials, Ex Novo will remodel the over 100 year old Historic Cady Building at 4505 SW Watson Avenue. This is the second big announcement from Ex Novo Brewing, the other being that the company will open a location in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with its own brewery, and founder Joel Gregory plans to relocate there.Ex Novo is not the first Portland brewery to announce a new suburban location, as Migration Brewing is gearing up to open a second location in Gresham this summer. For Gregory, he wanted another location a ways away from the original N. Portland spot."I've done tastings and events in Beaverton and Hillsboro before and met lots of people who have not heard of us. So, the thinking there would be to reach a new community, as well as give our fans on the westside something great that keeps them from having to make the trip to Portland." The City of Beaverton making efforts to revitalize the Old Town area as a food and drink destination was also a big draw. "We really like the idea of being a part of that exciting revitalization at the ground level."Ex Novo has been working with Scott|Edwards Architecture (SEA) to remodel the Beaverton space, which was once a bank, pharmacy, and market and is a location on the Historic Beaverton Walking Map. The remodel has a tentatively scheduled finish for this fall after exterior updates that Ex Novo received a grant for from the City of Beaverton. The company also hopes for an additional grant for interior improvements.

The new Beaverton pub will be much like the Portland location, only a much different space. The only other major change is a focus on Detroit-style pizza, a lesser-known style that's been gaining a larger audience and cult following since Ex Novo has been offering one on the menu. Pizza will be the focus, says Gregory."We'll have some special creations there on the menu as opposed to the strictly "build your own" that we currently offer, and we'll do different sizes, including pizza by the slice and hopefully a solid pizza-to-go business." Gregory adds that current chef Chris Greer will continue to oversee the Beaverton kitchen to some extent, "as he's the mastermind behind the Detroit style pizza. Having this team in place, I'm super confident in our ability to keep the Ex Novo experience on point, and I'll obviously be in close contact with the team and making monthly trips to Oregon." The food menu will be filled out by house sandwiches, salads, and a casual counter-service setting.

The Beaverton pub calls for 14 taps of Ex Novo beer, bottles/cans to-go, and a family-friendly atmosphere open to kids until 9ish with hopes that the current brewery can supply both pubs and local distribution. The logistics of running all three soon-to-be locations will fall to Gregory making frequent trips back and forth and his management team that features bartender turned manager Brandon Sharp stepping into a key role. Sharp has "been with us from the beginning" says Gregory, and will now "act as GM for both Oregon pubs and we'll have separate management under him. Our head brewer Ryan Buxton will be overseeing brewing operations for our two breweries, but will remain in Portland."

For those wondering if Ex Novo will be continuing its commitment to charity organizations and donating profits to causes they believe in, the answer is yes, but what those causes will be isn't quite clear yet as Gregory says "We'll be taking the next few months to decide if we'll be supporting the same nonprofits with both companies, or if Beaverton will have its own set. I'd like to be able to be involved somewhat at a hyper-local level there."Last, Gregory adds in a public statement about the expansion, “I am really excited about the Beaverton location – it is a somewhat underserved area for craft beer, and I don’t have a doubt the community will support us there. I know the barrier in coming to our North Portland location for those on the westside can be severe with traffic getting worse all the time, so it just makes sense to put ourselves in a spot where we can build some new community around our beer and food. We’ll be looking for ways to link arms with residents and community members to see how we can serve and be something Beaverton is proud of.”