The New Brewhouse


We bought the new brewhouse in November 2005 from Trask Brewery in McMinnvile, OR. They originally bought it from the Arizona Roadhouse in Tempe. The 15 barrel copper clad DME system will double our current capacity.

The mash tun comes with rakes/plows eliminating the need to stir the mash by hand (as we currently do). The kettle is steam-fired- improving the efficiency considerably over our current direct-fired system. The added capacity will mean more beer to sell around PDX and hopefully a return to docksales of seasonal beers.

Gut It

Owner Mike and Brewmaster Christian began some demo on the inside of the building themselves. Then, realizing their time was better spent elsewhere, they left the destruction to the professionals. The old restaurant was completely gutted-down to the studs, revealing some cool details like old bricks and beams.

Here you can see where the bar and some of the dining area will be. The plans have the new brewery on the other side of the brick wall you see to the right. We're planning on keeping the brewery behind glass like so you can watch your beer being made as you sit at the bar. Plans are also in the works for open air seating just beyond the wall in the back of this picture.

Like we said, we hope to have all the drawing posted here soon.

Cheers!

The Building

In the Summer of 2005 Laurelwood owners Mike DeKalb and Cathy Woo-DeKalb bought the former Sylvia's Restaurant and Dinner Theater. The goal has always been to own their own building and this seemed like the perfect fit. Laurelwood could stay in the same neighbor (just 12 blocks away) and still expand its brewery operations in a building owned by the company.

The drawings for the new restaurant and brewery are nearly complete. We hope to have them posted here soon.

Just Getting Started

A new brewery = a new blog. We've got the equipment, we've got the building. Now let's get them together and make more beer!

Keep it tuned here for more pictures and postings. We'll reveal exactly which brewery is expanding, where you can find us, and other little tidbits about this project.

Cheers!