Steeplejack is Quite a Place (and the Beer’s Good, Too!)

Much-anticipated Steeplejack Brewing opened to the public in Northeast Portland yesterday, becoming in an instant the most impressive place to drink a pint of beer in the city. Those of us following the project’s progress have seen gorgeous photos from inside the 121-year old church it calls home, but visiting the space, packed with drinkers, was a revelation (pun sort of intended). Photos tend to collapse the space, but inside it feels much like one of the vast beer halls of Cologne—and the ornate, dark wood and white walls, along with the Christian elements all enhance the effect.

For decades the church was owned by MCC Portland, an LGBTQ-friendly denomination founded in LA in 1968. In 2015, the community voted to move out, selling the building to the owners of Steeplejack in 2019. I had the good fortune to bump into one of the members last night, who pointed out a number of the features. He mentioned that Brody Day, one of the two founders, had kept the community closely updated on the building’s progress and invited everyone out for the opening. This all made me smile. As church attendance drops in Portland, many communities lose their old church houses. In this case it seems like the transition was a welcome one on both sides, and Brody and his partner Dustin Harder have been great about staying connected with the former community. For those of you who feel like turning a church into a brewery is vaguely unsaintly, this should make you feel good about raising a pint there.

The former main sanctuary, bookended by the brewery and bar at either end, is the showpiece, but the choral nook and three side rooms provide different, cozier vibes for those looking for something more private. Together, they constitute hundreds of seats of capacity. It’s an incredibly ambitious project, and the kind of place locals will take visitors for maximum wow potential.

The beer is very promising as well. A two-woman team has augmented a modest taplist with collabs and guest taps, but their own beers were the most impressive. Anna Buxton, formerly of Modern Times, and Anne Aviles, who brewed at Breakside, have begun assembling a menu of sessionable beers for pub drinking. They have two excellent Belgian-style beers on, a very spicy, phenolic saison (French Kiss) and a smooth, summery table beer (Sawyer). But the one that knocked me out was Bench Dog, a 4.4% pale ale they call “Northwest” but which is actually much more like a modern English beer. Deeply juicy and aromatic, the intensities are balanced with the slim malt base to make an exceptional session beer. American brewers struggle with beers that weak, typically overbalancing them with hops. This is a perfect example of how to get the maximum flavor in a balanced session beer.

There were a few first-night misfires, though relatively minor for a packed house debuting to a crowd of hundreds. Things will continue to evolve and refine, and the taplist will start to feature more house beer. Still, even just out of the gates things look great. I took a bunch of pictures and I’ll leave you with a photo essay to further excite your interest—I do think the people help give the space a sense of scale and awe.