Sherwood will soon have a new brewhouse and restaurant, compliments of an already-established Tigard brewpub.
This spring, Cooper Mountain Ale Works has plans to open a pilot brewhouse in space formerly occupied by Smockville Brewhouse, located in 3,000 square feet of retail space inside the Sherwood Center for the Arts.
“Like our Tigard location, this is right in the heart of a downtown that we believe is a prime location for expanding our local footprint with suburban families,” said Chris Sjolin, founder and brewer at Cooper Mountain Ale Works.
While plans are to focus on a “pizza-leaning kitchen” at the new location, he said they will defer to what Sherwoodians prefer to eat as well.
Once the second location opens, Cooper Mountain will no longer brew its beers in Beaverton, moving those operations to Sherwood.
In addition, Sjolin said he plans to run a learning and experimentation school for brewers hoping to get their own brewery started, once the Sherwood site is completed.
“We’ll be designing experiments with water additives, different malt sources, yeast pitch rates and vendors, leaf vs pellet hops, etc. Then we’ll put the beers on tap and have customers give feedback,” said Sjolin, who, along with several partners, opened his original brewhouse on Tigard’s Main Street during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The building formerly housed Max’s Fanno Creek Brew Pub.
“We have trimmed down our ownership group since we opened in Tigard in 2020, but overall, the pandemic gave us an opportunity to learn and grow at a more manageable rate than would have been possible otherwise,” he said.
Cooper Mountain Ale Works recently joined Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative’s reusable bottle program, purchasing a bottling line that Sjolin said will allow his brewery to distribute more bottled beer through retail channels.
“It’s not a major part of our long-term strategy, but we do want to have high-quality to-go beers that can be purchased at our locations, and perhaps through some smaller local retailers,” he said.
Smockville Brewhouse, which was owned by Sherwood’s Trees Restaurant owner Shannon Johnson, shut its doors last summer after almost five years in business.
Sjolin said he plans to make minor changes including enclosing the open kitchen, a request he had from his staff.
Noting that many breweries don’t allow children or cater to families coming in, Sjolin said the yet-to-be-named brewery and brewpub plans to create an inclusive environment for all.
He said he’s excited to bring Cooper Mountain Ale Works’ business expertise to Sherwood.
“It is expanding rapidly due to excellent planning and incentives provided by the city, and we believe that we can be a part of attracting families to a suburban outpost where they don’t have to drive 30 minutes out of town to get great beer, wine, cocktails and food,” he said of the new venture.
