By Linda Whitmore
April 2008: Five Silverton men announce plans to launch Seven Brides Brewing Co. The brewery has a few pieces of repurposed equipment, housed in a partners’ home workshop.
April 2009: Seven Brides’ owners announce they will be moving soon to 303 S. James St. The 1,100-square-foot facility doubles the brewery’s size.
March 2010: It’s moving time again – to a building more than 10 times larger than the current one. It has 12,000 square feet of manufacturing space, plus meeting rooms, offices, a storage loft – and a tap room.
A lease was signed Feb. 21 for Seven Brides Brewing to take over the First Street building constructed as Copeland Lumber Co. and most recently serving as the Traeger barbecue warehouse.
Partner Jeff DeSantis said the tap room is expected to open within 90 days.
The same weekend the lease was signed, the brewery also did its first bottling, with the Seven Brides brand to appear very soon in Roth’s markets and other establishments. Also this year, the brewery signed an agreement with General Distributors of Oregon City to deliver Seven Brides far and wide.
“It’s just unreal,” DeSantis said the day after the lease was set to paper. “It’s huge.”
Although it may seem to some outside the business that the brewery is expanding exponentially, he said it’s been a considered and carefully planned growth.
It all started as a homebrewing hobby of Phil and Karl Knoll and Josiah Kelley. Joining the group later were DeSantis, and his brother, Ken DeSantis. Friends encouraged the guys to get licensed to sell their beers and ales.
So the five Silverton residents started the brewery – named in honor of the seven daughters among the partners – on a shoestring, and kept their day jobs. Less than two years later, Jeff DeSantis and Kelley now are employed full-time with the brewery.
With the expansion will come the need to hire more employees. It’s an important factor in the brewery’s position in the community.
“We are very proud of the fact we’re in Silverton,” DeSantis said. “And jobs are a big thing.”
He said community relationships have been the core of their philosophy. While most start-up breweries begin with a tap room and build a name for themselves, Seven Brides did things the other way around, he said. It began by brewing quality beers and ales, distributing them in local restaurants and taverns and taking them to every event and function possible, thereby developing a following.
Now expanding to a full-scale tap room, bottling their products and expanding their distribution seem natural developments – although perhaps major developments, considering the short span of time and the economic climate.
Less than two years ago when they started, the price of grain had just jumped 60 percent and hops costs increased due to diminished crops. Now, difficult economic times are causing restaurants and taverns to close – but that hasn’t daunted their spirits. DeSantis thinks it’s a good time make the move up.
“The areas of growth have been on our terms. People on the outside might say ‘holy smokes, you’ve grown fast,’ but we have been very deliberate in how we’ve grown.” He said the partners have considered every financial aspect as they carefully make changes.
Now they are gearing up for the huge leap. There has been a lot of advance planning. Just one day after the lease was signed, while walking through the area where the tap room is to be, one could see tape lines on the floor delineating where the bar will be, the seating and other amenities.
There’s even a bar area suitable for wheelchair users. Wood for the bar top is recycled from Silver Falls Lumber Co. and is approximately 150 years old. It has been stored in a friend’s barn for the past 80 years. And the back bar will be of recycled copper. Back when the brewery first started, DeSantis said, “Our commitment is to be a green as possible and use local services. First and foremost, we want to make sure our quality is good.” This philosophy continues through the new project, as does the focus on working hand-in-hand with Silverton-area businesses.
The manufacturing facility will be shared with Vitis Ridge Vineyards, which will house its winery in the back warehouse area. The 12,000-square-foot building will be divided between winemaking and brewing. The entire area must be insulated and painted. Additional bathrooms will be built and office space sectioned off.
In the tap room, Vitis Ridge wines and Seven Brides beers will be poured and a menu of appetizers will be available until there’s a full-service kitchen.
After the tap room is up and running, the brewing operation will move to the new facility. New brewing and fermenting tanks have been purchased for additional capacity.
The brewery will continue to produce their four “cornerstone” beers – pale ale, amber ale, pilsner and oatmeal stout – as well as seasonal selections.
These are also available in bottles. Seven Brides’ labels were designed by Silverton resident Olaf Bahr and feature a historic photograph of Silverton on one side and map on the other.
“We’re local, local, local,” said DeSantis. “We’re in the community and the community is soooo supportive.”
The company’s focus, he said, is to provide jobs for Silverton residents, to bring visitors to explore the town and its destination sights like Silver Falls, to share “the Silverton experience.” The brewery is part of that experience and every shirt and bottle touts the town.
“We are very proud of the fact we’re in Silverton,” DeSantis said.
