Green Brew Pub – even the tissue holders are recycled!

Exterior Hopworks Urban Brewery

Went to Hopworks Urban Brewery - HUB – the other day.  And I’m totally impressed.  Not only is it the first eco brewpub in the Northwest, they’ve done it fantastically well!

Housed in the old Sunset Fuel Company’s building on SE 30th and Powell, it was a gut rehab to end all gut rehabs.  Thick concrete walls had windows sawed into them, timber was saved and reused in booths and the bar. In an interesting  twist on the original location’s function the oil from the fryers is recycled in the biodiesel tank which powers the trucks and the brew kettle.

Switch Boxes Store Condiments

Everthing possible is reused, recycled or designed to have minimum impact on the environment.  The exterior planters are steel kegs that have been cut in half.  The parking lot pavers allow the rain to drain into the soil.  In each of the booths, the salt and pepper are stored in old power utility boxes. Even the tissue holders in the women’s bathroom are from old pipe. 

Pipe Tissue Holders

The brewpub is the dream child of Christian Ettinger, you’ll have to read the blurb on the HUB’s menu for that story, and his family have been super involved as well.  Designed by his architect father, Roy; his mother, Karen who formerly owned a plant business, has taken on keeping the planters filled with native and non-invasive plants.

Of course the purpose of a brewery and brew-pub is the beer.  Well I didn’t have any yet.  It was lunch and sad to say beer makes me sleepy. Food and service were great! I am going back though and test out some of the organic ale and award winning beers.  Meet you there?

Beer Keg Planters Line the Rail