Breakside Brewery opened its long-awaited Slabtown pub today, March 6, the third location for the brewing company with existing spots on NE Dekum Street and in Milwaukie.

The opening comes about six months later than owner Scott Lawrence had planned, having signed the lease to the 5,000-square-foot repurposed warehouse at 1570 NW 22nd Avenue back in November 2015. During a media preview on Friday, March 3, sounds of frantic drilling and pounding still echoed loudly as building crews put the finishing touches on the giant 350-person restaurant.

Even so, the space impresses: window-paneled garage doors and a larger-than-life mural mark the entrance. With two stories and two bars (soon to be three when the rooftop is completed), the Slabtown brewpub will offer 16 of its exclusive beers on tap and spruced-up pub grub—like massive cheese and meat-filled tater tots, jalapeño poppers, and Jacobsen Salt-finished nachos.

Home to the group’s “hop lab,” the new location will be an epicenter for brewing experimentation. Brewmaster Ben Edmunds told media the lab will soon begin fermenting “Slabtown-specific, all-new recipes” in a custom-designed 10-barrel system. Expect hop-forward beers that push the boundaries of what we expect from IPAs, and brews that explore new regional and international trends. 

Calling the new brewery his “showpiece pub in the middle of the city,” Lawrence asserts that although operation costs are higher, food and beer prices will not be.

“You can get a pint-plus for five dollars,” he says, “and that’s a pretty great deal.”