The Hard Road From Concept to Bottle

Andrew Theen, writing in the Oregonian, has an illuminating piece on the difficulties starting a new brewery.  He looked into the project Alan Taylor--the talented, German-trained former Widmer brewer--and partners have been working on for well over a year now.  They have the talent, the business plan, and the support of the city of Hillsboro.  What they need is a building:

Taylor, experienced in both small and large-scale operations, has a clear idea of what they want. They plan on producing 6,000 to 10,000 barrels per year, along with bottling and distribution, paired with a 190-seat restaurant -- think along the lines of Hopworks Urban Brewery or Laurelwood Brewing Co. in Portland.

"It's hard to find a restaurant, industrial mix in the 8,000- to 10,000-square-foot range," Taylor said. 

Definitely worth a read. Relatedly, Pete Dunlop has noticed the trend of more production brewing, rather than brewpubs, in the Beaver State and has thoughts about what it means.