On Saturday, July 13th, Montavilla Brew Works will celebrate nine years of serving locally brewed beer with an all-ages event from noon to 9 p.m. Although this event commemorates the years since this pioneering neighborhood destination greeted guests, it represents a decade of work for founders Melissa and Michael Kora, who nurtured this ten-barrel brewery and taproom through good and challenging times. The festivities at 7805 SE Stark Street will have DJ MD providing music to guests inside and under the covered patio area, while Demarco’s Sandwiches will sell food from their food truck parked on SE 78th Avenue. The brew masters will also break out archived beers at the peak of their aging cycle for special pours of brewing history.
Montavilla Brew Works grew from a home-brewer’s passion and a desire to create a neighborhood-scale enterprise. Before starting his brewery, Michael Kora secured work with Bridgeport Brewing Company after briefly working for the owner’s winery business. When the seasonal wine work ended, Dick Ponzi learned of Kora’s desire to work in the brewing industry and found a place for him in his other business where he could learn about operations. “I didn’t get to brew because I didn’t go to brew school. I was driving a truck, working in the warehouse, shipping, distributing, moving beer around, and learning brewing at home. I then nano brewed for a while at the Green Dragon,” recalled Kora. After growing his skills and experiencing the brewing business from the inside, it seemed time to branch out on his own. Sitting at McMenamins Edgefield, Michael and Melissa Kora sketched out a five-year business plan and agreed to start looking for a space to rent.
The couple moved into Montavilla several years before starting their business. After agreeing to start a brewery, they looked for commercial spaces in neighboring areas but could not find a suitable location that fit their vision for the taproom. However, with some luck and good timing, Michael Kora discovered the neglected former Daugherty Auto Service garage at the corner of SE 78th and Stark Street. “I was riding home from the gym and came by Stark Street just to kind of look at what was going on and there was a for sale or lease sign. This building was so dilapidated it was nothing to look at, but Melissa and I were from the Detroit area of Michigan. I’d seen worse, so [I thought] this building is pretty cool and would make a cool brewery,” said Michael Kora. William “Dave” Beets, the operator of the now-demolished Beets Auto Body, owned the property and was excited to see it go to new owners for such an unexpected use. “He was a character, but he was surprisingly stoked. He said, ‘I think this is awesome. You guys are gonna be the first. There’s no breweries around here like this. It’s gonna be good for the community and the neighborhood.’ He was a neighborhood guy even though he didn’t live here,” recalled Kora.
The Kora’s became tenants of the Stark Street building in 2013, but it would take over two years to open the doors to the public. The original owners of the 1922-era auto garage never designed it to house any other type of business, and it took substantial efforts to rehabilitate the building. Permits took four months to approve, and construction lasted another nine months. Kora discovered that the building roof slopes significantly to the northwest corner of the property for rainwater drainage, forcing him to place his tall brewing equipment at the south-facing front of the building, blocking windows and putting beer production centerstage. During construction, he added onto the north side of the building to create a walk-in cooler and storage room needed to keep finished beer and ingredients out of the limited customer-facing space.
Construction delays, the added brewery inspections, and unanticipated expenses drained their cash reserves. Michael Kora started beer production offsite to begin bringing in funds and building the brand. Flying Pie Pizzeria was an early supporter, buying the pre-opening batches and installing a permanent Montavilla Brew Works tap handle at the restaurant, replacing Bud Light. Initially, they relied on help from friends, but the couple mainly worked alone at Montavilla Brew Works for the first few years. “Melissa designed everything on the interior. So she made this place feel like it does. And I was the beer guy and eventually the business guy. It was her and I for the first four and a half years,” recalled Kora. After the early lean years, they brought in help to brew their beers and cover bar shifts. With the added staff, it was beginning to feel sustainable until the pandemic upended the business model. Montavilla Brew Works focused on serving draft beer onsite with little attention paid to the at-home market. They distributed a limited number of kegs to local businesses but had not embraced canning. COVID-19 bar closures forced a change in the whole microbrewery industry. “We completely 180’d, and we’re in this world where we were doing 100% draft, and then we switched to 100% cans. Melissa and I were out there every week delivering to people’s homes,” said Michael Kora. They had to let their employees go to keep the business going. The brewery survived that scary time and invested early in outdoor seating to bring people back as soon as possible. Business is still recovering, but Kora expects it will not be on the same trajectory it was on before the pandemic.
Post-COVID, Melissa and Michael Kora spend less time in the brewery during service hours. Both are more focused on improving operations and branding, with a goal to make each subsequent batch better than the last. Although they retained canned beer to some degree, wide expansion is not part of the company’s plans. “A good 80 plus percent is still draft, and the remainder is packaged because we don’t distribute that far out of Portland. Hence putting the name of the neighborhood on it. We want people to come here. You want them to come to the neighborhood,” explained Michael Kora. Montavilla Brew Works’ hyper-local interest extends beyond just its business name. Over the years, Kora collaborated with area businesses to produce cross-promoting brews. These include an American amber beer titled Academy Amber after the Academy Theater, East Glisan Mosaic is dedicated to East Glisan Pizza Lounge, and a German Pilsner-style lager called Plywood Pilsner spotlights neighbor business Mr. Plywood. “We figured we live here, bought our house here, our business is here. We’re going all in, and you know, it’s worked. It’s helped build a really loyal fan base,” said Kora.
People can find limited supplies of Montavilla Brew Works beer at around 300 locations from Hood River to Hillsborough and as far south as Eugene and Corvallis. However, the corner of SE Stark Street and 78th Avenue is the best place to experience it. This weekend’s celebration will feature vintage beers that Kora has stored for years, just waiting for a special accession. The staff will sell these beers in smaller sipper cups to let more people experience the limited stock of aged brews. The event will also allow children to attend. Montavilla Brew Works has famously prohibited children, smoking, and televisions inside the tap room during regular business hours. However, on street fair days and special events, they set aside the rules prohibiting kids and open the space to all ages. Guests are encouraged to stop by July 13th starting at noon, and those interested in the archival beers should drop by early to get a taste while supplies last.
