Comstock's magazine 0118 - January 2018 | Seite 62

n HOSPITALITY
Hillenbrand currently stores barrels in the ground floor of
the second structure.
Hillenbrand never cared for the bitter hop flavors he as-
sociated with craft beer, and the brewery began as a business
venture rather than a passion. He was already hosting wed-
dings and other private events on the property in Newcastle,
but still spent two years working on his business model. “I’ve
done all types of different events, so the whole concept of
doing the brewery, it made a lot of sense,” says Hillenbrand.
“That’s when I went to check out the Portland scene, and that
immediately began a passion.”
Hillenbrand discovered sour beers at Cascade Brewing
in Portland, and his interest in brewing grew after visiting
LABrewatory, a Portland-based brewery that allows patrons
to test-brew on its equipment (which is sold through its sis-
ter company, Portland Kettle Works). “In the beginning, it
wasn’t about me brewing the beer, but I loved it so much that
I wanted to learn it myself,” says Hillenbrand. “I fixated on it
the last two years. I hired a consultant to teach me, and now
I’m brewing all the beer on my own.”
After several decades in the health insurance industry,
Hillenbrand sold his business (he still remains active in the
company) and built his dream brewery. Similar to Goat-
House, he retrofitted an old barn to serve as the brewery and
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comstocksmag.com | January 2018
tasting room, and his family background in construction al-
lowed him to stay involved in every aspect of the build-out.
“It was a lot to take on in a short period of time, but it’s good
that happened the way it did, because I know every intricacy
of everything in here,” he says. Hillenbrand even built all the
furniture in the tasting room, barely finishing ahead of the
September soft opening.
Hillenbrand initially plans to feed his customers from
food trucks, like GoatHouse and Dueling Dogs. However,
his endgame would see patrons enjoy beermaker dinners,
guest chefs and seasonal food pairings. “The whole idea is to
have a true farm-to-table experience, sitting here looking at
the hops, the honey, the fruit trees, everything that we can
grow,” he says.
THE NEED FOR MEAD
After nearly four years navigating through permit hell, Earl
and Adriana Stephens are circling an early 2018 opening for
Dueling Dogs, their long-in-the-works combination of brew-
ery, cidery and meadery. They bought their 10-acre property
in 2007 with the intention of raising a family in a farm envi-
ronment, but until GoatHouse provided an inspiration, Earl
couldn’t figure out how to make the mandarin orange farm
profitable. “I looked at hundreds and hundreds of ways to get