Labyrinth Forge Brewing finds a home at legendary Hair of the Dog Brewing space
Alan Sprints of Hair of the Dog Brewing (left) and Dylan VanDetta of Labyrinth Forge Brewing (right)
Portland nano brewery Labyrinth Forge Brewing has leased the former Hair of the Dog Brewing taproom and acquiring most of their brewing equipment to reopen the space this summer 2023. The legendary Hair of the Dog Brewing is a seminal craft brewery, integral to Oregon and U.S. craft brewing history in establishing that beer could be something more complex than industrial lager and reviving centuries old beers and brewing traditions by utilizing smoke, unique grains, and spirit barrel-aging to make unheard of styles of beer that were as strong as port wines. Hair of the Dog founder Alan Sprints announced that he would be retiring and closing Hair of the Dog Brewing after 29 years last June of 2022.
Dylan VanDetta is a longtime homebrewer who moved to Oregon and joined the Oregon Brew Crew homebrewing club in 2012 which is where he met longtime member Alan Sprints. Dylan started Labyrinth Forge Brewing in 2019, beginning his first independent brewing not in a garage but on a large scale at Ordnance Brewing in Boardman, Oregon. Over the past 4 years Labyrinth Forge has brewed at different facilities and self-distributed their beers on draft and in cans, the past few years from fellow nano Gateway Brewing. But from the outset Dylan’s goal was always to open his own brewing location and taproom, something he briefly flirted with in 2022 when he opened a tasting room from his home garage for about 3 months before a nearby armed robbery convinced him it was a bad idea to bring strangers to his home.
When Dylan heard that Hair of the Dog Brewing was closing, he immediately was intrigued about what would become of the space. In the New School’s interview with Sprints at the time, he said he would likely sell his equipment off and sell the building which he had the foresight to purchase when Hair of the Dog expanded to that location in 2010.
“It had always been in my mind ‘wouldn’t it be great to get into the Hair of the Dog building?’ but there was no way. When I heard Alan was retiring it got my wheels spinning, and it was game on at that point,” says Dylan, who approached Alan Sprints about it at visiting beer writer John Holl’s podcast recording at Von Ebert Brewing last September.
At the time Sprints announced his retirement he says he was just done with the business and wanted to get out of the building completely. But after taking some time away he realized it would be beneficial to keep the building, and that perhaps it could be someone else’s starting point.
“I think that Dylan’s business plan and the fact that he has a reputation convinced me that he was the right one,” says Alan Sprints, noting he was approached by numerous breweries and startups before Labyrinth Forge. Sprints will retain ownership of the building, and stay in a back area of the warehouse to use as his own workshop for special projects, he won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. “Beer was a hobby at one point, and I have lots of things that I’d like to revive now that I have more time. It will be nice to come and have a beer in the afternoon. It will be nice to come into somebody elses place," says Sprints.
Hair of the Dog’s strange frankenstein brewing system cobbled together in the 90’s will remain in use at Labyrinth Forge. The strange steam powered soup kettle brewhouse will be downgraded to a 4 barrel system that is currently undergoing a deep clean. Hair of the Dog’s coldside of fermentation vessels is all modern equipment, and Labyrinth Forge will be able to flexibly batch up to 20bbls of beer at a time. The ability to brew all in-house and sell his beer on-premise for draft markups will be huge for the brand, which Dylan says has actually lost money on every self-distributed can because the margins are so thin at the current contract brewing business model.
Hair of the Dog is moving much of their art and artifacts out of the building for Labyrinth Forge to work with a muralist to repaint the space with their brand colors. Anyone who has been into the space knows the high ceilings, roll-up doors, gorgeous wood features and open kitchen layout make for a beautiful space. West facing windows even capture the sunset with a view to the hills and downtown Portland. The layout, bar top, tables and chairs will remain the same only with a dash of the Labyrinth Forge brand that was inspired by Dylan’s childhood obsession.
“I used to draw mazes when I was a kid, I’ve always been fascinated by Labyrinths and celtic network. When I started the brewery I went through many naming options, this one was actually a name I used when I was drawing mazes, there was a forge I used that was called Labyrinth Forge,” he recalls. Dylan’s beers don’t adhere to any one genre or family of beers, instead they try to tell a story of beer and history and connect with different cultures just like the ancient Cretan labyrinth at Knossos and the Celtic knotwork strands crisscrossing the land. Labyrinth Forge core beers are brewed in styles like Kolsch, Stout, and IPA, but with a tremendous amount of rotating special creations like a Spruce Tip Saison, a Belgian Cherry Dark Strong Ale, and Imperial Pumpkin Stout.
“I love Portland, but I also love to travel. Labyrinths have been around since the beginning of human civilization, we don’t know what the original use of them was, but they are pretty much everywhere around the planet. It gives us an infinite number of beer names, beer styles, food pairings, we can touch almost every culture that is out there and tie them in to the Labyrinth.”
Hair of the Dog’s kitchen equipment will stay with Labyrinth Forge, but Dylan is looking for a chef or food service business to partner with to run it. He has some ideas on types of food, perhaps Mediterranean, but is open to finding the right person that he can collaborate with on a vision of a food program that offers both full meals and small plates, with a family friendly menu and atmosphere. He wants the taproom to be a gathering spot for friends or family, and a cultural community hub rather than a sports bar or activity spot, but low amplification live music is something he is enthusiastic about bringing in.
Dylan VanDetta joined the Green Dragon Brew Crew in 2016, a subset of homebrewers that gathered at the original Green Dragon Pub in southeast Portland under the ownership of Rogue Ales. The group of 6, brewed on a pilot system at Rogue Eastside, and developed recipes that for a time would be released weekly at the Rogue taproom. Many of those beers were scaled up for production, and served as a starting point for many of the homebrewers to start their own commercial breweries like Montavilla Brew Works, Bent Shovel, and War & Leisure.
“A lot of the recipes I am brewing as Labyrinth Forge started as Green Dragon beers,” says Dylan. When Rogue Ales ended their partnership with the Green Dragon Brewers in 2022, they agreed to let the group take the pilot system with him. Dylan is excited to announce Labyrinth Forge will be the new home for the sub-brand, and reinvigorate the project as an incubator, hopefully laying the groundwork for many more breweries to come and serving as a regular hub to try out new things at Labyrinth Forge. Taking over the Hair of the Dog space may mark the ending of one brewery, but its just the start of another and planting the seeds of many, many more.
”I always said people shouldn’t be sad I’m retiring because there are so many brewers that are making excellent beer, it’s not like I am the only one,” says Alan Sprints. “The most frustrating thing about retiring was disappointing those people who liked coming here on a regular basis. So the idea that I can give those people another place to come is a great thing for me. I’ve already had so many people reach out and say they they cant wait to come back to the tasting room.”
“When I started homebrewing I always wanted a brewery, tasting room, restaurant, so I have been dreaming about it since then,” says Dylan. “I have great respect for the brand, and Alan, I’m just in awe of Hair of the Dog and that this is happening.”
“I have a lot of confidence that Dylan is going to be successful here,” adds Alan Sprints. “I know it changed my life moving from wholesale only into a retail situation, and I’m sure Dylan will experience the same thing.”
Labyrinth Forge Brewing hopes to reopen the Hair of the Dog Brewing space in Summer 2023.