Oregon City Brewing Company on Washington Street was closed this week after a large SUV crashed into the building’s southwest corner shortly after noon Tuesday.
Barely 24 hours later, the company announced on Facebook that it was reopening at 5 p.m. Wednesday, thanks to the quick work of J.R. Johnson LLC and Equilibrium Engineers, as well as Oregon City Public Works and Police.
Once it was clear that no one had been hurt, the jokes flowed as plentifully as craft ales and stouts inside the taphouse. Perhaps the driver had simply been a little too eager to get inside the brewpub for an early drink.
Or, as another commenter suggested, maybe the driver had been confused by the arrows painted on the walls of O.C. Brewing — which were intended to playfully direct delivery drivers to the loading bay — but did appear to point more or less directly to the corner where the Dodge Durango impacted the building.
The truth, according to OC Brewing owner Bryce Morrow, was that a young, 16-year-old driver had simply made a mistake.
“Too much speed and inexperience led to over-corrected steering,” Morrow told the Current. “The kid was pretty shaken up. Thankfully, no one was injured.”
The driver was cited for careless driving, Morrow said.
J.R. Johnson and Equilibrium worked through the night to shore up the historic building and allow it to safely reopen — though there is some significant structural damage on the corner that will need to be addressed in the weeks to come.
Though OC Brewing had joked on its Facebook page Tuesday that no beer was injured in the incident, Morrow later told us there might be two to four barrels of high-end, bourbon barrel-aged beer that will have to be dumped.
The barrels hold a little over 50 gallons each and had been aging for over a year, Morrow said.
“We should be open and have the sidewalk safe and cleared on Wednesday,” Morrow said. “I’d love for customers to come in on Thursday and tip generously to our bartenders.”
The incident also meant the rescheduling of a pint night in support of Canby Community Preschool, which had been initially set for Tuesday evening. The fundraiser was instead moved to Tuesday, April 12.
Morrow and OC Brewing Co. are also behind the Canby Beer Library project, which is currently under construction at the former Canby Public Library building on North Holly Street and is expected to open this summer.
