Exterior of Bodihow brewpub abd neon sign.
The growing community of Oregon now has its own brewpub. Jamie Bush leads a trio of owners in Bodihow Brewing Company, which opened in October. The owners are avid beer enthusiasts, bicyclists and coffee drinkers, and all these pasttimes can be are under one roof at 201 Concord Drive on Oregon’s eastern edge, near Highway 14.
Bush, who also owns the Headquarters Bar and Restaurant in Oregon and Deaks Pub & Grill in Stoughton, designed the new building to include the brewery, coffee shop with a drive-up window, and the Oregon Bicycle Company. Scot Williams runs the bike shop, which sells, rents and services bicycles, and Mac Schroeder oversees the brew house.
It’s an open floor plan, with high ceilings and large glass garage doors that open to a patio. Large group tables surround a central planter that has live hop vines reaching toward the skylights — it’s a communal atmosphere where customers mingle amid all three areas of the business.
The bar faces windows that frame a 3.5-barrel brewing system. The brewery’s 14 tap handles are made of bicycle parts, mostly pedals.
By late October, Schroeder had brewed three in-house beers: a porter, a Scotch ale and an amber. The porter is dark and full of dark roasted chocolate and caramel malts that lend medium body and sweetness. The Scotch ale, my pick of the three, is traditional for the style with inviting rich caramel sweetness. And the amber is an easy drinking ale with a touch of dry-hopped character in the finish from a late addition of Cascade hops.
Schroeder envisions that Bodihow will eventually offer about six regular house beers along with rotating seasonals and small one-off batches. His remaining tap lines will feature other local beers like the Great Dane’s Crop Circle Wheat (a favorite of Schroeder’s), along with picks from other regional breweries.
Before Bodihow, Schroeder only dabbled in homebrewing. When he signed on as a partner he turned to Rob LoBreglio, co-owner of the Great Dane Pub and Brewing Co., who consulted on the project and who invited Schroeder into the Great Dane’s Hilldale brewhouse for an apprenticeship. “It’s been a learning process, but figuring things out is [an aspect of] the brewery that appealed to me,” says Schroeder, who looks forward to trying different recipes and methods.
Three men in gray t-shirts.
Jamie Bush, left, Mac Schroeder and Scot Williams of Bodihow Brewing.
The coffee shop serves proprietary blends from True Coffee. Customers can also choose from a handful of pastries, a breakfast taco and a breakfast bowl.
The pub serves a variety of tacos (barbacoa, carne asada, carnitas and more) which can also be made as a bowl.
The name Bodihow is an acronym for “Bunch of Dudes I Hang Out With.” So many brewery names are already used; rather than risk claims of trademark infringement, they created a name. “It started as a placeholder for a month while we worked through different ones, but it works,” says Bush.
