ColdFire: New brewery coming to Eugene

A new brewery will be joining the Eugene beer scene this fall. ColdFire Brewing will open by the end of October at 263 Mill St. near Rye restaurant and The Gallery at the Watershed.

Brothers Dan and Stephen Hughes will be running the brewery. The duo has been homebrewing since 1999.

Dan Hughes is the current manager of SacredHeart RiverBend Hospital’s sterile processing department and he will act as director of operations. Stephen Hughes, currently a medical lab scientist for PeaceHealth Labs, will be head brewer

Stephen Hughes has guest brewed for 10 Barrel Brewing and some work with Agrarian among other local breweries. “He’s been honing his own craft to the point that he’s sort of a perfectionist,” says Bryan Taylor, brand director for ColdFire.

At first, the brewery will focus on European-style brewing with a Northwest twist.

“ColdFire will offer an IPA and Stout, but also plenty of German and Belgian favorites like Bock, Kolsch, Dunkleweisse, and Saison. The long term vision for ColdFire is to expand this European-Northwest craft into a robust barrel aging and experimental ales program,” the ColdFire press release says.

Taylor says they chose the 263 Mill space because of its neighborhood location. “It will be near residences along the river if that ever happens,” Taylor says. “It’s supposed to be a real comfortable place for the people to come.”

He adds that ColdFire is already looking to expand to a larger tasting room in a nearby space.

“Eugene seems to have capacity for more based on what we see in Bend and Portland,” Taylor says of the brewery scene. “We feel good about one more being added to the fold.”

Look for more local beer news in next week’s beer issue, State of Suds, out July 2.

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