Montavilla Brew Works Celebrates 10 Years in Portland

This year marks the tenth year in business for Montavilla Brew Works, which serves as both a brewery and a taproom on the Stark Street commercial strip in the Montavilla neighborhood. In honor of those ten years, they’ve decided to celebrate throughout 2025 with a variety of special brews and collabs. But don’t worry, they’ll have a big birthday bash this summer, too.

I sat down with Michael Kora, one of the founders of Montavilla Brew Works, to learn more about this yearlong event, plus some history of the building and the business.

Where it All Started

Michael and his wife Melissa opened Montavilla Brew Works on July 15, 2015. They named the brewery after the neighborhood because it’s where they live and work—and they wanted to make that very apparent from the beginning. “We didn’t name the place ‘Kora Brewing Company’—it’s Montavilla Brew Works.”

At the beginning they had a couple of friends helping them out, and they learned a lot about running a business along the way. “My wife and I worked a lot of long hours on our own and just tried to figure things out—what customers wanted, how the patio should look. Just all kinds of stuff like that. At time, it was very challenging.”

Today, they have a small but dedicated crew—a couple of bartenders, a brewer, and a sales guy. Melissa still does the books and designs their labels for packaging. For them, they feel very grounded here—this is home.

The Building’s History

Michael told me that it took a long time to turn this building into something useful as a brewery. Prior to them coming here, the building was “a derelict former auto garage” that was built in 1922. Those who have been in the neighborhood for a while may have known it as the location of Daugherty’s. Later it became overflow property for Beets Auto Body.

“The building is one of the most solid around,” said Michael. “If you look at pictures from back then to now, you wouldn’t recognize the place. It just it was really, really rough. So we’re really happy with what we’ve done with it.”

Meeting and Developing the Building

When Michael first encountered the building, it was in bad shape. The windows were shot out. Gangs used to hang out inside and smoke crack. He tells the story of how he first met the building:

“I was riding down the bike lane, coming from the gym, and there was a sign in the window— one of those old school signs that just said ‘for lease’ or ‘for sale.’ And I just took a picture of it and went home to Melissa.

“I called it right away, and this dude answers. And I said, ‘I was calling about your building.’ He said, ‘Man, you’re like the fiftieth person to call me today!’ He had a stack of applications from people who wanted to do all kinds of stuff with this property.

“And we went in, sat down, and talked to him. He really liked our story, where we were from, and what we wanted to do. And at the end of it, he said, ‘I like you guys, and I like what you’re going to do. I think the neighborhood needs something like you.'”

After that, they worked hard on improving the building and space, which took a while. At one point they thought, “What did we get ourselves into?!?” Michael added, “We took a lot of licks in the beginning, and there were a lot of hard lessons along the way—because nobody had really done anything like it here.”

But when they were done, people were ready for them. “We opened the doors, and it was just great,” said Michael.

The Back Patio at Montavilla Brew Works

Michael says the patio in particular has become quite popular, especially with dog owners. “We opened up this patio for people to come hang out with their dogs and do their thing,” explained Michael. “I mean, there’s a lot of dogs in Portland. And they love this patio, so that’s fun.”

They originally put gravel down (easy to maintain) on the patio floor and have continued with that over the years. They also have a covered area for winter that is heated (this was also good during COVID).

Remembering Those Early Days In Montavilla vs. Now

When they first started out, there were no breweries this far east in Portland, and there were a lot of empty storefronts. But in hindsight, they realize that it was the start of a new chapter in the neighborhood.

“When Melissa and I moved here, Bipartisan Cafe had just opened,” Michael said. “Roscoe’s was kinda there. The theater was there, Flying Pie, Mister Plywood. And now it’s just it’s incredible,” he said. “A lot of people love coming to Montavilla, and we’re stoked to be an anchor on this end of the street.”

A Supportive Community

Michael sings the praises of the local Montavilla business community, too. “Everybody looks out for each other here, which is great,” he remarked. “And if people need something, they’re willing to help. It’s not a competitive thing in that sense.”

And one way they’ve taken to supporting their neighbors is through naming some of their brews after them: e.g., Plywood Pilsner, East Glisan Mosaic, Academy Amber, Bipartisan Porter. Additionally, the Academy Theater serves their beer and Beer Bunker bought their first keg. Redwood and Roscoe’s have been buying their beer for years. “Not every commercial neighborhood has this sort of connection,” he remarked.

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Montavilla Brew Works’ 10 Year Anniversary Celebration

As I mentioned earlier, their actual anniversary is in July, but they started celebrating in February, and will throughout the year. They call it “10 for 10”—basically ten beers for ten years. It’s a calendar of releases that will happen in collaboration with brewers and businesses. They are planning two collabs to come out in March, two in April, and one or two in June, July, August, and September.

Mayor Millie

One individual they collaborated with is … a dog.

“Millie is a kind of neighborhood ambassador—kind of the ‘unofficial mayor’ of Montavilla,” explained Michael. “She’s a little chiweenie [chihuahua and dachshund mix] that comes by and brightens everybody’s day. She and Gayle have been coming in here for years.”

He asked Gayle, Millie’s owner, if she would like to have her dog on a beer label, and the rest is history. Millie will be pictured on their Mexican lager—called “Mayor Millie’s Mexican Lager”—that they are releasing on Saturday, March 15 for St. Paddy’s Day weekend. Every month, they’ll have one or two releases (look for those updates on their social media).

Other Collab Specifics

Additional collabs include an Export Lager with TPK Brewing on April 4; one with Nico’s Ice Cream this summer; one with East Glisan Pizza Lounge (release date TBD); and their Palantir/dark lager with Puff Coffee in the fall.

So Why Celebrate All Year?

As to why they are stretching out their celebration over the year, part of it has to do with having an excuse to spread out the fun. But another reason is … the weather. Climate change is here and the weather these days can be downright mercurial, especially in winter and summer.

If they put all their eggs in one basket and limit celebrating to just a party in July, there’s a chance it will be crazy hot. Or it could be comfy. But nobody knows. “We’ve had anniversaries that are 82F and perfect and 102F and miserable,” remarked Michael. Hopefully the July party will be manageable from a climate perspective.

He hopes focusing on a yearlong celebration will encourage people to come by the taphouse more often throughout the year. And for you NA folks and designated drivers, they have a bunch of NA options, which he says continue to grow in popularity.

Particularly Special: The Michigan Collab

During our conversation, I learned that Michael is a fellow former Michigander (I lived there in my youth). And it turns out there are a bunch of brewers here in Portland that hail from southeast Michigan. And they are doing a collab, likely in the summer, the idea for which was formed early in Montavilla Brew Works’ life.

“I’m looking forward to all of [the collaborations], but there is one in particular that I’ve been concocting for a lot of years, maybe since the second or third year we started here,” he explains. It’s called the “Portland Brewers From Michigan” collab.

He continued, “I became aware of a lot of brewers in this town that are actually from Michigan, like me. As I started looking into that I thought, ‘We should do a Michigan collaboration.’ Get all the brewers together that are living in Portland now that are from Michigan and make a Michigan based beer, whether it’s with Michigan hops, fruit like cherries, and put something together.” He tells me that Michigan hops really play well with our Northwest hops.

There are six brewers from MI participating: George from Assembly Brewing, Ben from Breakeside Brewing, David from Oregon City Brewing, Sean Kalis from Ruse Brewing, and, Alex Ganum from Upright Brewing. He pitched the idea to them and everyone was on board. “The six of us will come up with something cool,” he said. “It will be a onetime brew.”

So head on over to Montavilla Brew Works and check out their taproom, local brews, and specials for the 10th anniversary—all year long. And big congrats to Michael and Melissa for all their success during the past decade, and years to come!

10 for 10: Montavilla Brew Works’ 10th Anniversary
Happening throughout 2025
7805 SE Stark Street, Portland
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