It wasn’t the start Charlie Hyde IV had envisioned.

Fresh off of earning his master’s degree in entrepreneurship, Hyde had assembled a business plan for opening a brewery in Portland. He resurrected the West Coast Grocery Co. name, the wholesaler that his great-great grandfather started in 1891 and that the family ran for nearly a century.

He hired Steve Balzer, an up-and-coming brewer who would make a name for the place within months of opening by landing a gold medal at the Oregon Beer Awards. And Hyde secured a prime location, in Southeast Portland’s vibrant Buckman neighborhood, across the intersection from popular Revolution Hall.

Then it all started going sideways.

First, improvements and seismic upgrades to West Coast Grocery’s new home weren’t completed until October 2017, a 10-month move-in delay that left Hyde with bills but no income. Then Balzer, months after leaving Laurelwood Brewing Co. to run West Coast Grocery’s brewery, changed plans and moved his family to Hawaii.

Finally, five months after opening to a supportive neighborhood and enthusiastic reviews, West Coast Grocery took a near death blow: A server was sexually harassed by Balzer’s replacement, head brewer Owen Woods. The fallout would erupt on social media and drop a public relations nightmare on the fledgling business.

The challenges have been frustrating and tough, but Hyde says he and the West Coast Grocery staff are working hard to establish the brewery’s place in the Portland beer community and the Buckman neighborhood by operating a comfortable, family-friendly local brewpub.

One step in that direction, months after the business almost collapsed, was hiring Christian Engstrom, the former head brewer at now-defunct BridgePort Brewing. He took over the brewing operation and has gotten West Coast Grocery’s brewhouse back up and running.

“It starts and ends with the beer. You’ve got to have great quality,” Hyde says. “Obviously hiring a former head brewer at Bridgeport is going to have that for you.”

But keeping the operation moving forward -- especially after Dec. 30 -- has not been easy for the first-time business owner. That night, server Sarah de Noyo was cleaning up after closing while Woods, the brewer, drank at the bar. He asked her to show him her breasts. A tense, hourslong dialogue ensued, with her trying to convey the inappropriateness of the comment and Woods defending his words.

The next day, de Noyo reported the incident to management. Hyde launched what he describes as an internal investigation, including meetings and mediation sessions with Woods and de Noyo. Hyde eventually suspended Woods for a week.

To de Noyo, that felt like a slap on the wrist for the award-winning head brewer. She quit, then shared her story and anger on Instagram. A firestorm came Hyde’s and West Coast Grocery’s way. Then Hyde fired Woods.

“I look back at some of those actions I took, and some of that was actually the flaws that I would have fixed. These matters need to be dealt with very quickly and decisively,” Hyde says. “We’re doing this mediation … and days are dragging on -- that’s one thing that makes the situation worse, especially for the victim. When you don’t have closure and it’s taking that long.”

Reached this week, Woods expressed deep regret and shame for his actions and “how I made Sarah feel.”

“There are no words that can express how sorry I am to Sarah,” Woods told The Oregonian/OregonLive in an email. "Charlie and Katie (Charlie’s wife) are wonderful people trying to create community. I hope the best for West Coast Grocery Co.”

Hyde and the other owners – family members and minority owner Brian Detweiler-Bedell, dean of Lewis & Clark College’s entrepreneurship center – established new policies and put staff and ownership through education sessions. He says they have worked hard to make amends.

And they’ve worked hard to create a brewpub that draws customers in, bringing an aesthetically creative space to the neighborhood. Dubbed “your neighborhood corner brewery,” the multilevel brewpub is airy -- graced throughout with natural light and views from all angles of the brewhouse below.

Art and history are on display in the pub, which sports modern-industrial lines combined with colorful, fresh graphics. Tributes to the original West Coast Grocery Co. hang from the walls. A contemporary sculpture of mishmashed grocery carts greets customers’ eyes. Old-growth timber recovered from the building’s redesign has been repurposed into bar tops, tabletops and seats.

The entry-floor windows face out to both Southeast Stark Street and 14th Avenue. Up a short flight of stairs is the bar area, which harkens back to an old grocery deli and comes complete with tabletop shuffleboard. Down another flight of stairs is the brewhouse, light and sparkling with a 15-barrel brewing system. And deep in the bowels is “the bodega” cellar room, home to Bodega Beer, a side-project brand producing barrel-aged, high-end beers.

Engstrom has taken over a beer program that spares no styles. A recent tap list included a pilsner, kolsch, dunkel, cream ale, stout, cherry sour, two IPAs, Imperial IPA, radler, a pale and a Belgian pale. And the barrel-aging program is off and running as well.

“I’ve always been a big fan of the traditional German styles, but I’m also really into IPAs,” says Engstrom, who is clearly not afraid to mix it up. “We’ve got a milkshake IPA now that’s just starting to ferment.”

Adds Hyde: “We’re a neighborhood place, got a lot of houses, so we like to keep something for everybody on tap … but yeah we’re always mixing in interesting stuff, one-offs.”

After the sexual harassment report, West Coast Grocery lost the majority of its distribution accounts, and traffic in the pub slowed significantly, Hyde says. The past few months have seen West Coast Grocery Co. working to recover its footing and show the community the strides it has made.

“Sarah and I are in a very good place,” he says. “Our goals since the incident happened was, OK, this happened, how can we make Portland better for this, how can we make our local community better for this.”

Hyde says he enlisted Not OK PDX, a group that works against sexual violence in the community. Brewery staff were trained on sexual harassment and how to deal with it, among other topics, and the owners implemented harassment and hiring policies. Not OK PDX certified West Coast Grocery with its SaferBar designation.

Hyde and de Noyo together began looking for groups to work with, eventually landing with Raphael House of Portland, which works to combat domestic and sexual violence. Hyde and de Noyo brewed a beer whose proceeds go to Raphael House, and they are working on other projects to help the nonprofit.

De Noyo, in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive, says she still suffers emotionally, and she remains frustrated about the way management handled the situation. But she says, after the changes that have been made, she supports West Coast Grocery.

“Charlie has been great, and I know it takes a lot to change the behaviors that led to this,” she wrote. “Charlie has done something quite difficult in accepting the change that needs to happen even on a microscopic level. … I believe that West Coast is a safe place for women.”

She is working elsewhere now, but she says she and Hyde would still like to hold a forum with beer industry leaders and the public to educate about how to handle such situations, she says.

Hyde says he feels like the hard work ownership and staff have been doing is starting to slowly change minds, and he’s seeing more support.

“We just need to keep being who we are and keep being positive,” Hyde says. “What we want to do is be a neighborhood place that supports our local community, and I think people are seeing in our neighborhood that that’s who we are, everyone here is good people, and we just want to give back and make good beer.”

Portland Breweries Series: West Coast Grocery Co. Posted by The Oregonian on Monday, May 20, 2019

West Coast Grocery Co. sampler

Why go: Attractive modern brewpub elegantly appointed using historical touches; well-crafted beer that spans styles; better-than-average pub food, open for lunch.

What to drink: Peck Chillzner is an excellent Czech Pilsner, plus well-made German styles such as a Kolsch and dunkel; Co-Pilot IPA, a classic Northwest IPA; and soon, a barrel-aged strong ale will be the first Bodega Beer, a side project focusing on barrel-aged beers.

What to eat: The fried chicken sandwich is the brewpub’s best-seller, and the burger is divine. The menu also sports sandwiches, a gyro, salads and appetizers, as well as a rotating special. Kids can pick from chicken tenders, mac and cheese, a burger or a grilled cheese.

Details: 1405 S.E. Stark St.; 503-850-8425; 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. daily, until 11 p.m. Fri-Sat.; 13 taps, plus wine, sangria, ciders and soft drinks; kids welcome until 9 p.m.; westcoastgrocerycompany.com

-- Andre Meunier

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