Mark and Dana Henion met at brewing industry events in Eugene when he worked at Ninkasi and she worked at Oakshire back in 2012. Two years later, along with mutual friend John Van Duzer—who began working with Mark at Deschutes Brewery in 1994—they started working at Boneyard. The following year Mark and Dana got engaged. In early 2022, the trio united to create lager-centric Van Henion.
When Mark and I began working together, he showed me a lot of respect and treated me as a professional," Dana Henion reminisces. "I have always admired his work ethic and simply enjoyed working with him. Once I started working with Mark, I knew that was the only way I wanted it...I love to be around him. We are a good team and we have fun together. We love the same beers and have the same passion for brewing."
The Henions are one of nine brewery-owning couples in Bend who have fermented a lot of schmoopiness over their years and beers.
Todd and Robin Clement got hitched 1992 at age 22 and 20, respectively. Twenty-two years later, they launched Monkless Belgian Ales.
"Our collaboration was undoubtedly, and still is, a result of love for each other," says Todd Clement, before adding, "and of course, Belgian beer."
Robin Clement effuses, "We're not just business partners, we're best friends. It's like having a built-in support system, someone who understands your day without the need for a detailed debrief."
They've navigated marriage's many obstacles, and risen to the challenges of being business owners, but therein lies the solution: when something might be too vexing for one person, it really helps having someone by your side who can help you zig when you're predominantly a zagger. Each brewery-owning couple has a profound love of beer... and each other. In this IPA-centric world bursting with bitterness, these folks are steeped in malted sweetness.
In chronological order of opening breweries, there's Paul and Staci Arney, who created Central Oregon's only all-wild brewery, The Ale Apothecary, in 2012 (well, until 2023, when they branched out with non-sour beers under The AlePharm name, because business, like marriage, doesn't always go exactly as planned, but when it's a venture worth saving, you make adjustments). Staci Arney came aboard in 2016 when Paul Arney notes, "We thought the industry could support our niche for the both of us, which it did for a bit. Those were the best years of the brewery, financially, when we were a team and our products were the purest distillation of my original vision."
Only a third of these breweries were founded by spouses with much or any professional brewing industry experience, including Paul Arney, who became a brewer in 1995, three years after tying the knot. (Only two couples—the Henions as well as Matt and Kate Molletta of Boss Rambler— had any overlapping experience working together, and only the Henions did so at a brewery.) That means most leveled up from homebrewing roots, giving them an even steeper learning curve, including Trever and Angel Hawman.
When I first met the Hawmans at Wubba's BBQ in 2013, their nascent Bridge 99 was a nanobrewery. While Wubba's fell into that sad category of spots that didn't make it, Bridge 99 is thriving, going into its second decade, while the Hawmans' marriage is approaching three decades. Blocks away, Courtney and Mark Stevens recently celebrated a dozen years of marriage and look forward to their Craft Kitchen and Brewery reaching double digits next year, thanks to what seems like a lifetime of "blood, sweat and tears," according to Courtney Stevens. It's no secret running a restaurant is a brutal business and the brewing industry is in a rough patch. The combination can be doubly challenging, which takes its toll on business partners, even more so when they go to work and then go home together.
"Some people may think we are fighting if they don't know us," says Courtney Stevens, "but it's just our way of foreplay."
Five-year-old Porter Brewing has faced its own litany of struggles, including some that are self-imposed. The brewery exclusively trades in British-style cask-conditioned ales, which Avara Roberts took to Instagram to explain means Porter's beers are intentionally less effervescent. They're naturally carbonated rather than force-carbonated, which gives other beers a level of bubbliness that she and her husband of 14 years, Deven Roberts, might deem over-carbed. Cask ales, she debunked, are not warm but cellar-temperature. What's more, no, the brewery named after their son doesn't only make porters (although their 1772 Porter is kissed by perfection).
"Deven homebrewed all the beer — and wine — for our wedding," Avara Roberts beams. "(We) hadn't worked together in any professional capacity before starting the brewery in 2018. However, we'd been raising two young children together and I suppose that gave us a good idea of what our professional partnership would look like." There's a reason brewery owners, regardless of whether their kids or breweries were "born" first, refer to said breweries as their babies.
Most of our brewery-owning partners are parents. Matt and Kate Molletta started Boss Rambler Beer Club (along with Matt's sister and brother-in-law, who are out-of-state silent partners) after working together at Toms Shoes and their own mobile bar, The Swig Rig. When they started working in the non-brewing side of the beer biz—Matt Molletta at Crux Fermentation Project and Kate Molletta at Boneyard—they were kid'n'carefree. Their elder daughter was born months before Boss Rambler came into this world and is already "begging to work at the taproom when she 'gets older,'" says Matt Molletta.
Many brewery-owning couples are parents with kids ranging from preschooler to graduate school grad, but Nate and Val Doss, who went from disc golf world champs as doubles partners to partnering with Justin Celmer to open Bevel Brewing, now have the littlest little in newborn Luca. Demonstrating how the Doss' stainless steel baby is equally demanding, Nate Doss had to brew the day after Luca was born. In fact, the only brewery owners whose succession plans can't include a second-gen option other than Bridge 99 are Bend's two newest: Funky Fauna—the Sisters-based saison brewery from Michael Frith and Danielle Burns (who are also opening a taproom called The Doom Lounge in The Pantry on NW Newport Avenue), and Van Henion.
Kids and Other Challenges
There's no one model to starting and managing a brewery. The same applies to marriages and families, regardless of any possible exemplars who make it look easy. Raising both types of babies—flesh and bone as well as stainless steel and red tape—isn't merely Herculean; it can feel downright Sisyphean.
Porter's Avara Roberts sums up a sentiment repeated by each couple. "It was an organic divide-and-conquer situation. We both naturally gravitated to our own areas of strength. My background is in business, so I'm the one who does all of the paperwork, licenses, permits, hiring, training, marketing, etcetera. Deven's experience is in brewing, so his realm is everything beer related... We make a great team and the other person always makes themself available if the other one needs support, no matter if that is physical labor or emotional support."
In every case, it's clear that it takes two. Usually more. "Monkless has been a bit of an unconventional classroom," notes Todd Clement, whose background is in chemistry and software. As the family with the oldest kids—one is in college and the other now out—he knows all about education. "It's been a great teacher of life skills and business perspective."
Craft's Courtney Stevens recalls of their only daughter (who's "10 going on 20"): "During COVID we home schooled, and we were also understaffed. She saw us struggling on a busy day, and just jumped in. She gloves up and runs food and busses tables. She usually makes the most tips, too! It taught her a lot about business. She learned real-life math and how to read better."
Trying to keep hop life and home life distinct from each other is virtually impossible. Porter's Deven Roberts explains how they deal with trying to find balance. "We didn't want our lives to always revolve around our work. We had to make a conscious decision to only discuss business at certain times, preferably when our kids weren't around. That being said, they sure know a lot about beer and business."
To which Bevel's Nate Doss adds, "We try to compartmentalize things...but inevitably, around the dinner table or watching TV, there's always things that pop up about work." And it's not just work that's inescapable. Craft's Mark Stevens acknowledges, "No matter how much you disagree, you still have to go home together."
Only the Honeymoon Ends
The Arneys have two mostly-grown children, but another way a brewery like The Ale Apothecary is like a child is that you never stop worrying about them. But if you're lucky, and disciplined, the pros outweigh the cons. Paul Arney says he and his wife went indie, "for the freedom. And the travel." But he cautions, "Freedom does not mean time off. Though our kids have learned you can follow your dreams."
That type of freedom is a common thread. "We don't punch out anymore," says Dana Henion. "Our minds are working at the brewery all the time.... but it would be nice to wrap a brew (day) up, kick off my boots and have a carefree beer once in a while."
Concludes Nate Doss, "Bevel is a reflection of Val and myself. The best thing for me is that we're Bend people and we sell to Bend people." Val Doss adds, "My absolute favorite thing is enjoying a beer on our patio looking around at families, friends and people enjoying the space that we have worked so hard to build and maintain. Some days you can get so wrapped up in the grind and it's those amazing moments when I can look around and realize that our dream turned into a reality."
Perfect romantic beers, curated by your local beer love-birds
The Ale Apothecary
The Beer Formerly Known as La Tache. This barrel-aged wild ale received double gold at the recent Tasting Alliance Beer Competition in San Francisco.
Bevel Craft Brewing
Whiskey Barrel-aged Barleywine. Notes of dried fruit, honey, and warming spices. Limited to 120 bottles and on draft in the taproom.
Boss Rambler Beer Club
Valentine's Day Beer Boxes. Choose your beers online and the box will be ready to pick up at the Beer Club. Matt Molletta suggests Stokes Light American Lager as the perfect complement to oysters.
Bridge 99 Brewing
Salted Caramel Chocolate Stout. Trever Hawman says it’s “the perfect way to sweeten up your special person.”
Craft Kitchen & Brewery
Courtney Stevens suggests their new IPA “’Cause we are in the town of IPA.”
Funky Fauna Artisan Ales
Valentine’s mixed 4-pack. As Danielle Burns explains, “Each beer includes wine grapes we harvested ourselves from a vineyard near Smith Rock. Includes A Broken Angel’s Valentine’s Day chocolate and cheese board.
Monkless Belgian Ales
Curtain Closer. An 11.6% Belgian-style quintuple, aged on raspberries and cacoa. Todd Clement says, “A quintuple is less of a beer style and more of a lifestyle.”
Porter Brewing Co.
Irish Red. Red for Valentine's Day. Avara Roberts says, “It's like a good first date: sweet, smooth, and Irish!”
Van Henion Brewing
Helles Lager. As Dana Henion explains, “It was designed and brewed for our wedding. It is beer made for love.”
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