A Southern Oregon Staple
So nice, they built it twice. Common Block Brewing Company has been a staple in downtown Medford since opening in December 2016. Even with the challenges of COVID and the Almeda fires, they have been a constant for the community. Fast forward six years, and the next logical step for owners Danielle and Alex Amarotico was to open a second location. Klamath Falls “fit the bill,” states manager Rachel Koning.
The Ties That Bind
Common Block has always focused on family first, but it all started over a decade ago when owners Alex and Danielle Amarotico brought their Standing Stone family into the creation and development of Common Block. They had already experienced building out an older building as a brewery and were ready for their next adventure. Koning fondly recalls, “The building was a total skeleton—and everything was pea soup green,” in reference to the first time they all saw the Monarch Building. The building, which looms ominously over downtown Medford, boasts coveted curves from its Streamline Moderne design. It has also had several historical businesses within its walls since it first opened as a seed and feed store in 1947. That’s what Alex and Danielle Amarotico are looking for—history.
The Klamath Falls location also has a storied past and longed to have the dust brushed off its windows and doors. Before becoming a brewery, the building at the core of downtown Klamath Falls spent most of the 20th century as a creamery. The early creamery brand was sold to Darigold in 1994 and the building sat empty until 2004 when it was purchased by Klamath Basin Brewing Company. “The creamery’s old blue cow sign was refurbished and placed back on the building, where it hangs to this day,” according to the Klamath County Museum. The sign can be seen from most parts of town, a charming beacon to the past. When Klamath Basin closed in the fall of 2021 due to COVID challenges, all the brewery equipment was sold, and the building once again sat empty, leaving the community of Klamath Falls wondering what might be next.
Rooted in Values
While both locations will maintain the same core values of being family-oriented, environmentally conscious, and staff-focused, they understand the need to cater to different audiences. We will be offering different things in Klamath Falls—like indoor corn hole. Common Block leadership has also been learning the different preferences of their flagship beers at each location, which will be brewed independently starting in fall 2024. At the end of the day, they are focused on building community with big open spaces and a place where people can talk—no TVs, according to Koning. This aspect truly saved them during COVID and forced them to pivot in a way no one could have imagined.
At the beginning of the COVID shutdowns, Common Block prioritized to-go food, but quickly realized they had to focus on having outdoor seating. From there, Alex Amarotico’s love of welding came in handy. “He always wants to weld and build. He knows and built every square inch of Common Block,” Koning says. Amarotico spent countless hours welding and building the outside area, which is comfortable most days of the year, on top of being open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. The large, permanent tent provides ample shade with multiple picnic tables for large and small groups. They had an extra shipping container, which became the perfect outdoor bar. Large screens behind the server allow guests to easily peruse both food and drink options, but if they prefer, they can order via QR code at your table. This business model is what made Common Block thrive during COVID, and has continued to make them successful.
Brewing up Success
John Donehower is modest, with a kind smile and an affinity for high-octane Trappist ales. And like most in the beer industry, he didn’t find beer, beer found him. His “aha beer moment” wasn’t so much one stand-out beer, but more of a way of life. Donehower reflects on his college days saying, “A friend and I rock climbed together in college. He would brew all throughout the fall and we would get back from climbing and he would have all this beer.” After college, Donehower managed coffee shops in the Bay area, and quickly realized he spent a little too much time daydreaming about brewing beer. “I started out as a homebrewer in 1994, and it was a hobby that got out of control. I was home brewing like crazy,” he says. He made the permanent change from coffee to beer and started working at Pyramid Brewing Company in Berkeley, where he spent the next eight years honing his craft and also receiving a brewing credential from UC Davis.
When Donehower felt it was time to move on from Pyramid, he spent a couple of years brewing in Arizona but says with a laugh,” Phoenix was too damn hot,” and he decided to make his way back north. He landed the head brewer position at Standing Stone in Ashland in 2014. Once Common Block was officially underway, Donehower started dreaming up beer recipes for their 15-barrel system. He looks around the space fondly. “All the stuff you see here, Alex did—that is the common thread in Common Block: Alex.” However, Donehower awaited his brewing system at Common Block patiently. It wasn’t until 2019 that they were able to do their first brew.
Klamath Falls, however, is seeing faster progress, but not without its hiccups. Klamath Basin had sold all of its brewing equipment, but in a wild coincidence, Alex Amarotico knew the person it had been sold to and was able to buy all the brewing equipment back. Their first inaugural beer for the Klamath location will be a nod to the building’s past, a milk stout called Marigold’s, “Honoring the historic creamery building in downtown Klamath Falls, this creamy, rich stout gets its chops from honey malt, roasted barley, chocolate malt, and lactose.” Mark Watson is a Klamath Falls local whom Donehower coincidentally knows from his Pyramid days in Berkeley and will be heading up the brewing program,
Attention to Detail
Donehower takes his brewing extremely seriously, a chronic perfectionist. He is hyper-vigilant with where and how he selects his ingredients and prides himself on knowing the source of all of his ingredients. He loves the flagship beers, but also looks forward to the specialty beers that only come once a year, such as the fall fresh hop. This year will be particularly special since Donehower is collaborating with RAM Brewery on a special fresh hop brew that will be released during Common Block’s Bales and Ales on October 19.
Donehower also looks forward to tweaking his recipes for the Klamath Falls location because of one major difference. “Klamath will be the same in the sense that we will be using the same recipes,” says Donehower, “but we will have to make adjustments because the Medford system is heated via steam and the Klamath Falls location is direct flame. There will be a trial and error period.”
One of the most important parts of the brewing process is what happens after the brew is complete. In the beginning, ingredient selection is crucial; but in the end, proper disposal of those ingredients is also extremely important. Donehower has been working with Doug Lofdahl of the Family Nurturing Center since 2019. The Family Nurturing Center focuses on helping children of abuse and has a farming program at the Historic Hanley Farms that helps addicts and their families get back on their feet. Once Lofdahl picks up the spent grain, he drops it off at Hanley Farm, where it is then used as compost for crops. Klamath Falls doesn’t currently have a spent grain partner yet, but once they’re up and brewing, finding the right partner will be a high priority.
Cheers!
Story by: Andrea Jacoby O’Shell
Photography by Ezra Marcos
