Tall Trees Taphouse plants roots in downtown Hillsboro’s Weil Arcade Food Park

Published 5:00 am Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Whether you’re chomping on a cheesesteak or crunching into crispy fried chicken at downtown Hillsboro’s Main Street food cart pod, its newest addition offers the perfect pour to wash your meal down.

Tall Trees Taphouse is raising a glass to community at the Weil Arcade Food Park, where a naturalistic interior invites families to come in, grab a drink, play pinball and watch sports on big-screen TVs.

The taphouse officially opened in Hillsboro this June, but the seeds for Tall Trees were first planted around a decade ago, when Dan Schlegel, like many other homebrewers, thought making beer might be cheaper than buying it.

“It started in my garage, home brewing, just making beer for friends and family,” Schlegel recalled. “It turns into an expensive hobby real fast.”

By 2019, Schlegel crossed paths with co-owner Nathan Roszina, and the two started “drilling down the path of looking to start a brewery.”

Finding a home

Emerging from the ashes of the tragic fire that scorched the Weil Arcade commercial building on Main Street over three years ago, the food park is now entering its second year — and picking up traction, according to site owner Jay Weil.

“Now that Weil Arcade Food Park is in its second year, we can really see the momentum pick up in business,” Weil said. “The park has a great small-town vibe, and everyone seems to enjoy the food, music and atmosphere.”

Plans had long been in place to bring a taphouse to anchor the site, but it wasn’t until this summer that Tall Trees finally made that vision a reality. The owners of Ferttie’s Barbeque, a former tenant at the site, helped connect Schlegel and Roszina with the food park.

“There was a lot of work to get to this point,” Roszina said. “(Schlegel’s) father-in-law is a steel worker, and he did the wainscoting around and the black gold steel for the bar tops. My mom built all the cabinets and in front of the bar back in Wisconsin. Then we drove it back here — it was crazy.”

Food options at the site range from sushi and empanadas to pizza and more — all of which can be brought into the taproom or enjoyed in the shared space outside.

“We’re the base of the pod, and then people can take drinks from here all throughout the whole pod, up to the sidewalk. And then people can bring in food and stuff as well. It’s a symbiotic relationship,” Schlegel said.

What’s on tap

With live-edge wooden bars, the taproom pours a wide variety of craft beverages seen in Oregon-brewed stouts and IPAs to ciders and lagers. Coolers are stocked with even more options for those looking to sip something nonalcoholic, including sodas, kombuchas and juices.

Admittedly, you won’t find anything strictly brewed by Tall Trees just yet.

Schlegel explained that while the two originally set out to find a space to move their garage-based brewing operation into, the spot at the Weil Arcade Food Park didn’t quite fit that mold.

“We came across this, and thought, ‘Hey, maybe this is the place we’re going to land and start brewing,’ and it didn’t turn out to be that type of spot. Just given the location, it needs to be more of a community-based food cart and taphouse combo,” Schlegel said.

For now, patrons can taste collaborations that Tall Trees works on with other local brewers. But the plan is to eventually find a commercial brewing space that would feed fresh beer directly to the taproom.

“I think in the long run, once we find a place to have us brew, it’ll be better for us to have this as an outlet for it and then be able to use a little nook or cranny of someone else’s extra space that they aren’t using,” Roszina said.

And while they search for a corner to call their brewery home, Schlegel and Roszina hope their spot in the heart of Hillsboro brings people together — one pint at a time.

“We’re looking to be a pillar for the community: somewhere everyone can come for a drink and really bring the community together,” Schlegel said.