How Beer Has Changed in Oregon

Oregon, and Portland in particular, enjoys an amazing diversity of tasty, quality brews, from hoppy American Pale Ales to cloudy Witbiers. International beer writer Michael Jackson calls Portland “Munich on the Willamette,” and in fact Portland surpassed Munich in the number of breweries within its city limits several years ago. Wikipedia calls Oregon “the home of the microbrew revolution.” Microbreweries have popped up in every corner of the state, even the tiny town of Enterprise (Terminal Gravity). Preston Weesner of the Oregon Brewer’s Festival said recently, “The bottom line is, we here are the extreme haves in an industry of have-nots.”

But it hasn’t always been like this. Thirty years ago, the only brewery in Portland was Henry’s. As recently as the late 1980’s, Fred Eckhardt was the only beer writer in town, and he praised Henry’s in an Oregonian article for daring to put some flavor into their pale fizzy lager. Drinking local still meant choosing between Henry’s, Olympia, and Rainier, beers we’d consider photochemically identical today. In 1980, there were only 80 breweries operating in the entire US. “And the prediction was that there would only be ten by 1990,” Eckhardt said. “That was their plan.”

But the wheels of change had already started turning. Homebrewing had been legalized nationally in 1978. Eckhardt and Charlie Papazian had each published books about home brewing, and Michael Jackson’s World Guide to Beer opened people’s eyes to other options. A few entrepreneurs bucked the trend and opened small craft breweries: Fritz Maytag revived Anchor Steam in 1976, and Bert Grant opened Yakima Brewing in Washington in 1982. Charlie Coury was Oregon’s first commercial craft brewer, opening Cartwright’s in 1980. Unfortunately, this pioneering effort didn’t last, as the County shut him down on New Year’s Day, 1983.

Soon the microbrew revolution centered on Oregon. Why Oregon? “I give a lot of credit to The Oregonian,” Eckhardt said. “If they hadn’t published my column and paid attention to good beer, people wouldn’t have had the information and wouldn’t have become curious about it.” It also helps Oregon has abundant, high-quality local resources including top-quality soft Bull Run water and locally grown barley and hops, perfect for big, hoppy beers like IPA’s and pale ales and smooth, balanced porters. Furthermore, Oregon’s mild but wet, grey winter climate was perfect for the revival of the local pub tradition. All it needed was good beer.

In 1983, Oregon legalized brew-on-premises establishments, and soon after, the floodgates opened. In 1984, homebrewers Rob and Kurt Widmer cranked up their first batch of Altbier on 14th and Lovejoy Streets in Portland, and winemakers Nancy and Dick Ponzi ventured some of their spare change to open Bridgeport just around the corner on NW Marshall. In 1985, Mike and Brian McMenamin opened their first brewpub in Hillsdale. Fred Bowman and Art Larrance opened Portland Brewing (now MacTarnahan’s) on NW Flanders St. in 1986. That year, the trend went statewide, as Hood River Brewing opened and McMenamin’s opened new pubs in Lincoln City and Hillsboro.

Today, there are fifty-six breweries in Oregon – forty of them brewpubs, according to the Oregon Brewer’s Guild. While the largest concentration is in the Portland area (33), craft breweries have sprung up in twenty-eight cities large and small, from Ashland to Enterprise. You can find good local beer in nearly ever corner of the state: in the Willamette Valley, on the coast, in the Cascades, and on into eastern and central Oregon.

And the growth spurt is hardly over. New breweries opened in 2005 (Roots, Amnesia, Cascade Lakes, Karlsson’s, and Clinton Street), and in 2006 (the Mash Tun in Portland, Willamette Brewing in Eugene, and soon, Max's Fanno Creek Brew Pub in Tigard and Ninkasi in Eugene). Chains continue to expand; the nationals – BJ’s, Old Chicago, and Rock Bottom – have moved in, and old favorites are forming chains out of former fledgling single entities. Of course, McMenamin’s is the king of Oregon brewpub chains; with over fifty pubs now in operation in the Pacific Northwest (48 in Oregon), they are the third-largest chain in the country, after Rock Bottom and Gordon Biersch. But they have company. The Lucky Labrador just opened its third pub; Big Horn, Full Sail, Bridgeport, and Wild River each have two. Steelhead has three, but two are in California. The Laurelwood has two pubs and is soon to open a third, this one to more than double its brewing capacity.

The interesting thing about this expansion is that it’s mostly pub-oriented – and that means, local to your neighborhood. While some brewers have gotten bigger, they’ve also left a lot of room for small operations to fill the niche your neighborhood or small town needs. Elliot Glacier serves perhaps the smallest community – Parkdale, population 266 – but not far behind are Wild River in Cave Junction (1,440) and Bill’s in Cannon Beach (1,650), who like Elliot Glacier are depending on tourists to shore up sales for the local drinkers. Whoever coined the phrase “Think globally, drink locally,” must have been thinking about (and drinking) Oregon.

With the expansion of breweries has come an amazing diversity of styles and creativity. Thirty years ago, pale, fizzy lagers ruled the taps. Widmer’s Alt, McMenamin’s Terminator Stout, Portland’s Pale Ale, Full Sail’s Amber and Bridgeport’s Blue Heron, among others, introduced Oregonians to new tastes and, yes, colors in their beer. Walk into a bar in 1977 and your choices were Lager, Premium Lager, and Lite. Even in the early 80’s, according to Rob Widmer of Widmer Brewing, “there were two kinds of beer: light and dark. Our Alt fell into the dark category. People would just look at it and say no.” Today, pubs with two or three dozen taps, each pouring a different style of beer, are common. The Dublin Pub’s hundred-plus taps used to be a phenomenon. Now that’s not even enough to handle the state’s count of seasonal beers.

Not only that, but the publicans know what they’re serving. Go to your favorite “beer bar” like the Bier Stein in Eugene or Concordia Ale House in NE Portland and ask at random about a beer on tap from Ashland or Estacada, and your wait staff will give you a succinct rundown of the beer’s salient characteristics – color body, alcohol, sweetness, bitterness and hop flavor. If you’d tried that in 1977 you’d have been greeted with a polite invitation to keep your wiseguy questions to yourself.

Of course, with all this growth and change, we’ve lost a few along the way. Many will remember Saxer, producer of some wonderful lagers, including no less than four Bock beers. Star Brewing sold its beer only in 22 oz bottles, some of which were a bit explosive. Wild Duck closed down just a few years ago after several years of producing some award-winning barleywines, stouts and old ales.

Beer can be a tough business, requiring a lot of start-up capital and even more capital later on to expand or even survive. Widmer, MacTarnahan’s, Bridgeport and Full Sail have each gone different ways to find the investment funds they needed to keep going and succeed. Anheuser-Busch invested in Widmer, Maletis bought Bridgeport entirely, Full Sail turned to its employees, and MacTarnahan’s relied on customers and private investors. Each, however, bridged the gap between tiny start-up to successful regional brewer; between them, they now pump out over 683,000 barrels of beer per year between them.) By contrast, at its peak, Henry’s used to produce a little over a million barrels per year.) But even the outside investors left the Oregon element alone. “A-B is smart,” Widmer said. “They keep at arm’s length, but their brewing knowledge and buying power (for ingredients, materials, etc.) are incredible.”

So, the next time you walk into your favorite restaurant, pub, or even theater pub and it takes you several minutes just to choose from their amazing beer selection, remember: it hasn’t always been this way.

Preston’s right. We’re spoiled now. And I don’t know about you, but I like it better this way.