Midway through the can of Pure Project’s Neon Bloom, I realized I was having an experience shift. The beer smelled and tasted like a hoppy ale, but I was slugging it down like a lager. Was I drinking a West Coast pilsner or a West Coast Pale ale? Did it matter?
Read MoreThe Oregon Beer Awards announced winners of their 2025 competition last year, the tenth of the competition. Competition Director Ben Edmunds shared all the winners by year, and I pored over them to identify trends. This post contains pretty graphs!
Read MoreThe Brewers Association has their official end-of-2024 report out, and along with it their list of the largest US breweries. One thing you can’t help but notice: it’s a lot easier to survive as a larger brewery with a little help from your friends.
Read MoreRemember that brown-label, gray-market “Corona Mega” I discovered at a Mexican restaurant in Tillamook, Oregon a year ago? Lawyers have gotten involved. (Plus a brief, unrelated comment on the tariffs.)
Read MoreModern cask bitters have evolved. Many include juicy new world hops and modern IPA hopping techniques. But to achieve the delicacy and harmony bitters are famous for, breweries have to do more than just adding Citras.
Read MoreIt’s taken pFriem 13 years to expand from their original location in Hood River. On Monday, April 7th, they take their next step, with a beautiful, expansive new pub and restaurant in the old City Hall building in downtown Milwaukie, just south of Portland.
Read MoreWhy aren’t Americans drinking beer? Maybe because they’re too busy sucking down water, sparkling water, sports drinks, energy drinks, “natural beverage,” and real and artificial juices.
Read MoreIn our final Coronavirus dispatches, Zoiglhaus’ Alan Taylor looks back at the positives and negatives wrought by the pandemic, and offers some hope for why he sees a rosier future.
Read More“If we could collectively turn the stoke up a bit, then maybe we'd be the party that everyone would want to go to again. Come on folks, louder, more punk rock!“
Read MoreGigantic’s Van Havig offers the most insightful look at the beer industry you’ll find, five years after Covid. “It was life or death for Americans five years ago, but it’s kind of life or death for the small brewing industry right now.”
Read More“Instead of going to their local brewery they’re headed to the store where they can pick up a 6-pack of whatever IPA is on sale. American society has changed for the worse at a time when we need collaboration and community the most.“ Heater Allen’s Lisa Allen, writing five years after Covid.
Read MoreFive years ago I collected reports from several Oregon breweries as they struggled to navigate the Covid crisis. This week I will have some follow-ups from the same breweries on what has happened since. We’re starting with Alesong because it’s a happy story.
Read MoreAn incident that may or may not affect things around here.
Read MoreOur coping mechanism was to get through Covid, not come to terms with it. We treated the pandemic like a really bad flu; turns out It was more like cancer or AIDS. Five years later, it’s time to take stock of where Covid brought the world (both the beer world and the world world).
Read MoreA couple weeks ago, we learned that Portland’s Breakside would be buying a winery and opening two new taprooms, increasing their growing empire to eight locations. But it was their new membership, the Breakside Collective, that caught my eye.
Read MoreAlesong just released Single Origin, a beer where the barley, hops, and Riesling grapes were all grown on the same farm in Oregon. And the beer was fermented with the yeast and bacteria resident on those grapes.
Read MoreLanguage to help make meaning of our times, which are darkening fast.
Read MoreHow well is alcohol doing? Well, not great, but you knew that. Two new reports take a granular look at the nature of that “not great” and reveal some interesting findings.
Read MoreLast week, a new nonprofit announced the inductees into the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame. They will be familiar to anyone who reads this site, and left me feeling ambivalent. In overlooking less-heralded names, the Hall missed the opportunity to reshape the narrative of American brewing.
Read MoreLet’s say the cost of aluminum cans rises to the equivalent of five cents a pint. Does the brewer simply raise prices five cents a pint and pass this cost along? Brewer and onetime economist Van Havig has the answer.
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