Fourth Oregonian Wins the Schehrer Award

I was once chatting with a brewer about the Oregon Beer Awards and their annual “Hall of Fame” selection. He scoffed and said what he’d really like to win is a Russell Schehrer Award. Named annually by the Brewers Association, it honors a single brewer’s career. The word “innovation” is in the title, but if you look at the list (see below), it goes beyond that. Brewers typically have to toil for decades in the industry and create not just novel beers or styles, but enduring ones. The Brewers Association announced the latest winner, and he is one of the youngest—Breakside’s Ben Edmunds.

He is the fourth Oregonian to win the award, following Rogue’s John Maier (the initial recipient in 1997), John Harris (2001), and last year’s winner, Karl Ockert. As bonus Oregonian-ness, recently retired Congressman Peter DeFazio, the original founder of the House Small Brewers Caucus back in 2007, won the F.X. Matt Defense of the Industry Award. The conclave was recently, and possibly still is, the largest bipartisan caucus of US Representatives in Congress. Everybody loves beer!