Is May the season of our discontent, or is there just something in the air? Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of grumbling about hazy IPAs, a sense of lost fun, and a generalized mood of dyspepsia. But I think things are pretty good.
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What’s the best German pilsner? Only a fool would dare answer such a question. But important?—that might be easier to answer. In a field of beers with descending punchiness, one pilsner has managed to remind us that this is a bitter style of beer.
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Winning awards and accolades isn’t enough to make a beer a classic, like Harvey’s Sussex Best or Saison Dupont or Schneider Weisse or Pliny the Elder. It takes decades of time, thought, and refinement. pFriem’s Pilsner is a case study in that unfolding process, and why it’s such a long journey.
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I relate strongly to the idea that it’s harder to find anything new in beer, and that so much seems repetitious. But as an old I often find myself coming up short and asking: is the beer world really less interesting, or am I?
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I lost my internet this week. I did not enjoy the experience.
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Does it matter where a company makes its beer? In Bury St Edmunds, Greene King is abandoning their grand 225-year-old brewery for a squat, soulless plant. While that may pencil out in the ledgers, will they lose something essential along the way?
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Nine years ago, almost to the day, we recorded our first episode of the Beervana Podcast. All things must end, and it is with deep gratitude and appreciation that we announce the release of our last show. We have a few words going out.
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A wonderful little trend has been building in Portland for years, but I’ve been hesitant to draw attention, lest the harsh sunlight prove fatal to the delicate shoots. But now it seems safe: cask ale has become a real thing.
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Books have been the main way we collected and stored knowledge for hundreds of years. In the past decade, while no one noticed, that changed, and books are quickly becoming obsolete.
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Adam Milne started Old Town Brewing in 2011, but it stood on the shoulders of a Portland institution, Old Town Pizza. This month the downtown landmark turns 50, giving us a chance to reflect on a half-century of life.
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Last year, I worked with Oregon Public Broadcasting to create a podcast, short movie, and print article about Oregon hops and the development of IPAs in the state. They are now available, and I have links and some background on the process.
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Each April, the Brewers Association releases an important package of data, headlined by a list of largest US breweries. This year’s numbers were a mixed bag, and revealed a lot about the state of the industry.
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Alcohol is a a potent beverage—fun, relaxing, dangerous. We all have different relationships to it, and they often start long before we ever take our first sip. In the second of my “Drinking Life” posts, I investigate mine.
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Managing large systems requires more time, money, and staff, none of which is well-spent on ten kegs slowly falling out of code in the cold room.
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Carlos Alvarez, founder of the Gambrinus Company, the first to import Corona, has died. With the purchase of Shiner, he became a big player in beer, and eventually one of its biggest philanthropists—but he had a few misses along the way, especially in craft brewing.
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People typically talk about “American” or “Pacific Northwest” hops as if they’re a monolith. Yet Oregon’s Willamette Valley, on the wet side of the Cascades, is vastly different than the arid Yakima Valley. The hops grown there are different, too.
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On Thursday, organizers announced the winners of the 9th annual Oregon Beer Awards. This unusual competition has matured and become nationally influential. I discuss some of the winners and trends that emerged in 2024.
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In celebration of Upright’s 15th anniversary, I asked founder/brewer Alex Ganum and three other friends of Upright to describe memorable beers from the brewery’s run.
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Just one year ago we learned that the fourth Oregonian had won the Schehrer Award (Ben Edmunds)—and today I get to congratulate Tonya Cornett for being the fifth!
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Somehow, Portland’s Upright Brewery has been around 15 years. Despite reaching its mid-teens, Upright has remained one of the most inventive, interesting, and unexpected breweries in the the country. As we hit this big milestone, let’s revisit what owner/brewer Alex Ganum has accomplished.
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