The Brew SiteArticles, events, and videos relating to the (broad) history of beer and brewing.
My final print article for 2020 is out today, in which I explore a once-in-a-decade beer with Super Jubel from Deschutes Brewery. I dip into a bit of the history behind the beer (stolen keg! Frozen Jubelale!) and review this year’s version. When I interviewed Deschutes’ original brewmaster, John Harris, … Continue reading
Another video on the background and history of Deschutes Brewery, which debuted earlier this year. It’s really well done and because it’s recent, touches on current (well, pre-COVID-19 “current” at least) trends in craft beer with the need to be nimble and confront the new, small, hyper-local competition of recent … Continue reading
Happy National Beer Day! It was on this day, April 7, in 1933 that the Cullen-Harrison Act went into effect—the legislation that legalized the sale of beer with an alcohol content of 3.2% by weight (or 4% by volume), which heralded the end of Prohibition in the United States. This provided the … Continue reading
This Sunday, July 14, Phil Busse, author of the new Southern Oregon Beer: A Pioneering History (in the same History Press series as my own Bend Beer) will be in Bend at Broken Top Bottle Shop to promote his book—and Phil invited me to join him with my own book … Continue reading
Here’s a blast from the past from OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting), a 12 year old episode of “Oregon Experience“: How Oregon Beer Became A Thing – Feb. 13, 2019 (originally 2007) – 29:00 Here’s one from our archives. Today Oregon is one of the world’s great places for beer, but … Continue reading
Recently Ooligan Press sent me an advance review copy of The Widmer Way, the new forthcoming book by Portland beer writer Jeff Alworth. I read the book over the holidays and found it to be a relatively quick and enjoyable read. I’ll start with full disclosure: I’ve known Jeff Alworth … Continue reading
Deschutes Brewery celebrates its thirtieth anniversary this year, and while much has changed in the past three decades, the annual release of its winter ale, Jubelale, remains a comforting constant. I consider Jubelale to be an iconic beer on par with Sierra Nevada Celebration and Anchor Christmas Ale, so I … Continue reading
This month’s last-minute topic for The Session is provided by Alistair Reece of Fuggled, and we are tasked with waxing nostalgic about beer: As the title of this post suggests, today I want you to put on your sepia tinted glasses and indulge in a little beer nostalgia, a bit of … Continue reading
Shameless self-promotion time! This Saturday, January 27, I will be at the Deschutes Brewery Bend Tasting Room to present “Uncovering Bend Beer: A History of Beer in Central Oregon” — a book and history talk based on my book Bend Beer (of course). My plan is to talk both about … Continue reading
I haven’t written up a year-end retrospective post in awhile but this past 12 months felt like the year for it. There have been some interesting things going on in beer for 2016, on both the national and the local level, that are worth revisiting. No big revelations here, other … Continue reading