It’s been a minute since I last did a news roundup; blame a bit of late-stage pandemic fatigue, a bit of time management, a bit of the crazy state of the world. My goal is to keep these news posts going, albeit they might turn into a weekly roundup that drops on Thursday or Friday rather than trying to maintain the daily pace. We’ll see how that goes!

In the meantime, here’s news in Oregon beer for this past week or so, which I’ll update occasionally as I scan the feeds for more news. And of course, any tips can be submitted anytime.

First things first: this isn’t specific or localized to Oregon, but it’s an industry-wide issue that everyone needs to read up on (if you haven’t already): sexism and sexual harassment in the beer industry. Issues that are not new, but that have blown up recently and are coming to a head. Here’s your reading list primer:

• Sweeping Accusations of Sexism, Assault Rock the Craft Beer Industry by Beth Demmon
• Judgment Day — Outpouring of Beer Industry Sexual Abuse Allegations on Instagram Sparks Questions of Guilt, Innocence, and Legal Vulnerability by Kate Bernot
• Tidal Wave of Sexual Harassment Allegations and Toxicity in Craft Beer Industry Lead to Terminations by Jessica Infante
• Buzz, Kill — The Physical, Psychological, and Financial Price Women Pay for Working in Beer by Beth Demmon
• Difficult Subjects by Jeff Alworth (with more of a local angle)

Note: this is required reading. The industry is starting to experience its #MeToo reckoning, and it’s going to continue to be felt on a local as well as national level. Start reading and stay tuned.

Ninkasi Brewing and Legacy Breweries go their separate ways

Eugene’s Ninkasi Brewing announced last week that the brewery had parted ways with Legacy Breweries, which had purchased a majority stake of Ninkasi back in April of 2019. According to the press release, “This separation was effective in 2020 and will allow both companies to build on their core competencies,” and founders Jaime Floyd and Nikos Ridge have resumed control of Ninkasi.

Legacy Breweries also includes Laurelwood Brewing and Colorado’s Aspen Brewing, and with Ninkasi’s departure it’s as-yet unclear as to what’s next. The New School has a good in-depth article on the situation.

Block 15’s final drive-thru release and sale

For awhile now, during the pandemic, Block 15 Brewing in Corvallis has been holding weekly “drive-thru releases” at its production brewery and tap room in south Corvallis, with sales of two or more beers in cans each week. This Saturday, May 22, is the final release:

This weekend’s Drive-Thru Sale on Saturday, May 22nd will be our final Drive-Thru sale as we begin dedicating more resources towards the increase of traffic at our two locations. We can’t thank you enough for the support through these sales, especially early on during shutdowns and reduced hours. Knowing that the drive-thru was a preferred method of purchase for many, we will still continue to offer contactless pickups and pre-orders for those who still prefer that service!

More details here. This Saturday’s beer releases are The Beer Walker IPA and The London Chronicle London-style porter.

Oregon Beer Awards winners

The annual Oregon Beer Awards took place on Thursday the 20th, all via livestream this year, and The New School has the winners posted. One of this highlights is that Lisa Morrison, the Beer Goddess, was inducted into the 2021 OBA Hall of Fame, joining Fred Eckhardt, Don Younger, John Harris, Jim Parker, and Kurt and Rob Widmer for the honor.

Other big winners in the beer competition (at a glance) included Breakside Brewery, 10 Barrel Brewing, Sunriver Brewing, Alesong Brewing & Blending, pFriem Family Brewers, and Ecliptic Brewing. Big congrats to all the winners!

(Disclosure: I was tapped as part of the nominations and voting panel for the non-beer-judging portion of the awards.)

Bend Brewing opens its new location

Bend Brewing Company officially opened its second satellite location in Bend, Waypoint, on Thursday the 20th. Waypoint is located in The Grove, a new market hall development in Bend’s NorthWest Crossing neighborhood. Details here:

Waypoint is a new bar concept distinct from BBC’s landmark downtown Bend brewpub location that promises an elevated experience featuring award winning BBC beers, specialty cocktails and a curated wine list. The purpose built space features a “Northwest Modern” aesthetic with nods to local landmarks and promises an “upscale Bend casual” environment where suit and tie mix with flannel shirts and flip flops. Multiple outdoor fire pits and covered outdoor seating along with a large sliding glass door creates a four season outdoor/indoor feel.

Alesong’s upcoming 5th anniversary

Brewpublic covers the press release from Eugene’s Alesong Brewing & Blending regarding its upcoming 5th anniversary:

Eugene’s Alesong Brewing and Blending will open its normally member- and by appointment- only countryside brewery (80848 Territorial Hwy) to the public and release its annual “Canniversary” IPA on June 5th from 1-8pm to celebrate half a decade of barrel-aging beer. Adding to the celebration, the brewery will have complimentary bites of a custom-made ice cream from Eugene’s own Prince Pücklers, live music from Inner Limits, 4-packs of their annual Canniversary Collaboration IPA available to-go, and Oregon Wood Fired Pizza slinging pies for guests throughout the day!

The canned IPA, dubbed 5th Canniversary, is a collaboration with Grains of Wrath Brewing.

Assembly Brewing re-opens the first time in over a year

Portland’s Assembly Brewing re-opened its brewpub to on-premise dining for the first time since March of 2020, the New School reports:

With his signature dough and exacting attention to Detroit-style Pizza authenticity, [brewer and owner George] Johnson made Assembly Brewing a popular neighborhood spot and pizza lovers destination in the up and coming Foster-Powell neighborhood. Since closing the pub in early (2020) Johnson has remained committed to only being open for take-out and has not served on-premise throughout the entirety of the pandemic, telling the New School in February, “With our overhead, we figured we could do more sales with the curbside than we can with a limited dining room.”

That will change this week as Assembly Brewing quietly reopened Monday with 7 tables indoors and another 3 outside before they scale up capacity as they bring on more staff and restrictions ease. The current beer list includes 7 house made beers and as the brewing operation cranks up it will become almost an entirely new lineup of recipes. The pub will also remain 21+, a rare adults-only brewpub that will now be open for sitdown 7-days a week from 4-9pm.

New small batch beer series at Migration

Migration Brewing introduced its new Hop Fire Small Batch Series of beers with Hop Fire Volume 1, a hazy New England-style IPA. I’m assuming based on the name of the series that these will all be hop-forward beers of some kind. Let’s go to Brewpublic for details:

Throughout the year, Migration’s Hop Fire program will produce ten original and unique beers. All beers will be available exclusively through Migration’s taprooms, and the brewery will pick out their top favorite six styles for limited releases in 4-pack, 16oz cans beginning this summer.

This new series will be brewed at the OG location of Migration Brewing on NE Glisan on the brewery’s original 7-barrel system that has been reconfigured into “The Shop”. The Hop Fire beers are small batch and push the boundaries of process and recipe creation. These are big, bold, and unique brews with different colors, big aromatics, and explosive flavor profiles. Migration has sourced some of the most sought-after grain in the Northwest, and they are leveraging all of their supplier relationships to get access to new, experimental hops.

Expansion at Threshold

Portland’s Threshold Brewing & Blending is undergoing expansion, including hiring a new employee, according to the New School. It’s good news for the brewery, which has been running as a two-person show up until now (no mean feat, even with the pandemic cutting everything back). Some details:

Threshold Brewing improvements began in the winter when indoor seating was shut down due to COVID. The taproom had already added a comfortable parklet in front of their building just around the north corner off of SE Stark on 78th ave. With the addition of awnings that come out from the building to provide shade and respite from rain the seating options have been improved.

In February Threshold announced a partnership with pandemic startup Road Beers to deliver their beers to homes and offices within 15 miles of their NW location. Since last spring of 2020 the brewery had been making their own deliveries when they could, which was difficult considering the brewery is a two-person show between husband and wife team Jarkek and Sara Szymanski, the handoff of delivery means more time for brewing and distribution.

More at the article.