OBF Opening Ceremonies

August 1, 2011 By Jay Brooks

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After we marched from McMenamin’s Crystal Ballroom to the Tom McCall Waterfront Park and the Oregon Brewers Festival, the ceremonial keg was brought into the park by the Hammerheads from this year’s parade host brewery, McMenamin’s.

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Hammerheads and the ceremonial cask.

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The Hammerheads and the Ruby Witches McMenamins’ folks positioned themselves in front of the stage.

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Then Art Larrance got things started.

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This year’s parade host represented by Brian McMenamin, took the ceremonial hammer.

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And passed it off to next year’s host, the Cascade Barrel House.

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Then Grand Marshall Fred Eckhardt had a few words for the crowd, before tapping the first keg.

Fred, tapping the keg.

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Fred drinking the first toast to OBF 2011.

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Fred and me catching up with a pint after the ceremonies.

Saturday Toast To Don Younger

February 24, 2011 By Jay Brooks

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There’s at least one more worldwide toast to Portland Publican Don Younger. This one is set to take place at 5:00 p.m. YLT (your local time) on Saturday, February 26. It was organized by Phil Farrel, who you probably will recognize as “The Rubber Chicken Man.”

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Phil Farrell

Phil gave me a flier about the toast during SF Beer Week, and I’ve gotten several e-mails about the toast now, so I figured I should help spread the word, too. The BA’s CraftBeer.com also mentions it in a post by Celebrator publisher Tom Dalldorf entitled A Toast To: Don Younger 1941-2011.

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Don raising a pint with Jonathan and Robin Surratt during GABF in 2007. On Saturday we should all do likewise.

Don Younger Memorial

February 16, 2011 By Jay Brooks

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Sadly, the date chosen for Don Younger’s memorial last Sunday meant I could not attend. There were too many long-standing obligations with SF Beer Week. Happily the Bay Area was well-represented, with several friends in attendance, including Dave Keene and Jennifer Smith from the Toronado, Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing, and Tom Dalldorf, publisher of the Celebrator Beer News. Tom took a lot of photos and was kind enough to write a guest post for me, giving his account of the day. He also has a great piece up on the Celebrator website entitled Don Remembered. Thanks Tom.

Don Younger Memorial, a Guest Post by Tom Dalldorf

A memorial for the late Don Younger, renowned publican and ultimate beer industry character, HAD to be held at his world famous Horse Brass Pub in Portland. The only question was how. Everyone even remotely connected to the beer industry knew him and respected his many contributions to brewing and beer culture and would want to be there.

Tom Dalldorf posing with one of many Don Younger life-size stand-ups at the memorial.

Close family and HB staff decided to hold two gatherings on Sunday, February 13, to celebrate his life and times. One would be by invitation only and held inside the pub starting at 11 am and the other would be open to the public and start at 2 pm under tents erected in the parking lot behind the pub.

Gary Fish (from Deschutes), Kurt Widmer (from Widmer Brothers) and beer writer Fred Eckhardt.

The usual Portland rain seemed to mercifully hold up while the set up and arrivals took place. Beer industry veterans and personal friends from as far away as England arrived to celebrate Don’s many accomplishments and tell outrageous Don stories late into the afternoon. The small but tightly knit PNC (Publican National Committee), of which Don was a founding member, gathered with Tom Peters, Monk’s Café in Philadelphia, having traveled furthest to be there. Others included Matt Bonny, Brouwer’s Café in Seattle; Chris Black, Falling Rock in Denver and David Keene, Toronado in San Francisco.

Lisa Morrison, Chris and Cheryl Black (from the Falling Rock) and Tom Peters (from Monk’s Café).

Around 1 pm a toast to his memory was offered in the pub with an amazing number of shots of his favorite Macallum 12 year old Scotch distributed to the guests. Yet another toast took place inside and in the tent set up in the parking lot packed with Younger fans. This toast was picked up at pubs and beer joints all across the Pacific Coast time zone promptly at 3 pm. Jay Brooks led the toast at the Sour Beer Fest at Triple Rock in Berkeley. Others toasted at 3 pm in their own time zones.

Lisa Morrison — a.k.a. The Beer Goddess — leading one of the many heartfelt toasts to Don.

Brookston Beer Bulletin is offering up some space for selected photos from the gathering in Portland. The beer world has lost a champion but his inspiration and dedication to the beer culture we all love will live on.

— Tom Dalldorf

Below are a few more of Tom’s photos from the memorial. Thanks again, Tom.

Natalie Ciurzo, John Maier (from Rogue) and Vinnie Cilurzo.

Longtime friend Joy Campbell with Dave Keene’s wife Jennifer Smith.

The crowd inside the Horse Brass pub.

A collage of memories for the man of the hour: Don Younger 1941-2011 R.I.P.

Worldwide Toast, Virtual Wake For Don Younger This Sunday

February 11, 2011 By Jay Brooks

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Don Younger, owner of the Horse Brass in Portland, passed away at the end of January. On Sunday, friends are gathering at his pub for a final send-off worthy of the man himself. My good friend Lisa Morrison — a.k.a. The Beer Goddess — has organized a worldwide toast to Don’s memory for 3:00 p.m. (regardless of time zone, your 3 o’clock) this Sunday, February 13. The details are below:

Whatever you are doing, and wherever you are at 3 p.m. your time on Sunday, Feb. 13, make sure to hoist a glass to Don Younger, the venerable publican of the world-famous Horse Brass Pub, who died Jan. 31.
“In his hometown of Portland, a wake will be in full swing by 3 p.m. at the Horse Brass Pub. Attendees at the time will be raising their glasses to Don. But hundreds, if not thousands, of people around the world who knew Don and loved Don aren’t able to be there in person,” says organizer Lisa Morrison. “So we are having a worldwide toast — a virtual wake, if you will — to help bring us all together, at least in spirit.”
The toast will travel around the world, because it will happen at 3 p.m. in all time zones.
“So, at 3 p.m. your time on Sunday, organize a gathering of your own or just stop what you’re doing. Pour a glass of something you think Don would appreciate. And raise a toast to one of craft beer’s biggest champions and most colorful characters,” Morrison says.
Younger, a true beer pioneer, took the Horse Brass from a one-tap tavern to a beer mecca, consistently named among best beer bars in the world. It is a favorite hangout for brewers, beer geeks, neighbors and visitors alike.

So this Sunday, stop what your doing at three o’clock, and drink a toast to Don Younger.

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A self-portrait of Don and me at the Falling Rock during GABF a number of years ago. Here’s to you Don.

R.I.P. Don Younger 1941-2011

January 31, 2011 By Jay Brooks

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I just heard that Don Younger, owner of the Horse Brass in Portland, passed away last night around 12:30 a.m. He will be greatly missed. The craft beer community has lost one of its earliest and most ardent supporters, and a great friend to so many of us. Here’s to you, Don.

I just spoke to Lisa Morrison, who was up very late, first at the Hospital and then out with friends toasting and celebrating Don Younger’s life. Though nothing definite has been decided, it’s likely there will be a charity wake at some point soon. One story she told me seemed to sum it up best. There was a parade of visitors at the hospital going in, one at a time, to visit Don, and the nurse asked who Don was, to which Lisa replied “he was our Messiah.” Amen.

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Don Younger 1941-2011

Below is an interview Tom Dalldorf of the Celebrator Beer News did along with Lisa Morrison for the 30th anniversary of the Horse Brass.

Don Younger In Hospital

January 30, 2011 By Jay Brooks

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Don Younger, owner of the Horse Brass in Portland, has been the subject of numerous rumors today throughout the Twitterverse. I wanted to find out what’s really going on so I called a friend in Portland who’s close to the situation, and here’s what I’ve learned.

Don fell last week and broke his shoulder, and was taken to the hospital. Because of numerous medications he’d been on and the health of his lungs, doctors have him on a respirator and are keeping him for observation. The prognosis does not appear favorable and there apparently isn’t much that the doctors can do except watch, and wait, at least for now. Don’s a tough customer, and has as strong a will as anyone I’ve known, so I’m hoping that will see him through this. It looks like we should know more in the next few hours or days.

Please join me in sending your prayers and positive thoughts Don’s way. Drink a toast to Don’s health. I’ll update this as new information becomes available.

UPDATE: John Foyston has more information up at the Oregonian.

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Don with my son Porter when he was a toddler at the Rogue Alehouse in San Francisco.

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Don sharing a beer with me and Tom Dalldorf at the Celebrator offices a number of years ago.

Ominous Sign For The Future of Rock Bottom’s Beer

January 7, 2011 By Jay Brooks

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I’d been hearing rumors about how the merger between Gordon Biersch and Rock Bottom was going, and the news wasn’t all good. I’d heard there had been few changes for Gordon Biersch brewers, but that life was getting more difficult for Rock Bottom’s brewers, who were used to having a certain amount of freedom to choose what they brewed. It probably didn’t help that Allen Corey, who had been running Gordon Biersch, became President and CEO of the newly merged company consisting of both brewpub chains, plus a third chain. One chain’s philosophy was bound to be favored over the other.

That all seems to have come to a head, as John Fosyton reports in the Oregonian, the Portland Rock Bottom’s celebrated brewer, Van Havig, has been “asked to leave” the company. Havig had been brewing for Rock Bottom for 16 years and consistently brewed some of the best beer I’ve had at any brewery. Foyston speculates that Havig may have been shown the door for publicly voicing his concerns with the direction the company had been taking since the merger, and primarily the loss of freedom for the brewers, for the first time imposing standardization. That was one of the hallmarks of Rock Bottom, their independence, and was the reason they won so many awards at GABF over the years. That they’re now apparently losing that independence can’t be a good sign for the future of the chain’s beers, if not the chain itself.

But the real loss is Havig. Van’s a terrific brewer and not having him brew for Rock Bottom makes them all the poorer. If you know about a brewing job, preferably in Oregon, drop John Foyston a note and he’ll see that Van gets it.

Beer In Art #105: Arthur Runquist’s Homesteaders

December 5, 2010 By Jay Brooks

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This week’s work of art comes courtesy of Eric Steen, who also writes the beer blog Beer and Sci-Fi. We got to talking about beer and art during the recent Beer Bloggers Conference in Boulder last month and Eric told me the story of how the Portland Art Museum commissioned him to do an art & beer project the last two years as a part of their Shine A Light, a non-traditional one-night experience showing art in a different light. For the project, Steen “invited three breweries to tour the museum. They each selected an art piece and then brewed beer inspired by that artwork. For the first Shine A Light exhibition in 2009, Chad Kennedy, from Laurelwood Public House & Brewery, chose Homesteaders, by Arthur Runquist, which was painted in 1939.

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Homesteaders is an oil painting, on canvas, 38.5 in. wide by 32.5 in high and is the Fine Arts Collection, Public Buildings Service, U.S. General Services Administration. It was created as a part of the WPA, or the Works Progress Administration, back in the day when the government actually cared about art and supported it. Today, the painting is owned by the Portland Art Museum.

For Steen’s art & beer project, he curated his concept by putting together art with beer to fulfill his concept of the two being paired together.

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Chad Kennedy with the beer he made, inspired by Homesteaders, that was served for free to museum guests. (photo by Vivian Johnson)

As Kennedy explained his choice of the Homesteaders:

Homesteaders by Arthur Runquist drew me in for several reasons. The simplest and perhaps most obvious connection between my beer brewing and this painting was the corked bottle sitting on a log in the foreground of the painting. While this piece is about the hard work and perseverance of pioneers and laborers (this is a WPA funded piece), the bottle in the forefront signals the rewards of hard work – this is very similar to how I see our beers’ role in society.
Secondly, the subjects in this painting are working as a team to achieve a common goal. As a small brewery this reminds me of our work environment. Not only are we a small team of brewers, but as craft brewers, we’ve made the conscious choice of striking out on our own; sometimes taking big risks in hope of new experience, and if we’re lucky others will follow us and the journey will be a benefit for the greater good — In our case, making our beer culture stronger, moving away from mass marketed, lifeless beer.
Drawing inspiration from Homesteaders meant designing a beer that was out of the ordinary, took chances and struck out on its own. I considered the historical perspective of the painting and decided to utilize some non-traditional brewing ingredients – ingredients that likely would have been used by people in the painting to create a drink to help them relax when all the work was done.
Our beer still uses malted barley, but also contains malted wheat, corn and molasses for sources of sugar to ferment. In a nod to the fermentation vessels of the paintings day — we added a small dose of American oak to the fermented beer giving it a slight “woody” character. The beer doesn’t fall into a style but tries to take us flavor-wise to a place we’ve never been. In doing so, I hope the beer, as well as the painting, take you on a unique and inspiring journey.

In the video below, local artist Carson Ellis gives a short talk about Homesteaders, by Arthur Runquist.