Products

Was it the water or the quality hops? The deep-rooted appreciation of saloon culture? How did Portland, Oregon, become one of the nation's leaders in craft beer cultivation and consumption, with more than fifty breweries in the city limits? Beer writer and historian Pete Dunlop traces the story of Rose City brewing from frontier saloons, through the uncomfortable yoke of temperance and Prohibition, to the hard-fought Brewpub Bill and the smashing success of the Oregon Brewers Festival. Meet the industry leaders in pursuit of great beer--Henry Weinhard, McMenamins, Bridgeport, Portland Brewing, Widmer and more--and top it off with a selection of trivia and local lore. Bringing together interviews and archival materials, Dunlop crafts a lively and engaging history of Portland's road to Beervana.

The origin of brewing in southern Oregon is a lively tale of mid-nineteenth-century gold rushes, brawling German immigrants, irrepressible women and hometown pride. In the boomtown of Jacksonville, two pioneering brewers competed to quench the thirst of miners and ranchers, and soon breweries began popping up elsewhere. But as railroads spread across the West, they brought rival beer brands with them, and the onset of Prohibition stifled the industry altogether. Yet resourceful Oregonians continued to cultivate hops, and by the turn of the twenty-first century, small-town brewers like Caldera Brewing Company in Ashland and Climate City Brewery in Grants Pass were once again stepping into the spotlight. Author Phil Busse, longtime Oregon journalist, traces the pioneering spirit of southern Oregon's first brewers to today.