|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beer & the People
NW Beer Notes and Alan Moen - August/September 1998
Every now and then, as I'm writing articles for this paper, I get a wake-up call about the true nature of the beer business. Recently, Mike Urseth, Beer Notes' occasionally irascible (but always incredible) Managing Editor, called me up about some photos I had submitted for one of the stories. I had sent him the standard shots of the brewery building and brew house, its logo, labels, and a product shot or two of the beers, but still he felt that something was missing. "Do you happen to have any pictures of the people there?" he asked, with a slight but unmistakable note of sarcasm in his voice. "Or does the beer make itself?"
Ouch - I got the point. Dealing with all the press releases, labels and beer samples as I do, it's easy to forget sometimes that beer is made, marketed, and consumed by people (although I must say that I HAVE encountered beer in my time that seemed to be the product of space aliens). Beer is unquestionably the most human of drinks. It is the most labor-intensive to make, the most talked and argued about, the most judged, the most made at home, the most part of social life, and flat out the most consumed of all the world's alcoholic beverages. It is the ultimate proletarian potion - of the people, by the people, and for the people.
One of the refreshing things about the craft beer industry, in fact, is the people who are part of it. First of all, there are the pioneers - the grand men and women ( I'll avoid calling them old, lest I incriminate myself) who helped break ground for this wonderful industry here: Charles Finkel, Bert Grant, Paul Shipman, Dick and Nancy Ponzi, Mike Hale and Mike and Brian McMenamin. Without their gamble, none of us would have won. Without their commitment, craft brewing would not have succeeded.
Then there are the brewers, like Rogue's John Maier, Pyramid's Jason Parker, Pike's Fal Allen, Full Sail's Jamie Emmerson and John Harris, and Steelhead's Teri Fahrendorf, who have given others a class act to follow. A legion of great brewers here includes Tom Chase of Fish, Ed Bennett of Boundary Bay, Kevin Locke of Captain's City, Brian Sollenberger and Bob Maphet of Diamond Knot, Dick Cantwell of The Elysian, Rande Reed of Snoqualmie Falls, Dan Yingling of Winthrop, Karl Ockert of BridgePort, Tony Gomes of Saxer, Hubert Smith, formerly of Wild River, Glen Falconer of Wild Duck, Anders Johansen of Spencer's, Darron Welch of the Pelican Pub - I just don't have space to mention them all.
We can't forget the enlightened and innovative owners, CEO's, and company presidents, like Kurt and Rob Widmer, Mike and Brian McMenamin, Saxer's Steve Goebel, George Hancock of Pyramid, Mike Hale of Hale's Ales, and Gary Fish of Deschutes. And a list of "brew's who" has to include cellar and production people like Marty Bills at Fish Brewing, Monte Day at Full Sail, and Pat Savage at Hair of the Dog, who keep those kettles boiling and those bottles and kegs filled.
Someone's got to make the beer, and someone's got to sell it. Craft brewing in the Northwest has its essential marketing mavens: Paula Fasano of BridgePort, Pamela Hinckley of Red Hook, Tim McFall of Widmer, Jerome Chicvara of Full Sail, Ben Myers of Grant's Ales, Steve Woolard of Nor'Wester, Michael Goldsberry of Pyramid, and Barbara Dollarhide of Hale's, to name just a few.
How about the great pub owners, retailers, restaurateurs and beer managers who have forged the vital link between brewer and beer drinker? Don Younger of Horse Brass in Portland, Bruce Johnson of the Pike Pub in Seattle, Rick Schlessler of the Archer Alehouse in Bellingham, Jay Meacham of Fred's Rivertown Alehouse in Snohomish , and many others, have made our region a beer-rich one.
So the next time you hoist a brew, think about how that glass or bottle got into your hand. A lot of hard-working individuals helped put it there. Let's raise a toast to the people of beer - thanks to them, it's always "pouring" in the Pacific Northwest. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Brewery Tour
