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Celebrate Oregon Beer's mission is to let people know what an amazing place Oregon is for beer. One of our key channels is this newsletter, so help us get the word out.

News

World Beer Cup Winners The World Beer Cup is an international competition judged by a largely international panel of judges and Oregon took home 30 medals, announced last week. The Oregon winners are listed below. Full list of winners here

Stone Brewing Sold One of the largest American breweries recently changed hands, as Sapporo sold Stone Brewing ("you're not worthy!") to the Duvel USA group and Firestone Walker. Sapporo will keep Stone's Virginia brewing facility. All the details here

21st Amendment Bought Philadelphia’s Evil Genius has acquired the brands and distribution rights of the shuttered 21st Amendment Brewery from San Francisco. 21st Amendment's beer is already back on shelves, but the SF brewery won't be returning. Read about the transaction

Oregon's World Beer Cup Winners

Gold: Because Science, Bend Brewing, Bend

Gold: Breakside It’s A Me Mario!, Breakside Brewery, Milwaukie

Gold: Breakside Hello My Alien, Breakside Brewery, Milwaukie

Gold: Breakside Bayside, Breakside Brewery, Milwaukie

Gold: Kellerbier, pFriem Family Brewers, Hood River

Gold: Spontanée, pFriem Family Brewers, Cascade Locks

Silver: Breakside Total Entertainment Forever, Breakside Brewery, Milwaukie

Silver: Cold Cutz, Grand Fir Brewing, Portland

Silver: Hachimitsu Mai, Deschutes Brewery – PDX Pub, Portland

Silver: Pour Pour Pitiful Me, Monkless Belgian Ales, Bend

Silver: Stomp, Sunriver Brewing, Sunriver

Silver: Karo Ya Maro, Terranaut Beer, Bend

Silver: UPP Yours, UPP Liquids, Bend

Silver: Reduction Ratio, UPP Liquids, Bend

Silver: Clubhaus Lager, Von Ebert Brewing, Portland

Silver: Secret Secret, Wayfinder Beer, Portland

Bronze: Diablo Rojo, Boneyard Beer, Bend

Bronze: Breakside White Tea Lager, Breakside Brewery, Milwaukie

Bronze: Kirkland Signature Helles Lager, Deschutes Brewery, Bend

Bronze: Sensationator, Deschutes Brewery – PDX Pub, Portland

Bronze: Summerfield Wheat, Grand Fir Brewing, Portland

Bronze: Pink Sky, Grand Fir Brewing, Portland

Bronze: Cannonball, Migration Brewing, Portland

Bronze: Japanese Lager, pFriem Family Brewers, Hood River

Bronze: Cocoa Cow, Sunriver Brewing, Sunriver

Bronze: Famous Fanny, Worthy Brewing, Bend

Bronze: Before the Break, Worthy Brewing, Bend

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Upcoming Events

Please send us all your upcoming event information at the following email so we can include them in our weekly roundups: events@celebrateoregonbeer.com

de Garde's 13th Shindig ​de Garde's anniversary celebration has become one of the showcase events in Oregon. On May 2, come taste beer from 60+ breweries from around Oregon and the world as well as some of the best music and food from the region. Brewery list & tix here

Astoria Lagerfest The crisp taste of lagers will be in the spotlight when Buoy Beer hosts its annual Lager Fest in Astoria from May 8-9. This year, 18 guest breweries will offer tasty examples of lager's diverse color, fermentation processes, hop profiles, and malt flavors. Breweries and more details

Bend Brews & Beyond On May 23rd, the 2nd annual Bend Brews & Beyond returns to Drake Park in Bend with 50+ Oregon breweries and cideries and a dozen NA options. It will feature live music, events, and more. Lots of info here

Great Notion's 10th Join Great Notion on Saturday, June 27th at their NW 28th location for an anniversary blowout featuring 40+ beers on tap, a Beastie Boys tribute band, food, games, dirty soda bar for the kids and some of the rarest barrel-aged beers they've ever released. Tix and more info here

Spotlight: Ninkasi's Jamie Floyd

In our last issue of the newsletter, we wrote about the first of two Oregonians to win industry awards from the Brewers Association (out of three!), and today we celebrate the second. Called the “Defense of the Industry” award, it is “presented to an individual or company for their contributions and efforts in championing the small brewing industry.” This year’s award goes to Ninkasi co-founder Jamie Floyd, a brewer whose most important contributions to Oregon brewing may be the least visible. Let's get to know more about Jamie.

Jamie has been brewing for over 30 years in Oregon, getting his start as an assistant brewer at Eugene’s Steelhead, working for legendary Oregonian master brewer Teri Fahrendorf. A homebrewer who had recently completed his degree at UO, he started out at the bottom and began working his way up. Eleven years later he was an accomplished professional when he co-founded Ninkasi Brewing with Nikos Ridge in 2006.

A Eugene Story​
​Founding Ninkasi will always be the headline of Jamie’s biography, and with good reason. It is not just the second-largest Oregon brewery, but the nation’s 40th-largest. Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, Ninkasi is well-established as a national leader and paragon of Northwest brewing.

The Ninkasi story is more interesting than just the brewery’s size, however. Many people don’t realize that it was a typical little startup, underfunded and scrappy, when it debuted in Eugene late in the Bush administration. It grew faster than any brewery in Oregon’s history, and every year or two Jamie was overseeing the installation of a new, larger brewery. For people in the industry watching its growth, Ninkasi’s popularity was breathtaking.

Some breweries grow on marketing and visibility, later turning out to be malty vaporware. Ninkasi’s growth was organic, though, a public response to Jamie’s futuristic IPAs. Until Nikos and Jamie founded Ninkasi, no brewery in Oregon was built on IPAs. The style had been popular for a good 15 years in Oregon (Jamie’s boss at Steelhead had made Bombay Bomber, one of the signature early examples), but focusing almost entirely on hoppy ales? That was radical.

Jamie’s IPAs were bitter, typical for the time, but they were also hugely aromatic and “juicy,” though that word didn’t yet exist. They were bold and exciting beers that demonstrated Oregon had entered a new era in brewing, one focused squarely on our locally-grown hops, and there was no turning back.

Working Behind the Scenes ​
​Jamie might well have constrained his attention to what was happening inside Ninkasi’s walls, but he didn’t—and that’s the hidden story. Jamie has long been one of the most visible brewers in Oregon, and one of beer’s most joyful evangelists. But he was doing equally important work to support Oregon beer:

• In his 31 years in professional brewing, 23 have seen him serving on the Oregon Brewers Guild Board.
• He has spent eight years as the Oregon Brewers Guild President and remains co-chair of the Guild’s legislative action committee.
• He is former president and member of the Hop Quality Group executive team. The Hop Quality Group is comprised of brewers and pursues a number of initiatives to ensure the highest quality hops for the industry. The HQG also sponsors USDA hop breeding, and last year released their first commercial hop.
• He currently serves on the Brewers Association Technical Committee as co-chair of the Quality Community.

In addition to these activities, he is, to quote from the Brewers Association announcement:

Oregon isn’t a special place for beer solely because we have a lot of amazing breweries doing their own thing. More important than any single brewery is the collaboration behind the scenes by leaders like Jamie Floyd to improve beer quality, educate and share information, pursue important research, and elevate the standards statewide. As drinkers, we experience the results, but we don’t have a window into all the work that happens in outside the brewhouse.
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Jamie Floyd has spent a career trying to make the best beer he can—and help his colleagues in the industry do the same. This award is a well-deserved honor for that critical, often invisible work. Congratulations, Jamie!

Keeping Up

For everything Oregon, please visit the Celebrate Oregon website.If you think someone you know might like this newsletter, have them sign up here.

Celebrate Oregon Beer is supported by the Oregon Brewers Guild and Oregon Hop Commission.

Excellent journalism is of the many ways Oregon is so special. In between newsletters, be sure to check out these sites for the latest happenings:

• ​The New School​
• ​The Oregonian​
• ​Astoria Beer Zone​
• ​Brewpublic​
• ​Beervana Blog​

See you again in two weeks!