It has been 122 years, but it looks like Henry Weinhard's vision may finally come true: if the Portland City Council approves the measure, the Skidmore fountain will flow with BridgePort IPA on July 4th in recognition of Oregon's sesquicentennial.
Henry Weinhard originally proposed the idea to commemorate the fountain's creation back in 1887:
The most well-known story of Weinhard’s generosity to the Portland community came with the unveiling of the Skidmore fountain in 1887. When speaking to C.E.S. Wood, Weinhard offered to pay for the additional hose length that it would take to link the fountain to his largest lager tank in order to have the fountain spout free beer on its first day of operation. Although the offer was declined, it still remains part of Portland’s collective memory.Apparently, the proposal was rejected because the city council was worried horses would drink the beer and get drunk.
The current proposal comes from Mayor Sam Adams, well-known for his love of microbrews. His idea is to have the fountain run for just one hour, and none of the beer will be consumed due to health concerns. Adams has the support of Nick Fish and Randy Leonard. Dan Saltzman and Amanda Fritz are both on the fence, but will probably support the idea if the city can ensure children won't get the beer.
"I thought it would be a fun idea. This is the city of beer, and this is one of Portland's most cherished stories. It's been a long time that people have been thinking about running beer through the fountain. I thought we should just finally do it."BridgePort, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, it taking a page from the Widmer's notebook. They'll be serving IPA at both their pubs for the same price it was back in 1887--6 cents a pint (limit two).
Ha, take that, Asheville!
"Ha, take that, Ashville!"
ReplyDeleteStill riding those insecurities... ;-}
....and yes, that little po dunk town is ahead in the polls... must just gnaw at some people people, eh?
"BridgePort, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, it taking a page from the Widmer's notebook. They'll be serving IPA at both their pubs for the same price it was back in 1887--6 cents a pint (limit two)."
How about a date for this major discount???
BTW, the fountain flowing with beer sounds just as stupid now as it probably did in 1887. Historians did note that Weinhard had a good heart, but was slightly eccentric...
Hmm, I'm beginning to have the slightest worry, based on the lack of comments and Doc Wort's comment, that this post may not be as obvious as I'd hoped. Do note the date after you read it--
ReplyDeleteI'll admit, I believed it until the second time I read it. That's how it should be, nicely done!
ReplyDeleteAs for the ridiculous beer poll: when I finally bothered to take a look, and I saw that Kansas City KANSAS was on the list, I had to cast my vote for that benighted burb. Wish I'd thought to flog that idea to all the indignant Portlanders: make the Asheville boosters stand on the podium with a place that is indisputably not a beer town.
Regardless of today's date, if we cannot get the legislature to pass the "Idaho Stop" law for bicyclists, we'll surely never see the Benson Bubblers flow with beer. As for Weinhard, he may have been eccentric, but he was a darn good businessman. His heart may have been good, but it was his pocketbook that was foremost in his mind when he thought about piping beer to the fountains. Nice post, Jeff, and by far the best I've read on this particular day. I'm emptying my penny jar and heading over the the Bridgeport.
ReplyDeleteDidn't you hear the contest is over? http://www.theweeklybrew.com/2009/04/surprising-upset/
ReplyDeleteNice post, was deffinatly a reread though to make sure you weren't serious.
If only it were serious.
ReplyDeleteOK... I'm on vacation and not playing attention to the DATE!
ReplyDeleteYou got me, Jeff!!!
Mark said:
ReplyDelete"Regardless of today's date, if we cannot get the legislature to pass the "Idaho Stop" law for bicyclists, we'll surely never see the Benson Bubblers flow with beer."
At the risk of deviating too far from the stated purpose of this blog I wanted to point out how horrible I think this law is.
Seriously, there's enough problems with bikers ignoring traffic signs as it is, the last thing we need to do is give them free reign to blow through more stop signs.
Bear in mind that I don't drive, so I'm not coming at this from the perspective of an angry driver or anything, I just think this is a stupid idea.
Anyway, back to beer...
Not so fast, Chris :-)
ReplyDeleteThe Idaho Stop Law doesn't help the belligerent cyclists who blow through stop signs or run red lights. Don't let the usual anti-everything whiners distort it. (I'm not calling Chris a whiner; you know the people I'm talking about.)
It legalizes what's natural on a bike at a stop sign: slow WAY down, prepare to yield, stop if it's not your turn.
NOW let's get back to beer :-).
Nice stuff... and Ilove how the Dr. took a spill... only Beervana! lol
ReplyDeleteI went to Benson HS and graduated in 1997.. and learned a lot about the fountains.. however learned a lot more about Weinhards from my dad and other elders... and it was a very serious and outlandish concept to get beer flowing at those very same fountains. I could almost point out each one and remember them in the entire city.. including the one that sits on Sandy Blvd. next to Laurelwoods pizza joint. Love that stuff, and love that kind of PDX brew history!