Honest Pint News
A front-page article by Janie Har in today's Oregonian gives a thumbnail report on yesterday's hearing in Salem. I am slightly misquoted as saying that Germany and England have glassware marked to 16 ounces. Before being innundated about further evidence of my stupidity (don't worry; plenty more opportunities will arise), let me say that I mentioned only that those countries have standards, not that they conform to US pints. (Click through to see a huge batch of cranks who've commented on the story. Amusing.)
The Eugene Register-Guard reported the story, too. David Steves and Andrea Damewood write quite a nice piece and get my position spot-on. (It's interesting--Steves is one of my favorite reporters for the R-G, Har for the O. Nice.) If you have a chance, click through and read this article--it's pretty in-depth. They did some backstory reporting on local pubs, talking about the impact on local business. One quickie response: it's true that to be certified as a purveyor of an honest pint under the legislation you'd need to buy new glassware (if you weren't previously serving honest pints), there's a simple, free fix: don't call them pints. Nothing wrong will selling "glasses" of beer.
Heater Allen
In his latest brewsletter, Rick Allen reports a malfunction with his glycol chiller has left him with six weeks of lost beer. He now anticipates the next bottling on May 17. So if you hanker for a local lager, you best stock up quick.
Bikes and Hopworks
There was a cool article in yesterday's New York Times about the bike culture in Portland. It is currently the second-most emailed story on the Times' site. That's cool enough, but for Hopworks, it is even cooler:
Riders who wish to delve deeper into Portland’s diverse bicycle culture can simply drop in on pubs like Hopworks Urban Brewery in Southeast, a tavern decorated with spare bike parts that serves organic beer.There are now a whole lot of people across the country who know about Hopworks. That's gotta be good for business, right?
What is with those comments on the OregonLive site? They are horrendously ignorant!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Rick Allen (from Heater-Allen) is not happy about not having any product during that time. I'm actually his neighbor (business-wise); we have a start-up cider company right next door to him. He makes good lagers, which I'm not usually a fan of.
ReplyDeleteDepressing about Heater Allen. Just finished a bottle of the pils with some pizza--watching UConn lose to Michigan. Just a great food beer--as are all of his beers.
ReplyDeleteMan, I just gotta chime in on the Oregon Live comments... don't know whether to laugh or cry. Holy knuckleheads, Batman!
ReplyDelete--JT
i guess if you're a troll, hanging out and commenting on Oregon Live must feel like the height of excellence.
ReplyDeleteRecently discovered the Heater Allen Schwarzbier (sp?) and it is one of my new favorites. Just an excellent, drinkable beer. And I am typically an ale guy...
ReplyDeletejfwells