Oregon continues to buck the national trend by opening new breweries from the Caldera Brewpub in Ashland to Mt. Emily Alehouse in La Grande and Mutiny Brewing in Joseph. The market for craft beer in Oregon is four times as strong as the national average, boosting an industry with more than 5,000 jobs. Portland leads the nation in urban brewpubs, with more than 40 and counting. Most other states have experienced a net loss of brewpubs during the recession, but Oregon has gained several dozen including, I am thrilled to report, two soon to open within walking distance of my home.Mutiny Brewing?
Anyway, a nice read. (Hat tip to the Beersage.)
i might be willing to believe that if our mutual friend hadn't had to move to California to get a job as a brewer because there were no jobs in Oregon.
ReplyDeleteI heard the woman who started Mutiny used to brew at TG. Not confirmed though.
ReplyDeleteIggi, of those 5,000 jobs, most are not jobs actually manning the brewkettle. Our mutual friend suffers from a unique, strange, and counter-intuitive problem in Oregon: because we have such a rich brewing culture, we have more brewers than even we can employ. I once heard that the worst place to find a job brewing is here.
ReplyDeleteAngelo (or Margaret!), that's fascinating. If I were a better blogger I'd probably track that down. Instead, I'll wait until one of you do and then link to it!
I wasn't fortunate enough to land with someone in Oregon before I got work in California, but if I had been delayed somehow for a week or two I might be bottling for Deschutes right now. As it turns out I'm now in the brewing community closest to University of California in Davis and even with the size of the Bay Area brewing scene there are a LOT of brewers and would-be brewers in the local pool. I would dread trying to break into this area without some production experience because it is pretty competitive here as well.
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