The Oregon Brewers Guild has a new website. One of the new features is On Tap: the OBG Blog. Judging from the nascent posts (first post was on May 31st, 2008), it looks to be the One Stop Shopping place for Oregon beer news, events, and factoids; the Fred Meyers of Beer Blogs, as it were.
The most recent post reminds us that Portlanders of the present day are lucky bastards, even if we do drink way too much Pabst. A few facts:
- There are currently 63 brewing companies, operating 88 brewing facilities in Oregon. Of the 63 brewing companies, 59 are members of the Oregon Brewers Guild.1
- There are 30 breweries operating within the Portland city limits, more than any other city in the world.1
- The Portland metro area boasts 38 breweries, more than any other metro area in the world. 1
- The Portland metro area is the largest craft brewing market in the United States(U.S.) Even though Portland ranks 23rd in population for Metro areas in the U.S.8
Why do Portlanders like beer so much?
Ya, but it’s still all just that pissy watered down American beer
Steve – who knows!
XUP – My, how little you know about Oregon beer and its drinkers. Frankly, the only difference between most Canadian beer and most American beer is that the Canadian beers’ labels are in both English and French.
Ah…our uninitiated foreign friend…you obviously haven’t had Oregon beer.
splutter…splutter…gnurk… huh? I lived most of my life on the US/Canada border and mispent my youth going “over the river” to drink after our bars closed and American beer is very, very different – flavour, alchohol content. But, okay, maybe Oregon beer is an exception. How about German beer, does that seem any different to you?
XUP – Oregon, and Portland in particular, is known for its craft beer, i.e. usually extraordinarily strong, flavorful, hoppy, malty, interesting beer. Light lagers, in my experience, be it Molson or Labatt or Budweiser or Miller, are mostly pretty similar. I enjoy a good lager (e.g. many German and Czech ones), but in general I stick to ales: IPAs, porters, stouts, and Belgian styles.
That being said, I did have some tasty craft-brewed beers in Montreal a couple years ago. Fin du Monde is excellent!
You know, I’m starting to think I might actually want to visit Portland. (not just because of the beer) Something that has never even occured to me. You should be getting paid by the Chamber of Commerce