Eric, Jeffrey and I at FinCon Denver!

Alright, I’m willing to admit, I found a couple things in Denver, Colorado that were pretty awesome.  Beer being one of them. A few years ago, Eric and I were at the second annual Financial Bloggers Conference in Denver.  It was a blast!  Not only did I get to meet up with some great colleagues in my sphere of work, but I got to taste a lot of good beers made in Colorado. For starters, I finally made it to Great Divide.  I’ve been a fan of this brewery for years, but at SXSW I was able to meet their “Word Nerd” (or social media lady) Hannah.  Did you know Hannah and I grew up in the same town in Oregon?  This is pretty much the only reason I’m willing to admit Denver might have some good beers.  Her parents are barley farmers for Rogue, a great brewery in Oregon.  

I was able to tag along on a beer tour of Great Divide and learned some interesting facts about Great Divide.  For starters, the building they are currently in was built in the 1920s during Prohibition (funny, huh?)  When the founder, Brian Dunn, was trying to secure the building with a loan, over 10 different banks denied him!  He eventually went to the City of Denver (who had just started building Coors Field down the street) and was able to get a loan from them.  Talk about persistence!  Another fun fact: their Samurai beer in available in Japan. We had a pre-FinCon meet up at Great Divide. Eric, Jeffrey, Adam, and I tried all 15 beers on tap.  Alright, Jeffrey and I did, but Adam gets credit for taking the photo above.  It was a blast, I have to say I’m a big fan of their Yeti beer, and love how they play with various forms of it. Later that night, Eric talked me into trying a Colorado Native Lager, which is produced by Coors.  It was terrible.  Seriously, Colorado, you are loosing points with me already.  Good thing Eric redeemed himself during our FinCon beer tour.  We checked out another brewery called Wynkoop Brewing Co; which had two notable beers.  First was the Patty’s Chile Beer, which actually tasted like a chile, pretty impressive, but I’m not sure I could drink a full pint of it.  It doesn’t come close to Burnside Brewing’s Sweet Heat in PDX.

Second, Cowtown Milk Stout, which was delicious.  I’m not a big fan of stouts, but this was super creamy and delicious.  Guess, I’m on a mission to find a Stout in Portland, that I like now. Ultimately, my hands down, favorite, Colorado redeeming beer, didn’t actually come from Denver (sorry, Eric) but from Boulder, CO.  The Tree Hugger Organic Amber from Asher Brewing Company, was the best thing I had during my stay in Denver.  Delicious, balanced, perfect beer.  Would highly suggest anyone going to Denver / Boulder to check them out.  They definitely made my wish list of breweries to travel too.  It pretty much rivaled my love for Hopwork Urban Brewery’s Organic Lager, which is saying something.

Ever been to Denver (or Colorado)?  What did you do?  What beers did you try?

Best friends for 10 years, professional drinkers for 7!

Hey Everyone – I’m working on reposting a bunch of old blog content from an old blog I used to run with my buddy, Eric.  Looking forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts on Oregon beer and why it’s the best.

I know Eric will argue that Denver is the beer capital of the world.  But like I said before, he’s wrong.   You don’t hear Denver being called Beervana or Brewtopia, do you? Here are 10 reasons why Oregon is better than Denver when it comes to beer:

1.  There are currently 115 brewing companies, operating 151 brewing

   facilities in 58 cities in Oregon.

2. There are 51 breweries operating in Portland (my hometown), more than any other city in the world (ha – take that, Eric).
3. The Portland metro area is the largest craft brewing market in the US with the most number of brewers at 64.  (Denver might produce more beer, but we produce more, better beer).
4. Want to know where Oregon ranks in breweries per capita?  #2 (Vermont is #1, Colorado #4)
5. Oregon’s brewing companies employ 5,650 full and part-time employees (I think having a job is pretty sexy.  Working at a brewery?  Be still my heart).
6. Oregon’s breweries donated an estimated $1,500,000 in product or money to non-profits in 2011.  (Pretty sexy).
7. Total economic impact from the beer industry on Oregon’s economy is $2.44 billion (check that BILLION)
8. Oregonians consumer 2.711 million barrels of beer in 2011 of that 431,000 barrels (or 15.9%) was made in Oregon in 2011.  (We’re pretty proud of how tasty our beer is).
9. Oregon is the number two hop growing state in the country with a 2010 crop value of $31,200,000.
10. Oregon is top 3 in the US in the following categories: Number of breweries, breweries per capita, craft beer production, craft beer consumption, percentage of draft beer consumed.

Most of these facts are from 2011, but did you know in 1888 a local brewer named Henry Weinhard volunteered to pump beer from his brewery into the newly dedicated Skidmore Fountain.  Needless to say, Oregon has a very long history when it comes to beer.  More recently, our abundance of microbreweries dates back to the 1980s when state law was changed to allow consumption of beer on brewery premises.  Plus, we’ve got a lot of local ingredients, two-row barley (compared to six-row barley – trust me there is a difference), over a dozen varieties of hops and pure, soft (also important) water from the Bull Run Watershed.

The thing, I personally, love the most about Oregon beer is how easily accessible it is and how involved the breweries are in my community.  From where I live, I can walk to two great breweries (Hopworks Urban Brewery).  Another local brewery supports my rock climbing gym (Migration Brewing Co.).  While another supports, a charity I was involved with last year (Deschutes Brewing).  Plus, when playing beer tour guide, there are a whole host of breweries within walking distance of downtown (Bridgeport Brewery, Rogue Ales, etc).

What about you?  Ever been to Oregon?  Been to any Oregon breweries?  Tried an Oregon beer?  Want to know more about a particular beer or brewery?  Share your experience in the comments below!