Chip Hardy
Phillip Patti
TIPPLING IN TOPSY-TURVY TIMES
Eugene’s bar scene thrives despite the recession
S
o you like to quaff a few brews
here and there, and maybe treat
yourself to some cocktails on
Friday night. But the economy is receding
and perhaps your belt, too, is cinching up
uncomfortably. Newscasters keep throwing
around economic numbers that sound
unreal, and you’ve been having dreams
about Suze Orman’s perfectly white teeth.
Do you hunker down at home, sipping
diet soda in a dim, cold kitchen while
clipping coupons? Or do you just roll with
it all, give the fi nger to the Dow and keep
your simple alcoholic pleasures, thank you
very much?
If you live in Eugene, your weekend
nights probably haven’t become a scene out
of an Edward Hopper painting. Although
more people might be opting to buy their
liquor and take it home, Eugeneans are
still out and about, fi lling the bars and
lounges, imbibing energetically despite —
or possibly because of — the downward
Dow. At least here, the time-tested pleasure
of a good drink in a communal setting isn’t
losing any ground.
I had begun to wonder about Eugene’s
bad-time drinking habits after noticing that
most bars around town seem to be doing a
swift business these days, even as for-sale
signs tacked to lonely storefronts blow in
the wind. Is it true, as I’d heard, that people
drink during good times and bad? And if
so, what are they drinking?
To fulfi ll my journalistic duty of staying
on the front lines of the recession, I took to
the streets to explore a critical issue: the
current state of drinking in Eugene. My
strategy was to visit a pub, a brewery, a
wine bar, a liquor store and a lounge with a
cocktail menu. The research was grueling:
It involved downing three craft beers,
one honey ginger cocktail and a glass of
merlot within three days. But sometimes
journalism requires sacrifi ce.
What I discovered, in a nutshell, is that
people seem to be drinking more these
days, but they’re drinking less expensive
drinks. At each of the establishments I
visited, overall liquor sales and revenue
are up, even though people aren’t going for
www.eugeneweekly.com
top-shelf liquors and pricier wines as much
as usual. And if you own a brewery right
now, you’re in luck.
I began my journey at the Bier Stein,
fi guring that this hub for specialty beer
would register the pulse of the city’s beer
drinkers pretty well.
On a recent Wednesday night, it was
hard to fi nd a seat anywhere. After my
companion and I fi nally selected our
beverages (me: Wolaver’s All-American,
my current favorite; her: Piraat Blonde),
we appraised the scene. College kids,
after-work 30-somethings and rosy-faced
guys in fl eece mingled over microbrew
pints, their collective good mood fi lling the
room with a low roar. We fi nally wedged
ourselves into a tiny space against the far
wall and took in the congenial vibes. I
watched a group of what looked like work
acquaintances slowly get more and more
animated as the rounds fl owed, their bodies
leaning in closer together and their laughter
cresting over the hum of the room.
Owner Chip Hardy confi rms that the
Bier Stein’s sales are up 15 to 20 percent.
December is usually the pub’s busiest
month, he says, but this January was even
busier than December. “I wouldn’t say that
we’re recession-proof, but people can afford
to spend $20 on beer and dinner and have a
good time,” Hardy says. “When times are
good, people drink, and when times are bad,
people drink,” he says. (Bingo.)
Hardy says that sales of bottled beer
are down, and that people are a little more
reluctant to fork over $20 for a bottle of
specialty beer. Still, he says, draft sales
have risen since the recession began and
overall revenue is up.
It turns out that Oakshire Brewery,
a local craft brewery, isn’t hurting for
business either. “Breweries are doing great
right now,” says co-owner Jeff Althouse.
“Our products are selling wonderfully,
just as much if not even better than last
summer,” he says. “We’re expecting sales
to continue to increase.” He adds that the
company expects to start selling bottled
beer this summer.
Althouse points to craft beer as an
BY JESSICA HIRST
“affordable luxury” that people don’t need —
or want — to give up during tough economic
times. “When I go out to drink, most places
are more crowded,” he says. “It seems to me
that people are really thinking about where
they’re spending. But the last thing they’re
going to give up is good beer.”
In a recession, Althouse muses, Eugeneans
might also prefer to support local businesses.
“I think people are really concerned, and it’s
easier to say, ‘Here’s what I can do to help my
local economy,’” he says. “People know local
companies support local jobs.”
Oakshire doesn’t serve its beer on site;
instead, it distributes to bars and restaurants
in Eugene and surrounding areas. Althouse
says that while most restaurants aren’t
currently making many changes to their
tap lineups, they will do so more easily for
local breweries. He notes that demand is up
for the brewery’s most expensive beer, the
Overcast Espresso Stout, which is brewed
with one shot of Wandering Goat espresso
per pint. With the stout, he says, “bars are
supporting two local businesses.”
Both Hardy and Althouse say that they
haven’t needed to lower their beer prices in
response to the recession. But Hardy says
he decided not to raise draft beer prices to
adjust for the 2009 minimum wage increase,
even though he usually does so each year.
The microbrew taps might be fl owing,
but wines and high-end liquors are a
different story. On a Tuesday evening at
Davis’, the bar was a little slow — a well-
dressed couple chatting easily, a gray-
haired man writing in a notebook and
me — but it began to pick up as I talked
with owner Tom Kamis. He told me that
beginning last October, the restaurant
saw a “pretty major dip” in wine sales. In
response, Kamis revamped the wine list,
cutting out the priciest wines. Now, the list
is shorter than it used to be, and it includes
more wines by the glass in the $4-$6 range,
and no bottles over $40.
Top-shelf liquors — what Kamis calls
the “super premiums” — aren’t selling as
well as usual, and beer sales have risen a
bit, he says. And cocktails are doing well,
he says.
Tom Kamis
Jeff Althouse
Although Davis’ food sales are down,
Kamis says, overall liquor sales are still the
same as they were a year ago. I reason that
that must mean his customers are downing
more drinks in general, and he replies that
that seems to be the case.
At Uva Wine Bar, manager and
sommelier Phillip Patti says that he’s
needed to further stratify his wine prices
because of the recession. “People are still
ordering higher-priced wines, but sales
of lower-priced wines are up,” he says.
“There’s a good balance,” he adds. “People
are still buying good wine and they’re still
splurging. It’s not happening as often, but
it’s still happening.”
Patti also says that he thinks customers
expect to see more lower-priced wines
on the menu these days. “There’s some
recession paranoia, and even if people
aren’t directly affected right now, they’re
conscientious.” Still, Patti says that a number
of his customers have either lost their jobs
or experienced some type of change at work
as the result of the recession.
Uva, which opened last September, is
still trying to build its customer base, but
Patti doesn’t think the recession is slowing
down business too much. “Alcohol tends
to be recession-proof,” he says.
While customers might be less inclined
to splurge while they’re out on the town,
they don’t seem to be cutting back on store-
bought liquor. “For the most part, people
are drinking more, they haven’t changed
what they’re drinking, and we’re getting
more customers,” says an employee at the
Downtown Liquor Store.
“People drink when they’re happy and
they drink when they’re sad,” he offers. “It’s
not something that they give up.”
So there you have it. Judging by trends
at a cross-section of our town’s drinking
establishments, the spirits are still fl owing.
Maybe we’re drowning our sorrows, or
maybe we’re simply carrying on with
our merriment despite the NPR reports,
knowing that good food and drink with
friends doesn’t always need to break the
bank.
As Uva’s Patti puts it, “In times
like these, contracting our ability to
enjoy something like food or wine is
counterproductive. You can spend less and
be conscientious, but that shouldn’t affect
your enjoyment.” It looks like Eugeneans
have this one down. ■
March 12, 2009
SWIZZLE 3