Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 2017)
4A • September 8, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com Views from the Rock Brewing guru shares his story at Hayday fest H ood River, move over. Cannon Beach is vying for the No. 1 brew town in Oregon. With Public Coast, Bill’s and Pelican open for business and a spirited citizenry behind them, Cannon Beach is a must on the Oregon beer trail, along with Bend, Ashland and Eugene for starters. What Cannon Beach has going for it is the fi n-du-monde quality that would have intrigued Ernest Hemingway. Add to that a foodie culture, peerless local ingredients and proximity to Destina- tion Portland. Hayday, what organizers hope will be an annual beer festival in Cannon Beach, is the latest invocation of this fast-growing scene and, as a summer party, this was one of the best. “I’m like a coyote in the sheep pen,” author and Hayday attendee Peter Lindsey nudged after teaching me how to walk comfortably with a full glass of beer hanging from a lanyard around my neck. Martin North Hospitality President Ryan Snyder invited about 150 of his closest friends to sample lagers and IPAs in the cool comfort of a tented midtown spot. I met with Snyder before I’d sampled my fi rst Pilsner. Snyder, who opened Public Coast last year, de- scribed himself as “a food, beverage and hospitality person.” Snyder worked with Holy Cow Casino and Brewery in Las Vegas in the early 1990s. Before that, he drank Coors light. “Then you realize there is something more to it,” Snyder said. “I’ve been in business my whole life,” Snyder told me. “To be in the brewing business is more like a broth- erhood then a business. People are very open and very supportive. It’s been an amazing experience.” EVE MARX/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE JEFF TER HAR/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Public Coast brew Will Leroux and Martin North Hospitality President Ryan Snyder. Craft-beer pioneer I started my Hayday experience sampling the Alameda Lobo Amarillo, a tequila barrel-aged imperial IPA that really did taste of tequila. My compan- ion tasted “The Bees Knees” Honey Strong Ale and Pono Brewing’s Black Hole Sun. I snacked on a brat, hot from the grill, before sampling Block 15’s Sum- mer Knight’s Kolsch. Then Lindsey gave another tug on Publisher David F. Pero Editor R.J. Marx Circulation Manager Jeremy Feldman Production Manager John D. Bruijn Back-to-school lesson for the parents T R.J. MARX/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE What are you drinking? Standing out Snyder landed in Oregon in 1995 and found a welcoming atmosphere to broaden his experience. Public Coast, a brewpub and eatery on East Third on the site of the former Lumberyard, is his latest Cannon Beach location. With the ingenuity of brewmaster Will Leroux, Public Coast is producing an inventive and palate-pleasing array of beers, including Stephen’s Root Beer, a product of Leroux and his assistant Stephen Snyder. Hayday celebrated its inaugural event with 47 beer-pouring stations. Four of them were brewed by Ler- oux, including two “VIP” entries: “La Barrel-Age Blonde,” a pinot noir bar- rel-aged imperial blonde ale and “Can- nontucky Campfi re,” a bourbon-barrel weizenbock — a German-style wheat beer. “We are very small players, but we are hoping to celebrate what is happen- ing in our backyard in Oregon,” Ryan Snyder said. Familiar names on the chalkboard included Oakshire, Ninkasi and Breakside, and local standouts Bill’s Brewhouse, Pelican, Fort George, Buoy Brewing, North Jetty and Seaside Brewing. “What you’re seeing now is everybody is trying to continually rein- vent the craft beer culture, fi nding new ways to stand out,” Snyder said. The regional craft brew scene origi- nated in Portland in the 1980s, he said, inspired by “a gentleman named Fred Bowman.” Bowman is the former owner and co-founder of Portland Brewing Com- pany, one of Oregon’s fi rst post-Prohi- bition microbreweries. Bowman was active in the late 1970s and early ’80s, along with Art Larrance, Dick and Nancy Ponzi of BridgePort, Kurt and Rob Widmer, and Mike and Brian McMenamin in lobby- ing to legalize brewpubs in Oregon. Today he serves as a consultant to Public Coast and a mentor to both Snyder and Leroux. Sam Marx, ready for school. JEFF TER HAR/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Singer Nate Bosford at Hayday. Drummer is Nick Rosetta. CANNON SHOTS R.J. MARX R.J. MARX/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Fred Bowman, a founder of Portland Brewing. ‘TO BE IN THE BREWING BUSINESS IS MORE LIKE A BROTHERHOOD THEN A BUSINESS.’ Ryan Snyder, Martin North Hospitality president my sleeve. “You want to meet Fred Bowman?” he asked. Upon introduction, Bowman unfold- ed his story, back to the time when he and other brewpub pioneers entered the world of zymurgy. With childhood friends Jim Good- win and a third former classmate, Art Larrance, Bowman produced test batches in the basement of his Beaver- ton home. Changes in state law brought the founding of BridgePort Brewing in November 1984 and Widmer in March 1985. Portland Brewing was the city’s third craft brewer, entering the market in January 1986. Financial success seemed uncertain. “We were wringing our hands won- dering if there would be enough of a market for the three of us,” he said. “Those three breweries are 100 times bigger than the size they were and there’s hundreds more breweries. It was pretty shortsighted of us.” Oregon beers come of age Today, by raw numbers, Portland has more breweries than any city in the world, overtaking Cologne, Germany, 15 years ago, Bowman said. MacTarnahan’s Pale Ale, named af- ter an original investor, debuted in 1982 and became the Portland Brewing’s Classifi ed Sales Jamie Ramsdell Advertising Sales Holly Larkins Chris Olson Staff writer Brenna Visser Contributing writers Rebecca Herren Katherine Lacaze Eve Marx Nancy McCarthy CANNON BEACH GAZETTE The Cannon Beach Gazette is published every other week by EO Media Group. 1555 N. Roosevelt, Seaside, Oregon 97138 503-738-5561 • Fax 503-738- 9285 fl agship brew. Portland Brewing’s IPA was pro- duced when few were familiar with the style in America. India Pale Ale had its origins in England before the advent of pasteurization and antiseptic packaging, Bowman said. After a long sea voyage most beers ended up tasting like “pickle juice.” The strength and hoppiness of the pale ales kept the beer drinkable for English civil servants overseas. “We were trying to make a beer that wouldn’t make somebody used to drinking a light lager spit it out,” Bow- man said. “We were trying to make something fairly mainstream.” His success at Portland Brew- ing came with international awards and accolades. Bowman served as a consultant after Portland Brewing Co. was sold to Pyramid Brewing in 2003, before turning to a role as an industry consultant. Portland Brewing became known as MacTarnahan’s until revert- ing to the Portland Brewing Co. name in 2013. “I’m amazed that we can almost get any style of beer in the world made locally in Oregon,” Bowman said. “It used to be Belgium which had the greatest variety of styles, and we have pretty much all of those beers. I think small beers in the U.S. now infl uence what is going on in Europe.” www.cannonbeachgazette. com • email: editor@cannonbeachgazette.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Annually: $40.50 in county, $58.00 in and out of county. Postage Paid at: Cannon Beach, OR 97110 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Cannon Beach Gazette, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Copyright 2017 © Cannon Beach Gazette. Nothing can be reprinted or copied without consent of the owners. he new school year is upon us, signaling change. Say goodbye to sleeping in, or lazy breakfasts in your pj’s. Five mornings a week, there are backpacks to fi ll and lunches to make, emergency information and sports forms to fi ll out, and that tricky business of actually getting the kids to school, whether they take the bus, ride their bike, you drive, or they walk. The start of the school year always puts me in mind of when my son was starting fourth grade. He’d had VIEW FROM kind of a crappy summer, not really THE PORCH enjoying his time EVE MARX at town camp. None of his best buds were around to play with. I tried to be entertaining. We went to the town pool. We went to the movies. I’m embarrassed to think how many times we hit McDonald’s. By the time September rolled around, I knew my son was ready to for school to begin. He’d always liked school well enough, and he’d done the assigned summer reading. Because he had so much time on his hands, he also read the newest Harry Potter. So I was surprised when we hit the third week of school and trouble fl ared up. Almost from the moment he opened his eyes, my kid was surly. The problem wasn’t that he didn’t like his teacher; he’d lucked out and got a great male teacher who also played drums in a local band. My son, had been taking drum lessons since he was in fi rst grade, and had his own good set and cymbals. The fi rst day of school he told me how well he got along with Mr. Carpenter. “When we’re not doing school stuff, we talk about drums and music stuff.” Every morning starting as soon as I woke him up, we bickered about breakfast, the backpack, lunch, when he should leave the house to walk up our long driveway to meet the bus at the mailbox. Every morning was exhaust- ing. Mr. Carpenter called towards the middle of week 3. “Your son is in a bad mood the fi rst half-hour of every day,” he said. “It takes him that long to get into the school day. Is something happening in your house that might be causing this disturbance?” I was alarmed by the call. It was the fi rst time a teacher had talked to me about a problem with my child. “Yes,” I said. “We argue every morning over the back- pack and the lunch box.” Mr. Carpenter took a few moments. “Yes. We also argue over what he’s having for break- fast. ” “Hmm,” Mr. Carpenter said. “I suggest you let Sam set his own alarm clock. Allow him to get his morning to- gether by himself. Make sure he has supplies to make his own breakfast and lunch. I suggest you don’t leave your bedroom until right before he leaves. Say goodbye and have a great day as he’s heading out the door, but nothing else. Got it?” I was shocked. My son was only 9 years old. Didn’t he need me to supervise? Long story short, that afternoon when he came home from school, I told my son the new plan. We shopping and bought whatever he thought he would need for the rest of the week. The next morning I heard his alarm go off and listened while he got himself ready. The only thing I did I’m sure he found annoying was holler through my mostly closed bedroom door, “Don’t forget to brush your teeth! ” My son took good care of himself and we never had another problem on school mornings again. And I learned something I’d missed, which was I was raising a nicely independent kid. Good luck CB parents on the start of your school year. It’s always an adventure. THE NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING
