Q and A’s
Q and A’s
Kyle Everett is a manager at the Tap and Growler, located on 5th and Pearl. He is an University of Oregon alum and a beer enthusiast. Kyle’s other passions include exploring the history of art and beer.
When you first started working at the Tap and Growler what was the atmosphere like?
Excitement, a lot of people were really excited about our approach to beer and wine. We have been working with a growler system that is unique in Eugene. Home brewers have been using it for a long time. It fills the bottle with CO2 and then it fills the beer up from the bottom so it keeps a cushion with the gas on top. This keeps the beer from touching air, which keeps it fresh. It’s essentially the same as bottling wine. That respect for the product really made people excited about coming to the Tap and Growler.
How has the Tap and Growler handled big events like St. Patricks Day and Eugene Beer Week?
If it is an event like St. Patricks Day where it is beer oriented, we will go to the local breweries and see what they want to do. Generally, the breweries will be excited about us coming to them because they will have a product that they want to show off. Our experience has been the more enthusiastic the brewery is about the product, the more enthusiastic the customers will be about the product. It has also been very interesting, because every holiday and event is our first one. Every time we host an event we learn something about ourselves and about the beer culture here in Eugene. Overall each experience has been positive and we haven’t received any hostility from anyone, whether that means an angry costumer or a neighboring restaurant.
What is a unique event that you would personally like to see the Tap and Growler host?
We’ve had talks of doing virtual Skype brewery tours and hosting virtual events where people can learn about food and beer pairings. Food and beer are two of my favorite things and if you can have a sit down session where you can learn about what goes with what, I think that would be really cool. Brewers love to talk about their craft because it’s what they do, with the technology we have now I don’t see why it isn’t possible to host these virtual events.
Sadie Sams is a current bartender and partial owner of The Old Pad. She is a University of Oregon alum with a sociology degree and started working at The Old Pad eight years ago. She eventually married the co-owner of The Old Pad.
Why did you start to work in the beer industry?
It started when I was looking for a part time job in college. At first it was just to make some money while still going to school. I was making decent money and meeting so many people that I came back here to bartend after I graduated. It was fun to work somewhere that you got to know the customers and sometimes they would come in just to have a drink and have a daily conversation with me.
When did you start to have a passion for the beer industry?
When I first started working at The Old Pad is when I developed a passion for the beer industry. I had to learn to explain to people what the difference was between the 21 beers we have on tap. The taps are constantly changing so I was forced to always be up to date on the latest beers we were selling.
Has the atmosphere changed since you first started working at The Old Pad?
The audience hasn’t changed since I have been here. I still have people that come in who drank at The Old Pad when Steve Prefontaine was a bartender here. The Old Pad since it is so far from campus has an older scene in general. What has changed here is the types of beer and alcohol we sell. Even though eight years isn’t that long of a time, the amount of local beers we sell on tap now compared to when I first started is crazy. There is a heavier emphasis on local beers being sold in Eugene and it creates this local vibe here.
Would you say that your degree in sociology has a connection with you loving having relationships with your customers?
I think there is a connection. I had customers when I was at school that would ask me, “Oh, are you studying me right now?” I believe that my interest in sociology definitely helped influence me to get a job where I was in constant contact with different people.
What are your future plans with The Old Pad?
I’m having a baby in three months so I have been slowly working less and less. Once I have the baby I plan on being a mom for a while, but the good thing about being a partial owner is if I do find myself bored I can always come back and bartend here.
Craig Keller is a cellar operator at Oakshire Brewery in Eugene from San Louis Obispo California. After working in the wine industry he moved to beer because of the sense of community and culture that surrounded it.
Q: How did you become involved in brewing?
A: I actually started in the wine industry. I grew up on a vineyard so we sold our grapes to winemakers. About two years ago I decided I wanted to change to the beer industry, mostly because beer seems to praise the people that are hands on with the process. It’s a different type of culture than wine and is more my style. You get to make something by the end of it and share it with people, which I really liked.
Q: What makes you passionate about beer?
A: I think quality really is the focus, and I try to live my life that way. I think that making beer with quality in mind is specific to the brewing industry. Quality is from the moment you choose the grains, the hops, the yeast, the way you brew it, the way that you ferment it, and the way you package it. Everything has to be of the highest quality. You have to be very hands on. The process of making high quality beer is something that I love.
Q: Can you tell me a bit about the brewery and beer culture in Eugene?
A: I was working in a brewery in California for a while. There was no beer culture. It was that Coors Light, and Bud Light kind of place. It wasn’t just the beer that didn’t have quality; but people didn’t care about the quality of a lot of other things. In Eugene people care about the quality in the things that they eat, the things that they drink, and the way they perform their everyday life. After working for that brewery, I traveled to Pacific Northwest towns with beer communities. Eugene by far was the one I wanted to be at. All the other breweries are friends. They’re not competing against each other. We strive to make the best beer and so it’s kind of a competition where we push each other and that’s healthy, so I think that’s why I like Eugene and the culture around it.
Q: What is your career goal with brewing?
A: I would not necessarily want to own my own brewery but I want to manage one and make all of the decisions. I want to decide what we’re doing with the beer. I love coming up with beer recipes and that would be part of the process I would like to control. My goal would be to be able to manage a brewery how I want would be my goal.
Ty Damon is a junior and a business major at The University of Oregon. In his spare time between his fraternity and classes, he brews beer with his dad and brother in his grandparents garage in and share it with family and friends.
Q: What made you, your dad, and brother want to start brewing beer?
A: My dad has a pretty time consuming job so I didn’t really get to see him a lot when I was growing up. It was especially hard after my brother and I moved out and moved to the dorms. My mom wanted us to find a way to spend more time with together. Beer was something we all really enjoyed so we went out a got the supplies and began brewing.
Q: Can you tell me about how you learned the brewing process?
A: The first few batches we made were horrible. We all argued about the process and what to do for a while. It was confusing because you have to find the right ingredients, buy the proper tools, and start different phases of brewing at the right times. None of us really had any idea what we were doing at first, but after a while we started to figure it out and it got easier. The beer actually started to taste pretty good, especially our Scottish Ale and IPA.
Q: What is your favorite part about home brewing?
A: We began letting our family and friends try it and I really enjoyed getting to see if they liked it. I liked making something from scratch and being able to share it with people. Getting closer with my dad was great too. It was a good thing to bond over and I really enjoyed getting to know him better as a person.
Q: Can you see yourself working with beer professionally?
A: Yeah but probably not doing the actual brewing. I think it would be interesting to work on the marketing or managerial side. Running a brewery or marketing one would be a dream job for me because beer is something I really enjoy working with it and it is a great product to market. Beer brought my family closer and I think it’s something that I would be passionate about doing in the future.
Jason Carriere is the co-manager of Falling Sky Brewery, running the coordination and events on the brewery side. He has a background in molecular biology but came to Eugene in 2000 to discover his love of brewing.
Can you tell me what you do and your story?
My name is Jason Carriere. I am a co-manager of Falling Sky, so Rob and myself are calling the shots around here. He runs the restaurant side of things. I run the brewery and home brewing shop side of things. I’ve typically been our point person on Eugene beer week as it got started and helped build it the first couple years and figure out the best way to get sponsors and how to advertise and what kind of events to do and stuff like that.
How have you seen Eugene beer week progress over the years?
You know, it’s a trade organization, right? So it’s kind of all of us breweries and uh bars that focus on beer exclusively, banded together. It was started by Mike Coplin over at 16 tons and you know, it was his idea and he put it together. We kind of all get together; we all pay our own sponsorship fees are split evenly regardless of the size of your company. You know, there are so many events that our goal with promotion is really to just drive people to the website. You [go] to the website, you find out what’s going on, and there is just too much to really just put on a placard.
How would you describe beer culture in Eugene?
It’s been really fun for me to witness. A brewery closed right as I moved here so that was at the low point, of the contraction. I think with the amazing success that Ninkasi had made people really get excited about it again. It’s definitely been really fun to see, you know I know all the people at Hop Valley and it’s just been really cool to see how it has grown. You know only so many people are going to want to home brew and do the work to do it well but there are plenty of people who are willing to drink quality beer and that number continues to increase. In Portland, there is a different brewpub for every neighborhood and there is no reason why Eugene couldn’t be like that.
Ariel Hoffmeyer is the manager at 16 Tons Taphouse. While it is her first year at 16 Tons, Ariel has done extensive work in the brewing industry and will probably bring a lot to this year’s Eugene Beer Week.
So Ariel, how long have you been working with 16 Tons?
I just joined 16 tons about a month ago actually but I have a long history of being in the beer business. I helped start Oakshire brewing here in town and then left that about 2 years ago so I have recently been involved with specialty foods distributor in the Portland area and now I’m getting back into beer worlds so now I get to combine the two things that I like which is beer and food.
So what is 16 tons role within the Eugene beer week?
16 Tons is actually the original founders of Eugene Beer Week. So, 16 Tons is a specialty retailer for beer, wine, cider, and mead and so the whole impetus behind Eugene Beer Week was to celebrate all of the beer-centric business that are here in town that make drinking craft beer so terrific. So Owner, Mike Coplin started the Eugene Beer Week along with myself and a host of other brewery owners as a way to just raise awareness of craft beer in Eugene.
How long has this all gone on?
Eugene beer week is having its fourth anniversary this year.
How has it progressed over the years?
The first year we had I think 3 businesses involved and now we have upwards of ten different breweries in town, countless businesses that are participating, traveling county is involved this year which is a local tourism agency that promotes events that are happening in lane county. We have multiple events going on if you look at eugenebeerweek.com you’ll notice there are upwards of 5 to 6 events each day so that event is really growing. Beer week awareness is growing as well.
What do you enjoy most about what you do?
What I love about being in the brewing industry, and especially in this capacity, is introducing people to all of this amazing craftsman ship that defines craft beer. Remarkable artisans making delicious beer; and we get to share that with people.
What are some of the challenges you’ve had? Competition between other breweries?
[Honestly,] we’re organizing a really wonderful fun event that is very community oriented so we haven’t had too many challenges. The only thing we have to do sometimes is a turn down participant who want to participate. That’s a good thing. I feel like were in a pretty great position.