Beer Media Kit

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FACTS, TRIVIA & RESOURCES

Portland Facts & Trivia

  • Portland has more breweries than any other city in the world. There are 30 craft breweries within the city limits; 38 in the Portland metro area.
  • According to the Oregon Brewers Guild, no matter where you are in Portland, you're never more than 15 minutes from a craft brewery.
  • Among "hopheads" (beer lovers), Portland's nicknames include "Beervana," "Brewtopia" and "Munich on the Willamette."
  • Portland is home to the nation's best-attended beer bash: the Oregon Brewers Festival. More than 50,000 people enjoy this annual riverfront event, which takes place the last full weekend of July.
  • Portland has a 3 percent market share of the more than 1,400 breweries and brewpubs in the United States.

Oregon Facts & Trivia

  • Among the 50 largest breweries in the nation, five are craft breweries located in Oregon.
  • In Oregon, beer production grew 16 percent in 2005. Overall, craft beer sales grew 9 percent. The beer industry contributed $2.25 billion to Oregon's economy in 2005.
  • Since the closure of the Blitz-Weinhard Brewery in 1999, all beer production in Oregon has been by craft breweries.
  • The Oregon Brewers Guild's “Quality & Integrity Mark” is the nation's first craft beer quality-assurance program.
  • Of all the beer consumed in Oregon, 11 percent is Oregon-brewed craft beer. That's the highest percentage of local craft beer consumption in the country. The national average is only 3.5 percent.
  • Oregon and Washington are the two biggest hop-producing states in the nation. The United States grows one-quarter of the world's hops; Germany produces about one-third.
  • At Oregon State University in Corvallis, Ore., the Department of Food Science and Technology has developed a fermentation science curriculum that is helping to establish Oregon as a prime location for beer studies. The university even boasts a small state-of-the-art brewhouse that allows students to actively participate in the brewing process from malt milling to lagering to packaging.

General Beer Facts & Trivia

  • July is American Beer Month.
  • In the sun, hop vines can grow up to a foot a day. The vines will only grow clockwise around a guide wire.
  • Homebrewing, the art of making beer at home, was legalized on Feb. 1, 1979, when
  • President Jimmy Carter signed the Cranston Bill (named for California Senator Alan Cranston, who helped sponsor the legislation).
  • Prohibition lasted 13 years, 10 months, 19 days, 17 hours and 32 minutes. But who's counting?

Industry Associations

Oregon Brewers Guild
Brian Butenschoen, Director
2000 N.E. 42nd Ave., PMB 278
Portland, OR 97213
800.440.2537
Media E-mail: brian@oregonbeer.org
Public E-mail: info@oregonbeer.org
www.oregonbeer.org

Oregon Brewers Association (Oregon Brewers Festival)
Art Larrance, Director
Chris Crabb, Media and Brewer Relations
503.297.3120
Media E-mail: art@oregonbrewfest.corn
Media E-mail: chrisc@oregonbrewfest.com
www.oregonbrewfest.com

Oregon Brew Crew (homebrew club)
president@oregonbrewcrew.com
www.oregonbrewcrew.com

Oregon Hop Commission
P.0. Box 198
Aurora, OR 97002
503.982.7600
http://hop.oda.state.or.us/ohc.html