About Us, Where it all started

Donny and I often get asked what inspired us to open a taphouse. We would say there have been many things in our lives that led us to now, but we’ll start at the beginning. This was the time in our lives when the fanciest beer we drank was Coors Light, we were broke, in our 20’s, and just looking for a good time. Please keep in mind that like today’s trendiest beers, our memories are a bit hazy.

New Years Eve 1998

It was 1992, and my family had just been transferred from Corvallis to Grants Pass. Donny and I were young and aimless, and a move sounded like fun, so off to southern Oregon we went. We loved the weather (it is the climate), and the proximity to the outdoors. Donny found a job at the Honda dealership there, and one of his coworkers introduced us to craft beer. Our new friend, who we called The Squirrel, had been stationed in Germany, where he learned to appreciate a broad spectrum of beer styles, then brought that love back to his home town. If you were hanging out with him, you were drinking import or craft. And as the craft beer industry started to grow in the 1990s, so did our curiosity and palate.

Donny was soon drinking Widmer Hefeweisen, Black Butte Porter, and trying anything new he could find. I struggled a bit more, sticking to sweeter things like Portland Brewing’s Berryweizen or Pyramid’s Apricot Ale. Our new beer snob friends would mock me for it, but I would buy cases of these beers when visiting family in the valley because it wasn’t easy to find in Southern Oregon.

In about 1994, one of our new friends who lived in Eugene invited our whole Grants Pass crew, about 6 of us, to come to stay at his house and go to a beer festival. We checked our meager bank account to make sure we had enough money for beer and gas, then promptly agreed to go. The night before the Brewfest, Kenny took us to a fun new place called the McMenamins, High Street Pub, where we had our first Terminator, Ruby, and enjoyed a Communication Breakdown Burger. The next day, we hit the festival. It…was…so…cool. At first, we didn’t understand why you had to buy tokens for a tiny pour of beer, but once we understood we could try several beers instead of a pint of each, we found our groove. We realize now that beer festivals weren’t a thing yet, because there were probably only 20 booths and 200 people there. Unlike today’s events, you could move around with ease and try every beer there.

It was that afternoon in the mostly barren Eugene Armory that I discovered my love of red ales. I loved the upfront toasty sweetness with the slightly bitter finish, and the booth I kept going back to was Mad River Brewing for their Jamaica Red Ale. Up until that point, I was just going along with what my friends were doing, but I had now discovered my palate. It wasn’t just straight-up sweet anymore, because I was beginning to understand the complexity of the malt and hops. To say we had a fabulous time is an understatement, and were now completely hooked on trying new beer and discovering new breweries with our friends.

Sometimes I will see the Jamaica Red on the shelf, and I will buy it. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite anymore, as my palate has changed, but it’s still a great red ale. It’s amazing how one sip of this beer brings back the wonderful memories of that time. The freedom, the simplicity, the blissful ignorance of youth. The great friendships we formed over craft beer still exist today, 25 years later. Although we all live in different towns now, when we do get together, we still discuss any new beer or brewery we’ve discovered.

These are the humble beginnings of how our love of craft beer grew. For us, it was not just about the beer itself, it was also about enjoying good people in a relaxed atmosphere. What are your first memories tied to craft beer?