A Visit to BrewCraft USA

"Every man has his gift, and the tools go to him that can use them." ~Charles Kingsley

October 19: Today I spent the day at BrewCraft USA. My husband Jon Graber is the new Operations Manager here. They just moved into a new warehouse near the Portland airport. BrewCraft sells home brewing, winemaking and distilling equipment, ingredients and supplies to homebrew shops all over the country. Above is a photo of Jon standing with some pallets of goodies about to be shipped out.

And let me tell you about the goodies! What a fun place to walk around. It feels like a football stadium full of tall stacks of all the goodies you could want.

Canned grape juice and extracts from all the grape-growing regions of the world for winemaking. Sacks of malted barley, hops and yeast in the cooler for beer making.

Plus little bottles of interesting extracts for making homemade liqueurs for Christmas gifts. Corks, crowns, corkers, crowners, foil cork covers, labels, books and equipment such as grape crushers, malt mills, "water purification" stills, and carboys of all sizes including squat carboys in plastic baskets for winemaking.

Jon's office is in the front of the building, but sometimes he needs to get paperwork to the warehouse guys in the back. (He actually works all over the building.) He found a little bike at Goodwill to speed across the warehouse to take care of business. He can put paperwork or small parts in the basket. I told him he needs silk hop vines to decorate the basket and he agreed.

I spent most of the day looking up rental companies online and checking Craig's List for house rentals. I couldn't update my blog because all my photos are on my laptop and I couldn't plug into BrewCraft's secure network.

I did unload the beer that I've been collecting on my trip. I separated out one bottle of everything to share with Jon once we move to Portland. That makes up about 2/3 of this stash.

Somehow I managed to fit all 14 of these cases shown at right either under one bench seat or under the trailer's table. I collected them from whichever among the 71 breweries I visited that was able or willing to share with me.

I couldn't put any beer in the van because the van got too hot. The trailer stayed a lot cooler because of the vent on top and the high ceiling (compared to a Chevy Astro Van).

About 1/3 of this beer is made up of mix-and-matched six-packs for my continuing brewery visits. I've been dropping off a mixed-six pack at each of my stops. The craft breweries gifted me bottled beer to go so I could spread the wealth, and the brewpubs bought me meals. It's been a very special trip!

I also unloaded the Stranahan Whiskey barrel. We put it in a corner of BrewCraft's warehouse. No sense bringing it home to Eugene just to move it back. Jon plans to enlist Wyeast to brew a Porter into it, in exchange for getting some of the whiskey-aged Porter back. Sounds like a win-win to me.

Tomorrow I will finally be home from my trip: 139 days!

Drive: Baker City, OR to Portland, OR

"We are made to persist. That's how we find out who we are." ~Tobias Wolff

October 18: Tyler made me a cup of tea and we sat in his kitchen and chatted beer. Being able to relax with other brewers and talk shop has been one of the many highlights of my trip. We checked the weather reports on the Internet often as the segment of Highway 84 between La Grand and Pendleton, Oregon, would be one of my toughest driving segments of the trip. Winter has arrived just as my summer vacation is drawing to a close.

There was snow on the side of the highway, and heavy winds plus rain and sleet. Just what I expected. Once I was past Pendleton I could relax a little.

The terrain is more varied here than it has been for most of the drive since I left Denver. I've been putting lots of miles on the van as you can see by the number of gas fills on the trip totals list on my website. At this point I am definitely like the horse that smells the barn at the end of the day and wants to go home.

In the photo at left, you can see a big logging truck moving toward me as my windshield wipers go. Yup, back in Oregon!

A little past Pendleton and Highway 84 hugs the south bank of the mighty Columbia River. In ancient times during the ice age, a glacier blocked the river upstream until a huge lake grew behind the ice dam. When the ice dam broke, such a huge serge of water flowed through the river's original small channel that it carved out the Columbia River Gorge. You can see one of the bluffs on the Oregon side of the river in the photo at right.

Yes I took these photos while driving down the highway. I felt my journey drawing toward a conclusion and I wanted to document some of what I saw from the road.

I arrived at Jon's work, Brewcraft USA at the end of the work day, one day earlier than originally planned. I had a lot of long driving days this week, but I was really ready to get back and see Jon.

BrewCraft USA bought F.H. Steinbarts Wholesale a few years ago, then sold the brewery wholesale side to Brewer Supply Group. Now BrewCraft just wholesales to homebrew shops.

BrewCraft just moved into a new warehouse in August, and a floating manager from out of town, Ginny, has been there to help with the transition. Ginny's husband, Rob, was visiting so Ginny, Rob and Jon & I went to the McMennamin's Edgefield complex for dinner at the Black Rabbit Restaurant.

If you've never been to a McMennamin's establishment, you're in for a visual treat. The McMennamin brothers employ a whole cadre of artists to embellish to their hearts content. As we waited to be seated, I glanced up and noticed this sprite peering down at me from a water pipe elbow up near the ceiling. If you go there and want to see it, stand at the entrance to the Black Rabbit Restaurant, turn around and look back down the hallway and look up to your right.

Rob was quite impressed with Edgefield as most visitors are. I often describe it as "Disneyland for Beer Drinkers." Not only is it visually strange and fantastic, there's also a brewery, a winery and a distillery on site, a movie theatre where you can sip beer while you watch, and many small and unique pubs, taverns, cafes and restaurants, so you can take your pick of where you want to imbibe.

Then it was back to the apartment that Jon has been staying in since he started his new job. We left Big Buddy and the Astro Van parked at BrewCraft tonight.