Opinion: Goodbye, Henry Weinhard
PORTLAND, Ore. -- An old Blitz-Weinhard commercial using the fictitious brewery Schludwiller featured two truck drivers trying to bring a truckload of beer into Oregon from California.
Two state troopers stop the truck at the border. One asks, “Where you fellas goin’ with all that beer?”
After determining that the beer “isn’t brewed naturally without artificial ingredients” — like Blitz-Weinhard — the troopers make the truck turn around.
“Wanna try Idaho?” one of the truckers asks the other.
I loved that commercial. You can find it on YouTube here.
I was reminded of that — and other iconic Weinhard’s commercials — by staff writer Erik Siemers’ stories on Henry Weinhard’s in this week’s issue of the Business Journal.
The company’s owner — MillerCoors — is taking the brand national. It views Weinhard’s as an entry level craft beer that will appeal to consumers more familiar with mass-produced brands.
As part of that push, Henry’s will no longer be brewed in Oregon. It has been brewed at Hood River’s Full Sail Brewery since 2003.
I know it sounds a little ridiculous, but it seems as if Oregon has lost something.
The original Portland Weinhard brewery operated from 1856 until 1999. Henry’s 12th Street Tavern is there now.
The beer was then brewed at Olympia Brewery until it closed. It then moved to Full Sail.
Despite all the recent twists and turns, Henry’s was an iconic Oregon brand. As Siemers notes in his story, the real Henry Weinhard once wanted to pump beer into Skidmore Fountain on Southwest First Avenue beneath the Burnside Bridge.
You can’t make that stuff up. Henry Weinhard’s will always belong to Oregon — even if, in reality, it’s now all in the past.
As long as MillerCoors doesn't change the recipe, I'll still drink it.
They lost two more customers with us. No more Henry's! :/
Portland's #1 mayoral candidate Tre Arrow would never approve Portland beer to be poisoned with EXTREMELY TOXIC fluoride...
welcome to the land of hipsters, once-loved beer!
We always loved Henry's too. It was the first thing we'd get when we shopped for a weekend camping trip :) So...I wonder if where it's going will have fluoridated water? Can't really use " brewed naturally without artificial ingredients" if it's got that poison in it...now can you? Just sayin'.....
I always liked Henrys'.
Well I guess I won't be buying Weinhard's again. I was blissfully unaware that MillerCoors had bought them out, and now that they'll be producing it somewhere other than FullSail, I can only assume that it will become homogenized into the rest of the disgusting concoction of formaldehyde-spiked swill they serve to the bloated and ignorant masses. That's right, NASCAR fans, we are the only first world country to allow formaldehyde in cheap beverages. Enjoy!
 @badcat To be clear, only the seasonal Henry Weinhard's beers were produced by Full Sail. All the others were brewed out of state by other breweries or MillerCoors locations.
@badcat It not only keeps the beer fresher the undertaker has to do less work on your bod when you need it.
2 words - less taxes
 @iamright555 Since they're going national, I would imagine they're moving to one of their breweries they expect to be able to handle the volume they'll be doing.
 @iamright555 Also meant to add that since this is something that would be made here - but sold mostly elsewhere - they'd fall under very favorable tax levels here because they'd only have to claim what was *sold* here, not what was *made* here (the same way Intel does).Â
@iamright555 I think that should be "fewer taxes"...
These details are good too - from Wikipedia: Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve and Blitz-Weinhard are brands of beer first brewed in 1856 in Portland, Oregon, United States
The brewery was owned by the brewer Henry Weinhard of the Weinhard family, who also made a line of soft drinks which survives to this day.
The Blitz-Weinhard brand was among several regional Pacific Northwest beers which were staples in the Northwest market during the decades following the repeal ofProhibition until they began losing market share to the national brands in the 1960s and 1970s.
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AND the best part it was brewed in Downtown  Portland around  NW  11th and Couch... ..
 @bat54 And the whole area around there smelled like they were brewing beer, too LOL
 @whirledworld 100% -- yes - I worked around that area in the early '70s...It was a great smell !!  AND  they had several shifts running round the clock, for many years..jobs, jobs, jobs...That's when the Powell's Books building was a car dealership....
 @bat54Â
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Yep...we smell next weeks batch in the mornings when I was a student at Lincoln HS. A pumping error made one of the large fermenters flow out several hundred barrels onto Burnside in 1981.
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The brand has actually been through a number of iterations since I remember drinking it as a kid. It was sold to G. Heilman brewing and they changed the formulation and the beer cost only $.99 per six pack in 1983. That lasted a couple of years then the brand was bought back but it was never the same as the first that I remember.
"As Siemers notes in his story, the real Henry Weinhard once wanted to pump beer into Skidmore Fountain on Southwest First Avenue beneath the Burnside Bridge"
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We drank a LOT of beer in the 1880's to 1920. This is the precipitous of the "Benson Bubbler".
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Benson, a tee-totaler and prohibition supporter, is as we know the maker of the "Benson Bubbler" water fountains. It was his goal to remove alcohol from the city as a social improvement (and to sober up his employees). He put his money where is mouth was by buying the city water fountains.
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We seem to have found a way to have our beer and our water too.
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