Oregon Beer

Oregon is this country's second largest grower of hops behind only the State of Washington. Idaho is a distant third to Oregon. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Oregon hop production in 2006 totaled 5,036 acres, yielding 8,848,500 pounds, or about 17.14% of annual hop production in the United States (citation). Hops are vital in giving beer a balance to the sweetness provided by the malt employed by brewers.

To learn more about Oregon beer visit the Oregon Brewers Guild website by clicking on their logo below.

A visit to Rogue Ales in Newport, Oregon reinforces the agricultural prowess of Oregon. Many of Rogue's beers use a large amount of hops!

Above Left & Middle: 50 pound bags of the raw ingredients that go into making beer at Rogue.

Above Right: A warehouse full of these ingredients.

In 2004 Rogue Ales, based in Newport, Oregon, was the 44th largest producer of beer in the United States. Five of the fifty largest beer producers are found in Oregon (citation).

Left: Rogue Brewery in Newport (building with red lettering lower left of picture). Pacific Ocean and Highway 101 in background. In mid-October machinists and metal workers were installing a new brewing system to keep up with the current demand for Rogue beers such as Dead Guy Ale and American Amber Ale. Most of Rogue's beers are ales because of the climate in the Newport area is more conducive to producing ales than lagers. Lagers require longer periods of substantially lower temperatures than ales. 

   Left: Ship coming into Yaquinas Bay with the Rogue Brewery in background.

Above: Cold storage for kegs of Rogue beers ready for shipping across the United States. Inventory has dwindled considerably in the past few weeks because the installation of a new brewing system forced the brewery to cut back production. In the future the brewing capacity at Rogue will keep retailers across the country will be well stocked!

As a side note, a familiarity with 'vulcanized' kegs was achieved while at Rogue. These black kegs contain slightly less beer than the traditional 15.5 gallon keg. Several years ago, Miller Brewing Company briefly used the vulcanized kegs in the standard 15.5 gallon size. The picture below on the left is the keg filling station at Rogue, notice the rubber kegs, many of which were purchased from a European brewery. On the right is the inside of one of those kegs. A typical metal keg needs replaced sooner than the rubber kegs at Rogue because the metal kegs get beat up by delivery guys and consumers. In addition, metal kegs were in the news in 2007 because of the theft associated with their scrap value.

Rogue was in the process of redoing the entire brewery and because of this there weren't any opportunities to really show you their brewing process. In the future we'll be sure to travel back to Newport to see the new system. In the mean time, if you're interested in checking out the brewing process in more detail click here to take a look at the pictures from the tour of Allagash Brewery, in Portland, Maine.

This page was updated on November 16, 2007.

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