Eugene City Brewery

It's been about a week or so since I've posted, mainly because I've been busy either working or watching the West Wing, but I did have time to get hired on as a freelancer at the Oregon Daily Emerald, the college newspaper of the University of Oregon.

The Olympic Trials are going on here in town right now, and I wrote an article published 30 JUN 08 that was about a local brewery owned by Rogue Ales that is going all out to support the Trials.

This is the original form of the article, as the published version had some editing:

Many of the bars and restaurants around Eugene have become Track Town-flavored during the two weeks of the Olympic Trials here at Hayward Field. Posters of track and field stars and televisions tuned to sports channels seem commonplace.

But the downtown Rogue Ales Eugene City Brewery is pulling out all the stops in its support of the event. Apart from a $10,000 donation to the Olympic Trials, the brewery kicked off the Trials with a Eugene celebration at all of the Rogue pubs.

“Track Town is about a town, not just Hayward Field,” said Jack Joyce, a founder of the Rogue River Brewing Co. He said he has supported track since he was a student at the University of Oregon in 1960, and the Track Town events at the brewery a way of showing that support.

In an effort to become Track Town Central for locals as well as the many visitors here for the trials, the pub house has opened up its doors round the clock and offered a breakfast menu including duck eggs.

The Eugene City Brewery has also started a shuttle service to Hayward Field, as well as pizza and beer delivery service and has put all of their award-winning Track Town Ales on draft.

People seem to appreciate the service. Though the first days were slower than expected, by early evening Saturday the building is filled with patrons parched by the hot day. Servers push past with trays laden with food and drink, while customers at tables talk and laugh together.

In one area of the brew house, an Adidas representative has set up a Wii console and a man and woman excitedly play the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games videogame.

At a table outside, a group of people visiting for the Trials sit and enjoy the evening. Tom and Faith Miller, of Pittsburg, Penn., are the parents of Fawn “Deloma” Miller, a high-school sophomore pole-vaulter competing in the Olympic Trials. They are accompanied by her high-school coach Grey Slatcoff, and her NCAA coach Mark Hannay.

This is the second time they have come to the Eugene City Brewery, after finding out about the place from a pamphlet at their hotel, and all seem to be enjoying themselves.

“We’re doing just fine,” Faith Miller said. They are all fans of Northwest microbrews. The four had ordered tasters of some of the 34 varieties of beer on draft, and they were picking out favorites. Hannay called the large number of choices “kind of overwhelming.”

The Raspberry Mead was Faith’s favorite, while her husband liked the Hazelnut Brown Nectar. The Track Town Triple Jump pale ale was also well liked.

“There has not been one beer that I haven’t enjoyed,” Tom Miller said.

There was one beer that was a point of contention. The Oregon Golden wheat ale seemed to strike the wrong chord with Slatcoff.

“You can quote me on this,” Slatcoff said with a grin, “this is the worst beer I’ve ever had in my whole life.”

To each their own.