The Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives (OHBA), established in 2013, is a community archive in the U.S. dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing materials about the story of Northwest hops and brewing.

Background

The Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives are unique in that it intertwines the history of hops and beer, as well as uniting and contextualizing the social and cultural aspects of brewing. They focus on materials related to the regional

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...

and

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

farming, craft and

home brewing Homebrewing is the brewing of beer or other alcoholic beverages on a small scale for personal, non-commercial purposes. Supplies, such as kits and fermentation tanks, can be purchased locally at specialty stores or online. Beer was brewed do ...

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and the Republic of Ireland. The UK has the world's highest per capita consumption, ...

mead Mead () is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. The defining character ...

, and the

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

(OSU) research on hops and brewing that dates to the 1890s. Housed at OSU's Special Collections and Archives Research Center (SCARC) in Corvallis, Oregon, OHBA contains the archives of brewers and breweries from the Pacific Northwest, as well as an extensive oral history collection. The physical and digital collections are curated by Tiah Edmunson-Morton and serve not only as a collecting initiative, but also as an educational initiative to encourage people to preserve their ongoing work. Edmunson-Morton argues that people underestimate the importance of what they've created, especially craft brewers, when in reality they are contributing to the history of American beer. Oregon State University (OSU) began planting and experimenting with hops as early as 1893. Alfred Haunold influenced modern and popular hop varieties through his work with food studies. The Fermentation Science Program established itself in 1995 and further aided the study of hops and

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...

at Oregon State, followed by the creation of the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives in 2013.

Methods

OHBA is a community archive, and its collections come from donations. These donations include a variety of items, from beer lists and promotional posters to business records and photographs. Digitized collections also make up a portion of OHBA, whether it be the collections themselves or publications about hops and brewing. Community archiving makes up a large part of OHBA and works to keep the archive local to the Pacific Northwest. Archivists work with these local hops and brewing communities to document their work and experiences. Materials of interest include technical and legal documents, press releases, marketing materials, recipes, as well as practice and production methods. Additional collecting items include information related to figures in the brewing industry such as biographical information, and OHBA conducts many oral history interviews with members of the local hops and brewing community.

Hops and Brewing Publications and Newsletters

Various Hops and Brewing Publications and Newsletters are all housed within the OHBA archives and Oregon State University Library and cover a span from 1895 to present. The contents range from notable brewing publications, to technical information and reputable books on the subject. Some notable highlights from the Brewing Publication Collections include ''All About Beer'' (issues from 1979–2014), ''Oregon Beer Growler'' (issued from 2010–present), and ''American Brewer'' (issues from 1957–2013). OHBA also houses hop publications, which vary from the ''Oregon Hop Grower'' and ''The Pacific Hop Grower'' (issues from 1933–1940) to ''The Hopper'' (issues from 1945–1954).

Collections

The Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives contains the collections of over 45 of people and organizations. Aside from personal collections and papers, OHBA contains oral histories as well as hops and brewing newsletters and publications.

People, businesses, and groups

Some notable people represented through the OHBA collections include: Fred Eckhardt, homebrewer and pioneer in the field of beer journalism, Godfrey R. Hoerner, a specialist in hop production, and Pete Dunlop, author of ''Portland Beer: Crafting the Road to Beervana.'' Furthermore, OHBA's collections include that of notable businesses in Pacific Northwest Brewing. These include the records of Barley's Angel's, an organization dedicated to helping women in craft brewing by establishing chapters across the country, and the records of the Hop Growers of America Records, which is an organization founded with the purpose of increasing and improving knowledge on hops. The Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives contain collections of noteworthy brewing organizations from Oregon. These include archival material from McMenamins Brewery Collection, Ninkasi Brewing Company Collection, and the Zoller Hop Company Records.

Oral histories

The oral histories are a unique aspect of OHBA's archival collections is its extensive collection of oral history interviews, conducted from 2014 to 2019. Some notable interviews from each year has been included.

2014

* Teri Fahrendorf: One of the first female brewers in the Pacific Northwest * Dr. Alfred Haunold: released the Cascade, Willamette, Sterling, Liberty, Mt. Hood, and Santiam hop varieties in the Willamette Valley while working with the USDA/ARS * Blake Crosby: Fifth generation hop grower and owner of Crosby Hop Farm, alongside his father Kevin * Fred Eckhardt: Prominent beer writer and critic based in the Pacific Northwest

2015

* Jeff Edgerton: Master Brewer at BridgePort Brewing Company * Larry Sidor: Founder and brewmaster at Crux Fermentation Project * Irene Firmat: Founder and CEO of Full Sail Brewing Company

2016

* Theodore "Ted" Cox: Founder and Owner of Old World Deli in Corvallis, housing the Oregon Trail Brewer * Natalie Baldwin: Brewer at Burnside Brewing * Dana Garves: Brewing chemist and owner/operator of BrewLab * Lee Hedgmon: Portland based home and commercial brewer, as well as an advocate for women in brewing

2017

Oral histories from 2017 encompass people such as: * Karl Ockert: Director of Brewery Operations at Deschutes Brewery * Denny Conn: Homebrewer, author, and podcaster * Mark McKay: Sixth generation hop grower in St. Paul, Oregon * Veronica Vega: Brewmaster at Deschutes Brewery

2018

Notable interviews from 2018 include: * Tim Gossack: Production Manager at Bell's Brewery * Tony Lawrence: Co-founder and Brewmaster at Boneyard Brewery * Lucy Burningham: author on topics of food, drink, and travel

2019

So far in 2019, oral histories have been conducted with figures such as: * Walter Schuerle, a retired brewmaster and microbrewery consultant * Jeff Alworth, a beer writer and podcaster based in Portland, Oregon

References

External links

Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives
{{authority control Archives in the United States Oral history Archival science Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage Brewing Beer in Oregon Digital preservation Sound archives in the United States Preservation (library and archival science) Humulus