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Rock Bottom Brewery Records, 1994-2010

By Tiah Edmunson-Morton

Collection Overview

Title: Rock Bottom Brewery Records, 1994-2010

Predominant Dates: 1994-2010

ID: MSS RockBottom

Primary Creator: Rock Bottom Brewery

Extent: 1.0 cubic feet

Arrangement: The Rock Bottom Brewery Records is arranged into one series: 1. Brewing Records, 1994-2010.

Date Acquired: 00/00/2022

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

Abstract

The Rock Bottom Brewery Records document the brewing operations at the SW Morrison Street, Portland, Oregon facility. Rock Bottom Brewery is a Denver-based chain of brewpubs. They opened the Portland pub in 1994 at 206 SW Morrison Street.

Scope and Content Notes

The Rock Bottom Brewery Records document the brewing operations at the SW Morrison Street, Portland, Oregon facility. Brew and kegging logs record data about ingredients, temperatures, waste, and other measurements of the brewing process and when the beer is in storage.

The earliest brewsheet in the collection is batch 11, Pelican Ale. The beers they made didn't change significantly in later years, but brewers were able to experiement with their own recipes and names. In the earliest years (1994-1995), the brewers made five standard recipes: Pelican, Coyote, Brown, Red, and Stout. The sheets in the "Portland Recipes" folder are undated recipes for the early brews. By 2004, they most frequently brewed IPA, Wheat, Amber, Porter, and Lager, but also made Stouts (Irish, Cream, Imperial, and Oat), Kolsch, and Oktoberfest. In 2014, they still brewed IPA, Wheat, Kolsch, but added Belgian, Honey Blonde, Orange Porter, and Rye Stout to their regular rotation.

In 2014, they released a "Hipster Beer Series," which included beer names such as "Barley & Me," "Bull Run Red," "Yet Another Stunning Indictment of the Establishment" (a Session Belgian Double), and "Fight Hunger with Beer." Also in 2013 and 2014 were beers called "Yippie-Ki-P-A Motherf***ker," "No Ryegrets," "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out, Kid" (a Christmas Helles), "54 40 or Fight," and memorial beers dedicated to Maya Angelou and Nelson Mandela.

Biographical / Historical Notes

Rock Bottom Brewery is a Denver-based chain of brewpubs. They opened the Portland, Oregon pub in 1994 at 206 SW Morrison Street. It closed in 2019 after the landlord did not renew the lease on the restaurant. Brewers included Matt Sage, Van Havig, Charlie Hutchins, Bolt Minister, Scott Guckel, Pat O'Shea, and Todd Britt.

The chain was founded in 1991 in Denver and rapidly expanded in the 1990s, opening dozens of locations throughout the United States; at that time, businesses that brewed on-site and operated a full-service restaurant were unique. Every Rock Bottom has its own brewer and they could make their own beers based on local market taste. In 2010, Rock Bottom Brewery and Gordon Biersch Brewery were acquired by Centerbridge Capital Partners and merged to form the new CraftWorks Restaurants and Breweries. CraftWorks is based in Broomfield, Colorado.



Author: Tiah Edmunson-Morton

Administrative Information

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: These materials were donated to the Special Collections and Archives Research Center by Van Havig in 2022.

Related Materials:

The Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives Oral History Collection (OH 35) includes interviews from industry professionals, journalists, and community members, including Dave Wills. The Fred Eckhardt Papers include photographs and research files for Oregon breweries. There are periodicals and journals housed in various archival collections, the main source being the Brewing and Fermentation Research and Olympia Brewery Library collections.

Further information regarding the values, logistics, and goals of the burgeoning regional brewing community can be found in organizational collections like the Heart of the Valley Homebrewers Records, Ninkasi Brewing Company Collection (MSS Ninkasi), McMenamins Brewery Collection, Portland Brewing Company Records, Widmer Brothers Brewing Company Records, Oregon Trail Brewery Records, Fred Bowman Papers, Art Larrance Collection, and the Oregon Brewers Guild Records. The personal research collections of Denny Conn, Pete Dunlop, Abram Goldman-Armstrong, and Robert Daly contain additional information regarding the beer writing process and beer culture.

Collections linked to Oregon State University research, as well as other manuscript collections, are described on the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives research guide. More information pertaining to the history of hop growing and brewing in Oregon can be found on the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives website.

Preferred Citation: Rock Bottom Brewery Records (MSS RockBottom), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Creators

Rock Bottom Brewery

People, Places, and Topics

Beer--Oregon--Portland--History.
Beer--United States.
Beer industry--United States--History.
Brewing.
Brewing industry--Oregon.
Hops and Brewing
Microbreweries--Oregon--Portland--History.
Microbreweries--United States.
Natural Resources
Portland (Or.)


Box and Folder Listing

Series 1: Brewing Records, 1994-2010
The brew and kegging logs record data about ingredients, temperatures, waste, and other measurements of the brewing process and when the beer is in storage.
Box-Folder 1.01: Portland Recipes, undated
For 8 barrel system.
Box-Folder 1.02: Brewsheets number 11-98, 1994-1995
Box-Folder 1.03: Brewsheets number 99-186, 1995-1996
Box-Folder 1.04: Brewsheets number 187-286, 1996-1997
Box-Folder 1.05: Brewsheets number 287-370, 1997-1998
Box-Folder 1.06: Brewsheets number 371-470, 1998-1999
Box-Folder 1.07: Brewsheets number 471-570, 1999-2000
Box-Folder 1.08: Brewsheets number 571-641, 2000
Box-Folder 1.09: Brewsheets number 642-740, 2001-2002
Box-Folder 1.10: Brewsheets number 741-840, 2002-2003
Box-Folder 1.11: Brewsheets number 841-940, 2003-2004
Box-Folder 1.12: Brewsheets number 941-1034, 2004
Box-Folder 1.13: Brewsheets number 1035-1130, 2005
Box-Folder 1.14: Brewsheets number 1131-1230, 2005-2006
Box-Folder 1.15: Brewsheets number 1231-1344, 2006-2007
Box-Folder 1.16: Brewsheets number 1345-1440, 2008
Box-Folder 1.17: Brewsheets number 1441-1540, 2008-2009
Box-Folder 1.18: Brewsheets number 1541-1637, 2010
Box-Folder 1.19: Brewsheets number 1638-1740, 2011-2012
Box-Folder 1.20: Brewsheets number 1741-1831, 2012
Box-Folder 1.21: Brewsheets number 1832-1930, 2013-2014
Box-Folder 1.22: Brewsheets number 1931-2049, 2014-2015

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.