Gail Oberst Oral History Interview, May 17, 2018

Partial Transcript: All right. We are rolling in two places. So go ahead and introduce yourself and say where we are. Okay.

Segment Synopsis: Oberst introduces herself and discusses her family life. She talks about where her ancestors came from before arriving in the United States, the different states her family lived in, and her experiences growing up in a family that moved a lot.

Partial Transcript: How did your parents end up in Portland?

Segment Synopsis: Oberst talks about her parents. She explains that her father was a minister, which meant that they moved around often as a child. She talks about the church her father ministered to in Portland and her memories of Oregon from her childhood.

Partial Transcript: Were you interested in in writing in science then? Was that there was that a like a sort of early core interest?

Segment Synopsis: Oberst discusses some of her childhood interests, most notably reading and writing. She explains that she loved science fiction and fantasy books. She was also interested in writing, both creatively and in a journalistic sense. She explains that this interest would remain constant throughout her life and influence her career path.

Partial Transcript: Were they kind of involved in the alcohol business, the alcohol trade creation?

Segment Synopsis: Oberst talks about her family background in brewing and hops agriculture. She explains that her family is originally Northern European, and that beer was popular in her family. Additionally, she had ancestors who worked as hop farmers, giving her a personal connection to the industry.

Partial Transcript: What was it like then as you were kind of coming of age as a young adult, did you start to feel that rebellious spirit? So this is in the mid seventies. What year did you graduate from high school?

Segment Synopsis: Oberst talks about her experiences as a young adult. She notes that she began to rebel against the more conservative upbringing her parents had given her. She began exploring unconventional career paths, including working on an oil rig in Alaska, and taking on jobs traditionally associated with men.

Partial Transcript: How did your parents react to the, um. To you beginning to spread your wings? I imagine it wasn't entirely surprising.

Segment Synopsis: Oberst talks about how her parents responded to the choices she made as a young adult. She states that although her parents are more conservative and were skeptical about some of her decisions, they remained close, and she continues to have a good relationship with them despite their differences.

Partial Transcript: What was Eugene like in the late seventies?

Segment Synopsis: Oberst recalls what Eugene was like in the late 1970s. She explains that she was attending the University of Oregon, and enjoyed campus life, but was largely bored with Eugene more broadly. It didn’t have the campus activism she was hoping for, and she became disillusioned with college.

Partial Transcript: What...I'm curious about what print journalism looks like then. What are your kind of memories of reporting?

Segment Synopsis: Oberst talks about her first jobs in journalism. She notes that she left her college career to pursue a journalistic path. She was interested in reporting on political and cultural issues, both in Portland and elsewhere in Oregon.

Partial Transcript: So you came back to, to Eugene, You finished up your degree?

Segment Synopsis: Oberst describes how she returned to college to complete her degree. She did this because she thought it would allow her to progress further in her journalistic career. While at college, she continued to work as a reporter, and also became involved in the university paper.

Partial Transcript: What did you think about how you wanted to raise your child? Was that as high as you were?

Segment Synopsis: Oberst talks about how she discovered she was pregnant. She explains that she wasn’t married at the time and was not expecting a pregnancy, but that she was excited to become a mother. She talks about her approach to parenting and how she has balanced being a mother while working full-time.

Partial Transcript: When did you start homebrewing?

Segment Synopsis: Oberst discusses how she began homebrewing. She notes that she had friends and relatives who were highly active homebrwers and who were involved in the beer and brewing scene, which is what first piqued her interest. She explains that she loved how creative and versatile it was, and that she quickly became devoted to the hobby.

Partial Transcript: You were really, you were doing in that first year running pretty fast. Yeah. Why did you decide to do something not just on your own, it was family integrated, why did you decide that you wanted to do your own thing?

Segment Synopsis: Oberst explains her decision to found the Oregon Beer Growler, a paper dedicated to reporting on the Oregon beer scene. She states that the Oregon beer scene had become hugely popular across the country and influential within the brewing world at large, but nonetheless received little to no news attention. She decided to found the Oregon Beer Growler as a local trade magazine to make up for this deficit.

Partial Transcript: So what is your one of your, or some of your favorite things that you learned about, or favorite things that were in those those three years that you were so directly involved with?

Segment Synopsis: Oberst recalls some of her favorite memories from running the Oregon Beer Growler. She describes some of the collaborations she and her colleagues at the Growler worked on with prominent Oregon brewers, the reporting on the Oregon Beer Festival, and other memorable occasions.

Partial Transcript: So I'm curious, taking as just a bit of a rewind. Yeah. I'm curious about how you were received as a woman writing about this industry that is male dominated.

Segment Synopsis: Oberst discusses her experience as a woman in the beer industry. She notes that she receives condescending comments frequently, but that conditions have improved since the time she first started working as a reporter.

Partial Transcript: How has your relationship with beer and the beer industry changed since 2014 and since 2016?

Segment Synopsis: Oberst describes how her relationship with the beer industry has changed since 2016. She notes that after leaving the Oregon Beer Growler officially, she has remained involved in the Oregon beer scene, but largely in a social rather than professional capacity. While she still has friends working in the industry, she does not keep tabs on it the way that she had in the past.