Page 128 - Southern Oregon Magazine Summer 2021

chow | beer

Before opening the original brewery, the two couples had seen
a lot of similar spaces. “Bend has a lot of this concept, as does
Portland, but more on the outskirts,” says Ashley. Oregon has
long been a hotbed for local breweries and has the fifth most
brewers-per-state in the country, according to data from Zippia,
while Vermont tops the list. Brandon also notes that the majority
of the hops in this country are also grown in the Pacific Northwest,
giving this area another natural brewing synergy.

German beer gardens also figured into the inspiration for the place.
Brandon points out that many American beer gardens were founded
by the German-American community, who always saw the community
center aspect of them.

The brewery always serves five core beers, and six to eight rotating
taps, including a sour. Brandon, as the brewmaster, has been mak-
ing beer professionally for eight years and was the assistant brewer at
Rock Bottom in Portland. He attended brewing school in Sunderland,
England where he received a Certificate in Practical Brewing from
Brewlab. He also earned an international general certificate in brewing
from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling.

While beer dominates the 40 taps, some of them go to cider and wine.
They began bringing in and serving other brands when we “started
selling more beer than I could produce,” says Brandon. “It is not a bad
problem to have.” He adds that he now has a renewed focus on brewing
more of the company’s core beers in order to stay ahead of the game.
As of mid-April, the WBC was selling “300 times more volume than
we were selling a month and a half ago,” according to Troy. The new
location opened March 3.

A GROWING BUSINESS

The two couples had wanted to build out some adjacent land for a
production facility, but they have not had time. So, they added guest
taps to their program. Some, like a collaboration they did with the
Walkabout Brewing Company down the road in Medford, are local,
while some are sourced from other parts of the state. All the wines are
kegged and they created their own “Weekend Blend” with Wooldridge
Creek winery. They also feature a white wine from Apricity Vineyard
in the Applegate Valley.

When the company was starting up, “People were coming by every day
to buy growlers just to make sure that we were getting their money,”
says Troy, when asked about how strong local support was during
Covid for the brewery. The two couples have also given back in kind,
sheltering local residents in their homes during last fall’s fires, and
they’ve done fundraisers for fire victims. Ashley adds that their staff is
fully local, which might add to the bottom line, but “at least the money
stays in the community.”
1863 NW Washington Blvd, Grants Pass
541-507-1862
www.weekendbeercompany.com

126 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | summer 2021