Henry Weinhart (sp) Brewery

[corkybstewart]

About the time I finished college and moved to Carlsbad NM we started seeing a new beer from Oregon called Henry Weinhart, probably spelled wrong. In 1980 it was an excellent beer. I'm sitting here drinking Mirror Pond Pale Ale from Deschutes and that memory just popped into my head. Does anybody know what happened to the brewery?

[chazwicke]

There was Henry Weinharts Private Reserve back in the late 70s. There was a dark variety too. I recall getting bottles with neck labels with batch numbers on them. I had several with numbers in the single digits in Dec / Jan - 78 /79 in San Diego. I believe there were brewed up in Washington state by either Rainier or Olympia. I forget who owned the Weinhart name.

[corkybstewart]

That's the one!! Our local paint store had imported Tuborg for sale and ran out so they offered Weinharts Private Reserve as a substitute. That was a much better deal than the Tuborg. That was probably the first non-BMC type American beer I drank(although a lot about those years is fuzzy). Our local Albertsons would almost give it away spo I always kept several cases on hand. Then one day it was gone and I never heard of it again.

[Tweek]

and this guy didnt get sued by henry weinhard?

[corkybstewart]

i knew I had the spelling wrong-it was Henry Weinhard. Same beer, just spelled it wrong. Are they still around?

[Tweek]

absolutely. very large. One of the bmc imo. I used to drink the "ice" while playing beer png on one drunken summer. cheap and high alcohol.

If you want my advice, leave it a fond memory. You will not be happy revisiting.

[corkybstewart]

I know what you're talking about. Their beer was good 25 years ago compared to what we had then, but today the American beer world has changed.

[Seymour]

Yeah, ditto what tweek said. When I first tried HW some 11 or 12 years ago, I was new to craft beers and thought they had good stuff. Since my palate's refined some, I've come to realize HW is pretty standard stuff, actually. I believe they're owned by SABMiller now, though I could be wrong.

Years ago I thought Shiner Bock was delicious. I also believed for years it was an ale, because that's how it's labeled here in Texas due to our bizarre liquor laws:rolleyes: . At any rate, we all have a learning curve, Corky. Unfortunately, mine seems to be steeper than most.

[corkybstewart]

Having limitedd access to good beer, I've drunk and enjoyed Shiner Bock for years. It's not the best in the world, but my wife likes it so from time to time it can be found in my fridge. I still can't make myself buy the new offering from SHiner, not even out of curiosity. So many beers, so little money
I figured somebody had probably bought HW since that's the way of the world these days. Pretty soon BMC will be one brand.

[shirteesdotnet]

I think the Weinhard beer was one of the biggest in the pacific NW for a long time. Henry started brewing in 1852 and I think the company stopped brewing in 1999. They still make root beer :)

[Big Cat]

Nope they are still around and as domestic beer gose thay are better that most.

I happen to be looking a bottle of thier new "classic dark lager" right now...maybe I should oppen that thing.

They have taken the changes in the northwest beer market in stride and have come out with several beers of more body and flavore than normal. I'm not saing it is comparible to a mico or craft brewery but when one is short on cash it is compleatly drinkable.

They still have all the old styles like:
The privet reserve
The Ale
The dark (well I haven't seen that one in a wile thought maybe they don't make it anymore)

They have added:
Classic Dark (most recent and the best of all that thay have done)
Amber
Heff
and I think something more that escapes me at the moment.

Yes good old Henry is still at it. This was the first beer I ever had

[corkybstewart]

Thanks for the info. Just for old time sake I' ld like to try some of their different brews, but I haven't seen Weinhard for sale down here in 15 years.

[corkybstewart]

I just went to their webpage and they show 5 beers availble now. And according to the webpage they have a distributor in Roswell, just 75 miles from here. So I may be off on a beer quest soon.

[sundontlie]

as someone else said "leave it a fond memory" - do not try to revisit..

i went to arizona state university in 1995, back then you could get a twelver for $4.99!!! at most circle k convenience stores, that beer at that price at age 17 my freshman year was pretty damned great, my favorite was the blue boar pale ale, they also had a red, wheat, ice, dark, private reserve, honey and a few others i forget.. my friends and i drank weinhards almost exclusively for about 5 years, by then many others had caught on to the beer and it was seldom under $8.99 per twelve, it definately was perceived as a "micro brew" at the time and for the money was a good beer.. the company had a really nice handled thick cardboard box with catchy labels + colors, and used short neck pub type bottles... a couple years ago i went back to visit a.z. and bought some long missed blue boar pale ale..
it was pretty crappy - my taste had come a long way since then, but i had many fun times with henry..

f.y.i
there is a seinfeld episode with empty private reserve weinhards bottles in it, also i remember a movie - i forget the name, but spike lee wrote it about a college where there were white supremists and blacks fighting blah blah blah.. there were h.w. private reserves in that movie too...

[PsychoBrew]

corkybstewart - If you were setting there drinking a Deschutes Mirror Pond why would you want to revert to Henry Weinhard?
If you can get a hold of Deschutes Brewery beer where you’re at then I would definitely drink it instead. I may be kind of bias because I live in Bend and only 6 or so miles from the brewery. Try the Cascade Ale that they make – it’s a nice casual yet very refreshing beer (one of my favorites). Do you have access to any Cascade Lakes Brewery beers in NM? They are a brewery about 17 Miles from here that makes a great Pine Martin Pale Ale. If you can’t get a hold of any then let me know and maybe I can hook you up. :p

[corkybstewart]

Welcome to realbeer, and thanks for the input. I can only get the Mirror Pond, no other Deschutes beers, at least not here in Carlsbad. I'll look in Albuquerque this weekend to see what I can find.
Until I ran out of homebrew briefly last fall, I had rarely even bought beer in the last 10 years and so I didn't know what the American beer industry had evolved into. I've run across lots of good beers lately, but I'm first and formost a homebrew drinker. Its probably a good thing I can't find a wide variety of store-bought beer, I'ld go broke.
As far as the Weinhard is concerned, it was more curiosity about where it went than anything else. We used to drink it all the time and then it just disappeared.

[PsychoBrew]

Thanks for the hardy welcome. This is a great posting site.

I also was a Weinhard drinker in the past - we drank a great deal of the dark - then for some silly reason I got into Molson (must have been some McKenzie brothers flashback or something) My wife and I now drink a great deal of Deschutes, Cascade Lakes, and Alaskan. It's cool that you are a homebrewer, I just started my first batch last weekend - it will probably taste like pond swill, but already I have learned a great deal from "How To Brew by John Palmer" all I can say at this point is "Those darned beer kits". I'm gona have to start from scratch and build my own. I hope you can find some other types of Deschutes- they have some really tasty offerings. I work across the street from their Brewery, makes me thirsty all day long.

[chazwicke]

Working across the street from a decent brewery would pose a huge distraction for me. I love the smell of brewing and everything else about the process. I'd be over there volunteering to taste test for them.

[Seymour]

Even Golden, Colorado smells delicious, and that's just Coors! Agreed that brewing beer is a heavenly aroma indeed, and very distracting.

Corky, FWIW, I found Mirror Pond Pale, Quail Springs IPA, and Black Butte Porter all in Ruidoso. That's even closer than the big A. They also had most of the Bridgeport offerings, and even a few Steamworks (Durango), Ska (also Durango, but sub-par IMO), and Rio Grande beers.

[corkybstewart]

Thanks Seymour, next time I go through there I'll look. I'm only going to the Big A because my daughter is moving there-in fact I'm supposed to be at home helping her pack her computer right now. My son lives in Cruces and he just turned 21 so when he visits he'll be able to bring me good beer, but as I've said, I really prefer my homebrew most of the time. After my next weekend brewing session I'll be back up to about 40 gallons on hand, a level at which I can breathe easy. Below 20 gallons I'm pretty nervous an old college buddy will show up and drink me dry.

[PsychoBrew]

Originally posted by chazwicke
Working across the street from a decent brewery would pose a huge distraction for me. I love the smell of brewing and everything else about the process. I'd be over there volunteering to taste test for them.

Yep its pretty cool - there is only an empty lot and a street between me and a brewery - every day at 4:00 they open for tasting - I have to keep my self from going over there so I don't wear out my welcome. You can not smell too much being that its pretty cool outside, but in the summer you can smell it and man is it goooooooooood. My company is moving in about a month or so - I guess all good things must come to an end :(

[jdubbmancandy]

yeah it was bought out and i worked at the old brewery blocks when they tore it down it'swhere it was brewed originally and now its a hip area with restaraunts etc there is a hr bar/ brewery there pretty nice place its called the pearl dist now

[Ian.McL]

After the Weinhard brewery closed, it was picked up by Miller in Olympia (Tumwater).

However, that brewery closed and now, in order to be able to say that Weinhard's is still brewed in the NW, some of its brands are being contract brewed by a famous Oregon craft brewer in the Columbia Gorge. Won't say who, but you could probably figure it out.

[corkybstewart]

Thanks for the info, but I are an ignoramus, I have no idea who the contract brewer could possibly be. Does that mean it's good beer?

[Ian.McL]

well, they aren't typically known as a contract brewer, just a regional craft brewer, one of the larger in Oregon. Just do a search for "brewery" and "columbia gorge."

Sorry I'm being so vague. Some brewers are kinda picky about people knowing what they brew for other people. Just covering my butt.

and "good beer" is pretty subjective. I personally wouldn't call Weinhard's "good beer," but I have no problem calling the brewery in question brewers of "good beer."

[Ian.McL]

After some web perusing, I've come to the conclusion that it is not a secret. Ratebeer.com describes Weinhard's Amber Light as "brewed by Full Sail Brewing Company."

so there we have it

[corkybstewart]

I considered Weinhard "good" beer 25 years ago when after a trip to Europe. I really couldn't stand BMC anymore and I ran across Weinhard. It was much better than the other crap, but I haven't had one in 20 years.

[jdubbmancandy]

when u can get it on sale for 7-8 bucks for a half rack of bottles it's good cheaper than bud or coors

[Inventor_Bob]

Hi, my first post here.

I was at a presentation by the head brewer at Weinhards in um about 1989, it may have been tied in with Oregon Brewer's Fest that first year. He unequivocally stated that the mash / lauter set up was unique to his brewery and that the Henry's recipe (Private Reserve) took advantage of that in terms of making a unique product. He was vague on details, but seemed intent on letting us all know that if you tried to make it elsewhere, the customer would notice. Well that's exactly what happened and he was right and there's almost no such thing as a Henry's fan anymore.

There was a noticeable difference between bottling numbers, I'm thinking it was um ~1981 or so when it first came out and it wasn't until the high double digits that it became uniform. That was maybe um ~1983, just before Portland Brewing, Widmer and Bridgeport showed up. IIRC of course.