It’s as American as apple pie. Hard cider was the beverage of choice in early New England, and a renaissance is now sweeping the nation. What does the iconic apple mean to our local agricultural and beverage industries in the Pacific Northwest? Consumed with all meals by people of varying age and socioeconomic status across Colonial America, cider was the safe alternative to unreliable drinking water. By the 19th century, hard cider consumption had reached 32 gallons per person annually. Despite the utilitarian and life-sustaining history of cider, its popularity began to wane at the turn of the 20th century, and brought to its knees due to Prohibition. Lorin Gelfand of Square Mile Cider Company elaborates: “Our forefathers drank cider on a daily basis. In fact, some early presidential candidates handed out cider at their campaign rallies. There really is a rich cider history in the United States that most…

1859 caught up Charlie Devereux — the president of the Oregon Brewers Guild and a former co-owner of Double Mountain Brewery in Hood River. 

Hang on to your hops, beer is on the move—and not just in bottles and cans.

Winner: Deschutes Brewery, Portland Photo by Michael Mathers With a highly successful brewpub in Bend and its Black Butte Porter the best-selling porter in the country, Deschutes Brewery knew it was time to enter “Beervana,” Portland’s nickname for having the most brewpubs per capita in the nation. In 2008, Deschutes opened in an old converted body shop in the Pearl District, where locals and tourists can experience on-site dining and drinking that is part laid-back Bend, part upscale urban. “The best way to experience a craft beer is by going to the pub,” says Jason Randall of Deschutes Brewery. Both locations recycle spent hops and grains from the brewing process to feed locally farmed cattle that eventually end up on the table. Order an old favorite like the fish and chips or the newer, Obsidian Stout braised beef, with one of the nineteen beers on tap. Runner-Up: 10 Barrel, Bend…

Oregon hops are the building blocks supporting the state’s burgeoning microbrewing industry.