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.
These materials were donated to the Special Collections and Archives Research Center by Van Havig in 2022.
Collection is open for research.
Rock Bottom Brewery Records (MSS RockBottom), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
The
Further information regarding the values, logistics, and goals of the burgeoning regional brewing community can be found in organizational collections like the
Collections linked to Oregon State University research, as well as other manuscript collections, are described on the
The Rock Bottom Brewery Records is arranged into one series: 1. Brewing Records, 1994-2010.
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.
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.
For 8 barrel system.