Some of you who are more familiar with the inner workings of the Oregon wine industry might know the heavily used phrase, “It takes a lot of great beer to make great wine.” Or, as Alex Sokol Blosser says, “This wine was made with blood, sweat, and beers.” Since we crazies in the alcoholic beverage industry are pretty much of a similar mind, we decided to meet up with our brothers (and sisters) in the beverage industry at Rogue Brewery for our annual Sokol Blosser staff field trip.
We met at Sokol Blosser in the morning and hopped on our EcoShuttle bus, ready to go. Our driver was funny and professional and put up with all of our misguidance on how to get to Newport, Oregon. Despite our best efforts to mislead him, we finally arrived at the home of the Rogue Nation.
We were greeted warmly by Jim Klein, General Manager of Rogue Brewery. He told us the history of Rogue Brewery and about the Rogue mindset (there’s a reason why they call them Barbeerians!). Jim was a wonderful host and toured us around the entire brewery, answering all of our many questions with a joke and a smile.
After the brewery, we walked across the parking lot to the Rogue Distillery. Waiting to greet us was John Couchot, who runs the distillery nearly single-handedly, creating various artisan gins, rums, and whiskeys with the use of his handcrafted copper pot stills. We thoroughly enjoyed a tasting of his spirits, including a fabulous “pink” gin held in used Pinot Noir barrels.
Finally, we enjoyed a fabulous meal with Jim in their Brewer’s on the Bay Restaurant. Wonderful food, great beer, and a fun time was had by all. Thank you to Rogue Brewery and our gracious hosts - we’re warning you, we’ll be back soon!!!
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