Time Travel Along the Snake River

A trip to the other side of the mountains is always a sobering mission from a beer perspective. There just isn't that much going on and there aren't nearly as many choices as there are in the city. To some extent, this is the downside of being a spoiled Portlander.

The occasion for my trip to eastern Washington was my high school class reunion. There's no need to delve into the sordid details, but I will say it's been a decade or two since I graduated. As I've mentioned here before, Lucky Lager was a go-to beer in high school. Perhaps that provides an appropriate historical reference point.

Traversing the spacious and sparsely populated hinterlands between Portland and Clarkston, Wash. is like entering a sort of time warp. The rural towns that occupy the mostly vacant space look much the same as you suspect they did 60 or 70 years ago. Main streets with general stores and diagonal parking are a dead giveaway. Time moves slowly here.

By the time you reach Clarkston, located on the Snake River across from Lewiston, you've edged forward a few decades on the time continuum. There's a Costco and a Walmart, and diagonal parking is yesterday's news. The Lewiston-Clarkston valley is a veritable mecca of modern chic compared to the dusty ag towns of the interior. But it still lives several decades in the past.

This was once and to some extent still is a proud blue collar community. It has suffered many of the same misfortunes that have hurt similar communities as decent paying manufacturing jobs have been displaced by automation or outsourced overseas. Ag and wood products are still important, but tourism in various forms appears to be fueling what amounts to an emerging service economy.

I have no idea how many of my graduating class of around 200 left the valley. Some left and later returned. I think it's safe to say most who left have done better economically than those who stayed. There are exceptions, for sure, and, anyway, this is about what you would expect to find in a place where opportunities are limited. Many leave seeking greener pastures.

As you might expect, craft beer has been slow to catch on here. Riverport Brewing, which opened several years ago in Clarkston (my 2012 story is here), produces some nice beers and has a growing following. Nonetheless, you get the sense that crap macro runs the show here. Most of my former classmates were fine drinking yellow beer during reunion festivities.

The six hour drive back to Portland gave me some time to consider the question of why my old hometown and others like it have not exactly embraced the craft beer revolution. This wasn't the first time I'd thought about this issue, but what I saw at the reunion got me thinking again.

A big part of the answer, I think, is demographics. Portland has had a strong craft beer culture for several decades. Today it is fortified and to some extent driven by young adults...Millennials from here and from all over the country. This city has gotten younger in recent times and these new residents have actively embraced the beer culture.

That scenario operates in reverse in the old hometown. There is no strong craft beer culture and no dominant young adult presence. Instead, you see a lot of those folks leaving the valley seeking greater opportunity elsewhere. As a result, you have an older culture that is somewhat stagnant and slow to embrace progress in many areas, one of which is beer.

The actual demographics generally support this theory. Portland is more than 10 times larger than Lewiston-Clarkston (609,000 vs 50,000). But size doesn't drive the beer culture. The key to that is likely the 35 percent of Portland's population that lies within the 25-44 age group. That's more than 200,000 souls of prime beer drinking age. Lewiston-Clarkston, with 26 percent of its population in that age group, has about 13,000...a huge difference.

Contrary to what some think, Clarkston was a great place to grow up. You knew your classmates and your neighbors, and you could have a lot of fun without getting into much serious trouble. There are a lot of advantages to small town living in general. One of the disadvantages is that change tends to happen slowly. And so it is with craft beer, which may never be fully embraced here.

Riverport Brewing Builds Momentum in the Old Hometown

I first heard about Riverport Brewing Company at the Oregon Brewers Festival a couple of years back. They were pouring Blonde Moment, a decent summer beer. But it wasn't the beer that initially perked my interest. Nope. I was intrigued because this brewery is located in Clarkston, Washington, my hometown.

Hard to miss the snappy branding

Clarkston is located in the southeastern corner of Washington state, across the river from Lewiston, Idaho...at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers. Spokane is about 100 miles north. Clarkston is easy enough to locate with Google Maps, for those who aren't using an iPhone 5 and Apple's disastrous Maps app (Steve Jobs would be so proud).

Looking south on the Valley from the Lewiston grade

Back in the day, Clarkston was a town of roughly 6,000, small enough that I actually knew most everyone in my high school class. I was surprised to discover the official population comes in at only 7,200 as of 2010. That seems odd since there are clearly many more people there now. Old friends say the figure is lower than it should be because most of the population growth has happened outside the city limits and nothing has been annexed. Alrighty, then.

The main seating area is pleasingly open

As I mentioned the other day, there was no such thing as good beer when I lived in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley. We subsisted on a steady diet of Lucky Lager, with the occasional Budweiser or Coors thrown in to spice things up. The Valley is still wildly behind the times in a lot of ways, but beer is no longer one of them.

The bar features a retro projection TV 

Riverport Brewing was born in 2010, the brainchild of two couples who decided to get into the craft beer business. When I visited on a brilliant afternoon last week, I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Marv Eveland, brewer and co-owner. Marv kindly showed me around, answered questions and gave me insights into what they are doing at Riverport.

In contrast to some of the hipster-focused breweries in Portland, Riverport is an adult-owned and operated business. Refreshing. The partners have slowly and deliberately built this operation from the ground up and they continue to do much of the work here. They have apparently done what they've done without taking on much if any debt, which is good given the seemingly unsustainable flood of new breweries coming online.

Newly acquired kegs will help satisfy draft accounts

The physical space at Riverport is quite comfy. On warm days, there are three garage doors that roll open to reveal a patio and spectacular view of the hill to the north, officially marked with a big white "C," which was refreshed on a yearly basis by Clarkston High School seniors when I was in school. I can't say what the arrangement is these days, but the "C" is looking a little washed out.

Back door scenery on a warm day

Riverport is building its brand via draft channels. Marv said their beers can be found at pubs and taverns in and around the Valley. You won't find these beers beyond that area until brewing capacity is increased. They have a 7 bbl brewing system and three 15 bbl fermenters. More fermenters and kegs are part of the plan and they have the space needed to make that happen thanks to a recent addition. Bottles and wider distribution are probably a ways off.

The good looking taster tray

My taster tray beer line-up included: Blonde Moment, River Rat Red, Cedar Rock Pale, Bullseye PA, Grand Ronde Rye and Seven Devils IPA. You need to have grown up or spent time in this area to fully appreciate the creative nature of these names. Anyway, the beers are well-executed and clean. My favorite was Bullseye PA, which is loaded with hop aroma and flavor, though not especially bitter. Blonde Moment, light and crisp, is a perfect beer for a hot summer day.

Marv and his high tech pilot system

Marv uses a small pilot system to experiment with new recipes. You aren't going to find anything trendy here...indeed, the breweries in this area are several years behind what's happening in Portland. They have no barrel-aging program or sour beers at Riverport. Instead, they are focused on brewing quality standards and seasonals that please local pallets. That strategy appears to be working out well.

If you find yourself driving through Clarkston, a stop at Riverport is certainly in order. Keep in mind, however, that they have no food here...aside from complementary popcorn. You are free to bring in your own food or order something from one of the nearly foodie spots. Very user-friendly here. It's great to see Riverport tapping into and expanding the beer scene in the old hometown.

Note: In case you're wondering, I'll soon be posting thoughts on the other breweries I visited on my recent trip. They include Laht Neppur (Waitsburg), Palouse Falls and Paradise Creek (Pullman) and Ice Harbor (Tri-Cities). Coming soon.