Autumn Aspirations and a New Beerchaser Notable

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Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title at the top to see all of the photos and so the narrative is not clipped or shortened.(External photo attribution at the end of the post) (#1)

Fall is my favorite season. The crisp air and sunny days in Oregon before we have six months of daily rainfall make it a great place to live. Tailgating at football games is a hallowed tradition and the leaves fall at the same rapid pace as Bill Belichick’s college coaching career at the University of North Carolina, althugh the leaves have better interpersonal skills.(#2 – #3)

Back to the Pros?

College football is now not one of Thebeerchaser’s favored topics – a sentiment reinforced today when the Oregon State Beavers lost to the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest and moved “forward” with a no-win and seven-loss season. Second-year Head Coach Trent Bray was fired the next day.

This cannot be pinned entirely on Coach Bray although he hasn’t done a good job solidifying his position by decisions and media interviews. The disintegration of the former PAC12, the transfer portal and NIL have essentially left OSU in a no-win position — literally.

For example, see below just a few recent headlines greeting Beaver fans in The Oregonian:

You get the gist…..

Not to belabor, but the first two paragraph of the third headlined article reads: (Oregon Live)

“What does rock bottom look like? It can’t look much worse than a cloudy October day in Reser Stadium where Oregon State fans booed, then bailed on the Beavers in a 39-14 loss to Wake Forest.

The Beavers (0-7) withered in every crucial moment and some players appeared to have given up on this OSU coaching staff under head coach Trent Bray.”

Although you might accuse me of living in the past, it’s especially painful since I was there during the Giant Killer era.  The memorable highlight was in 1967 when the Beavs beat the OJ Simpson led #1-ranked USC Trojans 3 to 0 following an earlier season win over #2 Purdue and tied then #2 rated UCLA. Coach Dee Andros celebrates the USC win with his players in the photo below. (#4)

Tough to Watch but Fodder for my Introduction

Now my wife and I laugh because she is an Oregon Duck and our older daughter graduated from the University of Washington and married a third-generation, Husky. We love our respective alma maters because of the great educations we received, but football has been a fun topic of banter for years.

I currently serve as Vice President of the Abbey Foundation of Oregon and my responsibilities included helping to organize our recent Board retreat including introducing all of the speakers during that day and one-half gathering at the beautiful Mount Angel Abbey Hilltop. (#5)

One of the speakers was the President Rector of the Seminary, which is now doing very well after downturns and hardship during the pandemic. The backgrounds of Fr. Jeff Eirvin and his predecessor, Monsignor Joseph Betschart – both OSU grads – gave me a perfect opportunity to tap into the current football season in my intro. (see the excerpt below) 

“After reflecting on the opening three weeks of the college football season, my wonderful wife of 45 years – by the way, she’s an Oregon Duck – exclaimed:

‘Don, it must be tough for you and other Beavers to watch OSU football this year.’

I responded:

‘Well Janet, while we won’t match U of O Football results in the near future – or ever – our mission at OSU is to continue to build an academic program our football team can be proud of.”

Today’s speaker is an example, and I pointed out to Janet that the last two President Rectors of the Seminary have both been Beavers. Msgr. Betschart, who served in that role for twelve years, graduated from OSU with degrees in nuclear engineering and general science and served five years in the U.S. Navy’s nuclear power program.

Fr. Jeff Eirvin received a BFA from Oregon State and worked in the field of advertising as a graphic designer prior to entering Mount Angel Seminary in 2005. After completing two years at Mount Angel, he completed his Bachelor of Sacred Theology in Rome.”  (#6 – #7)

Fr. Jeff in Rome
Monsignor Betschart

There’s Nothing Artificial About This Guy – the Newest Beerchaser Notable

Moving from football to more intellectual and weighty topics, let’s for a bit, cover artificial intelligence. Some synonyms for “artificial” include “pseudo,” “fake” and “phony” but reading just a few of the articles on this phenomenon would not incline you to use one of these labels to describe this technology.

If one uses a common search engine to inquire, “Is AI a trend?” 6,050,000 potential hits will appear. I haven’t used ChatGPT or any other AI model to help me write; however, a few of my recent blog posts have AI generated images (check the one with the football above). Long term, I’ll admit to more trepidation than optimism on this concept.

That’s why I’m glad that I know an incredibly talented young man named Kevin Frazier. We met in 2022 when he was in his third year at UC Berkley Law and edited a politically oriented on-line newsletter. He can now list on his incredible resume, the designation of “Beerchaser Notable.”

He asked me to submit a few articles recommending the perfect bar or brewery for each of the major Oregon Gubernatorial candidates to hypothetically chat with constituents to discern what was on their minds. I republished them in my blog. (#8) https://thebeerchaser.com/2022/04/29/beer-and-politics-part-1/ 

A Bright Future

Kevin graduated summa cum laude from the University of Oregon in 2015. He then earned his M.P.A. at the Harvard Kennedy School and subsequently received his JD at Berkley Law where he was Order of the Coif and passed the California Bar in 2022.

The title of this blog post is about aspirations and I had aspired to recruit Kevin to Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt, my former law firm, but after a six-month fellowship at the Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law, he received a prestigious one-year clerkship for the Montana Supreme Court.

Now, I received my M.P.A. at Portland State rather than Harvard, but I still had some great conversations with Kevin (he used a less erudite vocabulary) and that’s when I realized that rather than billing clients $500+ an hour, he should use his education to better serve humanity.

He is a true “policy wonk” in the most positive sense of the term. (#9 – #10)

I was therefore very pleased when he accepted a teaching position at the St. Thomas University Benjamin Crump School of Law in Miami, Florida, which welcomed him with an article entitled, “Incoming STU Law Professor Kevin Frazier Selected for Auschwitz Professional Ethics Fellowship Program.” 

Concurrently, he was working as a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Law and AI and they persuaded him to leave teaching to join them in a full-time position. It’s an independent think tank that researches and advises on the legal challenges posed by artificial intelligence. 

I haven’t figured out (and Kevin’s partner probably hasn’t either) how he has enough time to also serve as a fellow for the Lawfare Institue:

 “(The) mission is to produce scientific content on lawfare and the analysis of emblematic cases of the phenomenon. Lawfare is the misuse and abuse of law for political and military ends. It is the injunction of the words law and warfare for it is a legal war.”

Kevin Can Enlighten You Too!

Kevin authors a Substack publication entitled Appleseed AI.  It offers essays, videos, and community chats about how to spread AI literacy and make the ingredients for AI innovation more generally available. This is a neglected topic that warrants far more attention. (#11)

An edifying publication

Subscribing to it has given me an education, of sorts, on AI – most notably the policy issues surrounding its implementation and future development. Kevin is an optimist and while I think, at times, he may be just a bit naive about society’s cooperative ability to harness and control this technology, I will leave you with why he has become a sought-after expert.

In his 9/22 article entitled “Mr. Frazier Goes to Washington,” he relates his testimony and that of three other experts before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet. (#12)

I’m biased because of my high regard for him, but the full testimony is shown in a video and I think the Subcommittee directed most of the questions to him. Unlike the disgraceful appearance of Attorney General, Pam Bondi last week before a very partisan Senate Judiciary Committee, this hearing was very bipartisan and informative – in large part because of the cogent expert testimony.

I urge you to check it out and subscribe to Kevin’s publication.

And on a Final Note….

Happy Halloween and be kind to Trick-or-Treaters. In Portland, however, we will unfortunately be cautious about answering the door for a masked person — unless we have our passports handy…(#13)

External Photo Attribution

#1. Wikimedia Commons (File:Acer saccharum Equinox Mountain Vermont.jpg – Wikimedia Commons).  Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Author: Famartin  – 17 October 2020.

#2.  Wikimedia Commons (File:Bill Belichick 2019.jpg – Wikimedia Commons).  Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.  Author:
AlexanderJonesi  – 6 October 2019.

#3.  ChatGPT (https://chatgpt.com/c/68ec46d1-bcf8-8328-b304-bf43c5b37d93).

#4.  Oregon State Athletic Dept. (https://osubeavers.com/honors/hall-of-fame/dee-andros/43).

#5. Mount Angel Abbey (https://www.mountangelabbey.org/).

#6. Facebook Fr. Jeff Eirvin (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1876536385944106&set=a.1448964055368010).

#7. Mount Angel Abbey ((https://www.mountangelabbey.org/wp-content/uploads/MAL-Summer-2024.pdf).

#8.  The Federalist Society (https://fedsoc.org/bio/kevin-frazier).

#9. Linked in – Kevin Frazier ((5) Kevin Frazier | LinkedIn).

#10. Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=kevin%20frazier%20attorney).

#11. (https://appleseedai.substack.com/).

#12. Appleseed A1(https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#search/appleseed/FMfcgzQcpnVJtwBJKfpKPgTpdprgMVbZ).

#13. (https://chatgpt.com/c/68ec46d1-bcf8-8328-b304-bf43c5b37d93)

Get Your Thrill at the Top of the Hill

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Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title at the top to see all of the photos and so the narrative is not clipped or shortened. (External photo attribution at the end of the post) 

Those of you who follow this blog know that I write about both bars and breweries. Having posted reviews of 400+ since I started this retirement hobby fourteen years ago, my favorite genre is dive bars.

That said, while my wonderful wife loves breweries, dive bars are not on her dance card. (I might add, her definition of a dive bar and mine are quite different.)  One notable exception was on a 2016 road trip in California to Yosemite National Park where we spent one night in Sacramento and I persuaded her to raise a mug in the world’s most literal dive bar. 

Live Mermaids?!

While at the bar, I asked bartender, Jason, how the title of the bar was derived. He immediately responded, “Take a glance upward. You see that 7,800 gallon aquarium? (To put in perspective, that would be about 503 kegs of beers.) A few nights each week, we also have “mermaids” swimming in that tank.  Now do you understand how we got our name.?” 

A Recently Discovered Portland Dive , But First….

Before I tell you about the Top of the Hill Tavern, my newest dive on Portland’s east side, it may be worth reminiscing (at least for me) about some of my Oregon favorites. Our travel has taken us to bars and breweries throughout the US and even a few in Europe, but it seems the best are close to Portland. (By the way, it’s a wonderful place to live….)

https://thebeerchaser.com/2024/02/02/dont-jump-when-you-can-dive/

In Portland dives, the PBR, Hamms and Budweiser flow like a mountain stream cascading down the slopes of Mount Hood in early spring. (#1)

Sky Blue Waters

The photos shown below are my five favorites – The Ship (2012), the Mock Crest Tavern (2012), Gil’s Speakeasy (2017), The Standard (2018) and Yur’s Bar and Grill (2020). 

Yet, I can’t forget the Oregon Coast where at these five watering holes, the frothy head in your mug is like a wave at its foamy crest just before crashing onto the pristine white sand before receding for another cycle. (#2)

Thats when on a 2014 Road trip with two friends (Dave Booher and Steve Larson), we hit twelve bars on the coast in 2.5 days with these four making the all-star list in addition to the Desdemona Club (The Dirty D) in Astoria in 2012. 

The Sportsman Pub and Grub (Pacific City), the Old Oregon Tavern (Lincoln City), Mad Dog Country Tavern (Newport) and the Tide Pool Inn (Depoe Bay) garnered the other four top spots. (#3)

I had driven by the Top of the Hill numerous times – an inconspicuous building with a large parking lot, but no other businesses or homes around. My intent last March was to visit it with my long-term Beerchasing friend, Hillary Barbour.

But I messed that one up and told her to meet me at the Hi-Top Tavern which is only 3.6 miles away or a nine-minute drive from Top of the Hill. We enjoyed the Hi-Top, but it was a classy neighborhood bar and definitely not a dive.  So, we resolved, the next time we Beerchased to dive at the Top of the Hill.  (And it was worth it.)

I’m a fast learner, so I cautioned Hillary that we were going to the Top of the Hill in NE Portland – not the bar with the same name in Kaimuki, Hawaii or Babe’s Boys Tavern at the Top of the Hill in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. 

Similarly, we were not going to raise a mug at Top of the Hill Bar in Cork, Ireland or at North Carolina’s first microbrewery, the Top of the Hill Brewery and Restaurant in Chapel Hill (which even has its own Wikipedia page.)

And just to rub it in, Hillary admonished me not to show up at Top O’Th’ Hill – a family-owned American bar in Bridgewater, New Jersey, even though they have an outstanding butternut squash soup.

But as you can see below, we did meet on a Saturday afternoon at the right watering hole and joined a few regulars in relishing the “ambiance.”

I’ve known Hillary since shortly after her graduation from Reed College in Portland, when she was a Research Intern for the City Club of Portland and I was on the Research Board. She has had an impressive career including almost twenty years working on the staff of  recently retired US Representative, Earl Blumenauer. (#4)

Effectively served Oregon for thirty years.

Subsequent jobs have been in marketing and strategic planning for both private and non-profit corporations. Friends call her “Hill,” so perhaps the venue that day was appropriate.

Our server, Amber, who is a long-time employee of the bar said the owner is a nice guy and they have a good group of regulars – a community. Amber was personable and welcoming.

Most of the Top of the Hill reviews are positive and it seems that people really like this laid-back place. People appreciate the low-key atmosphere, the pool tables and old-fashioned beer signs, the friendly staff and karaoke on Friday and Saturday. And they have a good juke box. Two reviews sum it up nicely:

“I love this neighborhood bar! It has a cozy, comfy feel. All of the bartenders have made me feel welcome. Some of them have told me the owner is great to work for and that matters to me. It’s not fancy or extravagant by any means. Just a great place to hang out and get to know your neighbors. (Yelp 2023)

and

“Just a small trashy bar, but it’s my small trashy bar. The food is mediocre at best, and the pool tables are the worst I’ve ever played on, but the experience is like living in an episode of trailer park boys. Nobody is here to impress anyone, so everyone kinda lets their guard down more than usual, it’s a great place to meet people in a very casual setting.” (Restuarant Guru.com) (#5)

And you are not going to find less expensive pub food at many other places with a cheeseburger and side for $6.50 and large basket of fries or onion rings for $5.50.  A turkey sandwich with chips rings up for only $7.00 or a skad of wings for $5. Draft beers (a reasonable selection) are $5 to $6 with a buck off during Happy Hour.

Sundays are good with a rib dinner – four ribs with two good sides and bread for $18.  Want chicken instead of red meat, well the barbecued chicken dinner, sides and bread is the same deal. (#6)

I mentioned that Hillary graduated from Reed College – a liberal institution with outstanding academic credentials.  And the school made Portland headlines recently:

“Reed College students and alumni are grappling with the recent revelation that a campus security official provided federal investigators with personal information about a former student, ultimately resulting in his arrest. The disclosure has sparked significant backlash, particularly given the college’s reputation for inclusivity and its progressive values.

According to court records unsealed last week, FBI agents arrested Robert Jacob Hoopes, a 24-year-old Reed alumnus, on July 25. The records detail how Gary Granger, the college’s director of community safety, accessed an internal database containing personal information about students and alumni to hand over Hoopes’ name, address, and phone number. This cooperation allegedly occurred without a warrant or subpoena.”  (Reed College Campus Safety Newsletter)  (#7)

Granger was subsequently fired but given the misguided and unnecessary federal intervention to deploy the National Guard, Reed alums are wary that they may have been “identified.” 

There have been Blackhawk helicopters flying low over Portland neighborhoods and knowing Hillary might have been in that database, we searched the sky while walking to our cars. (After all she worked many years for a Democrat….) 

I have almost avoided political issues on this blog, but these times warrant a comment.

A Trump-appointed federal judge yesterday, temporarily blocked the National Guard deployment to Portland although there is no shortage of masked ICE troops at what have been largely peaceful demonstrations in the last year – basically some individual arrests by the Portland Police.

To put today’s protests into perspective, here’s what the data show:

“Arrests in 2020: 1,071. In 2025: Around 60 over the past four months.

Location in 2020: Across the city. Location in 2025: One to two blocks in South Portland.”   (Oregon Live October 5)

Portland faces significant issues – most notably homelessness. The violent and lengthy protests in 2020 were deplorable and our city still bears the scars, but that is clearly not the current situation.

Leave us alone to drink our good coffee and great craft beer and we will continue to work on resolving our problems civilly and locally. (#8 – #9)

Cheers

External Photo Attribution

#1.  WordPress generated AI image.

#2. Picsart.com AI (https://picsart.com/create/editor?category=miniapps&prompt=a+black+hawk+helicopter+with+an+x+over+it&projectId=68e1febafa021d2faa2b576d&app=t2i&version=1.86.2).

#3. Desdemona Club Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=275454077925770&set=pb.100063835381277.-2207520000&type=3).

#4. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (Earl Blumenauer, official portrait, 116th Congress 2 – Earl Blumenauer – Wikipedia) This United States Congress image is in the public domain. Author: House Creative Services, Kristie Baxter – 16 October 2019.

#5.  Yelp photos (https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/top-of-the-hill-tavern-portland).

#6. Wanderlog.com (https://wanderlog.com/place/details/3441887/top-of-the-hill-tavern).

#7. Wikimedia Commons (File:EliotHallReedCollege.jpg – Wikimedia Commons). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.  Author: User.cacophony – 25 February 2007.

#8. Wikimedia Commons (File:Portland from Pittock Mansion October 2019 panorama 2.jpg – Wikimedia Commons). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Author: King of Hearts – 28 October 2019.

#9. Picsart.com AI  (https://picsart.com/create/editor?category=miniapps&prompt=a+black+hawk+helicopter+with+an+x+over+it&projectId=68e1febafa021d2faa2b576d&app=t2i&version=1.86.2).

Up – Down and Sideways — Part II

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Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title at the top to see all of the photos and so the narrative is not clipped or shortened. (External photo attribution at the end of the post) (#1 – #3)

As I stated in Part I of this eclectic post (https://thebeerchaser.com/2025/08/23/up-down-and-sideways-part-i/) I contemplated using the title “The Good,The Bad and The Ugly,” but I wanted a third category where I could describe something that was neutral or perhaps where I’m ambivalent, so I went with what you see above.

UP

It’s very easy these days to be cynical and pessimistic about the future – I won’t enumerate all the reasons as that would take several posts and be a downer in itself. Small gestures by people one encounters, however, restore faith in humanity.

Such was the case when my wife and I were on a plane fight from Portland to Anchorage on July 3rd.  Sitting immediately in front of us was a young couple with an infant. Of course, this always makes one wonder how relaxing the flight will be; however, we remember our own experiences when we flew with our young daughters and empathized.

Right before the flight started, the dad, leans over the seat and presents us (as well as all the people in the adjacent seats), the plastic bag and the note shown below:

I was going to ask him if he had any Snickers bars, but Janet elbowed me. The irony was that little Tara was an absolute angel – even when she wasn’t sleeping. Her personality was far superior to the guy sitting across the aisle from me.

And with apologies, that brought back memory of one of the jokes in my files which conveys  how bad that situation can be:

A businessman is on a cross-country flight and sitting in the row just in front of him are two parents and their three-year-old son. The dad tells his son that the plane is a Boeing jet which fascinates the kid. (#4)

As the plane lifts off, the child keeps repeating in a loud voice, “Boeing, Boeing, Boeing!”  After ten minutes, the guy behind him grows so frustrated that he leans over the seat and says in a stern voice to the kid, “Be Silent! Be Silent.”

So, for the rest of the flight, the kid in a happy voice yells, “Oeing!  Oeing! Oeing!”

And to make it worse, the kid sitting right behind him performs the world’s longest drum roll tapping his hands on the back of the guy’s seat from LA to New York.

Down

This time of year, evokes positive memories of college years – football, new academic energy, football, fraternity relationships and parties, football and dating. That said, it’s with saddened heart and anger I witness the deplorable attacks on our universities. (And in some notable cases, capitulation by the institutions.)

To retain their independence and viability, universities need to self-police change some standard practices, be economically prudent and show wisdom and common sense in their research and academic offerings. I certainly don’t want somebody from the federal government shaping curriculum.

The cost of a college degree has become prohibitive for many families – even at state schools. And many universities have gotten comfortable with the traditional model of academia, which may now not be economically viable. (#5)

I love my undergrad alma mater – Oregon State University. I learned how to live and interact with others, contribute in group settings and got an excellent liberal arts education which made me a more enlightened person. (And prepared me for graduate school…!) (#6 – #7)

Oregon State is an excellent engineering, forestry and oceanography school (as well as having an innovative Fermentation Science Program) and also provides a decent liberal arts and business curriculum.

That’s one reason a recent news story in Oregon Live entitled “Oregon State professor teaches punk, horror – and Taylor Swift.”  really irritated me. 

“‘I thrive in trying and doing,’ he said, ‘and getting feedback and trying again.’ The 41-year-old brings the same mindset to his classroom. (The professor) said he values ‘co-creation’ over traditional teaching doctrine – not teaching down to students but learning alongside them’…. (emphasis added) 

And in his other classes on punk music and Taylor Swift, he has students create ‘zines,’ scrappy anti-establishment pamphlets crafted with anything at hand, as a way to learn a do-it-yourself creative philosophy.”

Now, I assume the professor is a nice, well-intentioned guy, but I would suggest that if he wants to “learn alongside” his students, that he should pay tuition rather than being paid as a faculty member.
 
It’s this kind of stuff which gives the misguided souls who want the government to intervene in university curricula, ammunition for their mission (#8 – #9).
Max Planck
Bream

Some university research also raises questions such as the objectives of a 2025 study published in The Guardian at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany – one of eighty independent, non-profit research institutes.

They are funded by the German state and federal governments:

“Wild fish (bream) can tell people apart – at least when they are wearing different-coloured outfits – researchers have found in a study they say could shift our relationship with the creatures….The researchers carried out 30 trials for each (differently colored) outfit and used video recordings to count the number of fish following each diver. 

(Researcher Maëlan)Tomasek added that the study could prompt us to reconsider the way we treat fish, including whether to kill and eat them. ‘It’s very human to not want to care about them, but the fact that they can care about us, maybe it’s time that we can care about them, too,’ he said.”

I don’t know much about Max Planck other than he was a German theoretical physicist who won a Nobel Prize in Physics. I kind of wonder if he would approve of a study like this.

Might it also be a large inferential leap to assume that because a fish follows a guy wearing a red shirt, that it has an emotional attachment? I would also not be hesitant to eat a fish who prefers orange and black to green and yellow.

Conversely…

When I initially read the headline “Edible tape invented to stop your burrito from falling apart” – a project by students at Johns Hopkins University School of Engineering, I thought “Here we go Again!”

“Four US engineering students were brainstorming the perfect invention for their product design course, when lunch inspiration – literally – fell into their laps. ‘Erin was eating a burrito and the tortilla opened all over her,’ one of the four, Tyler Guarino tells CNN.

‘It hit her then – this is a problem that we can solve…. We tested about 50 different formulations’ before finding the winning ‘Tastee Tape’ recipe, Guarino says.” (#10 – #12)

Johns Hopkins School of Engineering

Now maybe it pays to keep cynicism about the impact of research in check, because when I checked further, I found that their counterparts at MIT had already taken it a step further as explained in a 2022 article: “Engineers develop surgical ‘duct tape’ as an alternative to sutures”

“In numerous experiments, the team has shown the patch can be quickly stuck to large tears and punctures in the colon, stomach, and intestines of various animal models.

The adhesive binds strongly to tissues within several seconds and holds for over a month. Once an injury is fully healed, the patch gradually degrades without causing inflammation or sticking to surrounding tissues.” (#13)

Great Dome – MIT

I didn’t check to see if their invention had been implemented in operating rooms – for either people or fish.

You’re Going to be Sick of Winning..???

I was going to leave it there but couldn’t resist quoting two more studies on the same concept that make me wonder how some researchers feel about the practical value of their studies to society.

In 2021, “University of Iowa research finds bronze medalists happier than those with silver.”

“To analyze the photos, the research team used software capable of reading facial expressions by the shapes and positions of mouths, eyes, eyebrows, noses and other facial features. (An assistant professor of marketing noted) ‘A spectator might be inclined to praise a silver medal performance. But for a lot of people, that might not feel like a win.” (#14)

What’s in a Smile?

Now in the AI study above reviewing photos of 413 athletes at medal ceremonies from 142 Olympic track and field events between 2000 and 2016, the conclusion was reached strictly by analyzing facial expressions.

You should be comforted that another marketing professor did her research – this study based on simulations. 

“…according to Monica Wadhwa, marketing professor at Temple University’s Fox School of Business in Philadelphia, ‘not winning is, in fact, more powerful than winning.’ She has spent nearly a decade researching this seemingly paradoxical idea, motivated by her childhood experiences.”

And unfortunately, my daughters are now adults, and I didn’t have the benefit of her advice to parents. To wit: “When kids lose – whether in sports or in school – point out to them how close they came to winning.”

Sideways

In my last post, I talked about the acceleration of change in society and trends which affect our daily lives in ever-increasing rapidity. I think these next trends are probably good; however, it may take some adjustment on my part. 

I’m talking about both the use of semicolons and spaces after a period. According to the 5/22/25 Morning Brew:

“The punctuation mark that makes you feel pretentious even when you somehow manage to use it correctly is rapidly becoming passé. The semicolon’s usage in English books has plunged by almost half in the last two decades, from 1 in every 205 words in 2000 to 1 in 390 today, the Guardian reported…

These days, it’s probably found more often in computer programming and tattoos than in text.” (emphasis added)

That brought to mind one jokester’s comment about change stating, “In fifteen years, we’re going to have to get used to seeing a lot of really old people walking around with tattoos.” (#15 – #17)

Obsolete?
Get over it!
Give me some space??

I’ve always put two spaces after the period at the end of a sentence. I was taught that in two years of high school typing – one of the most useful classes I’ve ever taken and one that I took because I wanted to date a girl who was taking the class. (I did.)

According to a recent article by MasterClass.com:

“The overwhelming majority of contemporary style guides and word processors advise using a single space between typed sentences. When in doubt, use single spacing in research papers, essays, and your creative writing. This is true regardless of whether your sentence ends in a period, a question mark, or some other form of punctuation….

The debate over the number of spaces has waned over the years, but some adherents to the two-space convention (known as ‘two-spacers’) argue the extra space signals the end of a complete thought more effectively.”

Now I’m behind the times since the 2019 American Psychological Association Style Guide reflected the change. I didn’t check to see if they did any research on the emotional impact of being a “two spacer.” I’ve made an effort to reflect the punction change in this post although I’m not going to do a detailed check.

If you don’t like that, go ahead and sue me – my transition to the conclusion of this long post with a lawyer joke – a rhetorical question and remember. I loved working with lawyers:

“If an IRS auditor and a lawyer were both floundering in the surf and you could save only one, would you go to coffee or read the newspaper?” (#18 – #19)

Cheers

#1.  Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arrow_slim_up.svg) This file is licensed under (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en. Author: Wenflou – 20 August  2022.

#2. Wikimedia Commons (File:Arrow slim down.svg – Wikimedia Commons) This file is made available under the https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en.  Author: Wenflou – 20 August 2022.

#3. Wikimedia Commons (File:Sideways Arrow Icon.svg – Wikimedia Commons) This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Subject to disclaimers. Attribution: Riley Huntley at the English-language Wikipedia.  29 August 2012.

#4,  Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Alaska-737-4QB-YVR.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Author: Makaristos – 22 May 2008.

#5.  AI Image Generator (Bing Image Creator).

#6. Wikimedia Commons (File:Corvallis, Oregon State University – DPLA – 20466127df16e7e71103ee1bfd3343bb.jpg – Wikimedia Commons).  Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.  Author: Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives – 15 August 2015.

#7.  Wikimedia Commons (File:OSU by air.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.  Author: saml123 – 26 May 2008.

#8. Wikimedia Commons (File:Max Planck.png – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.  Author: Courtesy of the Clendening History of Medicine Library, University of Kansas Medical Center – 17 December 2009.

#9. Wikimedia Commons (File:South Coast Sea Bream – Fish Market – New Street – London 2025-02-14.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.  Author: Haydn Blackey – 14 February 2025.

#10. Wikimedia Commons (File:Maryland Hall, Johns Hopkins University, Jan 2011.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.  Author: Cvenghaus – 11 January 2012.

#11.  Artificial Intelligence (https://www.bing.com/images/create/image-of-a-taco-next-to-some-clear-adhesive-tape/1-68b28c80361f4a7dbb5eff9d322359d2?mdl=1&ar=1&FORM=GENCRE)

#12.  Wikimedia Commons (File:Chemistry Laboratory RMIT Building 7.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Author: Ozarch  – 4 April 2012.

#13. Wikimedia Commons (File:Great Dome, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Aug 2019.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Author: Mys 721tx  – 30 August 2019.

#14. Wikimedia Commons (File:Korea Kim Yuna Sochi Medal Ceremony 05.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.   Attribution: Korean Culture and Information Service (Korean Olympic Committee)  – 22 February 2014.

#15.  Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Semicolon_Art.jpg) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Author: Altair Netraphim  – 15 June 2022.

#16. ChatGPT Image Generator (https://chatgpt.com/c/68b38aac-a2ec-832a-8585-472da6ae4384).

#17. Wikimedia Commons (File:Syriac sublinear full stop (Estrangelo form).svg – Wikimedia Commons). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Author: Unknown – 19 June 2022.

#18. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons – (File:Person reading a newspaper (Unsplash).jpg – Wikimedia Commons) This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.  Author: Roman Kraft – 17 May 2017.

#19. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Reading in Bangkok (Unsplash).jpg – Wikimedia Commons) This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Author: rawpixel.com rawpixel – January 2017.

Up – Down and Sideways — Part I

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Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title at the top to see all of the photos and so the narrative is not clipped or shortened. (External photo attribution at the end of the post) (#1 – #3)

I contemplated using the title “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,” but I wanted a third category where I could describe something that was neutral or perhaps where I’m ambivalent.

In these days of turmoil, I’ll try not to overload “The Down” category – besides, my wife would claim I was reinforcing perceptions that I’m a grumpy old man….

Up

One of us is missing

For the last two years, I’ve been getting together each week with a group of four other retired guys – yes, they are also old, but not grumpy, which is good for me. They include a  lawyer, title company exec, clinical psychologist and emergency room physician – all retired.  Since we all travel, if there are at least three of us around, we’ll still get together.

We discuss a diverse group of topics and try to avoid politics.  It usually starts out with what might be labeled “the organ recital” – a litany of what isn’t working up to par in our now seventy-year + bodies. (#4 – #5)

At least this is older than we are

Earlier this summer, we were sitting around our usual small table, and three of us had our legs crossed and one of the group emphatically stated, “You guys shouldn’t cross your legs.  My cardiologist said it’s bad for your circulation!”

I initially dismissed this, but then saw an internet caption entitled, “How sitting cross-legged is slowly killing your circulation.” Since it didn’t assert that it was killing me, I decided to ask Janet’s and my wonderful primary-care physician.

Dr. Laura Byerly specializes in geriatrics and also teaches at Oregon Health & Science University. Besides being a superb doctor, she is a wonderful human being and the epitome of common sense. (#6)

Dr. Laura Byerly – OHSU

Without hesitating, Dr. Byerly responded, “Don, I’m not going to say crossing your legs is good for you, but I’d rather have you cross your legs than stress over the impact.”

And we are blessed to have the medical and pharmaceutical technology both to diagnose and treat the many conditions we face today.  The challenge is to make better efforts to ensure that those who need the care – especially children and those in poverty-stricken areas have access.

Note: Medical vocabulary is also interesting and I’m fortunate to have two registered nurse daughters to help me interpret terms when I don’t want to bother the docs. For example, after a scan, I learned (somewhat to my surprise) that I didn’t need to be concerned that my aorta, arteries and gastrointestinal tract are “Grossly Patent.” (#7)

Grossly patent and unremarkable are a good

Counterintuitively, that’s actually a good thing and means they are open, unobstructed and functioning normally and I will be able to continue Beerchasing without reservation. Another issue which seems self-contradictory to an overachiever is the fact that one should be happy to hear that a test result is “unremarkable!”

Balance Issues

Since I was having some balance and gait issues after my back surgery, I got a referral for physical therapy.  Again, I was blessed to have two wonderful PT’s – Dr. Noel Tenoso and Brionna Sims PTA at FYZICAL Therapy and Balance Center in West Linn.

 I suggested to him that for balance and stability purposes, it would help if he recommended a bar in our shower and suggested the design below. I mentioned Thebeerchaser blog and told him that this would further my quest to visit “watering”. 

(Credit for the concept goes to my friend Mitch Teemley, – writer, director and filmmaker, who also has a wonderful blog.)  (#8)

Only for stability!

In our first session, Noel and I shared that our undergraduate schools were rivals – Oregon State and the University of Oregon.  Noell is a die-hard U of O Duck – he even has an annoying small plushie duck on the reception counter. 

The twelve sessions really helped. After the initial one, Neal had a weeklong trip to Kona planned, so Brionna and the staff teamed up with me for a coming-home surprise. Knowing what a Duck fan he is, they took advantage of International Beaver Day.

They plastered pictures of the industrious rodents all over his office – including the ceiling. On his desk, was my stuffed beaver you see in the picture below (It plays the Oregon State fight song.)

I was there when he returned and the photo captures his reaction.

Down

How many times recently have you gone to a service provider and as you’re leaving, your representative earnestly says, “By the way, you’ll be getting an e-mail survey on our performance.  We have high standards here, so anything less than a ten is a problem…” (#9)

Does this take negative numbers?

We are fortunate to have a wealth of great shows and movies on cable and streaming, but I let the commercials drive me into an ad frenzy.  It’s the endless repetition, the actors and the message – particularly on insurance commercials. 

It doesn’t take a Nobel Prize in Economics , a personal audience with former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan or repeated admonitions from Progressive’s Flo, (Stephanie Courtney) for one to realize that it makes sense to “bundle” your car and home-owner’s insurance.

Further, why does Liberty Mutual’s Doug (David Hoffman) – and his ugly emu – incessantly advise, “Pay only for what you need!”  Even a kindergartener would realize it doesn’t make sense to pay premiums on a tree house he doesn’t have if he only needs collision coverage on his training wheels….(#10 – #12)

Now perhaps I should not blame the actors but lay the onus on the ad agencies and the corporations they represent, because as you will see in Part II of this post, there are some really good commercials which endear one to the players and the product.

However, the two that make the term “irritating” inadequate are Toyota’s Jan (Laurel Coppock) and Jacuzzi’s Christine Haack (El Moussa, Anstead and Hall…).  With the former, it just seems demeaning to have a smiling, effervescent woman do essentially nothing but hand people the keys to their new cars or point out models in a showroom. 

(My time in management makes me view this bubbly persona as unnecessary overhead.) (#13 – #14)

Concern about overhead

But while the aforementioned performers in the commercials are professional actors, Christina Haack is not and this is obvious by her cadence and stilted articulation – best described as “Upspeak.“

Upspeak, also known as uptalk or high rising terminal (HRT), is a way of speaking where declarative sentences end with a rising intonation, making them sound like questions.  As well-stated in an Oregon Live letter-to-the-editor:

“I hope that younger people listen to and model their tone of delivery, which projects conviction and confidence versus another prevalent stye of speaking producing a singsong, chirpy affectation, marking the speaker as tentative and approval-seeking.” (#15 – #16)

Like fingernails on a blackboard.

Sideways

Change can be both positive and negative and I’ve tried to adapt remembering the quote by John F. Kennedy (one Kennedy worth quoting…):

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

Of course, it also took me about ten years to accept the refutation of the maxim:

“Don’t go swimming for at least an hour after eating.”

Change can be glacial even when common sense and economic factors dictate it. For example, in Oregon, we were only able to pump our own gas starting in August 2023 leaving just New Jersey as a final holdout. (#17)

Slow to flow…

The final change I’ll address in this post is also neutral, but probably mostly positive. It’s another trend like the growing shift to non-alcoholic beer. (See Part II of this post.)

Names!

Not a recent change, but a major one that took place after twenty-six years was naming hurricanes with strictly female appellations. In 1979, that sexist practice changed. (“David” was the first male moniker.)

Not to digress, but for a fascinating article about hurricane naming conventions see this link from the National Hurricane Center.(#18)

Gender Neutral….

I’ve been surprised but pleased at how names have changed. One can always go to a website showing the most popular baby names.  It probably won’t surprise you that in 2025 the two most popular girl’s names are Olivia and Emma (not Alexa for obvious reasons).  For boys, Liam and Noah take the top spots.

It’s good that the most prevalent monikers in my day such as Tommy (#39) and Timmy (not in top 100) now don’t make the grade.  And Lance is also not a common name now days, but in medieval times, people were called “Lance – a – lot.” (apologies for that….)

Checking out the names of the excellent athletes our local paper highlights each week reveals some creativity and a departure from established conventions. Just take a look at some of these. On a number, you wouldn’t be able to identify the gender and it’s also fun to see surnames employed quite a bit as first names.

Jaden

Kendall

Finley

Bailee

Enzo

Ava

Hayden

Barrett

Eamon

Davis

Teagan

Rhyson

Leah

Nixon

Biz

Kat

Rylan

Brooklyn

Turner

Hudson

In my last post, I mentioned how proud I was to be named after my dad’s best friend and fraternity brother, Don Wilburn, who was a genuine WWII hero. In May 2025 he was awarded a posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross – 83 years after his heroic missions over North Africa as a pilot for the Army Air Corps. 

It should be noted that for obvious reasons, one almost never sees a baby named Donald these days. And similarly, I haven’t seen any young children named TACO – but I guess that goes without saying! (#19)

TACO – not very popular

Heavenward... (#20)

Taste and Believe!

Since this is a blog about bars and breweries (and a lot of other stuff…). I’ll end on a very positive note. I was involved from the outset of the Benedictine Brewery and St. Michael Taproom on the grounds of the Mount Angel Abbey and Seminary when it opened in 2017. 

It’s one of less than a handful in the US owned and operated by Benedictine Monks. I’ll never forget the “old-fashioned barn raising” we had on a cloudy day in November 2017, when 125 monks, priests, seminarians, members of the Mount Angel community and volunteers gathered to erect the framed structure from a concrete slab. https://thebeerchaser.com/2017/11/21/the-benedictine-brewery-beam-me-up

Fr. Martin Grassel O.S.B. the Head Brewer and Manager has developed a regional following for his excellent beers. Although some were skeptical that this enterprise could thrive in a competitive craft-brewing environment, the Brewery has exceeded all expectations celebrated its eighth birthday on August 8th. (#21 – #23)

“The August 8th milestone marks the anniversary of the brewery’s establishment, which launched its first partnership with Coleman Agriculture in 2018 to kick off the Oregon hop harvest…It also emphasized the monks’ values of stewardship and community, mirroring the sustainable farming practices of Coleman Agriculture.” https://newschoolbeer.com/home/2025/7/benedictine-brewery-8th-anniversary-collaboration-with-coleman-hops-kicks-off-hop-harvest

Cheers

External File Attribution

#1.  Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arrow_slim_up.svg) This file is licensed under (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en. Author: Wenflou – 20 August  2022.

#2. Wikimedia Commons (File:Arrow slim down.svg – Wikimedia Commons) This file is made available under the https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en.  Author: Wenflou – 20 August 2022.

#3. Wikimedia Commons (File:Sideways Arrow Icon.svg – Wikimedia Commons) This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Subject to disclaimers. Attribution: Riley Huntley at the English-language Wikipedia.  29 August 2012.

#4.  Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Colour-Music – Page 44.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1930.  Author: Alexander Wallace Rimington1911.

#5.  Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Internal organs.svg – Wikimedia Commons)  I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide.  Author: Mikael Haggstron – 23 June 2010.

#6.  Oregon Health Sciences Website (Laura K. Byerly MD | Health care provider | OHSU).

#7  Wikimedia Commons (File:Moderní výpočetní tomografie s přímo digitální detekcí rentgenového záření.jpg – Wikimedia Commons)  Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Author: Tomáš Vendiš  – 14 February 2022.

#8. AI Microsoft Image Generator.

#9. Wikimedia Commons (File:Online Survey Icon or logo.svg – Wikimedia Commons) This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.  Author: Tungilik – 25 July 2014.

#10. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:The Nobel Prize.svg – Wikimedia Commons) This image of simple geometry is ineligible for copyright and therefore in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship. Author:  Premeditated  – 6 May 2019.

#11. Wikimedia Commons (File:Dromaius novaehollandiae – Maroparque 01.jpg – Wikimedia Commons).  Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.  Author: H. Zell – 18 March 2019.  (IMU)

#12. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (Greenspan, Alan (Whitehouse) – Alan Greenspan – Wikipedia) This file is a work of an employee of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, it is in the public domain.  Author:  White House photo by Shealah Craighead – 9 November 2005.

#13. Wikimedia Commons (File:Jemca Toyota, The Hyde – geograph.org.uk – 5188704.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.  Attribution: Jemca Toyota, The Hyde by David Howard – 10 November 2016.

#14. AI (https://designer.microsoft.com/editor?applied).

#15. Wikimedia Commons (File:Christina El Moussa 2.png – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.  Author:  Jocean4 – 23 September 2018.

#16.  AI (Untitled Project | All In One Web Editor | Picsart).

#17.  Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Pumping gas by hand.JPG – Wikimedia Commons)   This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Author: MarkBuckawicki – 22 October 2015.

#18. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Staring Down Hurricane Florence.jpg – Wikimedia Commons)  This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that “NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted.” Author: Alexander Gerst –  12 September 2018.

#19 AI Microsoft Image Generator.

#20 – #23. Benedictine Brewery Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BenedictineBrewery).

Beerchaser Notables – Captain Don Wilburn, US Army Air Corps – Part II

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Don and Jeannette Wilburn

Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title at the top to see all of the photos and the narrative is not clipped or shortened. (External photo attribution at the end of the post) (#1)

In my first post on Don Wilburn, I related a bit about his heroic aerial missions during World War II and the long overdue award of the Distinguished Flying Cross, his time at George Washington University including his friendship with my dad at the SAE house and a bit about his beautiful wife, Jeannette. https://thebeerchaser.com/2025/06/29/beerchaser-notable-captain-don-wilburn-us-army-air-corps-part-i/

In this post, you will learn more about the top-secret mission known as Operation Rusty, the other participants in this undertaking including Elliott Roosevelt (son of FDR) who was the chief navigator on their B-17 named the “Blue Goose.”  The background on this mission is compelling and it will convey why I’m honored that my dad – FDW – named me – his first son, after his best friend and fraternity brother. (#2)

Don Wilburn met his future wife, Jeannette Stehman, when he was an SAE at George Washington University.  She graduated from Washington–Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia.  Jeannette attended SAE house dances at the Washington City Rho chapter such as the one shown from her photo album in the attached picture dated 1939.  Don and Jeannette are in the middle of the picture. 

You can see that these were more formal affairs than the equivalent SAE functions I attended at Oregon State University such as the one shown below from a house dance in 1967. (We didn’t have a combo playing Big Band music.) (#3)

George Washington University – 1939
Oregon State University – 1967

Don’s goal had always been to be a military pilot, and he applied for Flying Cadet Training in June, 1938 and then had both initial and advanced pilot training in Texas in 1939-40. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant and received his pilot rating in November 1939.

His primary duties were Intelligence and Operations and Don trained in aerial mapping photography and flew mapping missions in Alaska and across Canada.  Even with his rigorous training and duties as an officer, he took correspondence courses at the University of Texas and his regular letters to Jeannette chronicle his service.

They began dating exclusively, when he returned to Bolling Field in DC in November 1941.  With the strong presumption that Don would be undertaking mission overseas, they decided to get married. (#4 – #6)

Duane Williams, Don’s fraternity brother, who had moved to New York and gone to work for American Airlines, made the flight arrangements and traveled to the wedding site with them in Bristol, Tennessee on Feb. 25, 1942. (#7)

The timing was fortuitous because Don was assigned to a top-secret mission named “Operation Rusty” on March 3, 1942 – less than two weeks later.  It was an aerial photo mapping mission based in Accra, Gold Coast and the objective was to map North Africa along the Mediterranean and as far as China.  He, as co-pilot, assisted in flying one of two B-17 Flying Fortresses equipped for extended long range operation, at high altitudes.

And were those two planes modified!  “Two Boeing B‑17B ‘special flights’ were heavily modified by United Airlines at Cheyenne to carry six Fairchild K-17 cameras in a trimetrogon layout and extra long-range fuel tanks. They were painted haze-blue with identification marks removed.”  A complete itemization of the alterations can be found at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Operation_Rusty#About_the_Aircraft

Interviewed after the War, one of the crew members, Lt. William Teague (23) said:

“Our Flying Fortress had to be equipped with cameras and plenty of gas tanks.  Each plane had a 3,900-gallon capacity. It was impossible to carry guns of any sort on the bombers.  Weight was so carefully allotted that we weren’t even allowed to carry coins in our pockets.  In case of enemy attack, our only weapon was altitude, but that was enough.” (#8) (#9 – #12)

He met Captain Elliott Roosevelt, son of the President, who was his chief navigator for the missions shortly after that point. Don’s letters indicate that he and Elliott visited the White House a few times to discuss the mission with FDR. Roosevelt ultimately became a general in the Army Air Force.

The excerpt below from pages 51 – 56 of Roosevelt’s book (As he saw it by Elliott Roosevelt | Goodreads) provides fascinating insight on Operation Rusty.

“….unexpectedly, secret orders came through directing that I report to the commander of the First Mapping Group at Bolling Field, in Washington. There was so much secrecy attending my orders, and the nature of my future assignment, that my hopes were really soaring. Must be something big and important. Surely some sort of overseas assignment.

Well, it was an overseas assignment, all right, but when I found out what it was,
I was a little disgusted. It had code name: RUSTY PROJECT, and it seemed so tame to me that it was more than rusty, it was broken. I was one of two navigators to be assigned to do aerial intelligence and mapping photography of large parts of northern Africa. Africa!

Just before we left, I had a talk with Father, one of our after-breakfast-before-the-day’s-work chats, during which I told him with some disappointment about my supposedly ‘super’ assignment.

To be sure, it was top-secret, but I figured it was possible the Commander-in-Chief knew about it already. He did, and he quickly undertook to explain to me why my job was in fact more important than I had thereto-fore believed. Like all of his explanations, it also served to give me more perspective on the problems and strategies of global warfare, too. He began by glowing with pleasure when I told him what my job was to be.”  (#13) (#14)

Elliott Roosevelt
Roosevelt’s Book

After the completion of one part of the mission, Don’s letter indicated that he was the last out of the B-17. The crew was standing around and Elliott Roosevelt pinned his own captain’s bars on Don.  Roosevelt had just been promoted to major and also wanted to immediately recognize Don’s new rank. (#15)

Promoted to Captain.

This description of Don Wilburn’s role on the final flight of Operation Rusty in April 1942 is solid evidence of why the DFC was eventually awarded. Jason Garver, friend of the Wilburn family has done extensive research and documentation and his description for WikiTree is below: 

“40,000 miles, of which nearly half were flown while taking 18,000 photographs in direct preparation for the invasion, were a success. All that was left was for the B-17 to return to its remote base in Accra and transfer the film back to the US to make maps. Less than 1000 miles from this goal, disaster struck in the form of a runaway propeller that threatened to tear the aircraft apart.

To make matters worse this put the aircraft into an uncontrolled plummet that lost 17,000 feet in minutes. If any bailout had been attempted, Elliott and the cameraman would have been left hopelessly trapped in the cramped nose. With a crash a minute or so away, this is where Don Wilburn’s piloting skills came to the rescue. As if righting a plummeting, damaged aircraft was not enough, 800 miles still lie between them and the airfield. Don’s skillful actions made it successful, with everyone and all the film plates safe.

Don Wilburn’s ability to recover from the catastrophic failure and his safe landing of the severely damaged aircraft was critical in getting photographs and intelligence immediately back to The Pentagon. Don Wilburn’s plane was the only aircraft that could get the photographs needed, and crashing would have killed Elliott Roosevelt, causing a huge blow to America’s morale as a whole.” (#16) (#17 – #18)

By the time they got back to Accra the aircraft was so damaged by vibration that it could not be repaired. Don removed the clock from the instrument panel and gave it to younger brother Gene when he returned to the States. 

Another excerpt from Roosevelt’s book affirms the close call:

“Almost had to come down in the desert the last day. One engine nearly dropped off 850 miles from base over the desert but it froze and hung by hair & and after landing…the plane practically fell apart.”

Don’s aerial skills were also evident when they encountered German Messerschmidt 109’s and he eluded them by climbing and then ducking into clouds – remember there was no armament and no weaponry on the Blue Goose. (#19)

Eluded the Luftwaffe by evasion

Why did it take so long for Don Wilburn to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross – eighty-three years?  Tragically, after arriving back in Washington DC in 1942, he was assigned to duty at MacDill Field in Florida and on a solo flight to the base, he was killed when his plane went down in bad weather on June 1, 1942.

The recommendation for the DFC was first made in 1942 by Colonel Paul Cullen – the commanding officer on the flight where Don’s piloting saved his crew and the plane.  Cullen ultimately rose to the rank of Brigadier General. 

He was lost on March 23, 1951, along with four senior Strategic Air Command staffers and fifty fliers who mysteriously disappeared with their C-124 transport over the Atlantic Ocean. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1951_Atlantic_C-124_disappearance (#20) (#21)

Cullen and the senior staffers were enroute to England to set up the 7th Air Division, which would spearhead any air assault against the Soviet Union, during a time of increasing tensions with the Communist bloc as the Korean War intensified.

So, the only ones to pursue the DFC were brother, Gene and friends, Jason and Laura Garver and Sue Froehlich (Jeanette Wilburn Froelich’s daughter).  With the help of Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, it was finally presented to Gene Wilburn in May 2025.  They also collaborated on a submission to the Library of Congress which is now in the archives.  Donald Ernest Wilburn Collection | Library of Congress

Captain Wilburn was also honored by the establishment of the Wilburn Area at Bolling Field on July 11, 1942. Don’s parents and Gene were at the dedication of the plaque marking the Area.  (#22 – #23)

Mission Success but Tragedy to Accomplish

Any account of Operation Rusty would be incomplete without including details of the flight crew lost on the second B-17 involved in the project:

“In the first days of April 1942, the mission began. The second B-17 went missing, no wreckage was ever found…Now, the entire mission depended on one aircraft and one crew. B-17B tail number 38-223, under the command of Captain Lovell S. Stuber, departed from Borinquen Field (modern-day Ramey Air Force Base), Puerto Rico, for Trinidad on 9 April 1942.

Contact was lost at 1242 Greenwich Civil Time…with the last coordinates being 16°01′12″N 64°12′00″W, with the assumed loss of all on board.”

Lovell “Stube” Stuber and his wife, Ginger socialized with Don and Jeannette and were friends before the mission. There are photos in Jeannette’s album of the couples. Tragically, Captain Stuber left a widow and baby boy when his plane was lost.  (#24) (#25)

In Closing

The story of Operation Rusty and those who participated in the successful mission is one of patriotism, extraordinary service and exemplary performance. The crew of the second Flying Fortress gave the last full measure of devotion for their country and were a critical part of the Allied war strategy.

The brotherly love of Gene Wilburn along with the perseverance of Jason and Laura Garver and Sue Froelich in pursuing the Distinguished Flying Cross for Don Wilburn is a remarkable story in itself.

I’m also thankful to Sue Froelich for reaching out with the comment on this blog almost three years ago. While I knew that my namesake, Don Williams, was a wonderful friend of my dad and served as a pilot in the War, only to be killed in a tragic plane crash in the States, I never knew about Operation Rusty and his critical role in it. This makes the legacy of the gesture by my parents even more meaningful.

External Photo Attribution

#1 – #7, #15, #25.  Photo Album of Jeannette Wilburn Stehman.

#8. Wikimedia Commons (File:Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress “Sally B” – geograph.org.uk – 4649104.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.  Author: Evelyn Simak – 6 September 2015.

#9 – #12. Wikietree.com (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Operation_Rusty).

#13.  Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Lt Col Elliott Roosevelt (cropped).jpg – Wikimedia Commons)  Author:  US Army – 27 December.

#14.  Amazon.com (As He Saw It: The Story of the World Conferences of F.D.R.: Elliott Roosevelt: Amazon.com: Books).

#15. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Dfc-usa.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) The graphic is a representation of an award or decoration of the United States military. It is in the public domain because it contains materials that originally came from a U.S. military award.

#17. – #19. Facebook  (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122107407968856600&set=a.122098683860856600).

#19. Wikimedia Commons (File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-662-6659-37, Flugzeug Messerschmitt Me 109.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license. Attribution: Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-662-6659-37 / Hebenstreit / CC-BY-SA 3.0. This image was provided to Wikimedia Commons by the German Federal Archive  (Deutsches Bundesarchiv) as part of a cooperation project.

#20. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Brigadier General Paul T. Cullen.jpg – Wikimedia Commons)  Author: US Air Force – circa 1949.

#21. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (22d TCS Douglas C-124A-DL Globemaster II 51-118 – 1951 Atlantic C-124 disappearance – Wikipedia)  This image or file is a work of a U.S. Air Force Airman or employee, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. Author: US Air Force – 1952.

#22 – #23 Facebook Page of Jason Garver ((3) Fans of the B-17 Flying Fortress | Facebook).

#24. Captain Lovell Stuber – Wikitree (Captain Lovell Stuber (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Stuber-182).

Beerchaser Notable – Captain Don Wilburn-US Army Air Corps – Part I

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Captain Don Wilburn

(External Photo Attribution at the end of the Post #1)

An Honor Long Overdue

As followers of Thebeerchaser blog are aware, besides conveying the merits (or otherwise) of bars and breweries throughout Oregon and the rest of the US, I periodically identify an individual or group, who may or may not have anything to do with bars or beers.

This feature is titled “Beerchaser Notable,” and the narrative features the stories of these “honorees”, who in my humble opinion, have made a contribution to society and have led fascinating lives.  They include academicians, athletes, clerics, media personalities and, of course, lawyers – even my graduate school professor of public finance and my retirement oboe instructor.  I’ve known the great majority personally.

And there are a few distinguished military veterans who are combat heroes – more specifically, my SAE fraternity brother Jud Blakely USMC; Doug Bomarito, USN and Steve Lawrence US Army for their service in Viet Nam. 

All three were awarded the Bronze Star with Combat V and Blakely and Bomarito received the Purple Heart after being wounded in action. Lawrence also received a Silver Star for action in combat. (#2 – #7)

Who was Captain Don Wilburn?

But this post is to honor a World War II hero – the late Captain Don Wilburn. 

The Distinguished Flying Cross:

“Is awarded to any officer or enlisted person of the armed forces of the United States for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight. The heroism or achievement must be entirely distinctive, involving operations that are not routine. The DFC is the fourth highest award for heroism and the highest award for extraordinary aerial achievement.”

Don Wilburn, as did my friends mentioned above, received his medal – the DFC – for heroic wartime action.  It was for his remarkable achievement as a pilot in the Army Air Corps during World War II and the posthumous award was not received until eighty-three years later.  (#8)

The Distinguished Flying Cross

Wilburn was a pilot on a B-17B Flying Fortress on a Top-Secret reconnaissance mission commenced in the spring of 1942. This mission was named Project (or Operation) Rusty. During the course of this mission, Don flew 40,000 miles in his plane named “The Blue Goose” – 18,000 of which were over enemy territory.

“It was an early—but pivotal—stealth reconnaissance effort that shaped the Allied North African campaign by mapping terrain and assessing enemy logistics, all under the cloak of secrecy, directly involving the President Roosevelt’s son, Elliot. who was a navigator on the plane.” (#9)

On the Blue Goose’s last mission while Don was piloting, engine damage resulting in a runaway prop caused the plane to drop from 25,000 to 8,000 ft in three minutes, 800 miles from base in Accra, Ghana. 
 
His skill as a pilot getting the aircraft back to base saved the crew.  An excerpt from the citation recommending the medal by Colonel Paul Cullen, the commanding officer and co-pilot of the B-17 is shown below.  

August 5, 1942

SUBJECT: Award of Distinguished Flying Cross (Posthumous)

TO: Commanding General, Army Air Forces, Washington, D. C.

It is recommended that Captain Donald E. Wilburn, Army serial number O38544, be awarded, posthumously, the Distinguished Flying Cross for extraordinary achievement while participating in the highly difficult and strategically important Rusty Project.

Captain Wilburn served as co-pilot of the B-17 airplane used on this mission and showed great skill in operating the aircraft for great distances. In addition, he aided the pilot in averting a fatal crash and bringing the badly damaged airplane safely back to its frontier base.

Note the date of the recommendation above which begs the question why it took so long – until 2025 – for the medal to be awarded.  Don suffered fatal injuries shortly after he returned to the US in a June 1, 1942, solo plane crash after taking off on a routine military flight from Boling Field in Washington DC. (#10)

Brother Gene, with Don’s award

You will learn more about the fascinating story of Operation Rusty in this and my next post, but suffice to say, the story encompasses tragedy, perseverance, intrigue, heroism and brotherly love.  This mission was a fascinating part of the North African strategy during the War.  It was never widely publicized and the recommendation setting forth Don’s performance lay dormant for decades.

There are also additional details on the heroic action Don took while piloting the B17 to land it safely and save his crew – including President Roosevelt’s son, Elliot, the navigator. I also want to share what a wonderful young officer and gentleman Don was during his short life and the connection with my family – a bond that as a result of Thebeerchaser blog, was renewed three years ago. (#11)

A College Friendship

Another Beerchaser Notable was my dad, F. Duane Williams (affectionally known in his later years as “FDW” by our family as related in the 2021 post  https://thebeerchaser.com/2021/11/09/fdw-beerchaser-of-the-quarter-part-ii/. 

FDW and my mom, Frannie, were happily married for many years after they met in New York City and married in 1943. They were wonderful parents to their four kids.

Dad and Don Wilburn both attended George Washington University in DC in the late 1930’s and met after they joined the SAE Fraternity.  Their friendship strengthened and the bond continued after Don joined the Army Air Corps and FDW went to work for American Airlines in New York City. Don met his beautiful future wife, Jeannette while he was in college. (#12 – #13)

Namesake

You’ll have to wait until the next post for more details, but flash forward to 1967 at Oregon State University when Dad was there for the SAE initiation of his first son Donald Wilburn Williams (that’s me!). My youngest brother, Rick, became a member several years later.

Yes, I was named after my Dad’s best friend and have always been proud of that fact. 

I still remember my excited call to Dad in the summer of 1968, when I taught at the SAE Leadership School held at the Levere Memorial Temple just off the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

The Sigma Alpha Epsilon Foundation owns this impressive gothic style building – built in 1929-1930 to serve as a war memorial and administrative facility.  I was wandering through the museum in the building and saw the picture of Don in his uniform and a brief bio about his military service. (#14 – #15)

Although I knew about their friendship, I didn’t know many of the details about Don Wilburn’s service until the connection with Sue Froelich in late 2022. 

I received this comment after I did the post on Thebeerchaser about FDW including his friendship with Don.

“Hi Don. You don’t know me but….my mom, Jeannette Stehman (Wilburn) Froehlich, was a friend of your dad’s in 1941. In fact, they dated some! She married your namesake Don Wilburn in the months before he was killed. (FDW was instrumental in the wedding.) It would be great to be in touch with you, given Duane’s close friendship with Don.” (#16)

Sue – served in the engineering department at Smith College in Massachusetts

Sue Froehlich graduated in mechanical engineering from UMass-Amherst. Her career in engineering and education culminated with her tenure as a lab supervisor in the Picker Engineering Program at Smith College – notably, the first all-women’s engineering program in the country. She retired in 2024.

She has worked tirelessly with Gene Wilburn (eleven years younger than brother, Don) and two of his friends, Jason and Laura McGinness Garver, to get Don the recognition he deserved – a project that came to fruition in 2025 culminating with the DFC award.

The Power of Social Media

My blog has been a wonderful retirement hobby.  I, like many, have reservations about the pervasiveness of social media in our society.  That said, I’ve gained friendships throughout the globe and reconnections with colleagues in the fourteen years since I commenced what has become an avocation.

And the comment on August 1, 2022, by Sue was a highlight.  Of course, I contacted her after receiving this observation and we’ve had multiple phone calls and texts exchanged. 

Sue and I will meet in person in late July when she is in Portland after rafting Oregon’s Rogue River.  We, of course, will tell tales while Beerchasing.

She sent a wonderful Google file with her mom’s extensive collection of photos, letters and other details about Don Wilburn and my dad.  (And yes, Jeannette and FDW did date at one time!)

It’s helped me learn the complete story of Don as a person and military hero and obtain much of the information and photos you’ve seen on this post and the next. (#17)

A Closing Note

I had to laugh when reflecting on this post about the nicknames I’ve had during my life.  These have ranged from “Feet“ – actually a compliment initiated by my high school basketball teammates to “Waisted Willie, – not a compliment and bestowed by my high school calculus teacher, to “Dirt” – originated at the SAE house in college and one that has stuck through the years as you can see by the logo for Thebeerchaser. (Created by the aforementioned Jud Blakely.)

But the moniker I liked the most was first uttered by some of my classmates during my senior year at Oregon City High School.  They discovered that my middle name was “Wilburn” and wondered about the origin.  When I told them, my friends then greeted me with “Hi Wilburn,” and this prevailed, to my great satisfaction, until graduation.

Cheers

External Photo Attribution

#1.  Photo collection of Mrs. Jeanette Wilburn.

#2- #7  Courtesy of Jud Blakely, Doug Bomarito and Steve Lawrence.

#8.  Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Dfc-usa.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) The graphic is a representation of an award or decoration of the United States military. It is in the public domainbecause it contains materials that originally came from a U.S. military award. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain in the United States.

#9.  Photo collection of Mrs. Jeanette Wilburn.

#10.  Sue Froelich Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122107407968856600&set=a.122098683860856600).

#11.  Wikietree.com (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Operation_Rusty).

#12 – #13.  Photo collection of Mrs. Jeanette Wilburn.

# 14.  Wikiepedia (File:NU Levere Memorial Temple.JPG – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International, 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license. Author: Paradoxsociety – 23 April 2008.

#15.  EnjoyIllinois.com (https://www.enjoyillinois.com/explore/listing/levere-memorial-temple/).

#16.  Sue Froelich Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=5653778274679527&set=a.119862131404530).

#17. Photo collection of Mrs. Jeanette Wilburn.

At Beer O’clock, Time Zones are Irrelevant

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Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title at the top to see all of the photos so the narrative is not clipped or shortened. (External photo attribution at the end of the post # 1)

According to Dictinonary.com, the definition of Beer O’clock is “the time of day when it is acceptable or customary to start drinking alcohol.”  Thus, I would suggest that the title of this post is valid – Time zones are irrelevant with this concept.

My intent to have a beer in downtown Portland with two of my long-term friends – Doug Bean and Dan Swift – both of whom are still working and whose offices are in Portland’s Central Business District explains why this concept became relevant to me recently. 

Both also happen to be two of the best commercial realtors in Oregon and each has won  the Oregon/Washington Commercial Associate Broker of the Year award multiple times – an association with over 600 members. (#2)

Doug Bean

President of Doug Bean and Associates

My connection with Doug Bean goes back to 1966, when both of us played our high school basketball team in the former TYV League – he for the McMinnville Grizzlies and me for the Oregon City Pioneers. Doug was a talented junior who started as small forward while I was a small, skinny guard who spent most games rooting for my teammates from the bench.

We now laugh because while later playing pick-up ball when we both resided at the SAE House at Oregon State (Doug for two years before he transferred to the University of Oregon where he graduated and got his MBA) and then when both of us worked in Portland early in our careers and played at the YMCA, Doug would comment:

“Nothing has changed, Dirt, (my college nickname), you are still looking at the heels of my tennis shoes when I drive by you.”

My response is evidenced by the two team photos below.  You will note Doug’s Grizzlies’ photo is from the TYV Jamboree (He’s in the back row just to the left of his coach.) The Jamboree was a pre-season mini-tournament.

My team photo, however, is from the 1966 Oregon High School State Basketball Tournament – OC with a 17-5 record finished first in the TYV and McMinnville finished third and did not go to the tournament. 

Third-place in TYV League

You will note from the right margin of the second photo that the two teams broke even in league play; however, in a thriller near the end of the season, the Pioneers staged an amazing comeback in the final three minutes to beat the Grizzlies 72 to 70 to capture the league title.

TYV League Champs

But I digress, although it’s worth pointing out that the above photos help me justify to my wife (born and raised in McMinnville) why I have kept the files she has urged me repeatedly to recycle. https://thebeerchaser.com/2022/12/18/de-files-de-files/  (#3)

Dan Swift

Senior VP CBRE Inc.

I originally met Dan Swift in about 1998, shortly after I became COO at the Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt law firm and we had an RFP process to determine the real estate broker to represent us in lease transactions for our five Northwest offices.

A younger Dan outshone his more established competitors in that process, and he did an outstanding job for us over the next thirteen years until I retired. He still represents the firm (and not primarily because he always came to Board meetings with Krispy Kreme donuts when we made our recommendations.

In a bit of synchronicity, in one transaction for our biggest office – Portland with five floors in the PacWest Center – Dan negotiated with Doug Bean whose firm managed the building.(#4)

A lot of people were entertained when Doug’s firm was located in this high-rise, and we would see each other across the impressive lobby of the thirty-three-floor building. Doug would shout out across the expansive space, “Hey Dirt!”  I would then try to explain to people in the same elevator how I got that moniker.. https://thebeerchaser.com/2023/07/06/dirt-and-dust/

Hey Dirt!

Beerchasing at Beer O’clock

The three of us had never Beerchased together and I figured that since they were both so successful and still working, they would buy the beer if I set it up.  I wanted to go to a downtown watering hole I hadn’t previously frequented and unfortunately, many which would have been past options, didn’t survive the pandemic.

With all the watering holes I had checked out in my fourteen years of Beerchasing, I’d never heard of the Beer O’clock bar and my research showed that it had made a recovery after it closed early in the pandemic. (#5)

Rising from the ashes…

Due to its limited indoor seating, it was not expected to reopen, but in June 2021, although only with outdoor seating, its reopening was a welcome surprise to a city hard-hit by both the epidemic of COVID and ugly demonstrations.

As stated in a 2021article in New School Beer and Cider – an outstanding Pacific Northwest based web-mag covering the craft beer and cider industry:

“It’s no secret that downtown Portland has had a rough go of it since the pandemic and protests began, but things are starting to get back to normal and Beer O’Clock is back. The downtown PDX taproom had a reputation for its expansive 31 draft tap list that put beer geek connoisseur selections at the forefront and its penchant for old school hip hop blasted from cassette tapes in the audible background. (#6)

The article was entitled, “Beer O’Clock taproom in downtown Portland has reopened with a huge patio.”  Well, unfortunately as Portland recovered, many of those patios in the front of establishments extending into the street, are now gone and the bar’s space can be an issue.

Beer O’clock now just has several picnic tables in front of the bar on the sidewalk. The bar originally opened in 2016 and was named “Beer Belly.” “Rick Gencarelli founded Beer O’ Clock, and…(it) shares the building with his other project of fast casual pasta joints called Grassa.  (New School Beer)

No more large patio

Gencarelli is a nationally recognized chef and restauranteur, who also owns the Lardo restaurants in Portland (one was originally right next to Beer O’clock), Grassa and Bluto’s – a Greek-inspired restaurant he opened in the fall of 2021.

All of his restaurants draw great reviews and have loyal patrons.  For example, a 2022 article in Oregon Live entitled, “Bluto’s isn’t very Greek. It is very good.”

You Don’t Have to go to Greece

All three of us liked the bar (especially the company…) and in researching, I noticed that there is also a Beer O’clock Pub in Thessaloniki, Greece, which appears – like the establishment in Portland – to have a great selection of beers on tap, although from the pictures on Facebook, seems a bit more raucous and spacious. (#7 – #9)

And the Greek option gets positive reviews. For example:

“πολύ καλό φαγητό, εξαιρετικο περιβάλλον, φανταστική μουσική και το βασικότερο,άψογοι επαγγελματίες.”   

If you don’t know Greek, that translates to, “Great food, great environment, fantastic music collection, and most of all, really friendly personnel.”

And in the interest of full disclosure, I just discovered another Beer O’clock Bar in Annecy, a town in southeastern France – only about twenty-two miles south of Geneva Switzerland.  And this one is unusual because of the delivery system.  Read the Trip Advisor review below:

” loved the concept! 👌🏻 Super smart and practical! A card to recharge, self-service beer taps, a direct breakdown of the amount paid and off you go, enjoy! It’s perfect ! 🍻 The place is warm, cozy, pub atmosphere, games are also available! 🃏 Honestly great!”

Now Back in Portland

Fortunately, one doesn’t need to travel 6,120 miles (or only 5,407 to the one in France) to hit a bar with a great name when we have one in Portland with twenty-six beer taps, four ciders and kombucha.  And while the reviews are not in Greek, our own Beer O’clock rakes in the compliments:

“Honestly the best beer bar around…Bar is clean and well-lit and the bar is unique because it is attached to Grassa so you can pick out food from a huge menu and bring it into the bar. Highly recommended ! Amazing selection of beer and cider and some canned cocktails! ”    Yelp 2/20/2023

At Beer O’clock, everything is timely, so even though this one is three years old, I liked it:

“Bill Haley and the Comets, 1954
One, two, three o’clock, four o’clock, rock
Five, six, seven o’clock, eight o’clock, rock
Nine, ten, eleven o’clock, twelve o’clock, rock
We’re gonna rock around the clock tonight

Well, this old geezer can still rock the clock, let me sit and clock down a beer at happy hour “Beer O’clock” time time time for IPA!”  (#10)

These guys are from Dirt’s era!

Portland’s Beer O’clock, although the seating is limited to bar and a few booths, the narrow interior is well lit and attractively designed with plants, handsome natural wood walls and art with posters and a great-looking blanket plus three large-screen TVs.

Dan, Doug and I enjoyed the beer – both of them had a Ferment Brewing (Hood River) Everything in Bloom Hazy IPA and I – a Red Zeppelin Amber Ale from 54 40 Brewing in Washougal, Washington.

The beer was as good as the stories we told and went down significantly more smoothly.

As I suspected, Doug and Dan argued over who would pay for the beer which is another reason why I’m going to get this group together again this summer.  Dirt says “Thanks, guys!” (#11)

External Photo Attribution

#1.  Microsoft AI image generator (Microsoft Designer – Stunning designs in a flash).

#2. Doug Bean and Associates website (https://dougbean.com/people-2/doug-bean/).

#3.  CB Richard Ellis website (https://www.cbre.com/people/dan-swift).

#4.   Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons – PacWest Center (icensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.  Author: Cacophony 18 June 2006.

#5.  Beer O’clock Bar in Portland  Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=368184038860885&set=a.368184018860887).

# 6. New School Beer and Cider website (Beer O’Clock taproom in downtown Portland has reopened with a huge patio — New School Beer + Cider).

#7.  Beer O’clock Pub (Thessaloniki, Greece) Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/beeroclockskg/photos/t.100054261410083/899034206875586/?type=3).

 #8. Logo – (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=618910133261028&set=a.618910123261029),

#9. Server (https://www.facebook.com/beeroclockskg/photos/t.100054261410083/899035906875416/?type=3).

#10.  Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Bill Haley and the Comets1956.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in the United States between 1930 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice. Author: Decca Records. Photographer – James Kriegmann, New York. 4 August 1956

#11. Microsoft AI image generator (Microsoft Designer – Stunning designs in a flash

J-ubiquitous

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Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title at the top to see all of the photos so the narrative is not clipped or shortened. (External photo attribution at the end of the post #)

In past “Beerchasing Miscellany” blog posts (those not on a bar or brewery, but just my random reflections), I’ve often used alliteration in the title featuring the month of publication.  Examples include January Jammin, February Flashbacks, Ambling in April, May Musings, May Meanderings, June Juxtapositions, Jumping in June, October Origins, Thanksgiving Thoughts, November Nuances…..you get the idea.

The topics in these include my coffee chat with the West Linn Police Chief Peter Mahuna and subsequent ride-along with a City police officer.  I offered thoughts on the Oregon State vs. Oregon football games (I still call it the politically incorrect “Civil War rivalry”) and told you about the musical choices in my collection ranging from Big Band to Country Western. 

There was my visit to a wonderful breakfast diner in Canby, Oregon – that being Pappy’s Greasy Spoon. And when nostalgia overcame me during the pandemic and I couldn’t go to dive bars, I even tried to glorify high school memories at Oregon City High School (e.g. placing an outhouse on the roof of the school as a senior prank – see story below from the now defunct Oregon City Enterprise Courier.

A Departure?

The title of this June post is a bit of a deviation from the awful alliteration in the past.  I’ll explain the “ubiquitous” reference below, but it’s meant to highlight a recent reunion with two good friends Kirby Neumann-Rea and Craig “The Dude” Hanneman – the latter going back to college days at Oregon State University in the late ’60’s. 

The story of our triangular connection reveals how life’s events weave their way through our existence and enrich our routines – sometimes many years later.

Kirby’s wife, Lorre Chester-Rea is the sister of the late, Gary Kestler USMC – my best friend and neighbor in high school (and a fellow outhouse prankster – see above) who was killed in Viet Nam in 1967. Lorre and Gary’s dad, the late Robert Chester, who served as Oregon City Police Chief for many years, was the best man in my 1980 wedding.

I have written about The Dude a number of times in this blog, relating our time as roommates in the SAE house at Oregon State in 1969, his affinity for Dean Martin, his football history as an All-American for the Beavers and then defensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers including an indirect and unintentional role in the 1972 Immaculate Reception.

Also, his affinity for Dean Martin and his summiting of Mt Everest in 2012 and eventually all of the Seven Summits.  (I should also mention that he loved to play Dean Martin tunes in our study room – incessantly. (#1 – #3)

Kirby and the News!!

The foundation of this story originates forty-four years ago in Dallas, Oregon – shortly after Kirby graduated from Linfield College in McMinnville.  He was a cub reporter for the Polk County Itemizer-Observer – a weekly newspaper.

Kirby’s reporting endeavors actually go back further as he explained in a May 16, 2025 article in the McMinnville News Register – the fifth paper on Kirby’s journalistic journey (as evidenced in the photo below) and where he retired as Managing Editor on March 31st:

“I started as a paperboy more than 50 years ago, for the old East Side Journal in Kirkland, Washington. My first writing experiences were as an eighth-grade stringer for the Sammamish Valley News, in Redmond, Washington, then as a journalist for the paper at South Albany High in Oregon.”  (#4 – #6)

Kirby left the Dallas paper after several years and traveled overseas, then took a job at the Molalla Pioneer – another weekly, in 1985.  Fate had it that he would then return to the Dallas Itemizer Observer (he was probably enchanted and curious about the name of the paper…).

Kirby had gained enough credibility at his paper by that time to have a column he called “Scrapbook” – observations and insights laid out in an eclectic narrative – a feature, he stated, he was blessed to continue during his entire career.

One of his responsibilities was covering the meetings of the Polk County Commission.  Enter The Dude, who after his NFL career, went home to Turner, Oregon to manage his family’s farm and then successfully ran for a four-year term as Commissioner (1985-1989).

Well, one of the items Kirby mentioned in a 1989 “Scrapbook” post was about a Dallas Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting.  Evidently, this meeting was a weekly highlight for the city of then 9,500 people as this excerpt from his column states.  Craig Hanneman was also mentioned, and the column shows Kirby’s respect for The Dude. (#7)

Breakfast News…

“The room was cramped; the twenty-people who attended represented the largest gathering at any breakfast forum in recent memory.”

And this next paragraph is where Kirby’s erudition as a wordsmith started a “story” that would idiosyncratically continue with some gaps for over forty years.

“…Mike Propes of Willamina, Republican candidate for Polk County Commissioner…came with his mother, Alice Propes, armed with his ubiquitous sepia-tone campaign brochures and a sore throat.  (emphasis added)

…..Commissioner Craig Hanneman was one of those who declined breakfast as he prepared to hear the words of the two men who want his job. (Hanneman declined to run for re-election.) Or perhaps he has no room for the Cholesterol Special, what with all the fire in his belly.

He’s always had gastrointestinal coals, but Hanneman seems feistier than normal as the end of his time as commissioner approaches.  Perhaps he’s experiencing ‘short-timer syndrome’ in reverse. 

I don’t envy anyone who crosses Hanneman between now and Jan 1; a man of strong convictions (and usually the information to back it up), he is determined to leave office as active as the day he began four years ago.”

….Wavering on an issue in front of Hanneman is like pitching underhand to Jose Canseco.”

Well, as both Neumann-Rea and Hanneman relate the story, the Dude called Kirby after the story appeared and laughingly said something to the effect of:

“Damn Kirby.  You taught me a new word.  I’m a farm boy from Turner and have never seen or heard the word ‘ubiquitous.’  (Note: That may also have been true for most of us who went to an aggie university!)   I had to go to the County Judge’s chambers and look in his dictionary.”

And as the story goes, from that meeting until the end of his term in office later that year, The Dude worked in the word “ubiquitous” at every Commission session.

It’s a Small World

I had stayed in touch with Lorre Chester-Rea and her mother over the years and met Kirby once when they were living in Hood River and he was working for the Hood River News. I had no idea that he knew Craig Hanneman.

Craig and I have had periodic phone calls and beers from the time he returned to Oregon. Several years ago, when we were probably having a draft Budweiser at a dive bar – I think I was kidding him about his limited vocabulary and the name Kirby Neumann-Rea and the ubiquitous story was related.

We laughed at the connection and decided the three of us needed to have a Beerchasing reunion.  That occurred at a McMinnville brewery in March 2023 as shown in the photo below

It Doesn’t End There…

From that point on, we would send each other headlines or articles with our favorite word such as the one at the start of this post that the Dude sent last month from an article about the Willamina School District and those shown below. 

Craig is even sending copies of letters-to-the-editor from the Wall Street Journal! The opportunities are manifold as the present usage of this word is ……“always appearing or found everywhere.” (Roget’s Thesaurus)

The conclusion – at least for now – was at an event in May celebrating Kirby’s retirement as Managing Editor of the McMinnville News Register and his robust journalistic career.  Craig Hanneman was a speaker and I attended as a guest.

The event was filled with Kirby’s family, friends and colleagues from the papers he served for forty-four years.  Of course, The Dude related the “ubiquitous” story and presented Kirby with a copy of the original “Scrapbook” column shown above. (He ignored my suggestion, that he end his oration by advising Kirby to remember that “Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime“.)

The Importance of Community Newspapers

Kirby’s contribution to five different community newspapers in Oregon is remarkable and laudable.  As Craig Hanneman stated:

“He made every paper he worked at better and the observations and insights from his Scrapbook column were unlike anybody else’s.”

And as well stated in the Tidewater News blog, these publications are critical – many have disappeared given the proliferation of digital and social media.

“In an age dominated by global news and social media, the value of local news often gets overshadowed. However, local journalism plays a crucial role in shaping communities, fostering democracy, and keeping citizens informed.”

Kirby Neumann-Rea’s role in these institutions is solid, plus it led to an even more important legacy as he stated:

“My top journalism experiences have to include meeting my wife, Lorre, while on the job. She was serving as municipal court clerk and I as the new editor of the Molalla Pioneer, just starting out there in 1985 – on April 1, naturally – and making the rounds at city hall.”

Kirby and Lorre have been married thirty-eight years and have two wonderful sons – Connal and Delaney Rea. (#8)

Kirby, Connal, Lorre and Delaney Rea

Neumann Rea (the retirement moniker he’s adopted) may no longer have a “Scrapbook” column any longer, but you can now catch his wonderings on his blog – “Burn the Ax Handle” where he covers a wide range of topics.

In fact, I have to compliment him for his use of alliteration in the most recent one – “Cacophony of Curiosities.”

And he will not be bored whatsoever in retirement – whether it’s playing pick-up basketball, where some people (including Neumann-Rea) think he has a decent elbow jumper, to continuation of the hobby he inherited from his dad, Donald, who died in 2020 at 94. (#9 -#11)

Neumann-Rea still sends about fifteen postcards every month and writes letters – not really expecting a response.  His dad’s conglomeration of cards and letters started when he was 12. 

“It was his collection that inspired my lifelong fascination with postcards, including the sending of them. One of the last interactive acts of his life was my reading the messages to him, many from his sister or mother or aunts in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s.

He collected them extensively during his Navy days in WWII, which has provided an excellent chronicle of his time in uniform.”

I assume that Lorre is going to be all over him, with a more challenging full-court press than he sees at the gym, to get rid of most of the newspapers I’m confident he has stashed in their garage. (#12)

“You can’t keep all of these!”

External Photo Attribution

#1.  Oregon Alpha News 

#2.  Courtesy Craig Hanneman

#3.Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dean_Martin_-_publicity.JPG)  This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in the United States between 1930 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice. Source: Original studio publicity photo of Dean Martin for the film Bells Are Ringing (1960).

#4 – #5.  McMinnville News Register (https://newsregister.com/article?articleTitle=kirby-neumann-rea-starting-over-on-a-new-fork-in-the-road-of-life–1747409748–51914–commentary.

#6.  Linked-in (20) Kirby Neumann-Rea | LinkedIn).

#7. Dallas Oregon Chamber of Commerce (https://dallasoregon.org/).

#8 – #11. Courtesy of Kirby Neumann-Rea.

#12. Microsoft Edge AI image generator

The Siren Song at Pfriem Brewing

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The Milwaukie Tasting Room

Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title at the top to see all of the photos so the narrative is not clipped or shortened.(External photo attribution at the end of the post #)

I’ve mentioned previously that my affinity for dive bars transcends breweries and brewpubs because they generally have more character and history.  There are exceptions.  For example, check out the Beerwanderers blog published by my friend, Rich Carbonara in Munich, Germany.

Rich is an American living in Munich with his wife, Doreen.  He’s the founder of the beer hiking tour guide service Beerwanderers.  His first book is Beer Hiking Bavaria which details 50 great hikes from all around Bavaria.

Each hike features a brewery and a suggested after-hike beer.  When Janet and I return to Germany, one of Rich’s tours will be a top priority for our trip. (#1 – #2))

Rich and Doreen

Let’s view one of numerous examples of the breweries Rich features – Stefansbräu Brewery – it’s in Dinkelsbühl – an historic walled medieval town dotted with half-timbered houses and intact tower gates in Central Franconia, a region of Germany that’s part of the state of Bavaria. (#3)

Stefansbräu Brewery

Unfortunately, we haven’t traveled to Bavaria, but just looking at the photos and descriptions of the quaint, picturesque and often historic breweries in Rich’s blog makes me yearn for some of that ambiance in the Pacific Northwest where breweries often are in modernized and sleek quarters without much personality.

Obviously, there are many exceptions.  I have posted about Steeplejack Brewery’s NE Portland location in a reconditioned historic church.  Baerlic Brewing’s SE Portland Brewery and Taproom, and Little Beast Brewing – another SE Portland establishment with great character are two other examples. You can see from the photos below that these interesting and inviting establishments deserve mention.

The Story

There’s a new one on my list and we had a wonderful visit there two weeks ago.  Pfriem Brewing is a great story – opening in 2012 in Hood River on the beautiful Columbia River.  Janet and I love their beer and their facility.  As stated on their website:

“In 2011 Josh Pfriem was well on his path to becoming a master brewer, but that path veered dramatically the day he was introduced to Ken Whiteman and Rudy Kellner at a child’s birthday party. The three went on to form the brain trust that would eventually create pFriem.”

What began as a small company has garnered a big reputation throughout the Northwest based on their excellent beer.  Most recently they were awarded three gold medals at the 2025 World Beer Cup for their Hazy IPA, Cold IPA and Pale Ale.

The World Beer Cup, held in Indianapolis on May 1st, is one of the most prestigious competitions in craft brewing where “a panel of 265 judges from 37 countries evaluated 8,375 entries from 1,761 breweries.” Brewers’ Association

And in the 2025 Oregon Beer Awards, they were recognized as both the Large Brewery of the Year and the Regional Brewing Company of the Year for Central Oregon. (#4 – #5)

Pfriem Brewing’s New Milwaukie, Oregon Tasting Room

The City of Milwaukie, in the 2020 census, had a population of 21,119 and was founded in 1847 on the banks of the Willamette River (one of the few major rivers in the world besides the Nile, that flow north) It’s a suburb of Portland – located six miles south of downtown Portland.

Perhaps I’m biased, but notwithstanding the glowing description in the “Visit Milwaukie” website below, it is not a location one would target for a visit. Quite frankly, the downtown is not very vibrant and it doesn’t have the rich history and geography of Oregon City – down the Willamette River about seven miles south.

“Discover the hidden gem of Oregon—Milwaukie, a vibrant community brimming with local charm, diverse businesses, and unforgettable experiences. Whether you’re a visitor or a resident, Milwaukie has something for everyone. From unique shops and delicious dining to exciting activities, explore what makes our community special.” (#6 – #7)

The Willamette River at Milwaukie Bay Park

After eighty-five years, the City outgrew the structure housing City Hall, the library and its fire station – built in 1947 for approximately $32,000…with the aid of a $13,800 grant by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). 

The plan was to transform it into a brewery, a restaurant, and a bakery. Milwaukie selected Henry Point Development for the project. (#8 – #9)

The New
The Old

A new City Hall about two blocks from the original was dedicated in October 2023.  The July 2024 opening of Pfriem and Keeper Coffee “dedicated 87 years to the day of the original building” (according to New School Beer) will perhaps be a renaissance, of sorts, for downtown Milwaukie.

Keeper Coffee is a woman-owned cafe selling local coffee and house-made pastries founded by Brittany Huff in 2019.  The Milwaukie shop is their second location and they get great social media reviews such as this recent Yelp review:

“Their southeast PDX location is great (and) this provides so many more seating and space options. The baked goods and coffee are some of the best in the Metro and the staff are awesome! Put this spot on your list of places to check out.”  (#10 – #11)

The riveting attraction of the new Priem location is that it encompasses essentially four + different establishments – each with a different feel (meaning it beckons you to return….)  As described in a 3/25 post in Brew Public:

  • Three bars with 20+ taps pouring pFriem’s celebrated core beers, seasonal releases, and exclusive small-batch offerings.
  • Five handcrafted pFriem specialty craft cocktails and Son of Man cider on draft.
  • A spacious outdoor patio with a pergola-covered seating area.
  • An upstairs event space for future brewery events, tastings, and community gatherings.
  • A cozy retail and bar area inspired by pFriem’s beloved Bear’s Den in Hood River, complete with a piece of original art reflecting the surrounding area.

Besides the attractive quarters of Keeper on the first floor, the building is festooned with historic photos, art and niches which make it an adventure to explore. In fact:

“….during the retrofit, one big surprise was the discovery of a time capsule snuggled in the corner of the building, installed by the city and local Masonic Lodge in 1938.”  New School Beer

Siren Call?

While the siren call in Greek mythology refers to a powerful force that attracts someone to something, often with the implication that it may be dangerous or misleading, you won’t see Odysseus here saving his crew’s lives from the alluring vocalization. Instead, the idea of good food and beer in a warm and interesting environment is irresistible! (#12)

A newer beckoning call

That said, one can imagine the many times that City firefighters responded to that resonance while occupying the upper floor in the old City Hall and slid down the fire pole to get to the trucks below.

And that image is preserved, in part, by the focus on historic preservation by Pfriem, the City of Milwaukie and the developers:

“Meanwhile, a fire pole from the original firehouse will be repurposed into a one-of-a-kind beer tap system.

Rudy Kellner (co-founder of Pfriem) says they had an overwhelming response and request from the city and the community to salvage the fire pole and use it in some way in the building. So, they repositioned the original fire pole to land on the 1st and 2nd floor bar tops and adapted it to accommodate tap lines.

‘So we’re going to be pouring beer out of a fire pole. I think we’re probably the first tap room in the world to have beer in a fire pole,’ he says.”  (New School Beer)

“….the brewery ran two glycol-chilled tap lines around the bar and up the shiny brass tube, where they meet a pair of handsome Czech side-pull faucets, which give bartenders more control to pour the perfect pint.”  Oregon Live 

Food for Thought….

Janet and I were joined at Pfriem by our friends John and Kim Limb.  I serve with John on the Abbey Foundation of Oregon Board where he is the Immediate Past President and he has been Beerchasing with me on several occasions in the past.

One review described the menu at the Tasting Room as “A thoughtfully curated food menu to complement pFriem’s beer lineup.”  The menu is not expansive and essentially standard pub food at reasonable prices.  Kim, Janet and I had delicious grilled chicken sandwiches while John enjoyed a pimento cheeseburger.  They went well with the Pfriem West Coast IPA.

The new tasting room and coffee shop are both Keepers.  Give them a try.

Cheers

External Photo Attribution

#1 – #2.  Rich Carbonara Facebook (1) Facebook

(https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10162218874320280&set=t.673215279&type=3}.

#3. Beerwanders Website (Zur Schleuse (Stefansbräu) – Beerwanderers)

#4.   Priem Brewing Facebook Page

(https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=557066749901519&set=a.557066723234855).

#5. Priem Brewing Facebook

 (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1514400151968317&set=a.1450864238321909).

#6. Wikimedia Commons (File:Milwaukie, Oregon (May 2019) – 21.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Author: Another Believer  – 18 May 2019.

#7. Wikimedia Commons (File:Willamette River, Milwaukie Bay Park, Milwaukie – DPLA – 06f27a3bc5dcf8e4fa4294d83205f22d.jpg – Wikimedia Commons). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.  Creator:  Gary Halvorsen – Oregon State Archives – 17 February 2019.

#8. Wikimedia Commons (Milwaukie City Hall – Milwaukie City Hall – Wikipedia) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.  Author: PortlandSaint – 3 April 2024.

#9. Wikimedia Commons (File:Milwaukie city hall.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Author: Finetooth   27 May 2009.

#10 – #11. Keeper Coffee Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/keepercoffee).

#12. Public Domain –  Wikimedia Commons (File:Syreny (“Sirens”) – Wilhelm Kotarbiński.jpg – Wikimedia Commons). This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1930. Author:
Wilhelm Kotarbiński – 1900.

Guess Who’s Coming to…..Beerchase!!

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Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title at the top to see all of the photos so the narrative is not clipped or shortened. (External photo attribution at the end of the post #1)

At the end of April, we were delighted to have two separate house guests. Archie, our three-year old grand-pup, visited for ten days from Seattle while his family was on a Hawaiian vacation.  

And my old consultant friend with whom I worked at the Schwabe law firm before I retired in 2011 – “West Coast” Dave Hicks – flew in from an east-coast business trip for two days before he returned home to Ventura, Ca.

In the early days of my Beerchasing hobby and over the next five years, Dave was a frequent companion as you can see from the photos below at the Double Barrel, Reel-Em Inn, the Horse Brass Pub, the Richmond Bar, Crackerjacks, Belmont Station and the Ranger Station. 

Dave has used his Princeton and University of San Diego Law School education well and is now Chief of Staff at Garnett Capital Advisors – a financial services firm specializing in managing loan portfolio sales for credit-granting institutions.

He is also known to use his experience as a Princeton Nassoon – the university’s oldest acapella group – with his identical-twin brother, to entertain at parties although he refrained from doing this at the dive bars we visited. 

We usually toasted one of my first and most memorable Beerchaser-of-the-Quarter, the late Dr. Harry Frankfurt – Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Princeton and author of the wonderful essay “On Bullshit.” (#2 – #4)

The Princeton Nassoons in 2008

Some Trepidation…?

Archie had visited and stayed overnight with us in the past, but it was always with his family – Mom and Dad and two young daughters.

Question No. 1:  “How would he react to staying with us for ten days?”

 Question No. 2: “How would he react to our male out-of-town visitor for a day and one-half?  Did he have an aversion to the Ivy League?”

Well, our concerns were short-lived.  Archie immediately went over to Dave sitting on the couch and curled up next to him and rolled over to have his stomach rubbed. Dave is a walker and the next day, he and I took Archie on a long walk on which Dave was the main leash holder.  And the pup was a prince for his entire stay with us.

Trepidation unwarranted!

Beerchasing

Dave and I had an ambitious agenda.  On the Friday afternoon, we drove the twenty-four miles to the Mount Angel Abbey to have some beers at the Benedictine Brewery and St Michael Taproom and say “hello” to Fr. Martin, the Manager and Head Brewer.

Fr. Martin stopped his work to say hello

No brewery will ever surpass my affection for this enterprise on the grounds of the Abbey in Mount Angel Oregon – one of just three owned and operated by Benedictine monks in the US.

Those who follow this blog, may recall that I was involved in the planning and development of the Brewery starting in 2016 until it opened in late 2018 including the amazing event in 2017, when over 125 monks, priests, seminarians and volunteers and members of the Mount Angel community, gathered for an “old-fashioned barn rising.” 

As shown in the videos in this post, we started with a cement slab that cloudy morning and by the end of the day, had a framed structure for the brewery and taproom.   https://thebeerchaser.com/2017/11/21/the-benedictine-brewery-beam-me-up/  (#5 – #11)

Dave and I had a great sampler of six beers and toured the beautiful Abbey Hilltop including a visit to the famous Alvar Aalto Library before returning to our home in West Linn. (#12 – #13)

Dave had invited Janet and me to dinner the next evening at the Bellpine Restuarant at the top of the Ritz Carlton Hotel in downtown Portland. While Janet spent her Saturday afternoon on a variety of activities, Dave and I drove into Portland for beers at two of my favorite downtown dive bars.

The Yamhill Pub – as I stated in the title of my 2015 blog post  https://thebeerchaser.com/2015/05/14/the-yamhill-pub-a-dive-bar-with-character-or-grunge/ the aura of this hole-in-the-wall was best described in the now defunct Portland Barfly Website (another COVID victim…)

“A genuine dive-bar lurking midst the downtown shopping arcade, the Yamhill Pub maintains an unreconstructed seediness through blaring juke, food…(and, for that matter, toilets) best avoided, actively-encouraged graffiti upon the smoke-stained walls, pennies-a-serving pitchers, and a fiercely-protective cadre of underemployed regulars (seniors, rockers, bike messengers) willing to throw themselves in front of Hummers to prevent the forces of gentrification. Intimidating for the first-time visitor, but that’s sort of the point.”

This was my fourth visit to the Yamhill, and I was happy to see that it was still in business.  As one regular commented to me in 2015, “Mark my words, this place will be gone in five years and that will be a tragedy.”  

Willamette Week reported in November 2020, that Kevin Hill, the owner, launched a $15,000 GoFundMe campaign to raise $15,000 to save the bar – evidently it worked.

But grunge is still the watchword – from the graffiti-infested walls, the bathrooms and even the entrance sign in which the name has become essentially illegible.   Look at the difference in the sign over the front door between 2015 and last month!

2015
2025

But as stated in its own Wikipedia page and as affirmed by, Neal, our friendly bartender, the Yamhill Pub, founded in 1939, still retains its legacy for draft PBR. “The bar has been recognized as the top Pabst Blue Ribbon seller in Oregon.”

Not only that, but at one time in the ’90’s they were #5 in North America!!  Before I could scoff, he pointed out this PBR sign (see below) from 2012 – Number 18 in North America in PBR sales. 

Dave and I chatted with Neal about Portland bars and watched the The Other Guys – a “buddy-action-comedy” movie with Mark Wahlberg, Will Ferrell and Michael Keaton which was streaming on the of the two small screen TVs hanging at the corners of the bar. (It seemed appropriate given the setting.)

Kelly’s Olympian – We walked around Portland some more – noting how the City was coming back from the depths but still had a way to go – and I suggested we drop into another favorite dive.  Kelly’s Olympian, which evolved even before the Yamill (in 1902 – the third oldest Portland bar in continuing operation) has class and a great theme as you will see from the pictures below and this description from their website:

“The crowning glory is the collection of a dozen vintage motorcycles hanging from the ceiling and about, each restored to perfection. One of the owners is a motorcycle enthusiast and finally found a home for his impressive motorcycle collection.

Complementing the motorcycles are other motorcycle accessories, combined with museum quality neon signs, antique gas pumps and historic photos of Portland and motorcycles.”   

If you enjoy history, read the full account in my 2015 blog post.  Even the name chronicles the legacy:

“The name was derived from the name of one of the original owners, ‘Kelly’, and the Olympia Brewing Company, which was involved in the inaugural opening so that it could sell its product, Olympia Beer. It was originally called ‘The Olympian Saloon’. The name ‘Kelly’s’ was added a few years later…..”

And part of the bar’s historic identity goes back even further.  The sections of downtown Portland – mostly in Old Town Chinatown – were known for their “Shanghai Tunnels.”  According to Wikipedia, this is really a misnomer, and an urban legend:

“They connected the basements of many hotels and taverns to the waterfront of the Willamette River. They were built to move goods from the ships docked on the Willamette to the basement storage areas, allowing businesses to avoid streetcar and train traffic on the streets when delivering their goods.”

I had seen some of these on a tour by Adam Milne, owner of Old Town Pizza and Brewing, below his establishment in Old Town (right three photos below), but behind the Kelly’s Olympian Bar is a stairway down to the basement (photo on the left).

In my 2015 first visit to the bar, Lucia, the Manager, verified that servers still descend the stairs through the trapdoor behind the bar to get ice and that’s where their kegs are also stored.

We left after Dave refused to believe my story that the 1912 Princeton Student Body President visiting Portland one summer, got drunk at Kelly’s and was last seen being shuttled to a Chinese freighter.

Bellpine at the Top of the Ritz Carlton – We headed to West Linn to pick up Janet and get into our fancier duds and then drove back into Portland where notwithstanding our offer to dine on pub food at a brewery, Dave treated us to a wonderful six-course dinner (plus dessert) at the Bellpine on the 35th floor of the Ritz.

“Led by acclaimed Executive Chef Pedro Almeida, the culinary journey features ingredients indigenous to the region and is accentuated with world-class wine selections and unique spirits crafted by the region’s master distillers.”

Although the opulent bar was sparsely occupied on a Saturday night, the restaurant was hopping and it was a wonderful meal (yes, I drank wine instead of a PBR) and a fitting farewell to Dave who flew out the next morning to his Ventura, Ca. home. (#14 – #16)

Final Note

I chuckled on the way back home about having a bit of culture shock based on our three establishments that day ending with Bellpine after Kelly’s Olympian and beginning at the Yamhill Pub.  Perhaps it was tantamount to a high-rise outhouse…..

And unfortunately, the 2019 timing of the development of the Ritz, by noted Portland developer, Walt Bowen, was disastrous. A fascinating March 2025 Willamette Week article charts the history:

“After two huge wins, he was ready to gamble again. A new project, called Block 216, would be his most ambitious ever. It would have five floors of prime office space, a Ritz-Carlton hotel, and 132 Ritz-Carlton condominiums…

That may be the most ill-timed guarantee in the history of Portland real estate. A year later, the world locked down because of COVID-19. Hotels emptied. People fled urban condos for ranch houses in the suburbs…

It appears Bowen’s dream tower will instead be a 460-foot tombstone for his career. As first reported by WW on March 5, the construction lender for Block 216 said in an earnings report that ‘ownership and serial asset disposition on the components would be the best net present value outcome for the loan.’

Translation: take the keys and sell the building in pieces.” (#17)

Well at least Kelly’s and the Yamhill will still be serving good cheap beer!

External Photo Attribution

#1. Garnet Capital Website (https://www.garnetcapital.com/aboutus/management#1)

#2. Wikimedia Commons (File:2008NassoonsHolzhaus.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Lhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en – Attribution:  Nassoons at English Wikipedia – 5 July 2008.

#3. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:On Bullshit cover.jpeg – Wikimedia Commons) This image of simple geometry is ineligible for copyright and therefore in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship. Author: Dr. Harry Frankfurst, Princeton University Press – 2008.

#4. Wikimedia Commons (File:Harry Frankfurt at 2017 ACLS Annual Meeting.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.  Author: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN30Qk9j0bKuWF2ulC9CtVQ – 29 October 2018.

#5 – #11. Benedictine Brewery Website (https://www.benedictinebrewery.com/home-1).

#12 – #13.  Mount Angel Abbey Website (https://www.mountangelabbey.org/).

#14 – #17. Wikimedia Commons (File:Portland, Oregon, May 2024 – 54.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.  Author:  Another Believer – 19  May 2024. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Another_Believer).