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Archives for January 13, 2007

New California Casino Brewery?

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I want to stress that this is only guesswork, but it appears that one of the Native American casinos in Northern California may be building a new casino brewery. My sister-in-law sent me a classified job listing she noticed in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat. The job listing is for a full time brewmaster with three years experience to handle “all aspects of brewing operations, purchasing, packaging, brewing of main line & specialty beers.” The listing also states that preference will be given to a Native American applicant, which made me curious. The number listed is associated with the Lake Miwok Indian Nation of the Middletown Rancheria. The tribe operates the Twin Pine Casino along Highway 29 in Middletown, California, about 35 miles north of Santa Rosa.

My guess is that the casino is planning a brewery on-site, but this is the first I’ve heard anything. But that seems the most logical reason for the tribe seeking a brewer. I know there are several casino breweries in Las Vegas, but are there any other breweries in Native American casinos? If not, this may be the first. Does anybody else know? The California Nations Indian Gaming Association has a list of all tribal casinos in California.

An alert reader did point out that Mount St. Helena Brewery [no website] is also in Middletown, but if that’s the case why post a fax machine number to a Native American tribe that operates a casino and list a preference for a Native American in the position?

Twin Pine Casino, site of a new brewpub?

UPDATE 1.27: Turns out that the Mount St. Helena Brewery is owned by the Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California. Here is their ABC License. So my speculation was wrong, after all. Thanks to Vinnie for pointing this out.

Portland’s New Name

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Portland has had many nicknames. While the “City of Roses” is perhaps the most well-known, it’s also been called Beervana, Bridgetown, PDX, Puddletown, Rip City, River City and Stumptown. And apparently President George I used to refer to Portland as “Little Beirut” because protesters dogged his visits there, but so far that one hasn’t really stuck.

But now add one more to the list. Yesterday, Mayor Tom Potter officially declared Portland “Beertown.” He kicked off the naming ceremony by pouring the first pint of BridgePort Brewing’s new seasonal, Beertown Brown. Whether the whole event was one elaborate publicity stunt certainly seems possible, even probable, but even so what a great coup for them. Unlike Seattle, Portland’s official tourism website features quite a lot of positive information about beer and Portland’s beer scene.

Also, no word as to how the Brewers Association feels about Portland appropriating their domain name. Their website address is beertown.org.