In February, when publisher Ryan Frank first started at the Oregon Daily Emerald, he began asking staff and students, “what can we do to be more relevant to our readers?” The answer he received was both cliched and surprisingly effective. Participants in the conversation came up with two ideas: starting a sex column and brewing an Emerald beer.@@WHO IS THIS ‘RYAN FRANK’ CHARACTER?!! I CAN’T FIND HIM ANYWHERE.@@
“I tell people, ‘Shocking, college students like beer and sex,’ ” Frank said.
One of the two ideas has already materialized.
The Emerald is proud to announce its partnership with Oakshire Brewing to brew its first (and probably only) beer.
“Oakshire, for whatever reason, seemed to be a great fit,” Frank said. “We wanted to, obviously, go with a local company, and these guys had a bunch of UO grads on their staff.”
The limited-edition beer will not be available in bottles; instead it will be offered only at local bars and restaurants. Rennie’s Landing, Agate Alley Bistro and Max’s Tavern have all agreed to feature this beer on tap as soon as it is released.
Meanwhile the Emerald is working on collaborating with other campus-area bars to carry the beer. Somewhere between 20-25 barrels of this single-batch beer will be brewed and distributed among participating bars.
“Typically a full barrel will last about a week,” said Jamie Barclift, sales representative for the Oregon Daily Emerald.  “Some places go through their beer a whole lot faster, so some of the bars will have our beer for longer than other bars. It should be available between late October and early December.”@@http://www.facebook.com/dailyemerald?sk=wall@@
“This won’t be an ongoing beer,” Oakshire Brewing sales manager Cameron Langham said. “We’ll blow through these kegs, and it will be gone.”@@http://www.eweb.org/public/news/2011/oakshire.htm@@
The Emerald and Oakshire plan to debut this beer on Friday, Oct. 28, at the School of Journalism and Communications Achievement Dinner and also throw an event at Rennie’s Landing that evening, tapping the first kegs of this special brew.
“Students are a key customer for Oakshire. This gives us a lot of exposure on campus,” Langham said. “The Rennie’s event will be a good time. We’ll be giving away swag and having fun with it.”
Recently Oakshire also collaborated with other local businesses, including Sam Bonds Garage, Lucky’s Tavern and EWEB to brew specialty celebration brews. “Brewing these special beers is fun for our brewers because they brew the same beer every day,” Langham said. “They get to be creative. Sometimes it can feel like a factory.”@@http://www.sambonds.com/@@@@http://www.eweb.org/ whats the style on this?@@
Oakshire and the Emerald are also partnering with other University forces to create a responsible vibe surrounding the beer release. The Dean of Students, Allen Hall Advertising, a student from EMU Marketing and the ASUO have joined together to promote a responsible drinking campaign, which Oakshire has fully supported.
In addition to the release of the beer, University students will see a large ad campaign running in the Emerald created by Allen Hall Advertising. Oakshire, ASUO and the Dean of Students created a coaster that will feature Oakshire’s logo on one side, and a message to students about responsible drinking on the other.
“It’s not just a beer,” Frank said. “It’s got a lot of people engaged and involved.”
In an effort to include the entire student body and community, rather than only those over 21, the Emerald has asked readers to help name the beer.
“We’ve made it a fun process and opened it up to all of our readers to help give the brew a name. It’s sort of about beer, but it’s more about a community event and process,” Frank said. “If you’re going to have a beer that’s related to the UO experience and being a Duck, what kind of funny name can you come up with?”@@how relevant will this be upon publication?@@