Portland is often referred to as the craft brewing capital of the world, but Eugene is no exception to innovating in the beer industry. Cities around Oregon attract tourists and beer lovers from across the country to a variety of breweries. In October, Oregon breweries and cideries won 38 medals at the 2024 Great American Beer Festival.
Here in Eugene, Silver Falls Brewery is making waves in the craft brewery pool. Silver Falls was established in 2015, opening its first location in Silverton, and just seven months ago the brewery opened a location in Eugene
Silver Falls co-founder Eric Druliner recognizes the importance of having brewers in Oregon. “We’re very fortunate to have local hop farmers in our backyard,” Druliner said.
Druliner serves as one of the directors of the Silverton Chamber of Commerce in addition to founding Silver Falls. Despite being Druliner’s second career, he enjoys the creativity that craft beer offers.
“I love being able to have that artisan style, but also being able to share a product and creation to our community,” Druliner said.
If you visit Silver Falls downtown, chances are head chef Nathaniel Goodin is right by the taps talking with customers about their love for beer. Goodin’s love of craft beer brought him out to Oregon from Chicago five years ago.
“I just always love being able to pair really good food with really good beer,” Goodin said.
Goodin began his career as a chef at a beer garden an hour outside of Chicago. “It was really fun to be able to sit down and build a menu on things that would pair really well with the beers,” Goodin said.
Wanting to escape the flat lands and migrate to the land of West Coast IPAs, Goodin moved to Eugene. When he met Druliner, he was given total creative freedom with his menu. At other restaurants he’s worked at, Goodin has partnered with local breweries, and he said being creative with food at a place that brews its beer is a pleasant change of pace.
“Most places in the midwest are spending big money to get these hops shipped out to them,” Goodin said. “For us, we’re able to go right out to the field, pick our hops, and within hours we’re starting the brew process.”
Goodin’s perfect pairing of dish and drink at Silver Falls is the Peppadew pepper spread with the Vienna lager.
The homegrown brewing process is noticed in the quality of beer that breweries put out. Hops are brewed straight off the vine, giving Silver Falls beer an authenticity that you can taste.
The process that delivers your favorite IPAs and sours typically works on a 21-day turnaround from the time of brewing to the first sip taken from a pint. The brewing process begins when malt and grain are milled at different temperatures, then water is added to extract different starches out of the grains. Next, the conversion process transforms the complex starches into simpler sugars.
The sugary water that is converted into beer is what brewers call wort. The liquid mixture of cereal and yeast eventually becomes the bitter and sweet flavors that beer lovers enjoy. When the wort is boiled, hops are added to add bitterness and flavor to the beer.
“After about an hour to an hour-and-a-half of the boil process, we cool it down pretty quickly, we might even add some more hops to it,” Druliner said. “From a fermenter is where we add the yeast, which does most of the work.”
The yeast added to the boiled liquids is what produces the alcohol in beer. Yeast fermentation will take typically five to seven days. Beers like IPAs and other pale ales are made by adding dry hops into a fermenter and letting the mixture sit for a day or two.
After fermentation, the beer gets sent to bright beer tanks, where certain beers that require fruit will get their crop added. From there, carbonation is added and breweries will either prepare the beer directly to cans or fill kegs to distribute to breweries and restaurants.
