Hop Valley Brewing

Original Brewery & Pub: 980 Kruse Way, Springfield, OR 97477 / Production Brewery & Pub: 990 W 1st Ave, Eugene, OR 97402
Founded: 2009

Trevor Howard and Todd Friedman both brewed at the Rogue (which should have a posthumous entry in this guide) before Hop Valley (OK, Hop Valley has a handful of owners in addition to being majority owned by MillerCoors since 2016.). Its first location, the brewpub in Springfield, was also the origin site of Ninkasi Brewing; Hop Valley essentially took over the space. Hop Valley lived up to its name with blazing hop monsters like Alphadelic (originally Alphaholic) and Alpha Centauri, which took Eugene by storm on tap and in bombers soon after its founding in 2009.

The location of the pub is primo, right off the intersection of Beltline and I-5, next to the Gateway mall. It’s pretty much always busy, and the food is tasty (but nothing approaching unique). Now, Patrick Whiting is at the helm of the 15-barrel brewery there.

In 2014, Hop Valley opened a production facility and pub/taproom on W. 1st in the Whit, and really ramped up production in 22oz, then 12oz bottles and cans that now range in size up to the awkward 19.2oz “stovepipe” can. The large gravel parking lot was, I think, a great place to host the Sasquatch Brew Fest (in 2015). They set up a stage and host concerts through the summer (I think this is still happening; there were major conflicts with neighbors across the street who objected to having the speakers pointed directly at their houses.)

Hop Valley’s beers are, on the whole, clean and without much fermentation character. Ironically, it began producing Light Me Up Lager shortly before it was partially bought out by MillerCoors; the rice-laden light lager used to be good, though lately it’s had an abundance of apple flavor from fermentation.

The original brewpub chugs along. Patrick has been given fairly free reign, and has put out very good beer in a range of styles. His dry Irish stout was quite refreshing, the way the style should be. There is a beer engine there that often has good real ale, too. I’ll continue to support Patrick’s beer despite the corporate merger.