Hop Valley Brewing Returns Legendary Oregon Beer

Hop Valley Brewing has resurrected Henry Weinhard’s Private Reserve beer, a beloved Oregon lager that dates back to 1876.

Here’s the deal…

In 1862, Henry Weinhard moved to Portland, Oregon and purchased a former brewery in an old industrial and warehouse district in Portland which became known as the Pearl District. That was where he first brewed Henry Weinhard’s Private Reserve, which local’s simply called Henry’s, and many consider Oregon’s first craft beer.

Like many breweries from that era, Weinhard’s eventually succumbed to purchase and resale by a number of companies in the late 20th century, including Pabst Brewing Company and MillerCoors, (now Molson Coors), which announced the end of production for Henry Weinhard’s Reserve in 2021.

But now, Hop Valley Brewing, part of Tenth & Blake, Molson Coors’ US craft beer division, is returning Henry Weinhard’s Private Reserve to shelves in Oregon, Washington State and Idaho for a limited time.

The 4.7% ABV pre-prohibition lager will be brewed using its original recipe and Cascade hops from Oregon. The revived brand comes with an updated look. Hop Valley mined the archives to incorporate historic elements that resulted in a classic, retro look that trumpets Henry Weinhard’s founding,

“It’s a huge part of our history in the Northwest. Henry Weinhard’s blazed the trail for craft beer in the Northwest,” Brandon Ross, national chain sales manager for Hop Valley told Beer & Beyond. “We knew we had to take this opportunity and run with it.”

Henry Weinhard’s looms large in Oregon, says Pete Dunlop, a Portland-area beer writer, who chronicled the city’s brewing history in his book, “Portland Beer: Crafting the Road to Beervana.” The book charts Henry Weinhard’s growth, including its reinvention as a soda maker during Prohibition, its merger with the maker of Blitz beer, the Portland Brewing Co., in 1928 and its attempts to claw back market share during the 1960s and ‘70s, introducing brands like Private Reserve and Olde English 800 malt liquor.

“One of the reasons it was super popular here was probably because it was a local beer, but it was a lot more than a local beer,” Dunlop explained. “It was considered to be special.”

“Without Private Reserve, there’s no telling what craft beer might look like today,” Ross added. “We are appreciative of the chance to be part of its legacy.”

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