“Henry Weinhard’s blazed the trail for craft beer in the Northwest,” says Brandon Ross, national chain sales manager for Hop Valley. “We knew we had to take this opportunity and run with it.”
The beer that’s been called Oregon’s first craft beer is coming back – this time, under the Hop Valley banner. The brewery, part of Tenth & Blake, Molson Coors’ U.S. craft beer division, is returning Private Reserve to shelves in Oregon, Washington state and Idaho this month.
The 4.7% alcohol-by-volume lager, first brewed in 1976 and acquired by Miller Brewing in 1999, will be brewed using its original recipe and Cascade hops from Oregon.
“It’s once again an Oregon brand,” brewed exclusively in Oregon, Ross says.
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 1856 founding and stands out on shelves.
Hop Valley hopes the beer will connect with local drinkers and succeed in the craft economy segment. There’s still a sizable opportunity for the beloved lager, both with its built-in audience of loyal fans as well as with younger legal-age drinkers who want to support local beer at an affordable price, Ross says.
“They want to participate in local, but not pay an arm and a leg to get it. We wanted to keep it at an approachable, entry-level price point,” he says.