Recently Ooligan Press sent me an advance review copy of The Widmer Way, the new forthcoming book by Portland beer writer Jeff Alworth. I read the book over the holidays and found it to be a relatively quick and enjoyable read.

I’ll start with full disclosure: I’ve known Jeff Alworth for a number of years now, through the beer blogging community, and enjoyed beers with him on a number of occasions. I also own two of his other books (one of which he signed), and have been following his blog Beervana for many years now which I consider to be one of the best beer blogs currently active.

That having been said, I don’t know if Jeff knows that I received an ARC of this book, nor have I discussed it with him since getting the review copy. I knew he was writing this book, but I hadn’t seen any material from it before receiving this ARC.

Now, about the book. The description given by Ooligan reads:

The Widmer Way chronicles Kurt and Rob Widmer’s journey from humble homebrewers to craft beer pioneers and purveyors of the iconic Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen. Alworth also dives deep into Portland’s history, setting the scene for Widmer’s rise in the city now known for its exquisite beer.

Drawing from hours of interviews with Kurt and Rob, close family and friends, and big names in the beer industry, The Widmer Way offers an exclusive look into the Widmer brothers’ lives and their enormous impact on craft brewing in Portland and beyond. Alworth explores the Widmer family’s beer history, the brothers’ German influence, the brewery’s distribution deal with Anheuser-Busch, and the formation of the Craft Brew Alliance, one of the largest craft brewing companies in the United States.

That’s accurate. Jeff clearly spent a significant amount of time speaking to the Widmers (including their wives) as well as past and current employees, contemporaries in the industry, reps from Anheuser-Busch, and others. From earlier discussions with him, I know he was also going through old company records and brewing logs (he includes photos of some of the early logs) but my overall impression is that it was more of the oral histories and interviews that form the backbone of the book.

And in fact, this book is much more about the Widmer brothers—Kurt and Rob—than it is about a straight-up history of the Widmer Brothers Brewing Company. The subtitle is “How Two Brothers Led Portland’s Craft Beer Revolution” and that is indeed the primary focus.

That’s not to say this book doesn’t cover Oregon beer history, Portland’s in particular (which is essential to understanding how Portland became the beer city that it is). Of course it does—but it doesn’t necessarily read like a history book. Jeff has an easy-reading, conversational writing style that manages to distill and convey what could be complex or tedious information in a remarkably concise and understandable narrative—and makes it look easy. (It’s not.)

This is one of the big strengths of this book; Jeff is telling a story, and his prose flows smoothly and keeps you reading. He mixes in historical events with analysis and frames much of the context from the point of view of the brothers.

And yet, I have a minor complaint with this style as Jeff employs it here. When I pick up a history book, I want that conversational, seamless narrative—but there are certain points that I also want receipts: I want to see dates, I want to see old photos and scans of records and clippings, I want to dig into the nitty-gritty, deeply-researched details beyond just the oral histories. Get more into the meat of it. The Widmer Way is lacking a bibliography section, for instance (or at least, the ARC I received is lacking one, perhaps there will be one in the final print edition?)

There are photos peppered throughout (not always in direct context to the surrounding text) and several scans of process sheets and handwritten brewing notes, but I would really have loved to see photos matching up to some of the anecdotes or smaller details as well. Such as Ray Widmer’s improvised keg filler, or the interior of the Louix the XIV tavern. Jeff even goes into details about that keg filler, and the fact that there is some old video footage from those very early days—but only describes what’s on it. Unfortunately there are no stills from that footage included that I’m aware of included in the book; it would have been a great addition.

All told, however, this is a minor quibble. On the other hand, the early history of launching the brewery amidst the Oregon brewing scene of the early-to-mid eighties should be considered required reading. One of the perspectives the Widmers had when building their brewery was one that hadn’t occurred to me, but seems so obvious in retrospect (that’s a testament to Jeff’s writing skill): they built the brewery only intending to brew one style of beer.

This sounds crazy in this day and age where you expect to see new breweries open with a dozen different beers on tap. But there it was. Here’s a snippet:

I knew some of this story already; the Widmers launched with Altbier, which by all accounts was quite good and authentic (as much as it could be, brewed in Portland), but couldn’t get traction in the local market because it was too dark, too hoppy. So they added Weizen to the lineup, using the same yeast that they fermented the Altbier with. Weizen was filtered and clear; Hefeweizen came later, when they needed a third beer in a pinch. It was the same beer, though, just unfiltered.

Altbier is still brewed and available on tap at the Widmer pub today; it’s one of those beers that will never not be on tap or go away. Deschutes Brewery in Bend has a similar beer in Bachelor Bitter, which owner Gary Fish has been adamant that it always be available.

Back to the book. I mentioned above that the early eighties history should be required reading? So should the story of Hefeweizen, and the beer landscape of the nineties. I had no idea brewmaster Karl Ockert, for instance, was poached away from BridgePort Brewing to brew at Nor’Wester Brewing, as a direct competitor to Hefeweizen.

You can’t talk about the history of Widmer without talking about Anheuser-Busch, and Jeff delves at length into the decision-making process behind the partnership (or buyout or sellout, depending on who you might talk to). It’s fascinating from both a business perspective and an insider/personal perspective, but at the same time how it’s presented brings up my one other criticism of the book: an overly-positive, Widmer-centric view of the situation which doesn’t cover enough of the critical or negative issues.

Jeff mentions the “blowback” to the Anheuser-Busch decision in general terms, but instead of providing specific examples (was the financial impact of the decision in the Portland market—did sales dip? What were the local papers saying about the merger at the time it happened? Did Jeff interview anyone contemporary to the era that had a different viewpoint?) to paint that pictures, instead tells us how Kurt and Rob Widmer felt about it all. We’re getting the “negative” angle filtered through the owners’ feelings, peppered with examples of how the deal was good for the business.

It’s a bit too much “Widmer boosterism” that I would love to see some counterexamples to. “Warts and all,” and all that. I understand Jeff was contracted by the company to write this book, which is what makes this problematic. I don’t need tabloid-style outrage reporting or sensationalistic muckraking, but more of the reaction and viewpoints from outside the brewery is needed here.

All in all, though, Jeff has done a remarkably good job of telling the Widmer Brothers story here, with a terrific overview of the modern beer history of Portland. And it digs deeply into the lives of the Widmer brothers themselves, which many will find quite fascinating. The Widmer Way will make a fine addition to your beer bookshelf, and I’d recommend it to anyone with an interest in beer, history, Oregon, and all the above.