I was incredibly sad to learn of the passing of Ted Sobel yesterday, the founder and brewer mastermind behind Brewers Union Local 180 in Oakridge, Oregon. The news was posted on the 3 Legged Crane’s Facebook page which caught many of us by surprise.

We are so thankful for Ted for this beautiful community hub he created. Not only is it a joyful space for locals, people come from around the world and enjoy this pub. Cheers to the founder of this magnificent pub. Today there are definitely tears in our beers. Please feel free to share any fun stories you have about Ted.

The 3 Legged Crane is the new name of what was the Brewers Union; Ted sold the pub and brewery to John Crane, formerly of Plank Town Brewing of Springfield, last year. But Ted’s legacy lives on with the dedication to cask ales.

Ted did something remarkable in Oregon, something no one had done before: he created an authentic English public house experience, with a brewery that brewed and served exclusively cask ales. What’s more, he didn’t do this in Portland (or Bend or Eugene for that matter), somewhere with a sizable population of craft beer lovers. Instead, he built Brewers Union in Oakridge, a tiny town of around 3,000 nestled in the heart of the forest east of Eugene. Surrounded by the Willamette National Forest, off the beaten track, Oakridge is a former logging town that seemed like the unlikeliest place you’d find a cask-only brewery.

The beers were all true-to-form English-inspired sessionable cask ales, served in proper imperial pints, and it was rare to find anything over 6% ABV—something else remarkable in this age of American-style “bigger is better” beers amped up with hops, adjuncts, fruits, barrels, and whatever else brewers can get their hands on.

We met Ted in 2013 at a Deschutes Brewery cask event; the picture above is from that night. Not long after we visited and caught Ted at the pub and he graciously gave us a tour of the brewery. We’d been visiting Brewers Union off and on since 2011, and it was one of my absolute favorite breweries in the state. We tried to stop for a visit at least once a year, sometimes as a destination, sometimes just passing through. It was (is) a comfortable, lived-in, friendly pub unlike any other I’ve visited in Oregon, and one I wish I could visit much more often.

Anyway, I don’t know the circumstances behind Ted’s passing, but he will be missed. Raise a beer this week to Ted Sobel, cask if  you can get it. And read Aaron Brussat’s post about him at the New School as well; there’s a terrific short video at the end you won’t want to miss.

Cheers, Ted.