Great Notion's 10th Anniversary - And How To Get Free Tickets
When Paul Reiter sent me an email about Great Notion turning ten, my brain sort of broke. Great Notion is only ten years old? That can’t be right. This is the brewery that introduced Oregon to the weird new beers they were making in Vermont and Massachusetts, Orange Julius-looking things that smelled and tasted like—well, an Orange Julius. Great Notion added beers that tasted like blueberry muffins and a stack of pancakes, and for the next few years helped rewrite the brewing playbook in the city.
In this case, ten years feels much longer ago not because of what transpired since (Covid 🤮), but because hazy IPAs are so firmly established that they feel like they’ve been around for thirty years. I distinctly recall Willamette Week’s incredibly positive coverage of this little brewpub in Northeast Portland (see here, here, and here), and it seems impossible to imagine a world without hazy IPAs. Amazingly, it was just ten years ago. When we mark this anniversary, we can also reflect on this amazing era in brewing.
On Saturday, June 27th, Great Notion is throwing a shindig to celebrate. There’s the usual celebratory stuff, but you care about the beer, amirite? Well, they have been prepping for this fest by laying in special beers like cordwood. They’ll have over forty beers on tap (and NA choices for drivers and nondrinkers), including:
Ten barrel-aged and vintage pours. These include newly-brewed and aged barrel aged stouts, beers that won’t be released anywhere else.
Special anniversary beers created especially for this event.
Throwback beers—those beers fans have wanted Great Notion to make again. Like many of these beers, they won’t be available elsewhere.
You can learn more about this and buy tickets here.
But wait, there’s more! Great Notion is partnering with Celebrate Oregon Beer to offer a free pair of general admission tickets to the celebration. To win, all you have to do is subscribe to the Celebrate Oregon Beer newsletter between now and Tuesday, May 12 at 5pm. Use the form on this post. I’m pretty sure you’re going to be happy to get this biweekly email whether you win or not. It has news, info about upcoming events, and a feature article you’re not going to find anywhere else. We have an amazing open rate and people love getting it.
We did this last year with de Garde’s 12th anniversary, and Alison Frye, our winner, was delighted to get to attend. I plan to be there, too, so maybe we can plan to have a beer together.
So congratulations on ten years, Great Notion. Let’s help them celebrate in style.