Eugene is seeing a lot of moving and building in its craft beer facilities. Hop Valley and Oakshire are moving into the Whiteaker neighborhood.  Combined with the expanding Ninkasi, the right this  neighborhood has to call itself the nexus of craft beer brewing in Eugene is undisputed. For breweries sure, but does that mean that is where the craft beer culture is?

Right about where downtown starts to turn into campus may have a claim to being the cultural center.  Falling Sky, High Street, 16 Tons, and the Bier Stein are all within a few blocks of each other. This makes the beer options per square mile much higher.

When all the construction in the Whit is completed we can enjoy food and beer from the three local breweries there. Even beer paired music at Sam Bond’s or with video games at Blair Ally. All of which is absolutely great for beer lovers. Still for good in depth conversations about beer and the exploration of multiple breweries I have to go a little further South than the Whit.

The Bier Stein and 16 Tons have a rotating tap list and way more bottles than I can count on the wall. Falling Sky often has had guest taps as well as their own creations. Right in front is their home brew shop. Long time Eugene brewery High Street McMenamins has been serving food and beer discussions for years. Sure the  Bier Stein is moving, but only to Willamette.  Still part of that area. If the video games was the tie breaker Level Up is right there too.

Block for block this makes the Willamette and 13th ish area the place to be for beer enjoyment in Eugene. While visiting the breweries is fun, for friendly discussions about beer and broadening your beer knowledge the Whit can’t compete. It’s where meeting fellow beer lovers and discussing upcoming releases or why “black IPA is an ill formed description of a style” happens. More than enthusiastic, the regulars of this area are patrons of the whole area and weekly make a pub crawl of each location.

I visit lots of places all over Eugene for a pint(see our map). I know we will all still visit the Whit and its coming breweries. However, more often I will be discussing the fruits of their labor and drinking them on tap downtown.