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3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Jackson County voters boost RCC levy to win ... Strosser wins big over Breidenthal ... Crain trounces challenger Orr ... Jackson County voters boost RCC levy to win ... Strosser wins big over Breidenthal ... Crain trounces challenger Orr ... MEDFORD BEER WEEK A smooth pour Founders say sixth-annual event has a solid foundation Comment By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Follow @@GregMTBusiness MailTribune.com By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Follow @@GregMTBusiness Posted May. 14, 2016 at 12:01 AM By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Follow @@GregMTBusiness Posted May. 14, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News From its beginnings, Medford Beer Week has made a splash. Emanating from the downtown Medford core, Beer Week will stretch from June 2-11 this year, featuring nearly 100 events with suds flowing in Central Point, Jacksonville and Phoenix. The sixth-annual event is expected to draw upward of 2,000 people to some special events and bring in 3,000 visitors from outside the area to take part in tastings, food pairings, dodge ball, movie night at the Craterian Theater and the Brews, Bluegrass & BBQ event at Roxy Ann Winery. Founders Chris Dennett and Will Macleoud were presented with The Mayor's Award for their contribution to local tourism by Mayor Gary Wheeler this week. "We always thought it was a good idea, but just because you think something is good idea, it doesn't mean everybody else thinks that it's a good idea," said Dennett, who is a partner at Beerwork Bar & Bottle Shop and operates Elements Tapas Bar & Lounge in Medford. "We've been blown away by how much people want to get behind it, how many accounts and how many places want to participate in it." The groundwork was laid after the 2010 version of the Southern Oregon Craft Brew Festival, which is now part of Medford Beer Week. "Will said we should do a beer week," Dennett said. "I said, yeah, that would be great — what's a beer week?" Macleoud, now the area manager for Performance Food Group, was working in the industry at the time and explained the general scheme. The duo examined what happened elsewhere and massaged those ideas. The first year featured 35 events over a seven-day period. Like most fledgling events, there was a learning curve. Distributors weren't necessarily so keen on the idea, Dennett said. "They viewed it as more of a competition between each other: Columbia versus Summit versus Gold River at the time, then Western Beverage," he said. "Their response was that we don't really want to lose tap handles, so we've had to be really aggressive with hitting the accounts and brewery reps. Had we relied purely on the distributorships, then it wouldn't have grown the way it did; mostly because they are so protective of what they have in the market." There have been struggles and hiccups, Macleoud said. "It was nice to get the acknowledgement, because we've put in a lot of hard work in the past five years," Macleoud said. "It definitely feels good when you've worked through the process to make sure everything goes smoothly. So the brewery, bar or restaurant can have a good experience with it." The festival is structured to a point, ensuring the focus is on beer. Likewise, micromanagement is less important than debates over microbrews versus national brands. "We create a structure and umbrella under which we can advertise all these specific events," Dennett said. "In a lot of ways, it's sort of an invisible hand, sort of laissez–faire kind of process. Events that do well, do well. Events that do poorly end up not happening the next year." With more than 4,000 breweries producing suds, the possibilities are endless. But nano and microbrewers hundreds or thousands of miles away can't necessarily afford to have representatives in Southern Oregon. "Some breweries don't have a large presence in Southern Oregon, or even Oregon at all," Dennett said. "We will sometimes pass by those breweries because we know we won't get any support. There are enough places that are hyper-local, down the street, or close regionally, and we prefer to highlight those people." Although most participants focus on craftbrews, there have been no efforts to limit the scope. Handcraft devotees emailed Dennett, stating Coors Lite Day and Miller Day promotions didn't fit with the festivities "I responded basically by saying it does," Dennett said. "If that's what make sense for their business, they have every right to do that. We're not trying to make it a craft-beer week. It's a beer week. If there is a bar that wants to do Coors Lite specials or Budweiser specials, I can't really tell them no, because it's still beer." There are two ways to run a multi-day, multi-event and multi-location show, Dennett said. One follows economist Adam Smith's (yes, the one who wrote "The Wealth of Nations") thinking, where participants jump in with their best offerings. The other is controlled by committee, where a panel dictates who does what, when and where. "We didn't want to do it that way. We wanted it to be accessible for everybody," he said. "One of the things that makes beer different from chocolate, wine or cheese festivals is that, in a lot of ways, beer doesn't seem snooty to begin with, so why snootify it? Maybe in a different market it would make more sense for that, but we felt the Medford market required we be a lot more accepting." Southern Oregon Brewing Co. owner Tom Hammond said Medford Beer Week has coalesced disparate parts of his industry. "It's done a great job of marketing and promoting the local brewers," Hammond said. "It marks how we've come into our own in the exploding craft brewing industry in the state of Oregon. "We're not Eugene, we're not Portland. Different communities and regions in the state embrace things at different times. We're now part of the wine and tourism that has made Southern Oregon a destination vacation spot for food and beverage," he said. Dennett said the founders are aware they have to control the pace of growth. "If you just allow out of control, then it's not going to have a solid foundation," he said. There are two no-nos in the founders' minds: Spreading out too far geographically and demanding too much from brewery representatives by scheduling too many special events. "If they do events in Grants Pass, Ashland and Medford, then you're stretching a limited workforce really, really thin that week," Dennett said. Dennett said the festival has pushed its geographical boundaries to its limit. "We've morphed, but we probably won't go much larger than that," he said. "The biggest reason we took in Phoenix is because Biologic Brewing Supply is there, and it didn't make sense to have the major brewing supply place not be part of Beer Week." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness , on Facebook at www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31 . By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Follow @@GregMTBusiness MailTribune.com By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Follow @@GregMTBusiness Posted May. 14, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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