Visiting Eugene/Springfield 2018 Updated

Thanks Justin. Based on what I heard from Jacob over at 16 tons, I was under the impression that all of Eugene received their B15 delivery on the same day. My bad. :-)

 

Wow. That's not good.

This is the first I've heard of the cancellation, and at this point I'm still reading advertisements in the local papers about the upcoming event. I'll be in Portland by then, but was planning on coming down for the weekend for the fest (as it's always been one of my favorites). Guess I'll rethink that.

 

So, just received an email that Growler Nation is closing, effective 5/28/16 (their last day). Had heard some weeks back that the owner (John Stanford) was feeling burnt out, and was hoping to find a buyer to take over the reins. Apparently, that didn't happen, so I guess this is the end for Growler Nation. Here's the entire letter:


We regret to inform our loyal customers and friends that Growler Nation's last day in business will be this Saturday, May 28th. We have thoroughly enjoyed serving all of you and have appreciated your support.

To our Mug Club friends, we will be offering a partial credit of your mug club dues based on when you signed up, to be redeemed toward purchase at Growler Nation, and we will give you your mug to keep.

We will be having a farewell party this Saturday the 28th with food and drink specials. We will also have some raffle baskets with great assorted swag items. We'll start the food at around 3:00 pm and the drink specials will be all day. We will have a few of our most popular beers on tap for one last hurrah.

Thank you again for being such great customers. It was a good ride while it lasted!


Regards,


John Stanford

Owner - Growler Nation

 

True, but at least at this point, we're not seeing much of that competition here. The Safeway and MofC's don't do growlers, we don't have a WF (yet), and my recollection is that the Fred Meyer selection is pretty limited.


In my opinion, a lot of different factors conspired to do in GN. Aside from some of the points mentioned by Justin, the owner of GN was always more of a businessman than a craft beer fan. I think it's fair to say that John knew next to nothing about craft beer when he started, though he certainly gained knowledge about the landscape as things went along. Still, often times the beer menu at GN was a bit mundane (to say the least), often times reflecting (from what I could tell) good deals John was able to get on certain kegs (a lot Elysian, 10 barrel and GI stuff on tap - more so than any place else you'd see in town). There were frequently problems with old beer (customers learned to avoid the special discount deals John would often run on old product), and clean tap lines were also an occasional problem. I know towards the end, I would always ask how long a keg had been on before ordering, or would ask for a sample before ordering.

Also, again towards the end, I sort of sensed that John just wasn't "into it" any more.

GN opened just as the growler station movement was taking off in Eugene (no GG or tap and growler yet, for example), and I think that may have given John an unrealistic expectation in terms of what he could expect from sales (the place was fairly full all the time when it first opened). As time went by there was more and more competition in town, and increasingly folks started going elsewhere. The food menu at GN was always very limited, it was a pain in the ass to drive around the lot and find parking on weekends and Friday evenings, and I know I just felt that increasingly there were better options elsewhere in town. I have to assume that a lot people felt the same way, based on the number of times towards the end that I would walk in and see little or no customers in the place.

That being said, the owner was always a good guy, and GN had some interesting events and tap takeovers. They were always one of the few places in town that would get a keg of GI BCBS (the pay off for all those kegs of Elysian, 10 barrel and GI John purchased over the years), and the Boneyard tap takeovers were always very, very popular. Also, GN was always the one place in town I could go to where I knew they would have Hop Venom on tap. Their prices on Notorious were unbeatable ($17.99 for a 64 ounce growler, and during the NCAA basketball playoffs, that price came with a further $2 discount).

Also, GN was located less than a mile from my house. RIP Growler Nation. You will be missed.