The Growth And Production

The Growth And Production

The smell of yeast hits you on the street more than a block away. Inside the lobby of the brewery, it is even stronger. I wondered how long that secretary had been putting up with the smell. "You get used to it." she said "The tour begins in ten minutes." Two other families had come to take this tour as well. A tasteful way to spend the afternoon with grandparents or in-laws, I thought. A short old man comes out after a while. He is wearing an amplifier around his neck and carrying a microphone. The speaker is bigger his head. The other members of the group stand up and we are all lead back out onto the street. The traffic rushes by us as he explains the square brass plate bolted into the pavement at our feet. "This is a time capsule" squawks the amplifier. The time capsule was buried in 1956 and will be opened again in the year 2006. It contains one bottle of Henry-Weinhard's beer, and one local newspaper.

I picture a crowd gathered here in nine years and I picture them some fifty years ago. Maybe they shiver against the rain or maybe they brace themselves against a fierce wind rushing up Burnside St. like it is today. In any case I picture them waiting there as the sacred bottle is unearthed, having traversed time to bring us the old newspaper. I wonder if it will have frozen and cracked down there. I wonder if anyone will drink that bottle if it is intact when it is brought to surface. I picture the small man with the amplifier tipping back his head and downing the contents of the artifact. We are truly a people brought together most readily by such a symbol. Nothing warms Americans up to each other like alcohol. Blitz beer is one of the cheapest brands one can buy in the grocery store these days. It runs about four or five dollars for a twelve pack. Needless to say it is the choice of the thriftier lush. The can is of a simple design. White with red letters reading "Oregon's Premium quality beer for over fifty years....Founded 1856." One is lead to wonder whether those fifty premium years are taking place now, or if they have already passed us by. Blitz is really not that bad. It does the job, as they say, but the beer connoisseur would not be impressed by the flavor or body.