Barley Brown's latest award is a big one

Apr. 20—Tyler Brown was excited to find out his brewery had won an award, not least because he never entered the contest.

This competition is both new and unusual.

Brown, who owns Barley Brown's in Baker City, has garnered dozens of medals for his ales since opening the brewery a quarter century ago.

But he didn't expect to be recognized not for the flavors of his brews, but for the containers he fills with his frothy concoctions.

Kegs, to be specific.

Stainless steel kegs, to be even more precise.

Barley Brown's is one of seven winners in the inaugural Keg Champion Awards chosen by the Steel Keg Association.

Barley's was picked for the small brewery category.

Other winners included Buffalo Wild Wings in the national restaurant category, and Yuengling Brewing of Pennsylvania in the large brewery category.

"I didn't know anything about it until I got a phone call," Brown said on Tuesday, April 18.

He still doesn't know who nominated Barley Brown's.

According to a press release from the Steel Keg Association of Denver, the first Keg Champion Awards celebrate Earth Week "by recognizing all those who appreciate the benefits reusable steel kegs deliver."

Among those benefits, Brown said, are reducing the production of glass bottles or aluminum cans and the associated packaging.

Barley Brown's is somewhat unusual among breweries because it neither cans nor bottles its beers.

Barley's beer is stored in kegs and poured into glasses and pitchers at restaurants and bars across Oregon and in parts of Idaho.

"We are so glad to celebrate Barley Brown's during their 25th anniversary this year," said Dan Vorlage, executive director of the Steel Keg Association. "They are keg champions, not only for their use of reusable kegs as a sustainability tactic, but also for how they use draft beer to further their mission to build a strong community."

Brown intended his brewery to be a draft-only operation from the start.

The only exception was early in the pandemic, when Barley Brown's briefly canned its beers.

That, Brown said, was a "survival tactic," not a change in his business strategy.

With vats full of ale at the brewery on Main Street in downtown Baker City, but with restaurants limited to takeout meals or closed altogether in 2020 and thus unable to dispense his beers, Brown decided to bring in a mobile canning operation rather than dump those hundreds of gallons of fresh brew down the drain.

He said the experience showed him "what a pain it is" to can beer for retail sale.

Since the pandemic the brewery has returned to its usual system, selling kegs to bars and restaurants.

Brown said many breweries that, like his, were forced to switch to cans during the pandemic, continue to sell at least some of their products that way.

But not Barley Brown's.

Brown said his goal has always been to retain a certain exclusivity. The way he sees it, consumers have to "seek out" Barley Brown's beers — but in the social setting of a restaurant or bar rather than buying a six-pack in a store and then taking it home.

As for kegs, as a draft-only operation, Barley Brown's owns quite a few — Brown estimates the tally at 8,000 to 10,000.

At any time, though, the vast majority of those kegs are hooked up to the taps in a restaurant or bar, Brown said.

He said kegs can last 30 years or more.

A keg holds 15.5 gallons of beer, or half of a barrel.

Barley Brown's typically brews a bit less than 5,000 barrels of beer each year, enough to fill almost 10,000 kegs.