A recent story about painting a Lucky Lager “L” on a refurbished former brewery warehouse prompted some newsroom reminiscing about times when the region’s signature beer was typically described not as “microbrew” but “cheap and skunky.”
More recent newsroom arrivals, on the other hand, were left to examine the giant aerial photo of downtown Vancouver (circa 1978) that graces the wall behind the copy desk and features the old brewery and the “beer can” Smith Tower nearby.
The brewery that became Lucky was once owned by Henry Weinhard in the 1850s, before he launched his empire across the river.
It was known by more than a dozen names in its existence, including Star Brewery Co. Inc., Interstate Brewery Co., Lucky Lager Brewing Co. and General Brewing Co.
Its best-known brands included Hop Gold Beer and Lucky Lager, not to mention the BEER brand that tied into the generic craze of the 1970s.
Lucky has long since left Vancouver, but its legacy lives on. The brewery’s equipment was shipped to Zhaoqing, China, to produce Pabst Blue Ribbon.
Thirsty for more information? You can read about Lucky Lager at http://www.brewerygems.com/lucky.htm.
Thirsty for Lucky Lager? You’re out of luck unless you want to go to Canada, where it’s sold by Labatt Brewing Co. Ltd.
Fair warning: beeradvocate.com gives the Canadian version of Lucky Lager a score of “D” and a spot in its “Bottom of the List” rankings. Some things never change.
The big(ger) picture
Speaking of giant aerial photos, we recently received images of the mouth of the Columbia River taken from the International Space Station.
Scientists use the photos to study the world’s coastal regions; they include images of the Columbia River estuary, Puget Sound and the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Wait … aren’t the salt flats several hundred miles from the nearest ocean?
Those photos are used to check imaging equipment, explained Oregon State University oceanographer Curt Davis.
“We know how bright the salt flats are,” Davis said. “We use that to check the calibration of the sensor” that measures reflected light.
Off Beat lets members of The Columbian news team step back from our newspaper beats to write the story behind the story, fill in the story or just tell a story.
