OBF DONATES $10,000 TO HONOR STATE’S FORGOTTEN BEER PIONEERS

 Art Larrance, director of the Oregon Brewers Festival and longtime craft beer advocate, has donated $10,000 to the Friends of Lone Fir Cemetery/Lone Fir Cemetery Foundation on behalf of the festival. The donation will support the restoration of the tomb of George Frederick Bottler, one of Oregon’s earliest brewers.

Bottler’s tomb, now crumbling in the oldest part of Lone Fir, is one of the first structures built in the historic cemetery in Southeast Portland. It paints a picture of two key figures in the origin of Brewvana: pioneer brothers, both named George, who arrived in Oregon in 1856.  George Michael Bottler  — a Portland fireman, founding member of the German Benevolent Association and a Mason — established Portland’s second brewery, City Brewery, in 1857 with partner Henry Weinhard, while brother George F. started The Dalles Brewery in 1859.

“Supporting the restoration of Bottler's tomb is an opportunity for fellow brewers to pull together and show support for two of the first brewers in the state, just as the brewing community pulled together 150 years  ago,” explained Larrance. "This is a project where we can restore and preserve our craft brewing heritage."

George M. was traveling in Germany when George F. died, so fellow Portland brewers — including Edward F. Schrader, Henry Saxer and Henry Weinhard — made arrangements for George F. to be buried in the Lone Fir Cemetery. When George M. returned from Germany, he built a tomb over his brother’s grave and purchased two other plots nearby to house his own remains. George M. later died in Munich, Germany, leaving no family to care for the tomb.

To learn more about the Bottler Tomb restoration project, visit www.friendsoflonefircemetery.org.