Page 25 - Beverage MasterAprMay 2021

Craft Brewery
Craft Brewery

Exploring Brewing & Astronomy

with John Harris of Ecliptic Brewing

By: Becky Garrison
U pon meeting John Harris, one might not Portland near Widmer Brothers Brewery. He over-
realize that this soft-spoken man is, in fact,
saw the shop’s transformation into a 15-barrel
a legend in the world of craft beer – not
seat restaurant and a patio in the parking lot. In
to mention a seasoned astronomer. Chris brewery, replete with a taproom featuring a 145-
Crabb, Director and Or-ganizer of the Oregon October 2012, Ecliptic Brewing was incorporated,
Brewers Festival, calls him “a warm, wonderful and then, on October 20, 2013, it opened for busi-
soul” and says she is “honored to call him a friend.” ness.

Harris has been a seminal figure in the Oregon Harris knew that his brewery needed to have
craft brewing scene for over thirty years. “He’s the an astronomy name and theme. His interest in
only brewer that has brewed a beer for every single as-tronomy was rekindled when he saw a Sky and
Oregon Brewers Festival, representing three differ- Telescope magazine on an airport newsstand while
ent breweries during its 32-year run,” says Crabb. traveling for work. He bought a copy, and the
“The festival often coincides with John’s birth- astronomy bug was back.
day, so he has one of the largest birthday parties
thrown in his honor every year.”

Steven Shomler, author and culinary storyteller,
reflects on Harris’ stellar course. “John has gone
from home brewing and following Fred Eckhardt’s
book ‘A Treatise on Lager Beers,’ to apply-ing for
his first professional brewing job at the Hillsdale
Brewpub, to being the very first profes-sional brew-
er in Bend, Oregon, to running his own successful
venture: Ecliptic Brewing.”

Harris’ interest in home brewing began in the
early 1980s, just as microbreweries started When asked what prompted his interest in astron-
popping up in Washington State and Oregon. omy, Harris points to his uncle, who gave him a
For over thirty years, he worked as a profes- telescope when he was a child. From there, astron-
sional brewer, working with some of the Pacific omy became a hobby that he got in and out of over
Northwest’s biggest brands. While working with the years. A year after spotting this magazine at the
the McMenamins brothers, he was the first brew- airport, Harris bought a new and bigger telescope
er to make Hammerhead in its all-grain formula- and began going to star parties.
tion. His accomplishments at Deschutes Brewery
include devising the recipes for their Black Butte Initially, Harris had another working name for
Porter, Mirror Pond Pale Ale and Obsidian Stout his brewery, but it was already taken. The Eclip-
beers. During his 20- years at Full Sail Brewery, tic, the astronomical term for the plane of Earth’s
he ran their Brewer’s Reserve program, where his orbit around the sun, kept popping up and even-
formulations included Slipknot, Hop Pur-suit and tually became the name for the brewery. A 25×25
the Sunspot Series. After the brewery eliminated foot mural of an Ecliptic plane, created by Loey
Brewer’s Reserve in 2012, Harris felt the need to Hargrove, graces the restaurant’s bar wall. Spaced
move on. themed label art, marketing catchphrases like
“Pour some space in your face,” and signature
So, he found a former body shop located at 825 beers such as Ecliptic Starburst IPA and Phaser Hazy
North Cook Street in the Mississippi district of IPA give the feel of a brewery founded by someone
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