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Horse Brass' Beery Bonhomie
By John Foyston
As seen in A&E (Arts & Entertainment)
The Oregonian, November 1, 1996
A Brit pub somehow washed up in Southeast Portland, an establishment authentic
right down to its hand-hewn beams, its hand crafted ales and Bisto gravy
mix in the steak-and-kidney pies.
"This place is so authentic that it's scary," Don Younger, owner
of the Horse Brass Pub, says. "We don't use an English powdered gravy
mix for part of the gravy because it's easy or because we're lazy, we do
it because it's right. That's the way it's done."
Younger speaks with the fervor of a zealot, and in a way he is. In the 20
years that he's owned the Horse Brass, he's been one of the champions of
the cause of good beer and good taverns, and a founding father of the craft
beer revolution.
"I kind of miss the old days when the Widmer brothers and all the other
brewers were hoping to just brew some good beer and maybe make a living
at it," Younger says. "Our mission was to alert the world to good
beer, and we did that. I can look out at a Friday night crowd these days
and know that less than two percent of my business is American draft lagers
-- I sell more draught cider than I do Bud."
It's also a fair bet that he sells more bangers, scotch eggs, ploughman's
platters, steak-and-kidney pies and massive plates of chips than anybody
in town. "I've become a restaurateur, that's what's amazing," Younger says. "In the bad old days, tavern food was a crockpot and
infrared sandwiches."
Not that the Horse Brass was an overnight success. When Younger bought it
from the two original partners 20 years ago, its location at Southeast 45th
and Belmont was considered the back of beyond. Nor was Younger happy with
the idea of a Brit pub.
Rightly so. Most places that bill themselves as proper pubs are nothing
of the sort. But the Horse Brass gets it right --- right down to the Brit
delicacies available for sale to ex-pats pining for Hayward's Very Saucy
Picalilly, Bird's custard mix, Flake bars, HP Sauce or Whitworth's dried
peas. But Younger has gone beyond the impressive wealth of details and found
the very soul of a British pub, the beery bonhomie that makes this place
feel like a second home.
"I was consultant to the original owners," Younger says. "I
told them not to get into the tavern business. Then they got me drunk one
night and I ended up buying the place." It was probably more complicated
than that, but Younger lays no claim to any secrets of success other than
a determination to run a good tavern and have a lot of fun doing it.
"I love this place," he says, sweeping his hand to take in the
cozy, comfortably worn, dark-wooded room festooned with photos, dartboards,
horse brasses, bar towels, beer signs, an antique stained glass tavern sign
and a model Bristol Beaufighter, a World War II fighter plane, climbing
ceiling-ward. "Even after 20 years, I'm still excited to be here."
That's the prevailing mood among the pub's notably loyal staff and patrons,
and birthday celebrations occupied much of October and the first week of
November. Still to come Saturday is a visit from Kells Irish Fusiliers,
the pipe and drum band from Kells Pub, and, on Sunday, music from pub favorites
such as Peter Yeates, Tom May (who wrote "The Ballad of the Horse Brass"),
London Bobby, Terry Prohaska and others.
Festivities reached a fever pitch on Halloween, when pub regulars, local
brewers and a dozen Brit beer fans (who flew in from London for the birthday)
marked the precise anniversary with music and good beer. Seven Oregonian
brewers tapped kegs of beer specially brewed for the occasion -- Karl Ockert
of Bridgeport Brewing, John Maier of Rogue, John Harris of Full Sail, Jerry
Bockmore of Oregon Trail, Jeff Hendryx of Multnomah Brewing, and Wild Ducks
Glen Falconer and Bob LaLiberte of Portland Brewing all were readying special
brews for last Thursday's party.
That's a pretty fair indicator of the high esteem in which Younger and his
pub are held by Oregon's craft brewers. Rogue Ales, for example, brews William
Younger's Special Bitter -- named after Don's late brother -- especially
for the Horse Brass. Rogue Ales sells it in stores, too, but they asked
Younger first.
That regard stems from the fact that Younger and his pub were effectively
ground zero for the great Northwest good-beer explosion. "Fred (Bowman)
and Art (Larrance) sat at that table when they put together Portland Brewing,"
he says, pointing. "The Widmer brothers used to bring their dad in
-- they sat at that table. I met Karl Ockert at that table when he'd just
turned 21. Those were great times, when breweries were being put together
out of old dairy equipment and dreams."