A class about…beer?

John Bawden is an Instructor of History for the School of History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies, and one of the classes he teaches is HST 417 – History of Beer and Brewing.

Bawden received his PhD from the University of California Riverside and his dissertation was on the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. 

He wrote about the military regime in the country during the 1970s and 1980s, as well as a broad history of Chilean and Chilean military in the 20th century.

“So that’s my area of expertise. It’s actually modern Latin American history, Chilean history, the history of the Cold War, U.S. Latin American relations. Perhaps not what you’re expecting from someone who teaches a class about beer,” he says. 

“At OSU I teach Modern Latin America, you know, I teach colonial Latin America. I teach the senior seminar where students do research into Latin American history.”

His first job was in Alabama at the University of Montevallo where he worked for about 15 years, and it was there that he taught a class for the Honors College about fermentation.

“At that time in Alabama, there was a lot of interest in craft brewing, and I became very interested in, you know, making my own sauerkraut, my own kimchi, brewing my own beer, brewing mead. So I got interested in the history of brewing through my own experience as a home brewer, as someone who was interested in this growing part of the economy in Alabama.” 

He goes on to say, “Oregon was light years ahead of Alabama at that time, right? So Oregon already had brew pubs. Oregon already had a very well developed beer culture, let’s call it. In Alabama, they had just, they hadn’t. They had not legalized home brewing when I moved there. So it was a very different environment.” 

“I did teach a class on fermentation as a feature of human civilization, and I had students actually, you know, perform their own projects for the class. So some made sauerkraut, some pickled vegetables using lacto, you know, lacto fermentation. Some did make beer. Some did make cheese and yogurt. So it wasn’t just limited to beer.” 

It wasn’t until 2023 that he got the job as an instructor at OSU, he says, “so a little over two years ago, I come to OSU, and a very popular class had already been created, and the creator of the course had recently passed away.” 

“The person who created History 417, the you know, the history of beer and brewing, is a now deceased professor at OSU. His name was Kendall Staggs.” 

Bawden says, “I didn’t know Kendall, and in fact, I taught this class in the fall. I’ve taught this class 10 times.” 

“I’ve taught this class a lot, and in the course of teaching the class, I’ve had a lot of students come up to me and say, ‘Well I took World History. I took American history from Kendall Staggs, and this was his baby. He was fascinated by beer. He was a home brewer. He knew people in Portland who had been very, you know, very much so involved in developing beer culture in Oregon.” 

He goes on to talk about how Staggs had a connection with an important figure within the history of American brewing by the name of Fred Eckhardt. Eckhardt was an influential beer writer who has now passed away but many of his works can be found within OSU’s archives. 

Bawden says that, “OSU is special in the United States because it has a dedicated archive to the history of hops and brewing.”

He goes on to emphasize the importance of the Valley Library’s archive, and in particular an archivist by the name of Tiah Edmunson-Morton, “she collects all kinds of materials related to the history of beer and hops in the Pacific Northwest … she’s someone who goes and interviews brewers and collects information about the history of beer and brewing in Oregon, but also the region. She goes up to Washington periodically and talks to those folks.” 

“So I hope what I’m sort of giving you a sense of right now is, yes, I teach a class about the history of beer and brewing, but many people who came before me, one, it was Kendall Staggs who created the class. And then you have Tiah who is, you know, an archivist dedicated to, preserving the history of beer and hops.” 

Bawden gives a brief overview of the history of beer, he says, “the Cascade hop was created in 1973 at Oregon State, and this is one of the most important ingredients in craft beer.” 

“There’s many different kinds of hops that are used in craft beer, but the Cascade Hop was developed at Oregon State, and it is a very distinctive hop. It has a very robust flavor profile, let’s call it.” 

Bawden goes on to explain that, “this is a class where you will receive an overview of the history of beer going back to the ancient world.” 

He says that the class will look at the tradition of brewing in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, the Medieval period, as well as the monastic tradition of brewing. 

“I assign a book, an academic book, about Medieval England and what was happening during this transition, when increasingly women are not brewing the beer, it’s increasingly men who are doing it in large breweries with hops.”

Bawden explains that, “the big enchilada of the course is the research paper … They select their own topic, and then I’m advising them, right? I’m advising them about, you know, how to approach their research question, how to find the sources, how to properly footnote the paper. It’s all thing that you’ve probably done in someone’s class.”

Bawden goes on to emphasize the research paper, saying, “I think that that’s the value added. In my opinion, one of the most important things students do is they do their own research about the history of beer and brewing.” 

He says, “when you’re doing your own research, you’re using materials that, in some cases, are only available at OSU. Now that doesn’t mean most students write a paper using the archive.” 

“And then the last thing I wanted to mention about the class is I take the students to the pilot brewery on campus.”

Bawden goes on to talk about how at Wiegand Hall, which is where food science majors take classes learning about food engineering and how to make beer, is the place where the Piolet brewery is, and he takes his students their for a field trip and get to meet with and talk with Jeffery Clawson.

Bawden speaks about Jeff Clawson who has been running that facility for a long time, and students even get to make things like yogurt, ice cream, and cheese, and students can even go over there, get and try the ice cream for themselves. 

He says, “that’s really what I want you to know about the class is students become aware of this archive that’s on campus. They become aware of this pilot brewery that’s on campus. They get the history of beer from me, which is a traditional history. They read articles, you know, they do a reading every week. So they’re reading about the history of beer, but I think the research paper is where they do something that’s special. It’s what makes the class special.” 

Bawden emphasizes that, “Tiah, the archivist, is very important to the class, and the students meet her, and they visit, you know, her at the library, and get to know a little bit about, you know, whether or not they use the archive, I want them to know it exists and OSU is special.” 

He says, “this is not something that every university has, you know, a pilot brewery.” 

To learn more about John Bawden, any of the people mentioned, or reach out to the archivist or director of the pilot brewery, check out the links below:

John Bawden’s Personal Website/Profile  

Kendall Stagg’s in Memoriam Page 

The Valley Library’s Oral History Page about Fred Eckhardt 

Contact for Tiah Edmunson-Morton the Archivist 

Contact for Jeffery Clawson the Director of the Pilot Brewery