Over the last few years the local craft beer community has looked forward to the release of the Pacific Northwest Beer Calendar from local HR company The Caputo Group. Produced every year since 2017, the wall calendar depicts some of Oregon’s brightest stars in fun, sometimes startling or dramatic images that make flipping each page a delight. The brainchild of longtime industry advocate Maude Haney and Hunter Caputo, this years wall calendar was organized by Haney and Charlie Brown, and photographed by Pints filmmaker Ryan Claypool. The 2021 PNW Beer Calendar is the first in it’s 5 year history to be readily available to the public, and it’s simple pleasures might just be the salve we need to recover from the PTSD inflicted by the year prior.

The Caputo Group has been organizing, sponsoring, and volunteering in the craft beer industry for many years while promoting their services in the way of consulting and administrative responsibilities. The PNW Beer Calendar is just one of many ways they have stayed involved, from partnering with the Oregon Brewers Guild and Portland Beer Week to producing the annual Chantrelles & Ales Festival in Parkdale with Solera Brewery.

The 2021 calendar was photographed during the pandemic, which naturally made things tricky. Last years calendar was filled with dramatic and lovingly staged presentations of brewers and their beers in almost austere living paintings. When most of us would likely throw in the towel and cancel this years calendar because of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the Caputo Group just paused to rethink the plan.

“Our original theme for this year would have relied on folks being very close together which obviously just wasn’t going to work,” says Maude Bowman-Haney. “We also where pretty sure that no one wanted to be constantly reminded of this stupid pandemic, aka a calendar full of folks with masks on.” 

This year they took the brewers out of the brewhouse and into the great outdoors, intimate but industrial portraits of last year were traded for majestic landscapes and beers enjoyed out in the wild.

“We live in such an incredibly beautiful area with such diverse and picturesque landscapes. By highlighting the natural beauty around us, being outside and with only one or two folks in the photo we were able to pull off a super sneaky Covid safe calendar. Honestly, I think this one might be my favorite! Ryan is such an amazing photographer. It’s just beautiful!!!” gushes Haney. It’s hard to disagree.

“Maude carried around a big spray bottle of sanitizer you'd find in a brewery that she got from her husband (a brewer). She would oftentimes be holding a reflector when I needed a little bounce light from the sun and in the other hand, holding the spray bottle, ready to ward off COVID from any surface we got touched. She's exactly the person you need on a pandemic-era photoshoot,” exclaims photographer Ryan Claypool.

Being outdoors was both liberating, and at the same time most challenging parts of making this years calendar. Haney worked with each brewery to coordinate the schedules, while Claypool researched and scouted locations. Google Maps provided a valuable tool in planning for the presumed weather and lighting at each photoshoot, a vital part of capturing the fun and expressive images. “It didn't always work out perfectly, but the ones that did really shine,” says Claypool.

Choosing the right lens to be able to capture the beauty of the scenery and not lose sight of the beer is also key. Claypool ended up choosing a Sony's 24mm f1.4 GM Prime lens for most of the photoshoots to strike the right balance.

“Finding a good focal length to get both big landscapes to show of PNW's beauty but be close enough to really feel the expressions and actions from the brewers in the photo was a constant balance for me. I love shooting wide and close, but needed to be respectful of the COVID precautions we put in place for the project.”

JANUARY / Coin Toss Brewing

McLoughlin Promenade | Oregon City, OR | 45.35360221813279, -122.61179518208445

Ryan Claypool: This was taken in a park that overlooks the waterfall area. The first day we arrived to shoot with Tim, the sky was very overcast and gray - typical Oregon winter sky and it didn't feel like it did Coin Toss or Oregon City justice. We called it off and rescheduled for another day after Tim ok’d the plan. Tim was great to work with.

FEBRUARY / De Garde Brewing

Bayocean Peninsula Park | Tillamook, OR | 45.52010255459163, -123.94729533586585

Ryan Claypool: During the entire drive from Portland to Tillamook, it was raining in sheets. I got nervous about half-way there and hoped to get a small window to shoot in with no rain. Folks who own and operate breweries are busy people and don't have a lot of time to spend waiting for the weather to clear. A week before the shoot we had a phone call with Linsey Rogers and we talked about potential locations that say something about who they are and where they live/make beer. Linsey took a few photos that night on her way home and texted them to me. I picked the resulting location to start out in. That morning we drove to the small strip of land between the Pacific Ocean and Tillamook Bay, it was still raining but cleared up a bit. We arrived at the location and just before we started, the clouds broke and the sun started shining through! These magnificent, fast moving clouds opened up, rolled through and my jaw just dropped. As quickly as I could, I helped pose Trevor and Linsey and started shooting, putting the sun 3/4's behind them and playing with backlight for different scenarios. I noticed a giant log about 100 feet away, which couldn't have been better placed. In the 30 minute window we ended up getting, I probably shot 150-200 photos, maybe more. The clouds just kept changing and their directionality/density rapidly changed, so I was trying to use clear portions of the sky to frame or separate the subject from the background, or direct eyes from different parts of the frame to others, etc... Everything changing so fast gave so many options and it was a dream shooting scenario. It was so much fun.

MARCH / Ferment Brewing

Columbia Gorge | Hood River, OR | 45.71619749654042, -121.51356788573183

Ryan Claypool: We had a very similar scenario with Ferment Brewing (as with De Garde), except instead of a rain-less window, we were up against a setting sun. We decided that going out on the small spit near the brewery on the Columbia River would give us really nice options. I really wanted to shoot every single location at golden hour, when the light is most pleasing, but doesn't last long. Here we got a sunset instead, after spending precious time deliberating whether to shoot from the outside seating area of Ferment or to head closer to the river. Personally, I think the sunset made for a moodier, more interesting shot.

APRIL / Fortside Brewing

Fort Vancouver National Historic Site | Vancouver WA | 45.62286001466943, -122.66396878391294

Ryan Claypool: We shot at Fort Vancouver in the morning for this one. We had fun trying a lot of different poses with Paul, his glasses and the can label. Maude had some great ideas here and we ended up going for a "What Would the Beastie Boys Do?" approach. Using the Fort's cool converging lines and a really wide and low angle made for some really cool posing opportunities. It helped having a brewer who knows how to have fun with photos, too.

MAY / Freebridge Brewing

Deschutes River State Recreation Area | Wasco, OR | 45.63354999937664, -120.90789593003532

Ryan Claypool: This location was super fun on the Deschutes River, near The Dalles. We had a hiccup in the plan... I knew I needed waders to get out into the river with Steve (who not only makes amazing beer but professionally guides fly fishing trips.) Maude's husband let me borrow his, but someone forgot to bring them along. I'm not naming names here.

Maude: Yes… it was me; I forgot the waders…

Claypool: Anyways, I arrived a little late to the scene and we had some short hiking to get to where we wanted to shoot. The sun had just begun setting over the river and being in the valley of the river, I didn't have much time to use the sun behind Steve for the classic fly fishing shot we all know and love. By the end of the shoot, I started playing with the idea of getting experiencial POV shots - trying to tell the story of what it would be like to be there, as a viewer, with Steve. I had seen photos like this before and added some to my vision board while I was planning the calendar shoot with Maude. I took so many high shutter speed photos of Steve and I clinking cans together to get a good pose/reaction and good looking beer spray coming out of the can. To stay in line with our COVID precautions, we heavily sanitized both our hands and the beer cans before and after and of course didn't drink from them after.

JUNE / Hammer and Stitch Brewing

Mocks Crest | Portland, OR | 45.554736830695454, -122.691231215916

Ryan Claypool: We had another potential location, but it wasn't as pretty. The morning had a dense layer of fog over everything, which thankfully we waiting out and I was able to use in the frame to give some cool contrast. The original photo, pre-crop, showed the NW industrial area of Portland a little more in the background, which has some grit to it - something that Hammer and Stitch and their crew embrace. I had an idea to create a floating effect with the beer to give a little action to the frame and hint at the "magic" in the can. How's that for cheesy? It took a handful of tries to get the can just in the right position.

JULY / Migration Brewing

The Canvas | Portland, OR | 45.52218485321036, -122.68989069530106

Claypool: We shot this at their rooftop location, wanting to show off the amazing scenery and their proximity to the TImbers stadium. The pre-crop image has a little more of the Portland skyline, too.

Maude: Kevin is now the former brewer, he has transitioned to another brewery. Fun fact: through dumb luck, we delivered the calendars and his beautiful photo on the day Migration celebrated his very Covid safe going away party!

AUGUST / Old Town Brewing

Pittock Mansion | Portland, OR | 45.5256486076171, -122.71511462129436

Ryan Claypool: The Old Town photo was shot near the Pittock Mansion and provided us with such a great view of the city. I was constantly battling focal lengths to get a blend of close-up expression from our brewery folks but also show off the landscapes we were in. I wanted to back up and use a telephoto lens to compress and bring the city behind him closer, but every time I tried, I found a new angle, put him and the sun where I wanted them to be, trying to use clear patches in the sky to separate the cans from the background - it always felt flat and too far away from his face. The resulting image was the best compromise I could make between all of these factors.

SEPTEMBER / Pelican Brewing

Cape Kiwanda | Pacific City, OR | 45.218251546091025, -123.97380083488557

Ryan Claypool: We shot this on the Oregon Coast, a short walk down the beach from the brewery. We shot the de Garde photos that morning and spent the afternoon on the beach, waiting for just before golden hour to shoot with Pelican. We wanted to show the obvious draw towards this part of the coast with Chief Kiawanda Rock. We started shooting on the beach, but ended up going into the reeds on the dunes above the beach to give more texture to the image and show off the windswept-ness of this area. The place that felt perfect in terms of framing also had a couple of dead seagulls down by our feet - presumably brought there by a coyote or something. We got in and out of there as quick as we could!

OCTOBER / Brewery 26

Mt Hood National Forest | Oregon | 45.331520285772235, -121.71033048580058

Ryan Claypool: We shot this up on Mt. Hood and had a lot of fun with the mountain in the background. Originally we wanted to get highway 26 in there for obvious reasons and had tried a few locations that we'd hope would give us a great shot of both. We couldn't find a quintessential "Mt Hood" view on the road. Finally, we tried a little lake Maude used to snowshoe around but that didn't pan out either. After running back to the cars, either Maude or Andy - said "Fuck it, let's try it ON the mountain." It was a no-brainer. We were racing against the sun going down but got there just in time for me to fire off enough photos to find the one.

NOVEMBER / Solera Brewery

Solera Brewery beer garden | Parkdale, OR | 45.51908555478541, -121.59545059447271

Ryan Claypool: This was the first shoot in the series. Parkdale is epically beautiful and Solera might have the best view in the house. Again, I was battling how I could make Mt. Hood pop in the background, include the surrounding orchards, old barn, general peaceful vibe of the property, but also get close enough to see Jason's similarly peaceful vibe/facial expression. We had only a small window before getting the gray cloud cover and rain following it. When I first started editing the photos, I tried to photoshop a different picture of Mount Hood into the photo you see here, to try to give it the same feeling of when you are at the brewery, but it just never looked authentic and we felt like it wouldn't ultimately feel right.

DECEMBER / Threshold Brewing & Blending

Mt Tabor Park | Portland, OR | 45.511999741501526, -122.59568521741366

Ryan Claypool: We had a general idea of where we wanted to shoot this photo but it took some time getting there. This was an uncommon bluebird day, which can be challenging to shoot in since there weren't any clouds to soften the sunlight. We tried a bunch of different things with Sara and Jarek. We did a lot of shaking up beer cans and spraying them using the sun to backlight the pretty beer droplets - but ultimately landed on creating a very Portland-summer feel - seeing the city in the background but surrounded by a beautiful park and nature. Sunshine and beer! The challenge with this was backlighting Sara and Jarek but getting enough return from a bounce to still see them enjoying their beer. Luckily most professional camera these days have enough dynamic range to lift the shadows in editing. Without that and Maude's reflector holding skills, they would have been totally silhouetted.

By now whether you are a brewing company or just a fan, you are probably asking how do I get into this calendar or get one for my wall. Well Haney has got an answer for you.

“We choose breweries very methodically with a very strict vetting process… Just kidding… it is more who gets back to me with a yes first! And obviously if you are a Caputo Group client, I save a spot for you. Seriously, if a brewery wants to be a part of the calendar, I’d love to hear from you! We are already planning for 2022.”

The Caputo Group is happy to produce these calendars for FREE, and in lieu of any shipping costs, please consider making a donation to The Oregon Brewers’ Guild or The Oregon Brewshed Alliance (Oregon Wild).

Quantities are limited and calendars will be sent out in order of request. Get one here: http://www.caputo-group.com/brewery-calendar/