Beervana (Portland nickname)

“Beervana” (beer + nirvana) is a nickname for the city of Portland, where brew-pubs are almost everywhere. Portland’s craft beer movement started in the 1980s and the “Beervana” nickname has been cited in print since at least May 1995.
 
 
Wikipedia: Nicknames of Portland, Oregon
Beervana
A portmanteau of “beer” and “nirvana,” Portland has more brewpubs per capita than any city in the United States. (Also see Beer in the United States and Oregon beer and breweries.) There are six Portland entries in “America’s 100 best beer bars: 2012” from Draft Magazine, more than any other city.
       
Google Books
May 1995, Orange Coast Magazine, pg. 55:
“They call Portland ‘Beervana’ because there are brew-pubs (Pg. 56—ed.) everywhere. There are sleazy-bar brewpubs, upscale brewpubs, dive brewpubs, and they’re not in competition.”
 
Google Books
The Brewpub Explorer of the Pacific Northwest
By Hudson Dodd; et al
Medina, WA: JASI
1996
Pg. 39:
Portland - Beervana of the Northwest
The Williamette Week refers to Portland reverently as “Beervana.” The Oregon Brewers Guild calles this city “Munich on the Willamette.”
   
Google Books
How to Talk American:
A Guide to Our Native Tongues
By Jim Crotty
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company
1997
Pg. 261:
Beervana: Portland. This fine city, not Seattle, gave birth to the national microbrew scene. Aka “Brewtopia” or “Munich on the Willamette.”
   
OCLC WorldCat record
Travels with barley : a journey through beer culture in America
Author: Ken Wells
Publisher: New York : Free Press, ©2004.
Series: Wall Street journal book. 
Edition/Format:  Book : English
Summary: “Travels with Barley is a tour through the precincts of the beer makers, sellers, drinkers, and thinkers who collectively drive the mighty River of Beer onward. The heart of the book is a journey along the Mississippi River, from Minnesota to Louisiana, in a quixotic search for the Perfect Beer Joint - a journey that turns out to be the perfect pretext for viewing America through the prism of a beer glass.”—BOOK JACKET
Contents:
(...)
Chapter 17 The Final Diversion: At Last, Beervana, Portland, Ore. 238—
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Beervana
Author: Beth Harrington; Lisa Suinn-Kallem; Cal Scott; Oregon Public Broadcasting.; Oregon Historical Society.
Publisher: Portland, OR : Oregon Public Broadcasting, ©2007.
Edition/Format:  DVD video : English
 
Oregon Public Broadcasting—Oregon experience
Beervana
Premieres Monday, November 5, 2007 at 9pm on OPB TV
About the Program
“Beervana” was a phrase coined in Oregon to describe the burgeoning craft beer movement that had taken hold here in the 1980s. And indeed, it’s an apt description, as those who are actively involved in the beer community think of it a near-religious experience to make and enjoy well-made brew.
 
But Beervana also describes the transcendent union of climate and environment which makes Oregon the home to great hops growing and affords the brewmasters the highest quality water.
 
These forces made it possible for early immigrant braumeisters to come to this place and succeed making a product that legions of thirsty workers would enjoy as they shaped the place we now call home.
   
OCLC WorldCatrecord
PORTLAND, OREGON - THE BEER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD? PART TWO: WIDMER BROTHERS - A LARGE REGIONAL CRAFT BREWERY IN `BEERVANA’!
Edition/Format:  Article : English
Publication: SCANDINAVIAN BREWERS REVIEW, 67, no. 6, (2010): 26-29
Database: British Library Serials