Fred Eckhardt (1926- ) is an American brewer, homebrewing advocate and publicist. He writes about brewed beverages—beer and sake, and wrote the 1989 book, The Essentials of Beer Style. He is identified as a "beer writer,"[1] a "beer historian,"[2] and as a "beer critic."[3] He's a local celebrity in Portland, Oregon, which Eckhardt describes as "the brewing capital of the world."[4]
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He is nationally known as a "beer personality"[5] and as a "beer guru."[6] His success as a local character is the foundation for fame on a wider stage. A typical niche profile describes him as a "beer mensch:"
Eckhardt considers himself as an educator.[4]
Eckhardt has developed a national reputation as someone knowledgeable about American homebrewed beer. He is a featured lecturer and competition judge at "The Dixie Cup" in Houston, Texas. This annual event is the final competition in the series that determines
The Dixie Cup is one of the Qualifying Events for the Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing.[3]
Eckhardt writes articles on beer, brewing, and other miscellany in Celebrator Beer News and in All About Beer.[8]
Fred is a National judge in the Beer Judge Certification Program.
Eckhardt is an evolving advocate and publicist for American sake. Drawing on his experience in beer competitions, he created a set of guidelines for sake tasting competitions. He publishes a sake newsletter several times each year; and he authored Sake (U.S.A.): A Complete Guide to American Sake, Sake Breweries and Homebrewed Sake.[9] While the rest of the world may be drinking more sake and the quality of sake has been increasing, sake production has been declining in Japan since the mid 1970s.[10] The increase in American production for domestic consumption and export has been, in part, affected by the lower cost of rice compared with Japan; but other more difficult-to-analyze factors are important.
At present, sake brewing at home is not allowed under Japanese law. Eckhardt foresees that his book, which spells out how to brew sake at home, might reinvigorate sake consumption in Japan. His optimism is informed in part by the unanticipated expansion of micro-breweries in Oregon since the state law prohibiting them was repealed in 1985.[9]