Double Mountain Bottled Kriek Beers Release

Over the past seven years Double Mountain Brewery has been conducting a “7 year experiment in fermentation, farming, cellaring, bottling and engineering” to bring to the public their now highly sought after Devil’s and Tahoma (The beer formerly known as Rainier) Kriek. Now these two excellent beers will be available in very limited run bottles for fans to enjoy wherever they choose.

On Saturday, Double Mountain Brewery is introducing a limited release of the first ever bottled Devil’s and Tahoma Kriek beers in custom designed 12.7oz split champagne bottles. The limited Kriek bottles are available for purchase at Double Mountain Brewery & Taproom in downtown Hood River on Saturday, February 8th upon their opening at 11:30am. Starting February 12th, a small supply of bottles will be sold in specialty bottle shops across the Pacific Northwest.

These Belgian-style sour Kriek ales combine the tart Brettanomyces wild yeast with fresh fruit picked from owner, Matt Swihart’s orchard up in Duke’s Valley, just 7 miles south of Hood River. The Devil’s Kriek is a Flanders Red-style Belgian ale that boasts 200 lbs of Bing cherries, while the lighter colored Tahoma Kriek (Tahoma is the Native American word for Mt. Rainier) utilizes the delicate Rainier cherry with a strong Belgian blonde ale.

The year that these cherries were grown, 2012, was a challenging year for growers. The region suffered a very wet spring and this delayed maturation of the fruit, but was good for flavor lovers. Since the cherries ripened at slower rate the sugar levels and color intensity was much higher, great news for this first time bottled sour beer.

When it came to bottling their Kriek’s, Double Mountain took the extra steps in designing a custom split champagne bottle to ensure quality with especially dark heavy-duty glass for best UV protection and to withstand secondary fermentation. The secondary fermentation gives the beer more carbonation, protects against oxygen ingress and adds more complexity to these flavor packed beers.

So are these two beers better on draft or in the bottle? Brewer/owner Matt Swihart goes on to state,

“I truly believe the krieks were destined to be best in the bottle. I have always pronounced draft beer as the best way to appreciate a beer, but I may disagree on these two beers. There will be some of you that age this beer. I want to be perfectly clear on this point- my goal is to age a beer to its perfection at the brewery and when it leaves the brewery, it is ready to drink. Having said that, this beer may improve with additional aging, it may not. There are live active yeasts (about a zillion of them) from the wild microflora on the cherry skins, and our house yeast, and Brettanomyces that will continue to work their magic. Should you choose to age the beer, please age properly, in the dark, at a constant temperature. I would recommend 40-50F as perfect.”

Only about 160 cases of Tahoma Kriek and 260 cases of Devil’s Kriek exist. Some cases will deliver to select, great bottle shops in Oregon, California, and Washington, but most will be sold directly from the brewery in Hood River. Opening day is February 8th, at 11:30am. Bottles will be $15 each, $180 a case of twelve, limited to one case of each per person. Better get there early!

2012 Devil’s Kriek
Bing Cherry Flanders Red-style Belgian Sour Ale
8.8% alcohol by vol, 14 bitterness units, 16.5 Plato
Brewed June- 2012; released July 2013, bottle release 2-1-14

2012 Tahoma Kriek
Rainier Cherry Strong Belgian Blonde Sour Ale
9.4% alcohol by vol, 13 bitterness units, 17.3 Plato
Brewed June- 2012; released July 2013, bottle release 2-1-14

Double Mountain Brewery & Taproom
8 Fourth Street
Hood River, OR 97031