Have you heard the news from Cascade Brewing? They’ve been bottling a deeply complex new Kriek. Plus, we’ve sampled brewmaster Ron Gansberg’s hops shoots that were harvested recently this late winter.

Since their inception in 1996, Seattle, Washington’s Elysian Brewing Company has continuously put forth some noteworthy brews. Beginning at their Capitol Hill location, three founders Dave Buhler, Joe Bisacca, and Dick Cantwell grew from simply a small brewpub to a kegging and bottling force throughout the Northwest and beyond.

Today, with three Seattle locations including a Tangletown pub in Seattle’s Greenlake neighborhood and the spacious Elysian Fields brewpub adjacent to the Qwest Field and Safeco Field, Elysian is reaching the palates and sparking the interest of beer lovers from all around the world.  Their line-up of beers includes six year-round favorites and eight seasonals. So far Elysian has brewed more than 60 different beers. This appears to be growing exponentially of late, as the brewery tries their hand in more and more off-the-wall brews. In 2008, Elysian made national brewing news when they agreed to team up with New Belgium Brewing of Fort Collins, Colorado. This was not a merger, but an amicable and symbiotic relationship that has thus far inspired more innovation from both parties. A statement from New Belgium’s blog puts it best:

“Both of our brewing teams will use each other’s brewhouses while remaining independent enterprises. We’ll be brewing small-batch creative and experimental beers in Seattle like the Lips of Faith series while getting closer to our customers in the fertile Pacific Northwest brewing scene. Elysian in turn will brew larger batches in Fort Collins and be able to handle growing distribution needs as their beers become available in new U.S. markets, like New York, which opened July 1st of (2008).”

In this effort, the brewers have “collabeerated” to put out three distinctly adventuresome brews known as “The Trip.”

Continuing in this same pioneering spirit, Elysian once again has put its best foot forward in a collaborative effort. This time is was in conjunction with Green Flash Brewing of Vista, California. Brewpublic spoke with Elysian’s co-founder and sales guy Dave Buhler at a special event at the Horse Brass Pub showcasing four of their exclusive beers, including this consanguinity of  Northwest and SoCal brewers known as Red Queen Saison.

“Chuck Silva (Green Flash brewmaster) and I were sharing a taxi from an event in New York at the Blind Tiger with Dick Cantwell (Elysian brewmaster)” said Buhler.  “Chuck’s beer was just into the Seattle market and we thought it would be cool if we collaborated.”

Green Flash brewmaster Chuck Silva

Both Elysian and Green Flash are well known for their line-up of floral hop-laden IPAs, but the Red Queen is nonesuch a brew. A hazy light orange-copper bodied specimen with a soft wispy whitish head, the nose of this saison is bursting with peppery, appley notes this beer is definitely not a hop head’s go-to beer. The spiciness and ciderous presence is not only imparted by the Westmalle Trappist yeast, but also the utilization of two types od Washington apples, Pink Lady and Braeburn varietals. Further, pink peppercorns and rose hips were added together to unleash magnificent aroma fit for spring. The flavor and especially the mouthfeel was quite dissimilar to most saisons. Lacking the carbonic effervescence of many Belgian-style saisons, the Queen was a balance of sweet fruitiness and toasty breadiness. Not cloying as might be expected, and certainly not tingling the tongue as sharply either. The alcohol is light and barely detectable and rose hips give a flowery bitterness very discernible from hops bitterness.

Buhler, who was also Rogue’s first sales person says the Red Queen was “on the get ‘er done timeline with the beers we’ve got now” and added “We were trying to develop a session beer.” He says that some of the offering Elysian has at the Fields location serve to capture the interest of light beer drinkers and to educate them. “We made an East Kent Golding for the Founder’s Soccer Fan” he said. “We also made a beer called the Men’s Room Ale for a local (Seattle) radio station.” The beer was brewed fro the Men’s Room Show, a popular schlock jock show on KISW. The beer’s proceeds were donated to charity. “If a Pils could be an ale, it would be this beer” Buhler said. “We used an ale yeast with Czech Saaz hops.” The beer finished at about 4% ABV.

Elysian Brewing co-founder Dave Buhler at the Horse Brass Pub

Other Elysian beers pouring at the Horse Brass included a chewy, malt-forward yet healthfully hopped Ambrosia Maibock, the floral seasonal hit, Avatar Jasmine IPA, and a boldy hopped Cascadian-style Prometheus India Pale Ale. Publican and Horse Brass founder Don Younger was on hand and a good time was had by all. We’ve yet to encounter a bad beer from Elysian. Thanks again, Horse Brass and Elysian! Cheers!

Brewpublic interviews Nick Arzner founder and brewer at Block 15 Restaurant & Brewery in the cellar of the old Gazette Times Printing Press where some dynamic barrel-aging is underway.

More from our cellar sampling:

Oregon Trail Brewery and Old World Deli in Corvallis, OR

Last weekend on our action packed travel to Corvallis, we learned that the college town was about more than just Oregon State Beavers and their prosperous Division 1 sports programs. The seat of Benton County, Corvallis is home to over 50,000 people as well as a thriving craft beer community.

Orange and black lights up the streets where the Beaver faithful seem to never waiver from cheering on their favorite school. In fact Oregon State University offers a Fermentation Science option that is approved by the Institute of Food Technologists program. In recent news, Indie Hops, an Oregon  supplier of aroma hops, donated $807,000 toward a new program for aroma hop research at the university in the College of Agricultural Sciences. In total, the hops merchant has provided over $1 million toward hops breeding and chemistry research. This is not only good news for OSU and Oregon, but it’s great news for much of the North American craft beer community.

Get your stunt liver primed for this coming Friday and Saturday, March 5 and 6. You’re gonna need it. Lucky Lab is hosting the thirteenth annual Barleywine and Big Beer Festival at their NW Quimby brewpub. The spacious setting is the perfect venue for such an event. In the leading city for craft beer, this brewpub isone of Portland, Oregon’s finest.

A recent tour of the cooler thanks to brewer Ben Flerchinger revealed nearly 60 beers waiting to be tapped. More are still on there way. According to the Lab technician, the average alcohol by volume of all these brews is 9.89%. Hot damn!

Check out the New School blog’s preview and picks for this year’s festival. There’s a list of the beers there, too.

The Barleywine and Big Beer Fest will occur at 1945 NW Quimby in Portland, Oregon.

One of the most affable craft beer personalities in Oregon is undoubtedly Jamie Floyd. The face of Eugene’s Ninkasi Brewing, Floyd’s passion for beer and people is infectious. These days it is seemingly unfathomable how much Ninkasi has grown from their start just a few years back. That is, until you spend a few moments talking with the company’s figurehead and the founding brewer who cut his teeth on Steelhead back in the 1990s. Always willing to spend time with friends and quaff a tasty brew, Floyd is undoubtedly one of the friendliest and most popular Oregon brew icons of recent history.

Brewpublic caught up with Jamie Floyd on a recent trip to the Emerald City and we were wowed by his brewery’s ongoing expansion that now includes a roughly 2000 square foot artsy office space and chic tasting space. On top of this the 30 barrel brewhouse with 100 barrel fermenters/brites is beefing up to facilitate around 32,000 barrels by the end of 2010 and making way for the possibility of cranking out around 90,000 barrels in the not too distant future as they are soon to install two 240 barrel fermenters sometime this month.

Tonight at Belmont Station Southern Oregon Brewing (SOB) founder Dr. Tom Hammond will introduce the brewery’s new labels and their Nice Rack IPA in bottles for the first time. Brewpublic recently visited Medford, Oregon with Green Bottling to help with this bottling. Other freshly bottled brews from SOB will include their flagship Pin-Up Porter, Woodshed Red, Pale Ale, Gold Digger Lager, and a phenomenal limited release 2008 Barley Wine featuring a blend of Wild Turkey and Jack Daniels barrel-aged brew. According to Belmont Station, SOB will have the Nice Rack IPA on draft this evening.

Brewpublic visits Eugene, Oregon to explore the beers of the Central Willamette Valley. Here we catch up with Oakshire Brewing, the humble brewers of delicious beer. Fresh off the heals of the beloved KLCC Beer Festival, we get a glimpse into the seasonal, specialty, and one-off beers thanks to brewery founder Jeff Althouse.

“This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields, to shake the towers and counsels of the Great.” -Elrond, from Lord of the Rings.

This past weekend Brewpublic made the journey south to Oregon’s second largest city, Eugene. In this “Emerald City” which is home to Oregon’s largest University and the birthplace of Nike, a thriving craft beer community is home to well known hot spots like Ninkasi Brewing, Rogue Track Town Brewery, McMenamin’s High Street Brewpub, and  Oakshire Brewing.

Portsmouth Brewmaster Tod Mott

Recently you may have read the New School Beer Blog’s post about the hype surrounding Russian River’s Pliny the Younger Triple IPA. To some, a highly sought after brew such as this should inevitably lead folks to extreme measures. For others, the hype repels those who believe firmly there are equal if not superior brews available that can be more easily obtained. Regardless of what your stance is on such a topic, there will continue to remain a fervent desire to possess such noteworthy specimens.

Relating to this sort of buzz for the next best beer, Portsmouth Brewery of Portsmouth, New Hampshire is preparing themselves for a whirlwind of beer geeks angling for their dibs on the brewery’s most anticipated brew, Kate the Great. Kate is an imperial stout that brewmaster Tod Mott has been making since his first days with the brewery in 2003. In 2007, Beer Advocate hailed the brew, named for Catherine the Great, a Russian Empress of the 18th Century, as the #2 beer on the planet, and the #1 beer in the United States. Mott, a humble brewer with a masters degree in ceramics, has brewed professionally with Harpoon, Commonwealth, Back Bay Brewing, Quincy Ships (where he was a founding partner) and, most recently, the Tap in Haverhill, where he designed and set up the brewing system. Many of today’s modern brewers in New England can thank Mott for his guidance in brewing and name him as an inspiration to their craft.