Tuesday August 24, 2010 marks the 14th anniversary of Alameda Brewhouse. The Beaumont Neighborhood brewpub has been a staple for craft beer zealots since its inception in 1996. Located on Southeast Fremont Street at 47th Avenue, the pub has championed great beers like the award winning Black Bear XX Foreign-style Stout and recently the El Torrero IPA and the Yellow Wolf Imperial IPA, a both true West Coast renditions of the style formulated by current lead brewer Carston Haney who has been in charge of brewing at Alameda since 2008. Other imaginative beer styles that Haney has executed well include a unique Cascadian Farmhouse Ale, a peppery and effervescent beer brewed with Upright Brewing’s French Saison yeast and dry-hopped with copious amounts of high alpha American Palisades; and the Irvington Juniper Porter, a chewy brew with lots of chocolate malt and black strap molasses to give it a hearty underbelly. A hint of juniper blends adds to the chocolate to give it new and unique flavor.

For Alameda’s special day, in addition to their stellar line-up of year-round beers, look for the return of the Cascadian Farmhouse as well as a Grizzly Bear Imperial Brown Ale and a brand new Cascadian Dark Ale (Black IPA). All these beer for $1.40 ALL DAY!

Alameda Brewhouse is located at 4765 NE Fremont Street in Portland, Oregon. Look for the giant metal hop out front or call (503) 460-9025 for more information.

Posted under Oregon beer, beer events, brewpubs, places to drink beer

We continue with our interview with Stone Brewing Company co-founder/owner Greg Koch. In this concluding episode, Koch talks about the ever-expanding San Diego beer scene, his take on American Style India Black Ales (Cascadian Dark Ales, Black IPAs what have you), making beer mustard in an ethically challenged world, staying humble, beer media, and future releases coming down the pipeline as well as future collaborative efforts.

Posted under Beer personalities, beers on film

The fireweed is blooming and the leaves are starting to fall in Alaska, and on September 1, Alaskan Brewing Co. will release Alaskan Double Black IPA – a versatile and powerful brew built to face the coming season head on.

“It looks like a porter, drinks like an IPA and has the kick of an imperial stout,” says Alaskan Production Manager Dave Wilson. “We always challenge ourselves to showcase balance in our beers, and with so many big and bold flavors, this beer took that challenge to a new level.”

Alaskan Double Black IPA is the latest in the Brewery’s Pilot Series of limited-edition specialty beers. The new brew features a combination of beer styles, with a flavor profile most similar to an Imperial IPA and the dark black color and rich flavors usually found in heartier stouts and porters. Brewed with an array of dark malts, Alaskan Double Black IPA features the distinctive flavors of coffee and bitter chocolate with a subtle toasted sweetness. Large Cascade and Centennial hop additions late in the boil, and dry-hopping after fermentation, lighten and refresh the overall perception and flavor of the beer. It finishes with a dry palate and lingering citrus bitterness.

There has been a lot of discussion as to what to call this emerging beer style – “Cascadian Dark Ale,” “Black IPA,” and “American-style India Black Ale” are just a few of the names being used. “We’re not sure where it fits within traditional beer styles,” says Wilson, “Or if it fits at all, but it’s dark and hoppy and unexpectedly smooth.”

Alaskan first released their Double Black IPA as a “Rough Draft” for the 2009 Great Alaska Beer & Barley Wine Festival in Anchorage. “We didn’t really know what to think of it then, but we knew we really wanted to have it again.”

Alaskan Double Black IPA is the second release in the Brewery’s “Pilot Series,” a rotating collection of distinctive brews packaged in 22 oz bottles that has included Alaskan Baltic Porter, Alaskan Raspberry Wheat and will include a new release of Alaskan’s World Beer Cup-winning Barley Wine in December 2010. These and all of Alaskan’s specialty release beers are available in limited quantities throughout the western states. Stay tuned to AlaskanBeer.com and facebook.com/AlaskanBeer for updates and information about new releases and what is happening with the Alaskan Brew Crew.

Posted under beer releases

Pyramid Breweries announces the third offering in the Ignition Series – a line up of unconventional brews that set out to ignite conversation and satisfy the discerning palates of those looking for more beer in their beer – Discord Dark IPA.

A growing style in the Northwest, Dark IPA’s feature all the tasty attributes of a standard IPA, yet juxtaposed against a black malt canvas.  Discord is not short on character, with a prominent malt profile that meets up with the bitterness and hop presence from five different hops.  A variety of roasted malts provide color and flavor, yet this beer has a lighter body reminiscent of an IPA, not heavy like a porter or stout.

“Discord is a phenomenal interpretation of an emerging style, “said Mike Brown, Commissioner of Inspiration and Aspiration.  “The Ignition Series has been great for our brewers to showcase their creativity as we explore a range of styles and new beers that are brewed to turn it on.  Barbed Wire and Outburst were very well received and we’re extremely excited about the release of Discord. It’s a great beer.”

Discord Dark IPA powers in as the third offering in a successful series of draft-only Ignition beers.  Leading the charge with Barbed Wire Imperial Hefeweizen and Outburst Imperial IPA, the Ignition Series continues to impress and surprise the palates of consumers looking for new and challenging tiers of exploration beyond Pyramid’s year-round and seasonal offerings.

Discord will be available from August – October, or until the kegs are gone, whichever comes first.  An additional Ignition Series beer, Super Snow Cap, has been added to the line-up and is scheduled to carry the Series from November throughout the rest of the year.

DISCORD DARK IPA
Availability:        August – October
Style:            Dark IPA
Malts:            2-Row, C-80, Munich, Black, Carafa II
Hops:            Nugget, Centennial, Mt. Hood, Amarillo, Simcoe
ABV:            6.5%
IBU:            69

Production will be limited to 100-barrell batches per Ignition Series release.  These big beers with limited availability can be explored at the Pyramid Alehouses and select better beer bars in Seattle, WA, Portland, OR, and San Francisco/Bay Area, CA.

Posted under beer releases, press releases

Boulder, CO—The Brewers Association recently released its 2010 Beer Style Guidelines. Updated annually, the guidelines currently describe 140 styles of beer.

For 2010, American-style Imperial Porter, American-Style India Black Ale, Belgian-Style Quadrupel and Fruit Wheat Ale or Lager categories were added and defined, reflecting the emergence of these styles as popularly available in the U.S. and other beer-drinking countries.

Since 1979 the Brewers Association has provided beer style descriptions as a reference for brewers and beer competition organizers. The beer style guidelines developed by the Brewers Association use sources from the commercial brewing industry, beer analyses, and consultations with beer industry experts and knowledgeable beer enthusiasts as resources for information. Much of the early work was based on the assistance and contributions of beer journalist Michael Jackson.

“These guidelines help to illustrate the growth of craft brewers in the United States and also offer insight and a foundation for helping appreciate the hundreds of beer types brewed for the beer lover,” said Charlie Papazian, president of the Brewers Association.

The style revisions and additional styles will be used as the basis for the 2010 Great American Beer Festival? competition. The 2010 Beer Style Guidelines are available for download in the Publications section of BrewersAssociation.org.

Posted under press releases

Today Deschutes Brewing announced the release of three specialty beers from their Reserve Series and Bond Street Series. These beers, in addition to being available on draught, will also be on shelves in handsomely packaged 22-ounce bombers.

Hop in the Dark Cascadian Dark Ale: Released this month, this dark and citrusy black IPA (that’s what a CDA is if you still aren’t aware) will be the latest in Deschutes’ Bond Street Series. The complex flavors of boisterous aromatic and bitter hops coupled with a mild almost minty roast makes this beer suitable for any season. But it won’t be around for ever. Available in bottles in all 15 states where Deschutes is sold, Hop in the Dark was also flowing on tap at the Portland pub a few days ago when we stopped in for lunch.

Black Butte XXII: What started as a wonderful experiment for Deschutes’ 20th anniversary two years ago has turned into a perennial favorite within the brewery’s Reserve Series. Releasing on June 27, you will find this notably bold dark and robust chocolate and coffee brew on select draught and in waxed dipped 22-ounce bottles. This year’s beefed-up rendition of Black Butte offers a unique twist from the first two years’ releases. Generation XXII melds cocoa nibs, dark chocolate, and orange peel, and chilies all aged in bourbon barrels to create what they call a “masterpiece of creative brewer whimsy.” Look for specials and fun festivities at Deschutes’ anniversary events in both Bend and Portland.

The Dissident: We know it is still early yet, but we can’t stop thinking about this out of this world wild ale due out in September. Spending eighteen months in isolation to assure its favorable funkiness doesn’t infect the rest of the brewhouse, The Dissident, a Flanders-style brown ale, will surely have the craft beer world buzzing. Deschutes’ only wild yeast beer so far, brettanomyces and lactobacillus impart its characteristic sour taste. Lavished with whole western Washington cherries picked out personally by brewmaster Larry Sidor, The Dissident is, according to Deschutes, “the brewery’s wildest, most expensively pampered beer.” From our perspective, the last release of this special brew was one of the best ever, and the label art was equally a artful.

Well, those are just a few beers at Deschutes to keep your your eyes peeled for down the road. The great thing about their two taprooms is you can usually find something new and interesting to sate your wondering palate. On our last visit we enjoyed a special N2 Theo Stout, a nitro pour of made with organic cocoa nibs used added to the brew kettle. From the Theo chocolaters, Deschutes brewers also melted Theo’s 74% chocolate directly into the finished beer. We also enjoyed a cask pint of their summer seasonally released Twilight Ale. A light, crisp, floral quaffer perfect for the warmer days ahead.

Posted under Oregon beer, beer news, beer releases

Recently we had the pleasure of delving into some new palate awakening brews. These fine ales were of the deep, dark, and hoppy persuasion, but not all could be stylistically considered as Cascadian Dark Ales according guidelines proposed by CDA proponent Abram Goldman-Armstrong (check out his panel review of CDAs in this month’s Northwest Brewing News). Here’s a look at some interesting hoppy black ales we’ve enjoyed recently.

Southern Oregon La Freaque: Here is an interesting beer brewed as a part of the KLCC Brew Fest collaborative series in which several brewers, mostly from the Central Willamette Valley, developed an imaginative Cascadian Dark Ale with a twist. This brew, like the others, employed a Belgian yeast strain in a complex and resinous CDA with a mild roast character. While many of these breweries like Oakshire, Block 15, and Ninkasi utilized rye malt in the recipe, SOB’s La Freaque did not. Brewmaster Scott Saulsbury said in a recent interview: “the recipe came from Jamie (Floyd of Ninkasi Brewing) and others in the Willamette Valley. It’s a high gravity, 8.2% ABV beer. We used Belgian La Chouffe yeast with dark malts, Munich, and Carafa III for the color.” Portlanders may have already noticed the beer in the market at spots like Belmont Station, Horse Brass, and The BeerMongers as a palate made its way north through Maletis Beverage Distribution recently. In total 12 barrels of La Freaque were brewed. This is the smallest batch possible on SOB’s brew system in Medford, Oregon. As for the flavor, Saulsbury adds: “The bitterness has mellowed some. It’s a tasty black ale with some moderateness. I was scared of using (La Chouffe) yeast at first, but the flavors came together nicely.”

Hop Valley Collaboration Brew: In conjunction with the aforementioned team of imaginative Oregon brewers, Hop Valley of Springfield, Oregon also produced a black ale using a malt bill guideline. This relatively unique beer, according to Brewmaster Trevor Howard had a 17 Plato, 76 IBU outcome and used five percent rye in the recipe. Howard says “We got the (Wyeast 3522) Ardennes yeast from Oakshire Brewing. We brewed a 15-barrel batch. Half was put into Pinot Noir barrels and is still aging on oak. The other half is on tap around Eugene and Portland.” In total about a dozen kegs were released. “I am pretty impressed by how this beer turned out” says Howard. “The style is hard to picture what the end result will be. I am not usually a fan of Belgian IPAs because the hops and yeast sometimes don’t work together well. However, this one came together well.” We concur.

Sockeye Double Gnarly: Labeled a “Double Black IPA,” this bold, black beer, pours a deep brown-black body with a soft tan head. Not available in the Oregon market, Sockeye is located in Boise, Idaho and makes some of the best beers in the state (Thanks to brewmaster Shawn Kelso of Barley Brown’s for the bottle). Brewmaster Josh King has an affinity for such complex, well-built beers. Gnarly has an assertive prominence of Northwest hops followed by a touch of dark roasted malts. This subdued yet prevalent dark malt roastiness proliferates as it warms providing a pleasant balance juxtaposed with the pine hop bitterness.

Stone/21st Amendment/Firestone Walker El Camino (Un)Real Ale: Yet another out of control collaboration beer spearheaded by the ballsy brewers at Stone Brewing of Escondido, California. You might figure impression of this beer would be as complicated as the name, but it remains rather balanced for an imperial hoppy black ale employing figs, chia, and fennel (let over ingredients from these breweries’ other one-offs?). This truly is a black ale–pitchy, dark, opaque, with a thin gray-tan head, there is obvious resinous hops and dark fruits in the nose. From big legs in the glass to a thick-0n-the-tongue mealiness punctuated by waves of Northwest hops. Piny and bold but tweaked with the spiciness of the fennel and the odd sweetness of the Mission figs. Like many of Stone’s big brews, this one starts a fight in your mouth. In other words, while there’s something to be said about complexity, this beer certainly has a lot going on and is certainly not for the faint of heart (or tongue).

Right about now, we could go for a nice Berliner-weiss.

Posted under Beer personalities, beer releases, beer reviews

Oakshire brewer Joe Jasper (left), founder Jeff Althouse pull O'Dark:30 from tank

TONIGHT! Monday March 15, 2010: OAKSHIRE O’DARK:30 Cascadian Dark Ale Release Party at Belmont Station from 5-8pm.

Join Brewmaster Matt Van Wyk and Founder Jeff Althouse and taste the new O’Dark:30 Cascadian Dark (Black IPA) brewed with dark malts, wheat malt, and a load of hops, now available in bottles. Also taste Watershed IPA and Overcast Espresso Stout. O’Dark:30 and a rare keg of Collaborative Evil’er (Belgian Golden Strong ale aged five months in Elijah Craig Bourbon barrel) on draft.

This past Friday, we attended an earlier release of O’Dark:30 at The Eastburn, where Van Wyk was also on hand. The new CDA is a stellar example of the emerging beer style marrying citrus and piny hops prevalent in Northwest IPAs with a robust mildly roasty malt character. Other prevalent styles of CDAs you can find around town include Hopworks Secession Black IPA and Widmer Brothers’ W ’10 Pitch Black IPA. Hopworks Ben Love was in attendance for the Eastburn release of O’Dark:30 where all proceeds from CDA purchases benefited the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Look for more more classic CDA styles to present themselves in the future.

At The Eastburn for O'Dark:30 release: (l to r) beer guru Preston Weesner, Oakshire's Matt Van Wyk, and Hopworks' Ben Love

Matt Van Wyk reminds us of the O’Dark:30: “Summer is fast approaching, so don’t put it off.”

For more from Oakshire’s blog, click here.

Belmont Station is located at 4500 SE Stark Street in Portland, Oregon. For more information call (503) 232-8538.

Posted under Oregon beer, beer events, beer news, beer releases, places to drink beer

Eugene’s Oakshire Brewing has received label approval for a new beer, O’Dark:30 Cascadian Dark Ale. Oakshire’s brew team will begin brewing this beer on Thursday February 11, 2010.  Unlike Widmer ’10 and Hopworks Secession, two other excellent commercial examples of the beer style to be recently released, Oakshire elected to make the leap and clearly label their beer as a Cascadian Dark Ale instead of a Black IPA.

Oakshire Brewmaster Matt Van Wyk the beer will be “Nearly jet black in color, and low to medium bodied, the beer is deceptive for sure. With aromas and flavors of Pacific Northwest hops interwoven against a subtle background of roast and chocolate flavors, this Cascadian Dark Ale is an ode to balance.”

Van Wyk adds “At Oakshire Brewing, we’re not claiming to have made the first dark and hoppy beer, we’re just supporting the movement to name this style properly. We hope that we can be leaders in helping people not only enjoy, but also understand ‘better beer’.”

Here’s some statistics:

OG 15 plato, IBUs 70, ABV 6.3

Malts: 2-row, Wheat, Carfa III

Hops: Nugget, Cascade

When we asked Van Wyk what he though about other breweries using Black IPA instead of Cascadian Dark Ale on their labels. He said “It is a tough situation for sure re-labeling. At the end of the day, you have to sell beer and the best way to do that is make sure the customer knows what they are getting. We didn’t go “all in” so to speak because we added “aka Black IPA” to the side. But, we do feel strongly that having a different name for this beer style is important and we were going to feature it prominently on this label. It’s pretty hard to help educate the consumer if the only place they can learn about CDAs is from a handful of beer writers and a little word of mouth. I can’t speak for other Pacific Northwest brewers and their decisions, we just know what this should be and as a company are going to stand behind the movement. Change is hard for people. But as someone told me repeatedly, ‘If it was easy, everyone would be doing it!’”
What sort of stuff do you guys have lined up for Zwickelmania?

More from Oakshire on this beer:

So we’re calling it A Cascadian Dark Ale. Yep, not scared. New nomenclature for a beer that’s has been made for a while. Customer confusion? Maybe for a little while. But you’ll all eventually come over to the Dark Side, right?

And because I couldn’t upload a bigger graphic without covering the whole screen, I’ll tell you what the verbiage is under the graphic:

“Dawn has not arrived, But we are awake-making beer. A tribute to Oregon’s brewers, O’Dark:30 is a beguiling blend of dark malt and NW hops-A beer style as unique as our heritage.”

Oh yeah, release date: March 3 is the scheduled date. Enjoy it all spring on draft and in bottles.

Posted under Oregon beer, beer news, beer releases

Here’s a video involving some discussion between Oregon brewers about the emerging Cascadian Dark Ale beer style. This took place at a symposium hosted by Abram Goldman-Armstrong at Belmont Station.

Brewpublic at the Cascadian Dark Ale Symposium from Brewpublic.com

The music in this clip is that of the Rendezvous String Band during their performance at Abram’s Robbie Burns party later that evening.

You can count on a much cleaner production of the CDA Symposium from Alison Grayson in the near future.

Posted under Beer personalities, Oregon beer, beer events