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.”

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

On Tuesday night Barley Brown’s Brewpub of Baker City, Oregon made a rare appearance in Portland at a meet the brewer event at Belmont Station. Brewer Shawn Kelso and owner Tyler Brown were on hand to share some of their specialty brews from their four-barrel nanobrewery including a two year vertical of the Sled Wreck Winter Ale, an Imperial IPA, and an Imperial uber-hopped Cascadian Dark Ale. Following a successful trip to the Great American Beer Fest that landed Oregon’s Far Eastern pub two medals, the brewery has been making more of a presence in the Rose City. BB’s will also be participating in the forthcoming Holiday Ale Fest during the first weekend in December. Brewpublic was fortunate to sample the five brews available at the Belmont Station event and conduct a brief interview with Shawn Kelso whose passion for his craft and people is far from abstruse.

Two different versions of the Sled Wreck–an ‘08 and an ‘09. The ‘08 has a little bit of American oak character and some bourbon notes. How did this beer change?

Last time we left off in our interview with Rob Widmer, we were talking about Widmer’s relationship to Craft Brewers Alliance and Anheuser-Busch (now owned by In-Bev). Here we continue and touch on the history behind Widmer’s relationship with the Oregon Brew Crew and their Collaborator series. We also get some insight to the latest trends in craft brewing.

Perhaps the problem many craft beer folks have with large breweries like A-B is the marketing of their products. Obviously, business is the bottom line, but on one hand they slight craft brewers for producing foofy, hoppy, fruity, fancy beers, crazy brews. On the other hand offering alternative brands like Belgian wits, fruit beers, and a “craft” line-up under alternative labels like Michelob amber etc…