Deschutes Brewery Releases 2021 Jubelale & Cherries Jubelale

As Twilight Summer Ale fades away from store shelves, Deschutes Brewery is happy to announce the return of its popular winter seasonal beer, Jubelale. The Bend based brewery will also release Cherries Jubelale, a barrel-aged imperial winter warmer.

Now in its 34th incarnation. Jubelale was the first packaged beer from Deschutes Brewery dating back to 1988. This year the beer will also be packaged in 12-pack, 12oz cans for the very first time that’s perfect for any upcoming holiday parties.

Jubelale is one of the oldest seasonal beers in the Pacific Northwest and continues to attract new fans each fall and early winter. This winter ale is brewed with a malt bill off Crystal, Extra Special, Carapils, and Roasted Barley to bring forth a robust malt character of toffee and dusted cocoa. The brewer’s use of Bravo, Cascade, Delta, Tettnang, and East Kent Goldings Hops brings forth spice notes. Jubelale sits at 6.7% ABV and 65 IBUs.

The packaging for the 2021 release of Jubelale features original artwork created by Stephanie Littlebird Fogel. She joins the dozens of other artists that have come from the Oregon art community. Each year since the early 1990s, Deschutes has commissione a local artist to create an original piece for this celebratory winter warmer.  Since then, Jubelale has been coined a “festive winter ale” and craft beer fans anticipate its release each year to welcome the new season with a fresh package design.

This year Deschutes implemented a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) audit which identified an opportunity to become more inclusive in the brewery’s search for the next Jubelale artist. The audit broadened the artist selection process by asking which artists had been invited in in the past, and if the method could be improved for the future.

Deschutes founder Gary Fish has always been close to the artist selection process. “This is a fine art project, not a graphic art project.” Gary said. “The process is a vehicle to showcase our local Oregon artists and artists clamor for this opportunity, but during selection we never knew who the artists were, we only looked at their portfolio and chose from their work.”

Looking for help in the community, Deschutes connected with friends at Caldera Arts. Caldera partners with artists to drive cultural and social change and they were generous to provide guidance on the artist selection process. This year the selection process was extended to include community members and Caldera Teaching Artists Mindy Stutzman and Mosley WOtta. The artist-brewery panel selected Stephanie Littlebird Fogel to design a piece for this year’s packaging.

Fogel is a Contemporary Indigenous Artist and member of Oregon’s Grand Ronde Confederated Tribes. Well-known and active in the Northwest art community, Fogel earned her degree in Painting and Printmaking from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, recently completing her residency program at Caldera.

“When I worked downtown in the Pearl District, I used to visit the Deschutes Brewery pub for lunch, so the brand really reminds me of laughter with friends and collaborators,” Fogel said about the project. “Working in collaboration with Deschutes Brewery was an amazing opportunity to translate my colorful style into a label design that reflects the magic and wonder of the winter season. We chose the moon as “subject” for the design and I wanted to depict that reflective, sparkling energy that can only be experienced on a snowy evening.”

Fogel creates art to inspire people to connect with nature and through her vibrant winter scene on this year’s Jubelale design, used her signature use of striking colors and pattern for an eye-catching package on the shelf using acrylic paints on a wood panel.

“We were very excited about this approach in our artist selection and hoped for something new and different this year,” said Veronica Vega, director of product development and part of the artist selection at Deschutes. “Steph’s wintery landscape painting invites you to remember full moon moments in the snow when magic drifts between the trees and twinkles. You can almost hear the beautiful stillness of the winter forest.”

As Bend legend has it, the winter scene on the packaging reflects how big the Central Oregon winter will be. With Fogel’s design, it’s shaping up to be a great winter. Stephanie Fogel’s work can be found on her website at stephlittlebird.com or Instagram handle @artnerdforever.

In addition to Jubelale, Deschutes will also release Cherries Jubelale. This new take on the beloved Super Jubel receives a dessert-inspired twist with the addition of cherry and vanilla to its rich barrel-aged malty decadence. Barrel-aged in wine, the beer brings in the flavors of Jubelale, but with added strength and complexity from barrel aging. Available across the Deschutes distribution footprint in early November in 4-pack, 12oz bottles at $11.99.