Cascadian Dark Ales Draw National Attention
This year, the Cascadian Dark Ale vs. Black IPA debate has been a hot topic among beer bloggers, writers, and beer enthusiasts across the country. Everyone has his or her own opinion of what the style should be called. And appropriately, there's perhaps no other region of the country where the debate has been discussed more than in the Pacific Northwest. Living in Portland, we are all too familiar with the argument.
But the discussion seems to have slowed in recent months. Perhaps it's because the frequency of CDA releases have slowed. Maybe we've exhausted the argument. Or, maybe we feel defeated because the Brewers Association decided not to formally adopt either name. Instead, the official name in the 2010 Beer Style Guidelines is American-Style India Black Ale.
Still, Cascadian Dark Ales continue to draw national attention. Last week, The Washington Post published the article, An Emerging Beer Style, CDA Marries Hops and Dark Malts. Interestingly, the tone of the article suggests that the CDA name is "gaining currency." In contrast to the Brewers Association's name choice, the article also states, in reference to the India Black Ale name, that "at least one brewery has had that term struck down by federal labeling authorities for not being an accepted style." Whatever the case, the article brings the Cascadian Dark Ale into the spotlight for readers across the country.
Photos: Camping & Beer
Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest at Scott Lake, OR
Deschutes Hop in the Dark at Scott Lake
Silver Moon Hop Knob IPA at Natural Bridge, Rogue River
Drink Beer, and help PSU students headed to Uganda!
As some of you know, my wife, Jessica, is part of a Portland State University student group heading to Uganda next week as part of a three-week field seminar studying International Community Development. And, as you may imagine, the cost of travel, tuition, and immunizations isn’t cheap. So before the group departs, they’re holding one last fundraising event – which doubles as a bon voyage party – at the newly opened Breakside Brewery in North Portland.
With the support of some generous local breweries, Scott Lawrence, one of Breakside’s owners, has agreed to open early on Saturday with some great beers on tap. Stop by between noon and 3:oopm, grab a pint (or two) and support the PSU student group as they prepare for this amazing opportunity. Featured beers will include:
An unlikely combination: Deschutes pairs bacon and beer with vegetarian dishes
Chef Jeff Usinoqicz introduces the Gateway dinner
Jeff Usinoqicz, Executive Chef at Deschutes Brewery's Portland Pub, called it a Gateway dinner. Before serving it last night, he discussed what gateway meant to him. Jeff talked about it as an unlikely or unexpected combination. That's exactly what we found in each of our five courses: vegetarian dishes paired with bacon and beer, each carefully prepared or selected to compliment the otherwise innocent plates.
While it was obvious that everyone expected more people to attend the dinner, the fact that Deschutes closed the brewpub to the public demonstrated a real commitment to serving those that did spend the $65 to enjoy the unique pairings. I appreciated Jeff's perspectives as a chef, but also thought the comments from Sheldon Marcuvitz of Your Kitchen Garden Farms and Jim Hansen of Carlton Farms really helped make the connection between the food, farms, and our tables. The vegetables were sourced from Your Kitchen Garden Farms and the bacon was sourced from Carlton Farms.
More on Spent Grain: Deschutes Brewery’s Focus on Sustainability
Over the last few months, I've learned that most responsible breweries have relationships with local farmers that allow them to upcycle spent grain as cattle feed. In my conversations earlier this year with Stephen Neel from Oregon Natural Meats about his relationship with Ninkasi, Stephen referenced Deschutes Brewery as another Oregon brewery that sends spent grain to local farmers. On a trip to the Portland pub shortly thereafter, I noticed that Deschutes' menu mentions the use of spent grain in the brewery's pizza dough as well. This prompted me to reach out to Deschutes to learn more about the brewery's spent grain program, and more broadly about the brewery's sustainability efforts overall.
After talking with Jason Randles, Marketing Manager at Deschutes, about sustainability, he sent me the following information about the brewery's efforts:
Zwickelmania 2010 Recap: Our tour of Portland
As breweries across the entire State of Oregon opened their doors for tours and tastings on Saturday for Zwickelmania, we decided to stay close to home and check out some of what Portland's breweries had to offer. With more than twenty breweries to choose from in the Portland area, charting our course proved to be a pretty difficult task. And while we didn't get to see everything we would have liked to, we did check out some great breweries, drink some good beer and talk with some cool people along the way. Our day looked something like this:
Lompoc 5th Quadrant
Cascadian: Emerging Styles Beyond Dark Ale
If you've been paying attention to beer in the Pacific Northwest over the past few months, you've likely tried or at least heard about Cascadian Dark Ales. As the debate continues about whether the beer style should be recognized as Black IPA or Cascadian Dark Ale, it's obvious that this issue has become a hot topic of conversation among beer drinkers. Personally, I'd like to see the style recognized as Cascadian Dark Ale. But with some breweries moving forward with Black IPA, it's difficult to tell if CDA will become a widely recognized and adopted style (check out some good CDA background info from Brewpublic here and here).
While some are quick to dismiss the style as a fad and others talk about it as an emerging style, I'd be willing to bet that the style is here to stay - regardless of what a brewery decides to call it. I'm actually hoping that some of my favorites in the style become more widely available year-round offerings.
As I think about this debate, and the discussion about Deschutes Brewery's use of Northwest to describe its Red Chair Pale Ale, the Cascadian Dark Ale discussion raises an interesting question: will the word Cascadian be used to describe new hoppy regional styles from the Pacific Northwest?
Around Town in Early February
With several beer releases this weekend, we were presented with no shortage of event options and new beers to try over the past few days. And while I didn't make it to all of the release parties and meet the brewers events that I would have liked to attend, I did manage to make my way around town to check out some of the new beers.
Double Mountain Porter a Go Go
Double Mountain Porter a Go Go, Deschutes Jubel, and Full Sail Collin’s Dark Secret
There's never a dull moment in the Portland beer scene, and the next several days are no exception. Here's a look at a few notable happenings around town to keep you busy:
Double Mountain Porter a Go Go
While Kyle Larsen gave us a heads up that Porter a Go Go was going to be released a couple weeks ago at Double Mountain's Hood River taproom, the beer makes its Portland debut tonight at EastBurn. While there isn't any information posted on EastBurn's website about the event, I did see this tweet from EastBurn and this blog post from Double Mountain promising $3 pints of Porter a Go Go from 6:00-9:00pm, and chance to meet the brewers and win some free stuff.
Double Mountain describes the beer as:
“You can’t get through winter without a nicely balanced, subtle porter. London Porters historically were the darker ales brewed for the working man, usually less roasty than their stout cousins. Our Porter combines chocolate and crystal malts balanced in the Double Mountain style, with whole-leaf Challengers in the hop back, and our Belgian house yeast. Moderate strength, so you can have a few. Brewed with organic Pilsner malt, chocolate malt and dark crystal malts, Summit and Challenger hops. 5.0% ABV, 32 BU.”
