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Showing posts with label Brewer's Union Local 180. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brewer's Union Local 180. Show all posts

Friday, January 22, 2010

Fusion Beer

What happens when you take a dark rye ale and ferment with Ardennes yeast? Ted Sobel is experimenting:
The 2010 KLCC collaboration brew was brewed on Saturday. An interesting project for myself, as the recipe required three grains, three strains of hops, and a yeast that I've never used before. The ratios of the grains were predetermined, but the hop drops were up to each brewery. This is billed as a Belgian Cascadian Dark Rye Ale, and I was so glad the the brewers avoided the tragedy of calling it a Dark IPA....

If this turns out alright, it is possibly the first ever cask-conditioned Belgian Cascadian Dark Rye ale ever produced in a commercial brewery. Who knows.
Safe to say, Ted.

Though maybe for not so much longer. American brewing has really entered the "kichri" stage. (In India, kichri is a dish made with whatever small bits of ingredients are laying around.) At least for the irregular, specialty beers, brewers seem more likely to fiddle with tradition than not. It was just a decade ago when we exited a traditionalist stage--a reaction to the beginning era of craft brewing, when breweries didn't really know what they were doing. To prove their chops, American breweries were really trying to play it straight. (Less so on the West Coast, but even here, style was a big deal.)

Now we expect breweries to be able to brew to style. We're looking for novelty, something fun and different. Brewers, too, enjoy novelty (if for no other reason than it gets people like me talking). It's definitely a good time, though not a predictable one. Whether Ted's experiment will work is another matter. That Ardennes yeast is tough to work with. But from the many misfires or noble efforts, a few truly spectacular beers are bound to emerge. And with them, possibly, the styles of the next generation.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Honest Pints in Oakridge: Brewer's Union Local 180


Brewer's Union Local 180

Purveyor of an Honest Pint
48329 E. 1st Street
Oakridge, OR 97463
541-782-2024




As a good many of you have pointed out in emails and comments, the good folks down in Oakridge serve honest pints. They serve very, very honest pints. Not only do they substantially exceed the volume standard, but they meet the gold standard of having a clear line marking the 20 ounce liquid line. As a super extra bonus, the glasses are marked with a 10-ounce half-pint mark.

Brewer's Union serves their beer only one way--in what owner/brewer Ted Sobel no doubt things is the proper and only way--on cask. It is a terrible oversight on my part that I haven't been down to visit the brewery, but I hope to rectify that before the end of the year. An all-cask brewery is smack-dab in the center of my wheelhouse.

I am at least pleased to officially certify Brewer's Union Local 180 as a purveyor of an honest pint. Do better than I have and go have a nice pint of cask ale there.