The Brew SiteNews from the Raccoon Lodge
Received the email newsletter from the Raccoon Lodge Brewpub (also Cascade Brewing—not to be confused with Cascade Lakes Brewing), and I thought this was interesting to share:
We have literally a ton of Bing cherries and another 2,400 lbs of sour pie cherries fermenting in barrels. You can see them bubbling out of the bung – Brewmaster Ron says the beer is talking to him. These will make wonderful base beers for our award winning Cascade Kriek Ale.
We’ve also processed more than one ton of apricots for our Apricot Ale. The base beer on the apricot has been aging for six to eight months, and we are thrilled with the flavor so far. We’ll keep the fermentation temperature very low for the apricots to maintain the wonderful aromatics of the fruit. Brewmaster Ron thinks this may be the best Apricot Ale to date, but you’ll have to wait to find out – the Apricot and the Kriek will both age until next April or May.
I’ve only ever had the Razberry Wheat from Raccoon/Cascade, but the Apricot Ale is said to be transcendent.
And check out this beer, as cutting-edge as anything I’ve heard of lately:
We’re really excited to talk about our Bourbonic Plague. This beer defines style – it started as a Belgian Spiced Double Porter, and has been aging and souring since February in bourbon barrels filled with dates. This is a hearty beer, and at 11.5% abv, it will keep you warm on winter nights.
Apparently it’s been bottled, so I’m hoping that means I’ll be able to procure one somehow…
Finally, they have an “Autumnal Prequinox Celebration” coming up:
The event will take place on Sept. 19 from 3 to 9:30 pm on the back patio. We’ll be debuting our Autumn IPA and serving up slow roasted chicken, corn, potatoes and sausages. Brewmaster Ron’s group Black Lodge will provide Bluegrass music.
That’s on a Saturday. Road trip?
Those guys are pushing it like no one I know. They are blowing out creativity way past my previous front-runners like Russian River, DFH, and Lost Abbey. I had one of their beers at the Portland Int’l Beerfest a couple of years ago, and it was spectacular. Would love to get a line on that Bourbonic Plague. Insane! Thanks for the post on these guys, Jon. I don’t know much about them, and love hearing anything they’re up to.
And this year’s vintage of the Kriek is transcendently good. Perhaps better than last year’s apricot. FWIW, there’s really two breweries there–or a brewery with two personalities. The Rac Lodge has long been a place to find easy-drinking ales, some excellent, but none outside the box. Then there’s Gansberg’s sour laboratory, where he produces nothing that you could put in a box. If you’ve only ever had the Rasberry Wheat, you haven’t had the sour lab beers. So definitely check it out!
Hi Jon,
FYI, the Bourbonic Plaque was bottled specifically to send to GABF – it won’t be bottled for the general public for a couple more months as it continues to age. Once it’s ready, we’ll send out the info. Thanks!