As part of its 30th anniversary this year, Bend, Oregon’s Deschutes Brewery reached out to past brewers to collaborate on seven new beers. I’m highlighting each of these beers in a blog post each day leading up to the brewery’s anniversary on June 27.

Schwarzbier

Description: 30th Anniversary Collaboration with Bell’s Brewery (package and draught). Tim Gossack was the head brewer at Deschutes Brewery in the early nineties during a time of major expansion and remembers the days of hauling grain and loading kegs by hand. “I was lucky to have launched my brewing career at Deschutes Brewery, and it was there that I grew my love of beer and brewing” said Gossack, production manager at Bell’s Brewery. Schwarzbier is a recipe based off of Thunderhead Schwarzbier, a beer he brewed during his time at Rio Salado Brewing Company in Tempe, Arizona. Gossack worked with Deschutes Brewery’s Assistant Brewmaster, Ryan Schmiege, to create this beer that combines a chocolatey‐coffee export stout with the drinkability of a lager.

Beer Geek Information:  6% ABV | 30 IBUs
When: Fall 2018 release
Where: Available anywhere Deschutes is sold

Tim Gossack was instrumental in building out Deschutes’ production brewery in 1992-3 after John Harris left. Gossack himself left in 1996 to open Rio Salado Brewing.

Brewer Quotes

Tim Gossack, Bell’s Brewery

“Deschutes Brewery launched my career in brewing and I have been forever grateful to have worked there, hired as the third brewer, after John Harris and Mark Vickery. I was hired in 1990 for my science background and cursory knowledge of beer brewing and beer styles. But, I think I was truly hired for my strong back and hardworking farmer boy background. I could shovel mash, move full kegs and carry two bags of grain up the stairs at a time!”

Almost all of these anniversary collaboration beers will be on tap at the Brewery’s Party in the Park on Saturday, July 30. (I’ve since learned that the Paul Arney and Mark Vickery collaborations will be out later this year.)