The Brew SitePictures from last weekend’s Zwickelmania in Central Oregon (and the official beer)
Yes it’s been a week since Oregon’s statewide brewery open house took place, but here’s a look back at the Zwickelmania stops we made here in Central Oregon—in pictures. And, I’ve got a review of this year’s official Zwickelmania collaboration beer at the end.
Cascade Lakes Brewing (Redmond)
This year was the first time ever that Cascade Lakes opened up its production brewery in Redmond, and my first visit there. Head brewer Ryan Schmiege was on hand with samples of an all-pilsner malt, Lotus-hopped pale ale which was quite tasty, and we got to see the brewery up close. Apparently Cascade Lakes is transitioning to all cans this year, and will no longer bottle their beers (barring possible special or limited releases).
Wild Ride Brewing (Redmond)
Zwickelmania at Wild Ride is always fun. As in previous years, there is a beer and cookie/candy pairing (with Girl Scout cookies, Laffy Taffy, and Gummy Worms), zwickel sample pours, and more. The zwickel beers being sampled were Hippy Haze IPA, about 70% fermented and pre-dry hopped, and a new Irish stout that is a collaboration with the Redmond library.
Porter Brewing (Redmond)
Redmond’s all-cask brewery was open with sample cask pours of Bitter, and showing off the new upstairs game room/pub space. Incidentally, Porter recently announced that there will be a second location opening in Bend, targeting an early summer opening.
Silver Moon Brewing (Bend)
Back to Bend to visit the downtown Silver Moon brewpub. Silver Moon was pouring beers samples, including the new Raspberry Nights Raspberry Porter, and offering up free fries which were really good. Bonus, I left with samples of beer to review for an upcoming article.
Bend Brewing Company production facility (Bend)
It’s always interesting to see the production breweries that aren’t generally open to the public, so we opted to come to BBC’s brewery rather than stopping by the downtown pub. Head brewer Zach Beckwith was on hand with samples of Spot Market IPA and Barrel-Aged Trade War Export Stout.
Craft Kitchen and Brewery (Bend)
Literally across the street from Bend Brewing, Craft Kitchen was pouring samples and gave us a tour of the small, 3.5-barrel brewery. We sampled a Barrel-Aged Cherry Wheat Wine which was nice. Also of note, there are Grundy fermenters in use at Craft; the only other place I know of that’s using those (at least locally) is McMenamins.
Bridge 99 Brewery (Bend)
Final stop of the day was also nearby at Bridge 99. I hadn’t been there since the new, automated 15-barrel brewery came online, and brewer/owner Trever Hawman showed us around. Super impressive!
State of Excitement IPA (review)
Here’s that review I promised. This year’s official collaboration beer, State of Excitement IPA, is a west coast-style IPA that 30 breweries from around the state got together to brew. The beer was brewed at Deschutes Brewery in Portland, and Breakside Brewery designed the label; available in 16-ounce cans, proceeds from the sales benefit the Oregon Brewers Guild. Wild Ride was one of the official participating breweries so we purchased a four-pack of the beer while we were there.
State of Excitement is 6.7% ABV with 75 IBUs. The hops used were Stata, Amarillo, Simcoe, and El Dorado, and this can was packaged on February 7.
Appearance: Golden orange color and an unfiltered hazy appearance; gold glints at you when holding up to the light. The head is creamy and off-white with very fine bubbles and good lacing. It’s got an old school Oregon IPA appearance that is appealing.
Smell: Terrifically fruity with passion fruit, candied orange, pineapple, lemon, spun sugar, marmalade. Fruits and candied hops are the showcase here and the aroma wafts from the beer before you even raise the glass.
Taste: There’s a gentle bitterness with pineapple juice and savory hop greens right up front. There’s a great balance between the hops and luscious, biscuity malts, and as I sip it picks up with an herbal bitterness at the sides and back of the tongue. Lightly resiny with a citrus pithiness. An accomplished balancing act that’s quite tasty and hits the mark.
Mouthfeel: Medium body with a good savory hop and light bitter aftertaste. There’s a dry lip-smacking finish with creamy carbonation.
Overall: This is quite delicious and a really good example of the style amped up with fruity, newer variety hops. If you can still find some in the market, pick it up and drink it soon.