Sunshine, trail time, lazy rivers and late-night campfires: that’s what an Oregon summer looks like. Now find out what it tastes like. Oregon craft brewers have bottled up your daydreams to celebrate the season. Here are some summer ales pouring this year.
Willamette Valley
You can always count on tasty releases from Ninkasi Brewing in Eugene, and this year the summer seasonal gets a fruity twist as Peach Maiden the Shade Summer IPA, available in stores and along the Eugene Ale Trail. In Corvallis, Block 15 Brewing’s Cassidy wild ale is matured in wine barrels with spring flowers, while proceeds from the new Liberty and Justice for All IPA will be donated to Color of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. Salem’s Vagabond Brewing makes a Summer Hef perfect for lazy days in the sun; plus the brewery is on the Salem Ale & Cider Trail.
Southern Oregon
Coming from Ashland, Caldera Brewing’s Lawnmower Lager is light and easy at just 3.9% ABV — appropriate for yard work, perhaps? The Tangerine Squeeze IPA at Common Block Brewing in Medford is perfect for summer, as is the ultra-juicy Tahazed & Confused NEIPA at Klamath Basin Brewing in Klamath Falls. Standing Stone Brewing in Ashland offers its new Tempest IPA, featuring citrus flavors of mandarin orange and grapefruit. Treat your taste buds with the Zin Saison Farmhouse Ale from Connor Fields Brewing in Grants Pass — this seasonal sensation is fermented with zinfandel grapes.
Oregon Coast
Every summer Astoria’s Fort George Brewery releases its 3-Way IPA with a new collaboration and recipe; this year it’s a juicy and fruity product of brewers from Fort George, Portland’s Level Beer and Structures Brewing in Washington. Astoria’s Buoy Beer is set to release a Kolsch for July-September in its refillable bottle line. Pacific City’s Pelican Brewing bottles its Bronze God märzen-style lager and pours a Kreamsickle IPA at its three locations through August. Taste these ales and others on the North Coast Craft Beer Trail.
Newport’s Rogue Ales is canning the Combat Womat hazy IPA and Marionberry Sour again for summer and bottling a new Shavasana granola blonde experimental ale. Yachats Brewing is releasing a Cape Ranch hoppy saison and a Blackberry Sour that’s tart with a clean fruit finish. With hints of citrus and light carbonation, Arch Rock Brewing’s German-style Gold Beach Lager is perfect for kicking back on the patio. Brookings’ Chetco Brewing has brewed a lovely Summer Salmon, a golden ale infused with grapefruit and pine.
Portland Region
This July, Gigantic Brewing is releasing the Hold Tight Tropical IPA, a Lotus pilsner and its DIPA collaboration with Block 15 Brewing. Breakside Brewery’s Oregon Collab Beer with Van Ebert Brewing, dubbed Wanderjack, is a tropical West-Coast-style IPA featuring fruity hopes and flavors of blueberry and tangerine. King of sour beers, Cascade Brewing celebrates summer with the new Citrus Noyaux 2019, a sour blond ale aged in barrels with fresh citrus peels and apricot noyaux. As Ecliptic Brewing phases out its SunRay juicy IPA, it makes way for the Quasar pale ale. Oregon City Brewing keeps the good vibes going with Sunny and Cherry Wheat, featuring bing and royal Anne sweet cherries, along the Mt. Hood Territory Tap Trail.
Mt. Hood & Columbia River Gorge
As we all eagerly await the new location of Thunder Island Brewing on Wa Na Pa Street in Cascade Locks, savor the original site’s riverfront views with After the Siesta, a refreshing Mexican-style lager available via contact-less transactions and in cans. Hood River’s Double Mountain brings offerings of Sweet Jane IPA through July and Helles pilsner from August-September. Neighboring Full Sail Brewing’s Blood Orange Hefeweizen pours hazy with a golden hue and orange aroma. Also in Hood River, pFriem Family Brewers offers extensive seasonal collections, from Jammy Pale Ale packed with fruit aromas to Farmhouse Fleur, a saison brewed with rose hips and white peppercorns. Much of the Gorge is popular on summer weekends, so aim for midweek pickups along the Gorge Beer Trail.
Central Oregon
Deschutes Brewery brings back its Travel Oregon Only Slightly Exaggerated IPA for August-September following the release of the new Neon Daydream hazy summer ale. You can only find Grandma’s Blonde Ale, a 2015 North American Beer Awards silver medal winner, at the Sunriver Brewing pub. Prineville’s Ochoco Brewing serves summer in a pint with Solar Schnocker, featuring a smooth malt profile with a citrus accent. 10 Barrel Brewing in Bend is releasing its 2020 summer seasonal, an American radler dubbed Swill, as well as a limited-release Guava Crush for sour beer lovers. Celebrating 20 years in 2020, Silver Moon Brewing cans its Hazy Bliss summer shandy through October. Crux Fermentation Project will phase out its Hazy Watermelon Wheat at the end of August, overlapping with the release of its Solar Sailor IPA.
Eastern Oregon
Family-owned Barley Brown’s Beer in Baker City created its Jubilee Golden Ale in celebration of its annual summertime miner’s festival, and in Pendleton, Prodigal Son Brewery fetes local harvest of farm and forest with the seasonal Huckleberry Wheat. Enterprise’s Terminal Gravity Brewing Fuggetaboutit, a hazy pale ale that benefits Self Enhancement Inc., an organization guiding underserved youth. 1188 Brewing in John Day is mighty proud of its light and citrusy Orney Hefeweisen, brewed with blood oranges and local honey. At the farmer-owned Ordnance Brewing in Boardman, ice-cold cans of Bloop Blueberry Wheat makes for easy drinking. Visit the Eastern Oregon Brews Byway to explore it all — and remember to arrange for a designated driver and drink responsibly.
