Autumn in Oregon is filled with rich ambers, ochres and browns, and we’re not talking about the forests. It’s fall and winter beer season in Oregon! Craft brewers from around the state tap into our cravings for warm, dark, comforting draughts.
Deschutes Brewery is celebrating 25 years of Jubelale — its spicy, malty, hoppy winter beer. This year’s whimsical label, created by Kaycee Anseth Townsend, is a collage of scraps of labels past, each commissioned by a local artist. Jubelale was the first beer Deschutes bottled.
From Solera Brewing comes Kwazy Wabbit, a double-hopped IPA, which tastes great and is really fun to say. The Parkdale-based brewery in Mt. Hood’s backyard also brews other Northwest IPAs, pale ales and sour beers made with all that great fruit grown in the Hood River Valley.
Fall brings out the spirit of the Great Pumpkin at Fort George Brewery in Astoria. Brewers add rich baked pumpkins to the mash to create the creamy, malty Drunkin Pumpkin Ale.
McMinnville’s Golden Valley Brewery taps the Oktoberfest in October and November. It’s a classic German-style Oktoberfest lager. Also look for the Tannenbomb, “a bold, dark winter warmer” brewed to ward off wet winters.
For a full menu of all fresh hop beers brewed in Oregon this fall, click here to download a handy cheat sheet from our friends at the Oregon Brewers Guild. You can also sample many of these delicious brews at the Willamette Valley Fresh Hops Festival.
Save the dates.
Mark your calendar for the Holiday Ale Fest, November 28 through December 2 in Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square.
