With preorders starting next Thursday, Fort George Brewing shares this year's 3-Way IPA with Moonraker Brewing & Varietal Beer.
From Zoom meetings to socially distancing, the world and specifically the region has had to adapt to a 21st century pandemic.
For most, it has been a year filled with evolution from parent to school teacher, from desk warrior to housecleaning multi-tasker, and from non-essential to essential worker. All the while, the nation has suffered along with mixed messages on health and safety, and state leadership that are stuck in an endless loop of damned if you do and damned if you don’t regarding when to open or when to retract access to businesses and other necessities. So yeah, some would say it sucks to be a human. So here’s some good news, a new beer.
No, this isn’t another in a long list of over-hyped, limited-edition, for the next 2 hours, beers. Instead, it's a continuation of something that many of us have been looking for from our fellow humans, collaboration. And it’s coming from the town on the shore of the Columbia River, known famously as Astoria.
And the brewery? Well, it’s none other than Fort George Brewing Company. And yeah, it’s time for another 3-Way IPA announcement.
For the uninitiated or recently humulin-inspired, 3-Way by Fort George is a unique opportunity for the brewery and two regional or domestic craft breweries, to collaborate on a vision for the next India Pale Ale. That doesn’t mean something groundbreaking like a Lactose Hazy IPA, made with almonds. Or a Tropical Sour IPA. But it might. Instead, the track record has been to use breadth and depth of experience to make something that is memorable. And over the years the interpretations have been as polarizing the guest breweries Fort George has cooperated with.
Need examples? How about Hood River pFriem Family Brewers, Portland’s Gigantic Brewing, Portland’s Ruse Brewing, Corvallis’ Block 15, Seattle’s Holy Mountain, Seattle’s Cloudburst, or Seattle’s Reuben’s Brews. Sure, there are countless other guest breweries but getting to the point makes more sense right now.
So who’s the latest guest breweries, for 2021? That’s easy, Sunnyside, Washington brewery Varietal Beer and Moonraker from Auburn, California. If either of these breweries aren’t on your radar, they should be now. But if you don’t believe us, here’s Dave Coyne, Fort George’s alcohol alchemist, turning thought into recipes.
These are two fantastic breweries that make soft and refreshing IPAs, but with their own unique spin on them.
They’re equally impressive with a dexterous use of hops.We wanted to see what would happen combining all three of our processes into this collaboration. And we feel like the end result is a great balance of soft mouthfeel, dry finish, and pungent aroma indicative of each brewery’s style.
With a shared resume at Snipes Mountain Brewing Company, co-brewers and co-founders, Chris Baum and Chad Chad Roberts have a wealth of appreciation for the zip code, given its minutes from the Yakima Valley home to the world famous hop fields of Washington. With their experience the duo has experimented with many hop varieties, some known and others unknown. The result is beers that despite their location in the state of Washington, demonstrate the experience gained over years of dedication.
Meanwhile, in the most unusual of locations in the Bear state of California, Moonraker Brewing Company of Sacramento, has been producing award-winning, highly rated, beers, since they opened in 2016. While other breweries sought the population dense cities like San Diego, Los Angeles, or San Francisco, Moonraker setup shop with Knee Deep alum, Zack Frasher, in Sacramento. Chances are, if you at least attended Reuben’s Brews’ Reuben & Friends 2019 event, you discovered/rediscovered Moonraker. The founding and former head brewer since gone in 2019, the brewery continues to inspire locals and guest alike in less than 6 years.
Like any, traditional, collaboration should be, Fort George and the guest breweries discuss ingredients. With their recollection of the process is Fort George.
With a variety of ingredients to try out and multiple test batches to brew, the Fort George pub system stayed full of Beta IPA batches all winter long. Moonraker suggested a new hop variety from the Southern Hemisphere called Nectaron, and the group couldn’t resist. In fact, over 6,000 pounds of freshly pelletized Nectaron from this year’s crop are being air freighted as you read this, from New Zealand to the Mouth of the Columbia, so they can be added to the dry-hop. Varietal turned everyone on to some Elwha River Naked Spelt from LINC Malt, a hulless variety that’s both organically grown and local. Both ingredients blended beautifully into the recipe, which includes Strata, Simcoe, Comet, and Mosaic in addition to the Nectaron.
Crowlers from each test batch were over-nighted to the other breweries throughout the process, allowing for copious notes and quite a few tastings over Zoom. And after five Beta IPA test batches, this summer seasonal was finally ready to leave the nest.
The result? A beer that is like a peacock or [insert breathtaking bird, no seriously think of one], delicate and effervescent both in aroma, color, and every sip. Again, here’s the sensory notes from the brewery themselves.Obviously, the brewery isn’t asking you to recall what a bird smells or tastes like. But you get the gist.
Pour yourself a pint and you’re captivated by the vivid body of the beer on full display, an effervescent bright-orange color capped with a white tufted head. Waves of peach and sweet orange peel lift your senses. On the beak, a feathery soft citrus zest blends with lush berry notes, white grape, and just a tickle of grapefruit. And all the while, 3-Way IPA remains as graceful and balanced as a sage grouse in the desert shrub strumming on a headless guitar.
With pre-sales starting next Thursday, May 20th, Fort George 3-Way IPA, adorned with refresh to the iconic 3-Way IPA artwork, will ship out May 27th to those who order a case. Also, the brewery intends to host a release event, at the brewery, where pints can be consumed (capacity subject to state and local health guidelines), and six-packs or cases purchased for takeout.
But the brewery doesn’t want those who aren’t ready to commit to so much 3-Way IPA or are nowhere near Astoria. So the brewery is sharing their release event in Portland at the Tiny Bubble Room (May 28th), Varietal Brewing (May 29th), and Moonraker Brewing (June 19th). And yeah, this is the first year 3-Way IPA ships south of the Oregon border, for those who are looking for more than what’s at Moonraker Brewing.
As with their previous releases, this one will ‘fly away’ in August. So get your hands on this rare ‘bird’ while you can.
For more information including current draft and packaged releases, hours, and updates, visit http://www.FortGeorgeBrewery.com.
