Releasing this Friday, Oregon breweries Von Ebert and Oakshire invite you enjoy Mirror Neuron West Coast Inspired Pan-Continental IPA.
image sourced from Oakshire Brewing Company
What do you get when you combine a little of Eugene with a little bit of Portland? You get Mirror Neuron, a “West Coast Inspired Pan-Continental IPA”.
At 6.5% ABV and created in collaboration with Portland’s Von Ebert Brewing Company and Eugene’s Oakshire Brewing Company, Mirror Neuron could be a conversation starter.
What’s in a name?
Outside of being a zoologist, a mirror neuron is what happens when a neuron simultaneously forest when an animal acts and reacts to the same action by another. In essence the neuron “mirrors” the actions of another. In fact this is a common action in everything from humans, to primates, to birds.
Yeah. So what’s this got to do with beer?
Well, for starters, the brewers at Oakshire are fast fans of Von Ebert’s brewing style. As it was, the breweries already had an idea for a beer with a similar name.
Once this mutual admiration was realized, VE’s Sam Pecoraro and Eric Ebel and our own Dan Russo and Joe Giammatteo decided to come together to create a beer incorporating each brewer’s philosophy on recipe development, hop usage, and brewing style. We were attempting to “mirror” each other’s collective brewing knowledge.
Starting with the base approach of creating a West Coast-inspired Pan-Continental IPA, the brewery sought out ingredients which represented this unique homogeneity. As the brewers put it.
image courtesy Von Ebert Brewing
We started with a simple grist bill consisting of North American Two-Row Barley, German Vienna, Acidulated and Dextrin Malt, as well as Flaked Rice to create a drying yet full mouthfeel. We then hopped the beer with 8 hop varieties (Herkules, Hallertau Blanc, Enigma, Nelson Sauvin, Barbe Rouge, Styrian Wolf, Mosaic, El Dorado) from 3 continents and 6 countries (United States, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Slovenia) in three different forms (hop Extract, Cryo hops, and traditional hop pellets).
For the brewers, hop selection was driven by a shared characteristic, berry-forwardness. Afterwards, the breweries focussed on adding these hops in order to expose additional traits like diesel dank resinyness, tropical fruit, and citrus. The result is a beer that is multi-layered and intricate.
Visually, the beer is illuminating with bright yellows, a frothy white head.
Aromatics lean towards notes blueberries, Boysenberries, gooseberries, raspberries, herb dankness, lychee, orange citrus, and mango.
Upon the first sip, the palate is immediately coated in hop resin. The perceived bitterness is pleasant and rounds out the overall drinking experience. The hops are allowed to continue to charge over the palate with each sip bringing wave after wave of delicious fruit-forward flavor leaving the drinker yearning for more.
Finally the brewery collective shared their thoughts on what makes this beer so special.
Mirror Neuron represents the collective knowledge of four brewers who strive daily to create and share delicious and drinkable beers with the world. We inadvertently had been signaling each other; seemingly unaware of how deeply our brewing thoughts were tied for some time. Once the realization was made, we set out to create something wholly unique, and Mirror Neuron is the result. We hope you enjoy drinking it as much as we enjoyed making it.
For more information on this and other beers from Von Ebert, visit http://www.vonebertbrewing.com. Von Ebert Brewing's two locations are at 131 NW 13th Avenue in Portland's Pearl District and 14021 NE Glisan Street in the Glendoveer neighborhood.
About Von Ebert Brewing
Von Ebert Brewing sits at the crossroads where storied traditions meet bold new ideas in brewing. Independently owned and operated, Portland, OR, based Von Ebert produces award-winning beers in a variety of styles. In addition to modern IPAs and crisp lagers, the oak-aged, bottle-conditioned heritage beer program sets the brewery apart. All of the beers pair perfectly with the elevated American pub cuisine served at both brewpub locations. For more information, please visit www.vonebertbrewing.com.
