#pub ale

Way too many fuckin people in this bar wearing cowboy hats but dont know the difference between a bull and a steer

Review #11

National Branding

Deschutes’ latest seasonal release is Big Rig, which they describe as a “classic pub ale” and others have labeled a bitter. Nope. This is an amber ale. It’s been a while since I’ve seen one. This is one of those beers your dad will remember, floral scent, caramel flavor, bitter ending. It’s pretty generic, but it works for me.

The real big news is that Deschutes Brewery inked a deal last month to open a new production facility in Roanoke, Virginia. It seems strange for a brewery named after a river in central Oregon to make beer in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains. The deal has been a long time coming, Deschutes has been on the lookout for an east coast outlet for years, and preparing to take their brand national.

You can see it in their beers. Beers tied to Bend are being put on the back burner as more marketable beers get pushed to the front. Black Butte and Mirror Pond, the old flagships, are overtaken by Fresh Squeezed and Hop Slice, IPAs that can sell anywhere. 

I’m not saying the beer is slipping, everything Deschutes makes is still solid to amazing, but the brewery’s identity is getting genericized. Deschutes used to be about a place, right on the water in the heart of Bend, with local landmarks on every bottle. Now it’s about a life style, mountain biking and trail running and snowboarding. Yeah, you can do all that in Bend, but that wasn’t the point.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the Deschutes Brewery of 2050 will be like the Guinness of today. It’s brewed all over the world, but it still tastes like Ireland. Maybe Deschutes will still evoke the beauty of Oregon even when it's brewed in Virginia.

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