Deschutes Brewery expanding to the Twin Cities
Peter Sachs
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Craft beer lovers rejoice: Central Oregon's Deschutes Brewery will start distributing in Minnesota at the end of this month. Deschutes has been brewing for 22 years, but until recently, you had to live west of the Rockies to find its beers. The company rakes in awards at beer competitions nationwide every year, but the craft brewer has been cautious about expanding eastward.
Deschutes will start by sending its two most popular beers, Mirror Pond Pale Ale and Black Butte Porter, to bars and stores in the Twin Cities area. The rest of the state will follow later this year. To get a taste of what Deschutes is best known for, seek out its 22-ounce bomber bottles of Reserve Series brews, which Deschutes Brewery Marketing Manager Jason Randles says will be coming in limited quantities. These are small-batch recipes that command a premium, but at $12.50 per bottle, every drop is worth it.
To start, try Black Butte XXI, a dense, flavor-packed imperial porter made with extra roasted malt, cocoa nibs, and coffee beans, plus barrel aging. Mirror Mirror is a barleywine based on the recipe for Mirror Pond, but punctuated with lingering caramel flavors. Jubel 2010 is based on Deschutes' winter warmer and aged in Pinot Noir wine barrels.
In September, Deschutes makes a wet-hop beer called Hop Trip, using fresh hops picked the same day. The result is often brimming with floral and grassy flavors, and there's less bitterness than many India pale ales. Come December, try to snag a bottle of The Abyss, a brooding imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels. Oregon and Washington fans snatch up the syrupy elixir as soon as it hits store shelves.
Deschutes has six more beers it bottles year-round, plus summer and winter seasonal brews and a handful of other Reserve Series concoctions. Some of those will eventually make it to the Minneapolis area, Randles says. The company plans to expand nationwide in the next five to 10 years.
“We're going to see how this goes in Minneapolis and let that determine when we go into [other cities],” Randles says. “Hopefully Chicago is not too far down the road for us.”
Where to find it: Deschutes' beer is scheduled to hit the Twin Cities the week of March 29. Buster's On 28th (4204 28th Ave. S., 612-729-0911) and the Blue Plate Restaurant Company’s outlets plan to put it on tap.
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