Not only is the iconic Portland brewery re-creating thirty of its vintage recipes in the 30 Beers for 30 Years series, but it’s also brewing six collaboration beers to celebrate the big 3-0.
The first of these collaborations, the Blacklight IPA, was brewed with Boneyard Beer in Bend, Oregon. Naturally, this Oregon-born brew is a hop-forward black ale, and at 4.2 percent ABV it is perfectly sessionable for summer. Cold-steeped Two Row Pale, Midnight Wheat, Special Aromatic, Carafa III, and CaraVienne malts, as well as flaked barley, give this beer its darkness and heavy roast. Alchemy, Nelson Sauvin, Amarillo, Summer, and Citra hops give Blacklight its “harsh bitterness,” as Widmer describes it.
"In 2010, thirteen Northwest breweries gathered for a symposium to discuss Cascadian Dark Ale, which at the time was becoming a prevalent beer style in the region. “As a group we sat down and wrote the style guidelines to submit to the Brewers Association,” says Widmer’s Brewing Innovation Manager Ben Dobler. “It was probably one of the most open, honest, frank conversations I’ve had among brewers. We helped drive the definition of what is now the American Style Black Ale.”
And now Widmer, with the help of Boneyard, is helping to drive the definition of session-style black IPAs with their latest collaboration.
The next five collaborations will also be brewed with Oregon breweries: Breakside Brewery and Gigantic Brewing Company in Portland, 10 Barrel Brewing Company and Deschutes Brewery in Bend, and Ninkasi Brewing Company in Eugene. These collaborations will be released throughout this year, and distributed in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, Minneapolis, New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia.