O’Dark:30 Release

Wednesday night, my wife and I stopped by the Bier Stein for Oakshire’s O’Dark:30 release party. We arrived a little early, so we headed off to the bar to see what was on tap while the tasting table was being set up. While standing at the bar, Oakshire’s Brewmaster Matt walked up to Ninkasi Co-owner Jamie Floyd (who was sitting near us), announced he had new stickers and slapped Oakshire’s emblem on Jamie’s arm.

As the good natured jesting continued, my wife and I got our beers; Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot Barley Wine (on special for $3.50) and Lagunitas’ Hairy Eyeball. We found a couple of empty stools and settled in at the bar, waiting for the tasting to start.

In addition to O’Dark:30, Oakshire was offering tastes of their two bottled mainstays – Watershed IPA and Overcast Espresso Stout. There were also a couple of ‘Shire gems on tap at the bar. A corny of Collaborative Evil-er was being served, as was a keg of Glen’s Hop Vice; a SMASH (Single Malt And Single Hop) IIPA brewed for in honor of Glen Falconer for last year’s Sasquatch festival.

Now, a quality CDA is not something easy to produce; existing in the narrow area between gimmicky darkened IPA and thin, hoppy stout. Too conservative with the darks malts and you get the prior; too aggressive, the latter. For every brewery that has nailed the style, there are a handful of near misses. With O’Dark:30, Oakshire seems to have found that sweet spot in the middle that everyone is aiming for. Upfront, the brew presents itself as a Cascade-hopped IPA, the chocolate and roasted notes appearing at the end. The roasted flavors are very clean, neither muddling the crispness of the brew nor adding unnecessarily to its body.

I asked Matt what dark malt they had used. He said that the grain bill was very simple; 2-row, wheat malt and Carafa III. I’m guessing it was actually the dehusked Carafa Special III, since I didn’t taste any of the astringency that is found in the regular version. The hopping was also straight forward, Nugget for bittering and Cascade for the other additions. He also offered up the wisdom behind a spring CDA. In Oregon, it is still pretty dark and rainy this time of year, so a CDA seemed more appropriate than the light, hoppy pale ales that are springing (+1 pun point) up everywhere.

I mentioned that O’Dark reminded me of HUBs Secession, but a little roastier. Matt said that he had talked with Ben at HUB before brewing O’Dark. Ben used a combination of organic chocolate malt and organic roasted barley to darken up Secession. I think I’ll have to pick up a bottle of each and do side-by-side in the near future.

After our tastings, we headed back to the bar to try the other Oakshire brews. My wife got the Glen’s Hop Vice (left) and I tried the Collaborative Evil-er (right).

Glen’s Hop Vice is a 9.1% ABV, 100+ IBU Imperial; brewed using just Golden Promise malt and Amarillo hops. I first tried this brew last year at Sasquatch and the 9 months or so since then has really given it some time to develop. Some of the aggressive hop flavor has mellowed, allowing the fruity English Ale yeast to poke through and add some further complexity.

Collaborative Evil-er is a Bourbon Barrel version of the Belgian Strong Golden Ale Oakshire brewed for last year’s GABF. Evil-er still has all the Belgian funk and fruity esters of the non-barrel version. But the time spent in oak really smoothed it out, giving it hint of vanilla. It was easily my favorite beer of the night; a pity only 60 gallons were made. If you are at the Belmont Station next Monday, I suggest you give it a try before their corny blows.

I had to get up at O’Dark:30 myself the next morning to finish a project at work, so after we finished our glasses, we cobbled together a six pack to take home and made our way to the exit; paying first of course. On the way out, I noticed Mr. St. Clair had just popped in, the only other person in Eugene that actively covers beer related things. Not sure if Anthony is planning to write anything up about the release, but his site is a good read regardless.

When we left, the Bier Stein was still packed. While the bottle shop is rarely light on patrons, Oakshire’s mid-week releases are really starting to draw a crowd. Congrats to both the ‘Shire and the Stein on another great event.

Cheers!
Kevin