Beer News – Boulevard and Oregon’s Deschutes Brewery to collaborate on White India Pale Ale

I am not a fan of beer styles. It just never seemed right to me to shove beer into neat little categories for convenience’s sake. Yes, styles have their place, but that place is usually in marketing campaigns and in homebrew competitions. So, when I find out that a brewery or two are bucking the traditional styles to come up with something interesting, it makes me smile.

That’s why when I read this article on bizjournals.com about Boulevard Brewing Company’s upcoming collaboration with Oregon’s Deschutes Brewery, I had a pretty big grin on my face. The collaboration is exciting simply because it puts two of the best craft breweries in the country together on a project. The fact that their collaboration is a White India Pale Ale, which doesn’t fit neatly into any of the BJCP beer styles, just makes me smile a bit wider.

What constitutes a White India Pale Ale? Well, unfortunately, I haven’t found any specifics yet, but it’s most likely a combination of a Belgian White Ale and an IPA. So, it could have several flavor components, including coriander, orange, citrus hops, wheat malt (imparts citrusy malt flavors), lots of bitterness, some serious aroma, and probably some malty sweetness to balance it out. It will most likely be pretty complex, and you probably won’t want to drink the whole 750 mL bottle of it yourself.

Keep an eye out for it around Mid-July. It will be in a limited release named “Collaboration No. 2 White IPA.” Both breweries will make the exact same recipe, but they will be brewed 1600 miles apart on two different systems, so you can expect there to be some differences in taste. It would be interesting to get a bottle of each and taste them side by side.

Anyone in Oregon want to send me a bottle of the Deschutes version in July? Shoot me an email at stangebrewing [at] gmail [dot] com.