Stormbreaker Brewing releases Bourbon Pecan Pie Dessert Beer, Winter Coat 2021 and Barnstormer Whiskey

Fresh off of winning a Silver medal at the 2020 Great American Beer Festival, Portland’s Stormbreaker Brewing has a new dessert beer and new version of their seasonal Winter Coat out in cans. Stormbreaker also has a limited whiskey distilled from their World Beer Cup gold medal winning beer “Good, Not Great” available in Oregon liquor stores now.

Bourbon Pecan Pie is a new fall beer - not an actual pie to be served at Thanksgiving. Available now in 16oz cans, you can practically put a fork in this caramel colored, nutty, sweet, vanilla and spicy strong brown ale. Chewy at 7% abv and 37 IBU’s, Bourbon Pecan Pie was a challenge to make but the brewers somehow pulled off this Dessert Beer for the holiday season.

Stormbreaker began by toasting 20lbs of pecans before soaking them in bourbon for a couple of weeks. The base beer was then pumped and recirculated from a bright tank into a 2bbl tank filled with the pecans and vanilla beans for 5 whole days. But it still wasn’t enough, the beer was tasty but the pecan flavor wasn’t coming through as much as they’d like.

“That’s when it occurred to me to make a pecan simple syrup,” says Stormbreaker co-owner and brewer Rob Lutz. “I spent years perfecting the smoke signals cocktail from Laurelhurst Market. So we took another 5 lbs of pecans, chopped them up coarsely, toasted them. Then we made a simple syrup, and brought it to a boil. We reduced the simple syrup to a simmer and steeped the pecans in the simple syrup for about 12 minutes.”

After removing the whole pecans and adding the syrup they were able to achieve the desired flavor profile. Bourbon Pecan Pie in a can is the first in a new rotating dessert beer series that they plan to change up every 2 months or so.

Also available now is Winter Coat 2021, a gold medal winner at both the Best of Craft Beer Awards and the US Open Beer Championship. Named after brewer Tyler Martell’s dependable winter snowboard jacket, the extra spicing and special ingredients change each year in Winter Coat.

Using the same general malty and strong base beer (7.5% ABV and 35 IBU’s) the brewers layered in slightly tangy tangerine that’s contrasted with the rich and creamy addition of cacao nibs, and sweet orange peel brings a bright citrus fruit flavor. Meanwhile Chocolate Malt and Special B provide smooth coffee, nutty and dark fruit flavors with floral and spicy English hops Fuggle and Sterling. The result is a bit like a Whack and Unwrap honey and chocolate coated orange.

Winter Coat 2021 is available now on draft and in 16oz cans.

Last and not least, Stormbreaker Brewing’s longest running project has finally come to fruition. Barnstormer Imperial Red Straight Malt Whiskey was distilled by Stone Barn Brandyworks from Stormbreaker’s World Beer Cup Gold medal winning Imperial Red and aged in oak barrels for three years. The yield was only 264 bottles that are available now at local Oregon liquor stores (you cannot buy bottles at the brewery).