The cold season has finally returned in the Pacific Northwest, and with it, dark beer season! Portland, Oregon’s Ground Breaker Brewing and Leikam Brewing have teamed up to release Psychrophilic IPA a beer calibrated to capture and answer the climate of the moment. The 6.7% ABV cold and black IPA was brewed and canned at Ground Breaker’s dedicated gluten-free facility. It merges two styles of IPA into one; and was first developed in 2021 by Leikam brewer Brandon Thomas when he was assistant brewing at Ground Breaker.
The Cold IPA style, pioneered by Gold Dot’s Kevin Davey when he was at Wayfinder Beer, has grown in popularity. The style centers on dryness, bitterness, and hop intensity. Thomas put his own spin on the style by using a black IPA malt profile with Cold IPA techniques. Psychrophilic Cold + Black IPA is fermented with a clean lager yeast at ale temperatures and dry-hopped at the tail end of fermentation. The result is a dark, crisp, hop-forward IPA.
“This was the first beer, as a brewer, where I had full creative liberty and holds a special place in my heart,” said Thomas. “Super thankful to the Ground Breaker team for inviting us in to revisit and combine our knowledge gained over the last 5 years to make this beer even better than it was before.”
Always enthusiastic about learning and employing new techniques, Ground Breaker Head Brewer Gloria Zeiger was eager to hop on the brew deck with the Leikam team. “I was super excited to brew with Brandon and Theo,” remarked Zeiger. “I love working closely with other brewers to learn from them and see their perspective; it’s not something I get to do very often as a non-traditional brewer.”
Psychrophilic Cold + Black IPA will be available at Ground Breaker Brewing and Leikam Brewing on November 4th. It will ship out to Ground Breaker territories in the following days and weeks.
About Ground Breaker Brewing
Ground Breaker Brewing opened as the first dedicated gluten-free craft brewery in 2011. Ground Breaker is dedicated to crafting 100% gluten-free beer; using ingredients that are naturally gluten-free and allowing no gluten in their facility. Ground Breaker has won seven medals in the Gluten-Free category at the Great American Beer Festival®. The pub is located at 2030 SE 7th Ave. in Portland, OR. Ground Breaker’s beers are distributed in the following territories: OR, WA, CA, CO, MI, MA, RI, NY, NJ, and CT. Ground Breaker ships directly to customers in OR, OH, VA, KY, NH, VT and DC through the online beer store.
https://groundbreakerbrewing.com/ facebook.com/groundbreakerbrewing Instagram: @groundbreakerbrewing
About Leikam Brewing
Established in 2014, Leikam Brewing is a certified kosher, community-centric, and family-operated 5BBL brewery. Their taproom is located at 5812 E. Burnside Street, Portland, Oregon.
https://leikambrewing.com/ Instagram: @leikambrewing