Wayfinder Number 6 or: How Kevin Davey Learned to Stop Worrying and Brew with Adjuncts
Portland's Wayfinder Beer is known for their German-style lagers, but brewmaster Kevin Davey is increasingly leaving tank space for adjunct heavy beers that you wouldn't expect.
Number 6 is the appropriately named American lite rice lager that will be released as Wayfinder's first beer in 12oz cans and 6-packs. For a brewery obsessed with traditional European all malt craft lagers, an adjunct lite beer is an unusual choice brought on in part because of the Coronavirus.
Some people may be surprised to learn that many small craft brewers often reach for a cheap mass market corporate beer after a hard day over the boil kettle. The increasingly dire situation that craft brewers face after the pandemic drove Davey to rethink that habit.
"After the covid-crisis hit, I turned to buying beer from my friends and colleagues in the craft beer business. I saw the fear and stress in their eyes and felt like it was in mine, too," says Davey. "I was afraid many of us wouldn't be in business after this. It was more important than ever to support local business and I reflected on some of my favorite beer to drink: simple American lager."
Though Davey didn't need a pandemic to make him obsess about lagers any more than he already does, it did make him rethink simple pleasures like enjoying cheap corporate beer like Miller High Life.
"I kinda told myself I wasn't going to buy another Hi-life ever again and that hit me hard," he said. Still, Davey had trouble putting down that ice cold and crushable crispy boy. While Davey is mostly a purist when it comes to brewing his own beers, often espousing the virtues of the often maligned Reinheitsgebot, he doesn't often follow that faith when it comes to his own drinking. But then it hit him...
"Beer is supposed to be fun! It's nearly summer! So I was like, 'fuck it, let's make a sixpack lager'. It's like the end of the world or something and dammit, big beer doesn't get to be the only ones who make easy-drinking can beer."
Number 6
Lager Beer 4.7%
Incredibly drinkable, crowd-favorite, can of enjoyment. Backyard crushed, shotgunned, fireside or shower-beered, this one is for the masses. Our rebel forces rescued this style from the Dark Side and made it our own. We hijacked our favorite parts and added the Wayfinder Crispness® you expect with delicate amounts of German noble hops and long, cool ferments. Celebrate this time we have under the sun.
The success of beers like Wayfinder Number 6 paved the way for adjuncts acceptable use in Cold IPA. Brewers have long privately loved adjunct heavy lite lagers but are now fully embracing them along with the public more in tune with retro flavors.
Number 6 is still Wayfinder’s only beer in 12oz cans and 6-packs and it’s re-released for summer every year in June.