Fort George announces new seasonals, fresh hop beers and barrel-aged releases

With the pandemic in effect, Fort George Brewery has shifted to even more packaged product and direct shipping to consumers in Oregon and Washington. They have not slowed down on new beers from a seasonal Farmers' Annuary series, to the new Rock, Paper Scissors series, to the return of Fresh Hop IPA to Gin Barrel-Aged Spruce Budd and a mixed culture Funky Buddha beer in bottles.

Shipping is offered only to Washington and Oregon states and must be purchased and signed for by someone 21 or older. Beer ships the day after packaging of Fresh IPA and Rock, Paper, Sterling wet hop beers, which we anticipated to be on Sept 9th. Place your orders HERE

Fort George Farmers' Annuary

Farmers’ Annuary: a new fall seasonal

Teaming up with the farmers that make great craft beer possible, Fort George is celebrating the tight-knit connections they have with local providers in their new Farmers’ Annuary seasonal. From the Willamette Valley to the banks of the Columbia River, each producer and provider is responsible for the unique flavor profiles that push boundaries and push the drinker into a state of lupulin ecstasy. 

Farmers’ Annuary is a traditional West Coast-Style IPA brewed with select Estate Grown Centennial and Amarillo hops, especially chosen by Crosby Hops in Woodburn, Oregon. NOT fresh hops, but some a select crop directly from the Crosby Estate. Centennial and Amarillo are both classic hops known by most craft beer drinkers but the crop used in Farmers' Annuary will make you question what you know about these two popular varieties. Expect resin & cedar up front, followed by apricot, melon & grapefruit. At 7.2% ABV, it drinks surprisingly light and the result is as crisp as the fall in the Pacific Northwest.  

For the can art, Fort George’s Creative Director, Will Elias, drew inspiration from the animals of farm and water coming together in Americana Gothica. Crosby has a pair of free roaming llamas at their farm named Fort & George. Fort George, however, does not have a sea lion named Crosby (yet).

*About Crosby Hops - Crosby operates a six-hundred-acre family hop farm, based in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. A Certified B Corporation, 100% Salmon Safe and Global G.A.P. certified, Crosby Estate Grown hops are grown with people and planet in mind.

*About the Pak to Pak Handles - Fort George is proud to be the first brewery to use PakTech’s new Pak to Pak handle for Farmers’ Annuary. Made from 90% recycled PakTech handles & 10% recycled HDPE, these are the result of all of your returned 4 and 6 pack holders! 

Rock, Paper, Scissors series

Fort George kicks off the hop harvest season with with the first entry in a new beer series - “Rock, Paper, Sterling” - is a fresh hop Pilsner.

Fort George started off with classic Weyermann pilsner malt and crisp torrified wheat along with Sterling pellets on the hot side. This beer is lagering away, awaiting the delivery of fresh, wet Sterling from Crosby Hops. While every harvest is different, you should pick up on a bit of floral and light spice alongside a citrus kick of pineapple and lemon. Look out for more in the “Rock, Paper, Series” throughout the year.

Fort George Fresh IPA

Fresh IPA

Within hours of harvest, over a ton of fresh Strata hops from Indie Hops were loaded, transported, and steeped in the brew tanks at Fort George. Using fresh hops means bold and unblemished hop oils packed into every can. With cans, the brewery tries to seal in that freshness, creating a time capsule of hop aromatics. When you break the seal you should expect hints of peach, resin, and melon to flood forward, followed by a lush & earthy complexity.

Gin Barrel Aged Spruce Budd Ale

Every year in early May, the Fort George brew staff heads to the coastal forests to harvest spruce tips for Spruce Budd Ale. This year they filled some fresh emptied gin barrels with Spruce Budd and aged it for 3 month to pick up as much gin botanical and oak character as they could.

You should be able to taste Sweet dried pineapple, juniper, mint. Fruity and sweet up front, with oak tannins, botanicals, and a dry finish.

Funky Buddy

While Spruce Budd Ale is a clean, spruce-forward, classic gruit ale, this is its funky, mixed-culture buddy.

The mash bed was lined with spruce boughs, and freshly harvested spruce buds were added to the whirlpool. After a mixed culture fermentation, half of the beer was moved into gin barrels from Adrift Distillery. Before bottling, we added another dose of locally foraged spruce boughs from 46 North Farm.

Funky Buddy is fruit forward from the brettanomyces with tropical and berry notes, and a firm juniper and spruce finish. A light oak and gin hint at the back rounds out a complex and very funky buddy.