Fruit Season at Double Mountain Brewery; Pandemic pauses Kriek

This year's Devil's Kriek may be the last, Heirloom Tomato Pie is back for the season, and barrel master Jen House has two new fruited creations.

Double Mountain Brewery has put as much love into locally grown fruit in their beer, cider and pizza as they have in to their hoppy ales. With their home in the fertile Oregon/Washington gorge, farm grown varietals of cherries, peaches and apples have long been a part of the beer and food program at the Hood River, Oregon pub.

With summer in full bloom, Double Mountain has added a seasonal favorite to their brewpub menu's in Portland and Hood River with the return of the Heirloom Pie pizza. The colorful pesto sauce pizza is topped with fresh locally grown heirloom tomatoes from Royal Anne Organics and available for only a limited time, often selling out on the weekends.

But Double Mountain's best known expression of fruit, the summer release of Devil's Kriek has been held for a TBD release date, and won't return in 2021 or 2022.

Brewmaster and owner Matt Swihart says he will not be brewing either his Devil's Kriek or Tahoma Kriek with the 2020 cherry crop, so the popular vertical flights will be missing atleast two "COVID years."

"The reality for the time being is higher priced, long aged, sour cool beers just aren't moving in the markets and the bottle shops aren't fully open, so hence we opted to skip a year for production, as in no 2020 krieks will be released in 2021 or 2022. Possible we'll even wait the 2019 until next year. Its a discussion with sales and an eye on what is happening with government restrictions etc.," says Swihart.

It's easy to forget that Double Mountain was one of the first breweries in the pacific northwest to attempt a Belgian-style fruited lambic beer when they released Devil's Kriek in 2010. Cascade Brewing had began making sour beers with Lactobacillus bacteria, but the type of full lengthy full mixed culture wild yeast sours with native fruit like Devil's Kriek weren't really a thing locally.

Double Mountain's attention to detail extended to the sourcing of single fruit varietals from one harvest on a single farm in the gorge, sometimes his own farm. Though the base beer for his Kriek's would vary, as would the acidity, sweetness, tannins and production, the Devil's Kriek was always a clear micro expression of the terroir of the gorge.

In 2009 local beer author Jeff Alworth attended the annual release party for Devil's and Tahoma Kriek at Belmont Station with a line that wrapped around the block and wrote:

"There aren't very many products like it in the world, and it's a rare treat to have a local brewer willing to put this much time and effort into any beer. Give it time--in a few years it could emerge as an Oregon classic."

And Devil's Kriek along with it's sister beer Tahoma Kriek did become classics, beers worth lining up for at their annual July release at Belmont Station's Puckerfest. But perhaps due to the pandemic, or maybe partly because consumers have migrated to the hundreds of sours on the shelves today, Double Mountain's Kriek's will be taking some years off.

But before we mourn the loss of an Oregon fruit beer classic, we have one more vintage of Devil's Kriek to come (this Fall?) and two new fruited oak-aged sours from barrel master Jen House on-draft right now.

Patch Werk: Blackberry and Raspberry Sour

This may be their most laborious small batch beer yet. This sour aged for two years on blackberries, handpicked by the brewers at the Double Mountain warehouse property. After one year on fruit, the brewers thought it still needed more berry kick, so they dosed it with some fresh local raspberries, for a total of nearly 30 pounds of fruit per barrel. The final product is perfectly dry, slightly tart, and bursting with berry flavor.

9.7% ABV, 8 BU
Base Beer: Belgian strong blonde with house Abbey and Kölsch yeasts and
Brettanomyces lambicus
Appearance: Rose pink
Aroma: Ripe raspberry, Bing cherry, Red Delicious apple, cranberry
Mouth: Juicy raspberry, strawberry jam, blackberry, Bing cherry
Finish: dry, blackberry, slightly tart, cranberry juice cocktail, ethanol

Domo Apricoto: Robata Apricot Sour

Aged for a year on local Robata apricots, this beer certainly holds up to its name. Simply put, Domo Apricoto tastes like dried apricots in a glass, with plenty of bubbles and a deceptive amount of alcohol. It is jammy, funky, dry, and just a hair tart, making it very easy to have another. Just in time for stone fruit season, it pairs nicely with pie, cobbler, and good company.

9.5% ABV 8 BU
Base Beer: Belgian strong red with house Abbey and Kölsch yeasts and
Brettanomyces lambicus
Appearance: Copper river
Aroma: Dried apricot, fresh baked sourdough
Mouth: Yellow peach, ripe apricot, Gala apple, kumquat, quince
Finish: Burnt orange peel, dried apricot, dried strawberries, pineapple