Fancy Pants Sunday: Cascade Bourbonic Plague 2017

Astrological. Mayan. Chinese. Jewish. Roman. Whatever calendar you follow, tear it up and embrace Cascade Brewing and Barrel House calendar of seasonal beers. The Portland, Oregon barrel-aged beer baron celebrate its 21st anniversary Friday, Dec. 13, at the Cascade Brewing Barrel House. The event will include a live barrel tapping, a pub-only draft release, and a kick off of a holiday bottle sale. The anniversary celebration will include a live barrel tapping at 6 p.m. of Pear Mary, a sneak preview of a brand new Cascade project to be released in 500ml bottles in 2020. Pear Mary features a blend of sour blond ales aged in oak wine barrels with Northwest-grown pear juice and fresh rosemary.  The celebration will also feature a pub-only draft release of Nocino Sour, a sour quad ale aged in a Stonebarn Brandyworks Nocino liqueur barrel with green walnuts, vanilla bean and spices. Nocino Sour will also be available at the Lodge at Cascade Brewing in Southwest Portland.

That’s all fine and dandy, but this isn’t Cascade Calendar Sunday, it’s Fancy Pants Sunday, a weekly look at complex, high-end craft beer, and Cascade’s Bourbonic Plague 2017 fits the bill. A blend of sour imperial porters aged in bourbon and wine barrels for up to two years with dates, cinnamon, vanilla and orange peel, the original Bourbonic Plague won Cascade its first gold medal at the 2009 Great American Beer Festival in the wood- and barrel-aged sour beer category. This marks the second time in eight years Cascade has bottled Bourbonic Plague.

In bottle and on daft at Peaks and Pints, Bourbonic Plague 2017 hits the nose with dark fruit, coffee, and oak, followed by a lot of booze finishing with sour cherries, coffee and oak.

You fancy Cascade Bourbonic Plague 2017

LINK: Fancy Pants Sunday archives