MORNING FOAM FOR OCT. 14 2016: A seven-taster flight of craft beer news, from the fluffy head all the way to the bottom trends. …
Starbucks is serving up its most experimental drink yet – a glass of IPA beer topped up with a shot of espresso. The beverage took a year for the Starbucks team to master and brings together two of the best drinks ever for really unusual creation. Dreamt up by coffee master Justin Burns-Beach, the Espresso Cloud IPA was inspired by the mixing process behind Starbucks’ Shakerato — where a combo of espresso and syrup is shaken until it becomes frothy.
The Deschutes Brewery Jubelale tradition carries on with custom artwork wrapping the outside of the bottle and warm spiciness, dried fruit, malty caramel and a hoppy finish inside the bottle. The 2016 vintage of this winter seasonal beer features a piece by Bend, Oregon artist Karen Ruane entitled “First Snow”. The artwork, which was created through a centuries-old process called marbling, was inspired by the highly anticipated first storm of the season.
When the Wassail starts flowing, it’s wintertime in the Gorge. Full Sail’s gold-medal winning Wassail Winter Ale is back and all wrapped up for the holidays in a new, festive package as part of the Full Sail Pub Series, a rotating series that bottles the best of the brewery’s Hood River drafts.
“Due to an unforeseen slowdown in our consistent growth and changes in the craft beer landscape, we have had to make the difficult decision to restructure our staff. Unfortunately, this comes despite a year that includes the incredible accomplishments of opening two new breweries, which are ultimately expanding the availability of Stone beers and boosting the reputation of American craft beer in Europe.” — Stone Brewing Co.
Oskar Blues Brewery’s cult classic Death By Coconut Irish Porter — with intense fresh cacao flavors swirled with popping coconut aromas — returns to store shelves and taps across the nation this month.
Great beer makes everybody wordy, doubly so when the subject is the beloved brew itself. We write about beer for the love, in loving terms; the problem is that some reviewers write beer reviews that read like romance novels. It’s not the beer’s fault, any more than it is Cupid’s fault that Nora Roberts keeps churning out the bodice-rippers, but the number of crafties taking poetic license with their online write-ups is hitting critical mass.
Buh-bye pumpkin spice. Hello fruit and… vegetables?! Here are the trends that will take over American beer in 2017.
