Beer of the Week! 05/16
Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery
In Newberg, Oregon, 20 miles southwest of Portland, surrounded by wineries, you’ll find the DeBenedetti family farm and hazelnut orchard. You’ll also find son, Christian there, living in a little cottage, but you haven’t always been able to.
In a previous life, Christian DeBenedetti was a New York City journalist writing and thinking about beer. In fact, DeBenedetti had been thinking about opening a brewery since college. He just didn’t see it as a practical venture. Finally, during an assignment to cover the 2009 Great American Beer Festival, DeBenedetti stood surrounded by breweries and excited attendees and decided that times had changed. Time to chase his dream.
During the next seven years, he published two books on beer and moved back to his family farm in Newberg. He rented a turn of the last century barn from his parents and turned it into a brewhouse and taproom. However, that’s not the only role the farm was set to play in Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery (opened in 2016).
Not only does DeBenedetti use local ingredients, not only does he use materials from the farm (He adds the farm’s fruit into his Saisons and is working on growing his own barley.), but he also eschews commercial yeast strains for indigenous yeasts that he’s scavenged from around the farm. He’s one of a handful of craft brewers pioneering how beer can reflect the characteristics of a specific place, much like the way wine does.
Unfortunately, our introductory beers from Wolves & People are not some of such efforts. Still, they are quite nice.
Wolves & People Neuberg
Regularly $15.99 / Now on Sale for $14.96
Oak Foeder Aged Unfiltered Lager
In the mid 1800s, the Oregon territory European settlers called the town on a north bend of the Willamette River, 10 miles southwest of modern day Portland, Robert’s Landing. In 1869 — ten years after Oregon became a state and twelve years after the same settlers had relocated the area’s native Yamhelas people (almost wiped out by European diseases) 50 miles further west to the Grand Ronde Reservation — the settlement’s first post master, Sebastien Brutscher, named that town Newberg after his hometown Neuberg an der Donau in Bavaria, Germany. DeBenedetti has brewed this unfiltered lager in honor of Neuberg and Newberg.
Going straight traditional, DeBenedetti throws together German malt, hops, and even yeast. He then ages his brew in oak foeders. The result is so lovely, it makes you wonder why people don’t oak age lagers more. The foeders impart a light, nutty tannic edge that seamlessly blends with the lager’s breadiness. We think the aging also smooths out the lager and pushes the mouthfeel a step towards an ale. It’s a delightfully successful mix of tradition and experimentation.
Bonus Beer of the Week (‘Cause we may, at best, have one great love, but we can easily have more than one great beer.)
Wolves & People Green Limousine
Regularly $19.99 / Now on Sale for $18.96
West Coast Style IPA
No need to brace yourself for a return to “Hops to the Face” brewing. “Mild” is the word here. DeBenedetti starts with Munich and Crystal malts and bitters them with some good old-fashioned Pacific Northwest hops — Chinook, Comet, and Simcoe. The malts provide a dry, light-bodied foundation on which this IPA displays its gingerly applied grapefruity and piney hops. The hoppiness builds as you go through the glass, but the brew remains comfortably refreshing. This ride is so smooth, it must be a limousine.
Remember!
You can see our entire beer inventory on Untappd.com!