Name: Standing Stone Brewing Company
Location: Ashland, OR
Type: Brewpub
Available in DC Market: No
What you need to know: Standing Stone was at SAVOR last year, and Bill DeBaun had this to say about them: “From this brewpub’s website: ‘Our full-service craft brewpub is housed in an historic building with a light, open atmosphere. We offer our own freshly brewed ales and lagers made here in the display brewery in ten-barrel (310 gal) batches and using over 90% organic grains.’ Sounds pretty tasty and innovative. Part of the always interesting Oregon craft beer culture, and one of a number of small, unfamiliar-to-most-DC-residents brewpubs to appear at SAVOR.”
Beer #1: 2IPA (Double IPA / 7.7% ABV)
Notes: At a time when American IPAs are approaching 7.5% ABV, it’s interesting to see this pegged as a double IPA, but it is dry-hopped twice and unfiltered. The words floral, spicy, fruity, and bitterness all make appearances on SSBC’s website when describing this beer. It is worth mentioning that Standing Stone is very close to the largest hop fields in North America.
Beer Advocate: 89 (11 ratings)
Rate Beer: 90 overall, 41 style (23 ratings)
Beer #2: Noble Stout (Breakfast stout / 5.1% ABV)
Notes: Why is this beer called Noble Stout? Because it’s made with Ashland’s own Noble Coffee, a roaster and purveyor of fine coffees. Go ahead, make a Portlandia joke. This beer is actually their oatmeal stout (over 100 lbs of organic oats per batch!) with coffee added, and according to their website, donuts are a suggested pairing. We like these people. At SAVOR it will be matched with butterscotch cheesecake. Your dessert conundrum has been solved.
Beer Advocate: N/A
Rate Beer: N/A
Summary: One of the things I like about SAVOR is it exposes us to breweries and brewpubs we’ve never heard of, or haven’t had a chance to sample, and based on the above ratings, or lack thereof, I’m not alone in this. The odds of many of us being in Ashland, OR any time soon are slim. Standing Stone’s use of organic grains and proximity to Oregon’s hop fields intrigue me. If you’re like me and you try stuff just to say you tried stuff, you’ll be at this table, cheesecake in hand.
This profile is a part of the DCBEER.COM SAVOR Brewery Profile series. For more information, follow the link to see profiles of all 2012 SAVOR participants.
Beer Review Disclaimer: The beer reviews found on Beer Advocate and Rate Beer do not represent the opinions of this site. We provide these in the hope that they will serve as a resource showing what some craft beer fans have thought of the beers. These reviews can be a helpful guideline, but are not the be-all end-all about a beer’s strengths or weaknesses.
