Name: Full Sail Brewing Company
Location: Hood River, OR
Type: Production Brewery
Available in DC Market: Yes
What you need to know: You probably know Full Sail best from its session lagers that are in funny, stubby bottles, as if they were tasty Red Stripes. Full Sail was founded in 1987, so its seen a lot of changes in the craft beer world and was one of the first craft breweries in Oregon to bottle their beer. Since 1999 Full Sail has been owned by its 47 employees. Its motto is “Stoked to Brew, Brewed to Stoke.” It’s also worth pointing out that there’s a smaller Full Sail brewery in Portland, where they do research and development for some of their more esoteric offerings (see below).
Beer #1: Chris’ Summer Delight Berlinerweiss (Berlinerweiss / 4% ABV)
Notes: This sour, refreshing beer is a summer of 2012 one-off, and we’ll be among the first to taste it. Some of the proceeds from sales will go to the Oregon State University Brewing Sciences Program, of which the eponymous Chris is an alumn. I just won a bet by using “eponymous” on a beer site. It’s a shame that you thought it was just an R.E.M. album. But I digress. This beer will be tart and dry, which will probably make you want another. But no cut backs! Look for the lactic acid to cut into the fat of the bacon-wrapped dates. That’s an impressive beer pairing.
Beer Advocate: N/A
Rate Beer: N/A
Beer #2: LTD 05 (Amber Lager / 5.6% ABV)
Notes: Is Amber Lager a style? No matter, since LTD stands for “Living the Dream.” Anything goes, homey. From the Full Sail website: This copper colored lager is refreshingly smooth, with a hint of dark roast and a clean hoppy finish. Brewed with pale, chocolate, caramel malts and hopped with Czech Saaz hops.” It will be paired with chile braised goat. Sounds like a winner to me.
Beer Advocate: 82 (68 ratings)
Rate Beer: 79 overall, 98 style (110 ratings)
Summary: You don’t stay solvent in the craft beer business for 25 years without a good product. Full Sail could rest on their numerous laurels and mail in SAVOR if they wanted to, but they’re not, instead bringing two of their more obscure offerings. You won’t see many low-ABV sour beers or lagers at SAVOR, so if these scratch your itch, do check out the Full Sail table.
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.
