Port City Brewing Company, the Great American Beer Festival Smally Brewing Company of the Year, has two new beers coming to market. One is pretty in-line with what you might expect from PCBC. The other is, for our money, decidedly not.
On May 5, 2017, Port City Brewing Company debuts Oscura Mexican-style dark lager as part of its new rotating lager series. With Port City’s recent expansion – which included a 30 percent increase in fermentation capacity – the company was able to dedicate a 60-barrel tank to the lager project. A new limited release lager will be released every four to eight weeks. According to head brewer Jonathan Reeves, future beers will include a German pilsner, a Baltic porter, and a schwarzbier, among others. The limited release series will be available draft only at the tasting room and select bars and restaurants in Port City’s seven state distribution area.
The lager series provides consumers with an opportunity to try beer styles they may have never encountered. “Given lagers’ extended fermentation time,” says founder Bill Butcher, “many American breweries stick to ales. Through this series, we hope to give beer drinkers the chance to enjoy something new, exciting, and refreshing.”
The Oscura release party will be from 3-10 p.m. in the brewery's tasting room and coincide with Cinco de Mayo. The beer will be available in full pours and tasters, as well as growlers and crowlers to go. Guests will enjoy live music from Taylor Carson.
Oscura Mexican-style Dark Lager takes inspiration from the brown and amber lagers brought to Mexico in the late 19th century by German immigrants and still brewed there to this day. Designed to refresh in the warm climate, Mexican-style dark lager has a clean, toasty malt character. Tawny chestnut with a rocky head, Oscura is both a good companion to rich meals and refreshing on its own. It closk in at 5.4% ABV and 24 IBUs.
Not to be confined to lagers, PCBC will also release a new collaboration ale this month. “Trifecta” is a beer brewed in collaboration with their friends from Marble Brewery and Überbrew. Together, the companies represent the three most recent winners of the Small Brewing Company of the Year at the Great American Beer Festival®.
Members of each participating brewery gathered at Port City’s Alexandria facility during the Craft Brewers Conference to brew a Belgian IPA. “It was a lot of fun brewing with friends to kick off CBC,” said lead brewer Adam Reza II. “Josh (Center of Marble) worked here for years and the Überbrew guys were once tasting room regulars, so we had a great time brewing together.”
According to the brewery, "Trifecta is a Belgian IPA that features a strong tropical aroma developed via hop-bursting – the process of adding large amounts of hops at the end of the boil. Each brewery contributed a new, sought-after American hop to the recipe– Idaho 7 from Marble, Azacca from Überbrew, and Amarillo from Port City. Alfalfa honey and Belgian yeast create further complex esters, resulting in a Belgian IPA with prominent aromatics and medium bitterness." Trifecta is 6.2% ABV and has 40 IBUs.
The limited release beer will be available draft only at the tasting room and select bars and restaurants in Port City’s seven state distribution area.
