Oregon Common Ale

Our Oregon Common Ale is based on the California Common Ale (or Steam Beer, which is a registered trademark of Anchor Brewing Company).

Common Ales are a wholly unique style and one of the first recognized microbrew or craft styles of beer. Dating back to the 1800's the style was an attempt to recreate the taste of amber-type lagers, without the ability to ferment the beer truly cold. Brewers in Northern California, where the style really took hold, began using a lager-type yeast strain that actually liked to be fermented at ale temperatures (low to mid 60's). The resulting beers have a similar lager like clean and crisp character with a slight fruity and estery character from the warmer fermentation. The style all but died out except for one brewery (Anchor Brewing), which held on and eventually revived the style for the world.

Our Oregon Common Ale is brewed with 100% Oregon grown ingredients. Our malt is from Mecca Grade Estate Malt, a craft maltster in Madras Oregon. We then used hops from the Willamette valley and the classic Common Ale yeast strain.

The resulting beer is a crisp amber lager/ale hybrid with distinct Pacific NW hop profile, and smooth malt character and crisp and dry finishing character, perfect to drink as we wave goodbye to summer.