One of the things that makes Newport famous is that it is the home of Rogue Brewing. Rogue is one of the most renowned microbreweries in the country. They were founded in 1988 making them one of the pioneers in the craft brewing industry. They now are about the 30th largest brewery in the U.S. But they don’t strive for high volume but rather produce a very large range of specialty ales that are mainly sold in painted bottles rather than ones with paper labels. They tend to be one of the higher priced lines of ales.
So it was a pleasure to visit their facilities in Newport including their main brewery, the pub house which used to be the brewery and also is now a small inn with rooms on the upper floor, and even a micro distillery which we didn’t visit.
Within their extensive range of ales, there is one that more than had us scratching our heads. It’s name is Beard Beer. As you won’t be able to read the description at the bottom of the pictures here goes: “The brew dedicated to Beards, Beard Beer is brewed with a yeast created from Brewmaster John Maier’s Beard. No need to freak out, Brewers have used wild yeasts in beer making for centuries. John has had the same old growth beard since 1983 and for over 15,000 brews so it is no great surprise that a natural yeast ideal for brewing was discovered in his beard.” Talk about spontaneous fermentation. This was actually one brew we chose to pass on. But we sampled a good many of their range.
After visiting their website I can see why you were scratching your heads - a small sample of each would have you falling off the stool. Hopefully they don't just toss some beard trimmings in the beer :-)
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of this brewery, maybe because we are more into wine, Will have to check it out if we are in the area:)
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