Many of you may be wondering why I’m so excited about a “festive winter ale” in September, and to you my answer is simple - have you ever tasted Jubelale? Full of dark crystal malt, it’s nutty, it’s sweet and generally delicious. Mmmm…..

So what prompted this sudden outburst of Jubelale love? Last night Deschutes Brewery held simultaneous Jubelale launch parties at its Bend and Portland public houses, offering a lucky few the opportunity to try the 2008 brewing before it’s release to store shelves in the beginning of October.

In addition to traditional Jubelale the pub was offering a special nitro Jubel and a menu of delicious beer infused options. We tried the “Pig’s Ear” dessert which was similar to an elephant ear (with bits of bacon incorporated into the dough) and came with caramel sauce and a Jubelale ice cream. Pretty tasty.

So, if you’ve got a craving for some Christmas in September, I’d recommend heading down to the pub and getting your hands on some Jubelale before word spreads and you can’t get a stool at the bar.

The new Portland Deschutes Brewery and Public House is featured in the October issue of Food & Wine as one of Oregon’s “Drink Here Now” destinations.

Check out Food & Wine's October issue

After all of the phone calls, drop ins and questions like, “Is it in today?” Deschutes Brewery’s the dissident release finally arrived! Immediately when the doors opened to the Portland pub this Wednesday at 11 am, people started rushing in to get their bounty of dissident brew. The first person who showed up purchased eight bottles, the next six, and on from there - lets just say, our stash is dwindling. The day was crazy! We were given an allotment of 30 cases from Bend and we already went through 18 cases in one day. People kept coming up to the front desk saying, “I’d like a t-shirt, a pint glass, and umm a case (twelve 22oz bottles) of dissident.”

Earlier on in the day, employees gathered around a back table to open and discuss the remarkable beer. One of the most frequent comments I received from customers was, “I didn’t know you could do this with beer.” Well everyone, you can make a sour brown beer, Bend decided to do it, and it is delicious. It has a very fruity and sharp taste to it that drinks so well and only gets better. It’s true, when you first taste it the immediate reaction is “whoa, beer?” But once your taste buds settle the next inclination is, “whoa, beer!”

The feedback and excitement surrounding this beer release has been overwhelming. We are expected to run out of the cases we received from Bend within the next day or so, and might possibly finish off the kegs by the end of the weekend. Everyone and their grandmother is buying this reserve series. You could tell how far the excitement spread when the general manager announced that Portland pub would be receiving Dissident t-shirts in-stock and all the employees lit up and let out a squished face, hissing “yesssss.”

I have never witnessed something quite like this - everyone who comes in is in tune with the uniqueness and quality of this beer. They are so excited about getting their hands on as much as they can. A dissident spell perhaps? The entire pub from servers, bartenders, hosts, clientele, and customers are all grinning and basking in the release. It has been a whole lot of fun and judging by the excitement and the sales thus far, I don’t know how much longer the fun will last, so be sure to come in this weekend and get the last few drops of Dissident.

–Andrew (from the Portland Pub)