Tillamook, Ore., is a sleepy, remote and often damp coastal town 74 miles west of Portland. It smells of sea air and dairy farms. It’s also home to founder and head brewer Trevor Rogers’ de Garde Brewing, whose singular focus is spontaneously fermented, barrel-aged beers. The brewery, found near the Tillamook Air Museum’s massive blimp hangar, barely distributes, meaning fans must either track down bottles on the Internet or visit in person. Once you’re there, the handful of wild ales and guest rarities on tap and limited-release bottles available to go don’t disappoint. Berliner weisses, Belgian ales, porters and more are left to naturally ferment in an open-air cool ship, letting wild yeast descend from the Oregon Coast air. Local fruit and a variety of cherry, oak and gin barrels add bold notes and tart overtones. Peaks and Pints grabbed four de Garde beauties for today’s beer flight that we call Craft Beer Crosscut 11.28.18: A Flight of de Garde.

Craft Beer Crosscut 11.28.18: A Flight of de Garde

de Garde The Frais

5.5% ABV

de Garde’s The Frais is a spontaneous wild ale aged in oak barrels blended from two years with fresh Citra and Mosaic hops.

de Garde The Blackberry

6.8% ABV

de Garde’s The Blackberry is a spontaneous wild ale aged in oak barrels with blackberries.

de Garde The Purple

6.5% ABV

de Garde’s The Purple is a wild ale aged in oak wine barrels with black and red raspberries.

de Garde The Rougess

6.9% ABV

de Garde’s The Rougess is a spontaneous wild ale, born from a base of Northwest grown and malted barley and northwest raw wheat, boiled extensively with four year aged local hops. The beer is blended from multiple different years and batches of barrels. After composing the blend, the beer was transferred into secondary oak tanks along with large amounts of red raspberries, as well as Morello and Montmorency tart cherries.