Wednesday, May 29th, 2019

Craft Beer Crosscut 5.29.19: Flight of Breakside Stouts

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Beer flights in TacomaIOnce upon a not-so-distant Portland afternoon in 2010, a quietly formidable brewer named Ben Edmunds—armed with a Yale degree, Siebel training, and just enough continental brewing mystique gleaned from Germany and Belgium—opened a modest little wonder called Breakside Brewery in the sleepy Woodlawn neighborhood. It began as a nano-sized operation with oversized ambition, the kind of place where the beer list whispered, just wait. By 2011, Breakside had already snagged their first Great American Beer Festival medal, and they’ve been gilding their trophy case ever since, one brilliant brew at a time.

By 2013, they scaled up to a 30-barrel system in Milwaukie, Oregon, and by 2014, they’d etched their name into IPA immortality with a gold medal for their flagship IPA—later anointed one of Men’s Journal’s 100 Best Beers in the World (as if there was ever a doubt). But don’t let the hops distract you. Breakside also brews with the moody elegance of poets and alchemists when it comes to imperial stouts—barrel-aged beauties that brood, whisper, and occasionally roar. See also: The Oligarch, a bourbon-soaked Russian imperial symphony that took gold in 2019, and now, its elder kin: Grandmammy and Grandpappy, fresh off the wood, ready to flood your palate with dark secrets and toasted oak lullabies.

Today, Peaks & Pints honors Breakside’s shadow side with Craft Beer Crosscut 5.29.19: Flight of Breakside Stouts—five complex, dark, decadent stouts that sip like a fireside novel you never want to end. Bring your tastebuds. Bring a pen. You may want to take notes.

Craft Beer Crosscut 5.29.19: Flight of Breakside Stouts

Breakside-Grandmammy-TacomaBreakside Grandmammy

9% ABV, 33 IBU

The barrel-aged version of Breakside Brewery’s popular winter seasonal, Salted Caramel Stout, this vintage release has been doting for more than a year in Van Winkle wheated bourbon barrels that were also used to house Bissell Maple Farm maple syrup. Grandmammy tugs your cheeks with soft oak tannins, wood character, brown spices, earth and dark fruit coupled with the rich flavors of vanilla and caramel with a hint of salt in the finish.

Breakside-Grandpappy-TacomaBreakside Grandpappy

9% ABV, 33 IBU

Inspired by whiskey-sauced bread pudding, this Breakside Brewery barrel-aged imperial stout is a special variant of Grandmammy. Also aged for more than a year in Van Winkle wheated bourbon barrels that have been used to house Bissell Maple Farm maple syrup, Grandpappy doesn’t smell like cigars and dust, but rather toffee, caramel and baking spice. If you kissed Grandpappy, you’d taste charred oak, sun-dried grapes, and chocolate-covered citrus.

Breakside-The-Oligarch-TacomaBreakside The Oligarch

10.7% ABV, 53 IBU

The Oligarch is a single batch of British imperial stout blended from four different batches of stouts aged in bourbon barrels for more than two years. It hits the nose with bourbon-ish brown sugary nose, vanilla, oak and dark chocolate. Delicious brown sugary flavor follows with a bit of a sharp alcoholic phenol, dark chocolate, oak, vanilla and a boozy, roasty finish.

Breakside-The-Oligarch-PB-and-Oligarch-TacomasBreakside The Oligarch — PB & Oligarch

10.5% ABV

The word “oligarch” first came into wide use in and about Russia in the 1990s; back then, it referred to men who had built their fortunes on the ruins of the Soviet economy and then used their wealth to obtain political power. In Putin’s mafia state, oligarchs have surrendered their autonomy — and any political ambitions — in exchange for wealth. In Breakside Brewery’s craft beer state, The Oligarch has surrendered its flavor to bourbon barrels for two years before being exiled to Peaks and Pints. The PB & Oligarch variant combines the original Oligarch with raspberries and almonds. This variant has a delicious nutty aroma with a kiss of raspberry that takes us back to those lunchtime classics.

Breakside The Oligarch — Maple

10.3% ABV, 47 IBU

The maple bourbon barrels from Bissell Maple Farm in Jefferson, Ohio provide a ton of complexity, offering an especially nerdy delight to be found in this intense and rich beer.