(Photo courtesy of Sunriver Brewing Co.)
Sunriver Brewing Company is releasing 500ml reserve series bottles. The first two available starting this week are Cocoa Cow Chocolate Milk Stout and Motorhead Black Barleywine.
Cocoa Cow is one Sunriver Brewing’s most sought after beers. It has won three People’s Choice Awards at three different brewfests in the last two years, KLCC in Eugene, Oregon, McKenzie Brewfest in Springfield, Oregon, and most recently at Bend Brewfest in Bend, Oregon last summer.
It also just received a bronze medal at the Oregon Beer Awards in the combined flavored beer category.
“I’m always humbled when I see our customers demanding Cocoa Cow. We brewed a three barrel batch of this beer on our pilot system back in 2015 and people went nuts for it.” Says Brett Thomas, Head Brewer. “Cow is just this interesting mix of dark malts, cocoa nibs and milk sugar, and is actually an homage to my father. He was a highly respected food scientist in the 1970s, working for years at M&M Mars, and later in his career consulting for Hershey, Nestle and others. There was always something chocolate related going on when I was growing up – it was his passion, much like craft beer is mine.”
Motorhead Black Barleywine is a newer beer that combines the robust malt flavor of a barleywine, but with a big resinous hop profile. This beer is great for the reserve series that is dated on the label, knowing that its complexity will change over time. A beer meant for vertical tastings over the years.
“When brewing Motorhead we wanted to brew something big, dark and relatively hoppy as well as something that aged well. A black barleywine seemed to fit those specs, and Motorhead was born. This beer is fairly complex. When young, it can be boozy and really hoppy, with this impressively big herbal-dank and grapefruit-pine character. As it ages, the alcohol character quickly fades, the hops mellow, and it becomes this complex, well rounded sipping beer.”
Sunriver Brewing Company
Sunriver Brewing Company’s pub in the Village at Sunriver opened to rave reviews in the summer of 2012. Recognizing that the original pub would not accommodate demand, a 13,000 square foot building was purchased in the Business Park at Sunriver where in 2014, the company sold 926 barrels of beer. Since then, the brewery has expanded several times and sold almost 5,000 barrels in 2016. Talented head brewer, Brett Thomas, prides himself on making the highest quality beer. Since 2014, Sunriver Brewing Company has garnered 9 national/international awards including three gold, three silver and one bronze at the North American Beer Awards (NABA), a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) and a gold medal at the World Beer Cup. In February of 2016, Sunriver opened its second pub location on Galveston Avenue in Bend Oregon.
