Looking Back – 2011 at BBAY

Another year is winding down and before we say hello to 2012, we thought we’d say a fond goodbye to 2011 with some of our favorite moments of the past year.  Here at Boundary Bay Brewery, 2011 gave us lots of opportunities to expand on previous successes and was jam packed with brand new adventures as well:

giddy while filling the Dry Fly barrels with Scotch Ale!

* We partnered up with Dry Fly Distillery (in Spokane, WA) to try barrel aging a couple of our beers.  First up was our Scotch Ale which was consumed with gusto and our Oatmeal Stout is currently aging – to be released soon.  The project was a great success and we’re already looking forward to trying more barrel aging in the new year.

* We brewed up our very first Cascadia Dark Ale and cast our two cents in the debate about what to name this elusive beer style.  We still think Black IPA just doesn’t cut it and retain our vote for Cascadia Dark Ale in honor of the region this iconic style was birthed in.

* We jumped in to our first of (hopefully) many Beer vs. Wine dinners at Semiahmoo Resort.  Craft Beer is gaining ground as a food pairing phenomenon and we’ve had a lot of fun challenging Washington wineries like Chateau Ste. Michelle to see which beverage comes out on top.  We’ve got our next Beer vs. Wine dinner on January 28th, so why not make it one of your New Years resolutions to join us and open your mind to the possibilities of beer and food pairings?!

* We began highlighting our Local Connections through short video blogs, which turned out to be a great way to connect our customers and our suppliers.  It’s been inspiring to connect with those who are passionate about what they do, and we’ve enjoyed visiting the farms who grow our food and the great cafés, bars and restaurants who serve our beer!   We’ll start the new year with a behind-the-scenes peek at Ralf’s Bavarian Pretzels and show you exactly why we love working with this awesome local business.

our shirt on the Discovery Channel!

* We came up with some new merchandise to tempt you: a new 2L growler and a Cabin Fever Hoodie.  Our hoodies continue to be known as Bellingham’s unofficial uniform and our Save the Ales slogan is recognized far outside of our little corner of the Northwest.  We hear about our customers being stopped in Disneyland, in New York and even in New Zealand when someone recognizes our iconic shirt.  A lot of you have probably even seen our Munzinger shirt on the Discovery Channel special “How Beer Saved The World.”

* Our relationships with craft beer lovers across the country (and into Canada!) are continuing to grow and strengthen: our beer was officially poured for the first time in Hawaii when we took part in the Kauai Beer Festival, we’ve expanded our distribution into British Columbia which has been received with MUCH enthusiasm and our little brewpub was even written up in the Vancouver Sun, EnRoute: the AirCanada in-flight magazine and the American Airlines in-flight magazine!

* We were honored to find out that Bellingham Firefighters refer to our brewpub as Station 7 (since there are 6 official fire stations here in town) – so, with their input, we created a Station 7 shirt and are donating the proceeds from shirt sales to Camp Phoenix which is a camp for child burn victims.

* We have continued to take full advantage of our own success and to spread that love by doing everything we can to support local nonprofits.  Every year, we donate to over 100 local charities and  this year, for the first time, we became a sponsor of the Dirty Farm Trek – a physical and mental obstacle race put on by the VZ Foundation.

at the St. Patrick's Day Parade, 2011

* The Bellingham Firefighters Pipes & Drums band has, unofficially, become our house band!  We’re delighted that they feel welcome enough here at the brewpub to just drop by for spontaneous performances and entertain our customers with their tunes.

* Our General Manager, Janet Lightner, has been the driving force behind Bellingham’s St. Patricks Day Parade and we were thrilled to help her put on another successful parade in 2011 despite the unfavorable weather.  Amazingly, it’s almost time to start thinking about next year’s parade too!  This year, the 2011 Paddy’s Day Parade will fall on the 17th – St. Patrick’s Day itself, so mark your calendars and plan on a whole day of Irish-inspired festivities.

* We brewed the very first Ski to Sea ESB  – commemorating 100 years of racing and look forward to continuing that tradition next year.  And, the Boundary Bay Brewery women’s Ski to Sea Team enjoyed another win in the Competitive Women’s Division and continues to be the ONLY team in Ski to Sea history to win their division 11 years in a row!

* We are thrilled to have been named the Best Brewery in Washington, the Best Brewpub in Washington and the Best Scotch Ale in the Northwest by the Northwest Brewing News Reader’s Choice Awards and were named the Best Bar in Bellingham by the Bellingham Herald Readers Choice Awards.

* And, the biggest news of all for 2011, is our impending expansion!  We’ll take over the lease of the new space on January 1st and are excited to start the new year with lots and lots of construction.  ;)

As we look back on 2011 and ahead to whatever may come in 2012, we want to take a moment to say thank you to all of YOU – our beloved friends and customers who have become a part of the Boundary Bay Brewery family!  We are so proud to be a part of this incredible community (both Bellingham and the craft beer community at large) and honored to have your support as we move on to another year of handcrafted beer and great local food.  We truly couldn’t do what we do without you.  Cheers, from all of us here at Boundary Bay Brewery!

CDA vs. Black IPA

There’s a new beer style emerging currently, and brewing right alongside it is an argument about whether this new style should be called Cascadian Dark Ale (CDA) or Black IPA (or one of the many variants of the latter).

This new beer is basically a dynamic duo of malt and hops – it is characteristically dark or black in appearance, due to roasted malt, but still retains the big, bold hop flavors and aromas more traditionally found in an IPA.  There are claims that the style originated in Vermont and there are those who insists that homebrewers in the Pacific Northwest were making it first.  But, wherever it started, the style is finally hitting the mainstream.  As brewers across the country were experimenting with making this new beer style, a variety of names popped up because no one was quite sure what to call it:  Black IPA, Black Ale, Dark Ale, India Dark Ale, India Style Dark ale, India Style Dark Ale, Cascadia Dark Ale, etc.  In 2010, the Brewers Association added the style to the Great American Beer Festival guidelines and officially designated it as American-style Black Ale, but the debate about just what to call this beer rages on.

There are many who believe strongly in naming the style Black IPA, but a whole lot of us here in the Pacific Northwest are fighting for the name Cascadian Dark Ale.  Yes, the style is dark and yes, it still tastes very hoppy, so we can see why the early brewers used terms like Black IPA to try to explain what they were brewing.  But, it really bears little similarity to the historic IPA’s and paring the terms black or dark with pale ale in the same style name seems more than a little confusing!  So our vote is for Cascadian Dark Ale.  Not just because Cascadian hops are used in this beer style (and in a vast majority of all beers produced in the United States) and not just because there are those who trace the roots of this emerging beer style to our region.  We are championing the name Cascadian Dark Ale because here, in the Cascade region, we have embraced this style while it was still a gimmick for most of the rest of the United States.  The Pacific Northwest is where this new beer style is emerging, being embraced and being defined!  Perhaps it’s just that it’s a natural fit for us.  Those of us here in the Northwest seem to have a pallete all our own where big, bold flavors are appreciated – intensely roasted coffee and big, hoppy, bitter beers.  Naming this style Cascadian Dark Ale is about honoring this region and the styles and hops that come from here and that have helped to shape this industry.

Those who argue against the CDA name say that it shows regional favortism and that we’re poised to go the route of champagne if we allow this (only Champagne comes from Champagne region of France – everything else must be called sparkling wine).  But, brewing with Cascade hops or brewing the beer HERE in the Cascade Region is not a requirement for the style.  The name is more appropriately seen as an homage to where this beer style came into it’s own.  We don’t think this is any different from other beers named for specific regions:  Pilsners from Pilsen in the Czech Republic or Scotch Ale from Scotland.  Pilsners and Scotch Ales are now brewed everywhere, by all kinds of brewers…and yet, the names remain and they honor the roots of those beer styles.  Just as we hope Cascadian Dark Ales will honor the Cascade region and it’s part in brewing history.  Cheers – from all of us here at Boundary Bay Brewery!