The Story of the Official Beer of the 2016 Seattle Beer Week
Posted by Ian @ January 14, 2016
Reuben’s Brews co-founder, Adam Robbings, was a self-proclaimed beer fanatic. However, despite downing a lot of delicious beer in his native London, it wasn’t until he moved to Seattle in 2004 that he was introduced to what beer could be. Beer didn’t have to be a light lager or bitter, like was the prevalence in his home city at the time. The breweries of Seattle opened Adam’s eyes, and taste buds, and set Adam and his wife and co-founder Grace on their journey to open one of the most decorated breweries in the state. Without Seattle, there would be no Reuben’s Brews.
“To brew the official beer of the ultimate beer celebration in the city that is central to everything about us is an especially humbling experience for us,” said Robbings. “From opening our eyes to what beer could be, to being the place where we’ve been living for over a decade, to being the birthplace of our sons, to the welcoming arms of our customers on the first day we opened our doors in August 2012 and the amazing support from the community since we opened – Seattle is at our core. To say that we feel a lot of responsibility to make the official beer for Seattle Beer Week a success is an understatement.”
The big questions were what beer to brew and how could they make it unique and memorable. Over the course of many days, and of course many beers, they landed on the idea of a sessionable beer. A brew that you could have more than one of – after all, Seattle Beer Week lasts a good few days! And the brewery’s love of hops is only equaled by that of the Emerald City and the Pacific Northwest as a whole. So lower ABV, and hop-forward it had to be… something that you could have one or two of, and be able to enjoy everyday.
“We spent a lot of time thinking about the name for the beer!” said Robbings. “D-ale-y, the Full Monty, the Daily Bevvy, Daily Prost… So many names, but none managed to live up to our high expectations… Weeks of deliberation ensued, but we got there in the end! Introducing…The Daily Pale!”
The Daily Pale is a hop-forward ‘session’ IPA with an aroma and flavor profile driven by citrus and passionfruit, with kiwi and honeydew undertones. At 4.9% ABV and 55 IBU, it’s light in the body, but balanced and focused on hop flavor and aroma, with a crisp, clean finish.
The name ‘Daily Pale’ provides a connection with the daily newspaper, and goes back to the idea that you can enjoy this beer everyday. It’s also a pun on pail, and can take you back to yester-year when people would get their daily beer in metal open pails (or “growlers”) from their local tavern. Luckily, this beer will be in more sanitary pails – 12oz cans!
And as a little thank you to Seattle, Reuben’s Brews is donating 1% of the proceeds from the Daily Pale to the Seattle Parks Foundation. They feel it’s the least they could do to say ‘thank you.' - See more at: http://www.seattlebeerweek.com/beer#sthash.CeMYcPce.dpuf