A collaboration involving Ghostfish Brewing and Deschutes Brewery

Brewers from Ghostfish Brewing and Deschutes Brewery in the brewhouse.

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Seattle’s esteemed gluten-free brewery, Ghostfish Brewing, teams up with Deschutes Brewery to introduce Hoppin’ around the Bend Pilsner. Release events in Seattle and Bend on June 12th.

Back in 2022, Ghostfish Brewing produced a beer in collaboration with Colorado’s Odell Brewing. It was an uncommon, if not unique, project involving an exclusively gluten-free brewery and one of the largest craft beer producers in the nation. Generally speaking, the world of GF beer and non-GF beers do not intermingle. Today, Ghostfish Brewing announced that it has done it again, introducing a beer it produced in collaboration with another top-producing craft beer company, Deschutes Brewery of Bend, Oregon.

Ghostfish Brewing just introduced a new limited-edition beer brewed in collaboration with Deschutes Brewery: Hoppin’ around the Bend, a West Coast-influenced Pilsner. Deschutes Brewery, the nation’s 12th-largest craft brewery, turned to Ghostfish Brewing to learn more about producing gluten-free beer. At the 2022 Oregon Beer Awards, Deschutes Brewery’s Hop Dipped IPA earned a gold medal. The beer is listed as “gluten-free/gluten-reduced” on the company’s website. For a beer to be truly gluten-free, it must be brewed in an entirely gluten-free brewery. Still, in producing Hop Dipped IPA the brewery used only gluten-free ingredients–white sorghum, brown rice, Belgian candi syrup, maltodextrin, and a lot of hops.

“We always make the highest quality beer no matter the situation, but because we’re not a 100% gluten-free brewery, there are a lot of process restrictions to ensure our gluten-free products are safe for those who cannot consume gluten,” said Robin Johnson, Head Brewer at Deschutes Brewery. “Knowing that Ghostfish Brewing makes some of the best gluten-free beer in the nation, I reached out about working together so we could learn from the industry leaders. They graciously agreed and this project exceeded expectations. It was an amazing learning experience and we’re so grateful for the collaboration.”

“The opportunity to create a beer with a top 20 craft beer producer, Odell Brewing, was extremely gratifying, but getting the same opportunity with top tier producer, Deschutes Brewery was simply something we couldn’t pass up,” said Brian Thiel, Ghostfish Brewing’s Co-Founder/Co-Owner. “We have the utmost respect for Deschutes. Not only are they an iconic Pacific Northwest-based brewery, but they continue to be innovative and important in the ever-changing craft beer scene. They have been brewing and serving their own gluten-free beer inside their pubs for as long as we’ve been in existence.”

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Brain explained that collaboration projects are always fun, adding that it was fun to work with Deschutes. “As fun as these projects are, we use these opportunities to learn new techniques and refine processes to continuously improve the quality of our gluten-free beers.”

The official release event is scheduled for Wednesday, June 12th. This will be a simultaneous launch between Deschutes Bend and Portland pubs and Ghostfish Seattle taproom. Special promotions and marketing giveaways will take place in Seattle and Bend between 5-8pm, with brewery reps in attendance at both locations.

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You’ll find the beer on draft and in 4-packs of 16-ounce cans at Ghostfish Brewing’s taproom in Seattle and Deschutes Brewery’s pubs in Bend and Portland. Ghostfish also plans to share the beer via multiple distribution territories throughout the Western half of the U.S.

The brewery describes Hoppin’ around the Bend as offering fruity hop flavors from Chinook, experimental 1019, Amarillo, and Mosaic hops. It was brewed with premium gluten-free malts. It clocks in at 5.1 percent ABV. The beer’s label artwork is a tip of the hat to a favorite summertime activity in Bend, Oregon: floating the Deschutes River.

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