Updated June 2, 2022 — Chainline has now announced that the beer will drop on Wednesday, June 15th. Join them at the brewery’s taproom in Kirkland from 3:00 – 5:00. Along with Blockchain Cold IPA, they’ll also pour plenty of other Chainline beers, including the new Tune Up Hop Trials beer featuring Nelson Sauvin hops, fermented with a thiol-producing yeast strain. (I’ll explain thiols in another post, soon.) They’ll also pour a Block 15 guest tap featuring their new Sticky Hands Brewers Cut. Some Block 15 team members are coming up for the event.
Following the kickoff at Chainline, the party continues at Chuck’s Hop Shop in Greenwood starting at 7:00.
Original Post — Kirkland, Washington’s Chainline Brewing created a new beer in collaboration with Block 15 Brewing of Corvalis, Oregon. Blockchain Cold IPA is slated for release in mid-June, just in time for the upcoming Washington Brewers Festival.
When I hear news of a new brewery collaboration project like this, I always have the same questions. Why these breweries? Why this beer? Sometimes there’s not much of a story to dig up, but sometimes there’s a rich, deep story beneath the surface. I suppose this one falls somewhere in between. There is a backstory involving the two breweries. The decision to brew a Cold IPA was intentional.
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“Block 15 was the first brewery I worked at,” says Brandon Huff, head brewer at Chainline Brewing. “The people and the beer will always hold a special place in my heart. They make excellent beer of all types, but I particularly have always loved their IPAs and sours.”
Brandon explains how they landed on Cold IPA as the style for this collaboration. “Block 15 makes awesome IPAs, so I wanted to do something hop forward. We love to make lager here at Chainline and we wanted to add that aspect to the beer.”
Cold IPA is a fairly new style of beer that intentionally blends the crisp, refreshing character of a light lager with the robust hoppiness of an IPA. It is similar to, but also inherently different than, India Pale Lager.
“I had made a few cold IPAs in the past and Block 15 has not made one yet, so we decided to go that route,” explains Brandon. “Cold IPA is an excellent style because we could pack an intense level of hops in the beer while keeping the crisp, clean character of a lager.”
Blockchain Cold IPA will be available on draft and in cans. The beer is scheduled for release in mid-June. We will update this post once we know more about the release plan.
For more news about recent beer releases, visit the Washington Beer Blog’s New Beer Releases page.
