Deciding upon which brewery to feature next in our series showcasing the brands of Day One Distribution was an easy choice. Cascade Brewing, founded in 1998 by Art Larrance (co-founder of both Portland Brewing & the Oregon Brewers Festival) and Ron Gansberg, became one of America’s leading brewers of distinctive Sour Ales starting in 2009. For in that first year, they were awarded bronze at the Great American Beer Festival, in the Wood and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer Category, for their now hallmark Kriek Ale.
Originally beginning operations at The Lodge location in the Raleigh Hills neighborhood of Southwest Portland, the brewery saw moderate success through the early years before beginning to develop their renowned NW Sour program in 2005. Once word got out about their fruit focused barrel-aged Sours, it was just a matter of keeping up with demand.
This success prompted the opening of the Cascade Brewing Barrel House (dubbed the “House of Sour”) in Southeast Portland in September of 2010, which provided much needed production and barrel space. Though soon enough, in 2014, Cascade needed even more space, this time adding the 23,000 sq ft Cascade Brewing Blending House just down the road from The Lodge in Beaverton. This facility houses over 1,600 barrels, 9 foeders, and all the blending, aging, and packaging aspects of production.
Also in 2014, Robby Roda, Co-Founder/Owner of Day One, began his time at Cascade Brewing as their National Sales Director, then two years later struck-out on his own to start the distribution company you know today. Cascade naturally became our first Pacific Northwest brand.
Since that time, much has changed at Cascade including the departure of Brewmaster Ron Gansberg in 2018, which in turn created increased roles for Kevin Martin (Director of Brewing Operations) and the ever diverse approach of current Head Brewer Michael “Big Mike” Mathis. Though the biggest change in the brewery’s history came just a year ago April when Larrance announced his retirement as well as the sale of Cascade Brewing to a group of local business owners.
The new ownership is made up of Ramie Mount, Mark Becker, Greg Laird and Brian Kovach, who currently own and/or operate of FlyBoy Brewing & Pub, FlyBoy Taproom, and Parallel 45 Brewing. While early in their tenure as owners, there’s already been an exciting new focus on canned offerings, such as the newly available Patio Paradise Sour, as well a number of other first time releases in 12 and 16 ounce cans, plus 500 ml bottles, over the past year. We’re especially excited for some yet-to-be-announced canned offerings slated for release very soon.
In addition to the 12 oz Patio Paradise cans, below you’ll find our currently available inventory of Cascade Brewing bottled sours, including (Top L to Lower R): Coastal Gose, Nectarine Dream (first bottling!), Cuveé Du Jongleur, Vlad The Imp Aler, Mayan Bourbonic (first bottling!), Bourbonic Plague, Primordial Noir, Citrus Noyaux (first bottling!), Bean To Barrel Triple (collaboration with Mikkeller), Pear Mary (first bottling), Valley Flora, Apricot, Kriek, Rose City Sour, One Way or Another, Brunch Line, and Garden Party.
Be sure to stop into either The Lodge or Barrel House to sample not only their one-of-a-kind sour ales, but also an ever rotating array of stellar new Ales and Lagers!
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