Valley Preserves
Valley Preserves captures the sunshine from the Willamette Valley and the joys of berry picking with a bold combination of fresh Oregon fruit and tart beer. Blended with Oregon-grown blueberries, boysenberries and cherries, this ruby beer is robust with dark jammy flavors!
Last summer when fruits were ripe and the sun was shining, we blended two varieties of cherries with mature casks of golden sour ale. Then in a separate blend, we added blueberries and boysenberries to barrel-aged sour ales and saisons. Keeping these apart allowed us to find a balance of dark berry and lighter cherry flavors in the final blend.
The patience we offered to these beers as the fruits fermented made a huge difference in their character. The cherries brought their own native yeast and bacteria, which created new flavors beyond the expected notes of dark fruit and jam. The native microorganisms produced a more complex acidity and also light earthy tones like roasted chestnuts and fresh baked bread.
We wanted to blend a beer where one fruit didn’t overwhelm the flavor profile and a mild acidity didn’t take over the palate. Working through various small blending trials, we were enjoying a mix of mostly blueberry and boysenberry casks that added distinct dark berry flavors and light acidity. With the addition of some more sour ale aged with the cherries, the acid profile came up to what we were looking for and the color moved up from indigo to the hue of that pinkish-purple stain on your fingers after picking berries!
The flavors that the cherries brought were lighter, fruity and floral, and after bottle conditioning, the beer we were hoping for really came to fruition: the refreshing, complex and very fruit-forward beer we have today!
Pair Valley Preserves with a light cake drizzled with honey where the acidity in the beer will refresh your palate after a bite and the fruit flavor in the beer will stand in as the reduction that would be ladled on top. Or pair with ricotta cheese mixed with baking spices like cinnamon and clove, spread on a warm baguette!
We hope you enjoy this bright and refreshing beer!
