Luke Pernotto

A collaboration beer is the result of two breweries working together to produce a single beer. This is seen as an opportunity for breweries to expand their fan base by tapping into the customers of the partnered brewery. This beer is one of those collaborations. Bitburger from Germany and Deschutes from Bend Oregon, USA.

This collaboration can trace their roots back to the 2019 Bitburger Beer Challenge hosted at Prost!, a Portland beer pub. This competition saw four breweries from Washington and four breweries from Oregon going head to head to deliver the best Pilsner. The rules were quite simple. The brewery had to submit a German-style Pilsner that was not part of the brewery’s normal lineup. The winning brewery would travel to Bitburger for a visit of their facility and partner with them to develop a collaboration beer. Deschutes Brewery was judged as the best Pilsner and ultimately led to this beer’s development.

The collaboration brought together the best of what each brewery does. The Dry Hop’d Zwickl brought together Bitburger’s Siegelhopfen (sealed hops), Citra and Mosaic hops. Siegelhopfen is the practice of certifying hops to be grown from a certain area. Only hops that are grown in the specific hop growing regions would be labeled with that seal. The Bitburger Siegelhopfen hop is a unique proprietary blend of hops that are grown in the Südeifel National Park. The Citra and Mosaic hops were grown in the Yakima Valley.

Lemon tropical fruit aroma. Sweet malt. It is very similar to the smell in a brewery when a tank first begins to ferment and the co2 blows off and fills the room. Very pleasant. Fairly cloudy but not milky like a hazy IPA. Initially thought this was from chill haze but will see as glass warms over time. Steady stream on continuous bubbles supports a lasting head. Initially poured with a thick head, 1 inch dissipated down to about a persistent quarter inch head. Medium sized bubbles support a fluffy cloud like head. Biscuit malt flavor. If I was to guess Munich malt. There is definitely some hop flavor but not a harsh bitterness. Surprisingly refreshing and each sip wanted me to have another. As the glass warmed the haze persisted. This means it more than likely caused by the dry hopping method teh beer was made. Over all very enjoyable beer.

Good bit of hop flavor for those IPA lovers that want to explore something new. Also light and refreshing enough for a new beer drinker or to bring to a party where you dont know the style preference of the host. I bought a pack for a newly arrived military family who just landed and needed the essentials. My wife thought that meant food and dishes I imediatly thought what beer to get them. This worked because it was a hoppy flavor without the bitterness that some do not prefer.