Arizona Sunrise

The funny thing about inspiration is that it can arise spontaneously — even when you’re on vacation. 

When Brian was visiting his in-laws in Arizona last winter, he got to spend time with family and relax outside — when it would have been cold and rainy in Oregon. Spending time in his in-laws’ Arizona backyard over brunch, he was inspired by their small crop of orange trees. 

South of Oregon, citrus trees can yield a bounty of fruit every winter, bringing sweet, tart and summery flavors when it gets a frigid 60 to 70 degrees outside! 

Without a great opportunity to grow citrus in Oregon, we don’t use it as much in our blends as we use local fruits like berries, stone fruits and of course wine grapes. But that’s not to say we don’t love it!

Thinking of a way orange could be worked into an Alesong blend (and chewing on a piece of bacon), Brian had the idea of a mimosa-inspired beer. Kind of seems like a no-brainer when you think about it: His family’s oranges and Oregon Pinot Gris juice melded together in a lightly tart barrel-aged blend.

Using barrels that had been aging for about a year, we first blended in the Pinot Gris to get the level of wine character we were looking for (We prefer mimosas with plenty of Champagne). Then we added the Arizona orange zest and let the blend incorporate the bright orange flavor until it was exactly where we wanted it.

Like a lot of our blends, this is at its roots an Alesong beer. If it weren’t for both family in Arizona and organic Pinot Gris vines literally next door, we would be blending something else. It’s fun to try some wild ideas, but we always find our inspiration coming from the local terroir, the local ingredients, and in this case, right in the backyard!

We hope you enjoy this beer on a sunny morning with brunch… hopefully on vacation!