Laurelwood Launches Workhorse 12-packs

Freshly into its production brewing arrangement at Full Sail in Hood River, Laurelwood Brewing is releasing Workhorse IPA in 12-packs of bottles. The new packaging will soon appear on shelves at Fred Meyer, Safeway and other retail outlets in Oregon and Washington.

The move marks another step in the ongoing evolution of the popular Workhorse, first brewed in 2006. It was released in 22 oz bottles a year later, then won the National IPA Championship in 2009. A highly successful six-pack release followed in 2013.

"The 12-pack launch is based largely on the success we've seen with the six-packs," Laurelwood co-founder and owner Mike De Kalb told me via email.

"We decided the time was right for 12-packs. It really has nothing to do with moving our production to Hood River. The plan was in motion before we exited our arrangement with the CBA and now we're implementing it."

The Workhorse 12-packs will be a year-round offering, available alongside six-packs of Workhorse and Free Range Red. There's also Red Elephant in 12 oz cans, which have limited availability, and seasonal offerings in six-packs, as well as a variety of 22 oz bombers.

"We'll roll with this lineup for a while and see how it goes, De Kalb said. "At this point, we don't have any plans for additional 12-packs of bottles or cans in any form. I think our packaged lineup is solid."

With competition for shelf space intensifying, now is a perfect time to get Workhorse out there in 12-packs. The move puts a fresh face on the Workhorse brand and promotes the perception that Laurelwood is continuing to evolve and expand options for consumers. Smart business.

About Laurelwood Brewing
Laurelwood is a family owned brewery whose beers have won national and international awards. Its handcrafted brews can be found on draft and in bottles and cans throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, British Columbia, and Japan.

Horse of a Slightly Different Flavor and Character

I sometimes have to thank my neighbor, Mark Hall, an unapologetic hophead who scours area tap lists for the stickiest IPAs he can find. He often discovers beers that my own travels don't reveal. Such as Laurelwood's War Horse, which is on tap at the Horse Brass and likely other spots around town.

The name of the beer is so similar to Laurelwood's flagship beer, Workhorse, that I figured it must somehow be connected to the recent arrangement in which the Craft Brew Alliance is brewing and bottling Workhorse (and Free Range Red) in 12 oz bottles. Indeed.

Part of the deal with the CBA was to see that the contract-brewed version of Workhorse matched what they were producing at Laurelwood's own brewery. That can be a challenge when you're moving to a significantly larger and functionally different brewing system. It took several test batches to dial in the recipe. That's where War Horse comes in.

"War Horse was the first CBA trial of Workhorse," said Vasili Gletsos, Laurelwood brewmaster. "It finished high, a little sweeter then Workhorse, enough so that we didn't want to release it as Workhorse. It's really nice, similar style wise. We called it an Imperial Pale Ale, since without the attenuation, it fits a bit better as a strong pale."

The difference in finishing gravity between Workhorse and Warhorse isn't huge...a degree higher Plato, resulting in about a half a point difference in ABV, according to Gletsos. That small difference would have put them out of spec for the stated alcohol on the label. They wanted and needed to dial in the Workhorse recipe a bit more. But they suspected people would like that first effort, so they released it as War Horse. 

If you are a fan of Workhorse and similar beers, you owe yourself a taste of War Horse. The aroma and flavor are fantastic. The marginally sweeter backbone seems to embrace and bond with the aroma and flavor. It may be an Imperial Pale Ale, but it's a serious hop bomb worthy of any hophead. 

Where can you find War Horse? They aren't pouring it at any of the Laurelwood locations. "We only tap beer produced at our brewery," Gletsos said. "It's possible we will at some future point carry CBA-produced seasonals. But not yet."

War Horse has been on at the Horse Brass for a week or so, I guess, and it was on Thursday evening when I stopped by. The beer was distributed by Laurelwood's distribution partners throughout Oregon and Washington, so it's out there for the finding. The bad news is War Horse is a limited release. They don't plan to brew it again. Get some now!

Black Friday Follow-up and Notes

One of the things I strive for with this blog and anything else I write for public consumption is journalistic integrity. With respect to beer, I refuse to simply parrot what the various breweries, pubs and retailers. I collect information from the appropriate sources and interject my own thoughts as I write.

I followed that course when I put together the post on the Return of Workhorse at Laurelwood. I first reported the official reason why Workhorse was taken out of production: a shortage of hops. That's the information they gave me. I then provided a personal interpretation of why Workhorse was taken out of production: to make way for Gearhead as their standard IPA, with an imperial version of Workhorse to be released soon thereafter.

Workhorse is back on Laurelwood's big board

My interpretation was not well-received by Laurelwood brass. It's not hard to understand why. A lot of people were unhappy about the demise of Workhorse and many of them didn't believe the official explanation. I was tossing gasoline on the fire. You get the drift.

In the spirit of fair play and good beer, I spent some time talking to Laurelwood brewmaster, Vasili Gletsos, yesterday. I had not met him before. We spent an hour or so bouncing all kinds of beer thoughts around. Vasili is a great guy. They're lucky to have him at Laurelwood and I suspect he will do great things there.

Below are a few updates to my prior post, based on my conversation with Vasili:

• Although Laurelwood considered tweaking the Workhorse recipe and releasing it as an imperial IPA, they eventually decided against the idea. Plans change all the time, Vasili said. 
• There are no plans to release an imperial version of Workhorse this year. An imperial version may happen at some point, but the timeline is uncertain.When it happens, Imperial Workhorse will likely be part of their specialty series, with availability limited to select bottleshops.
• Gearhead is Laurelwood's standard IPA going forward, widely  available on draft and in bottles at grocery stores, bottleshops, etc.
• The A-Z IPA program was never intended to be lengthy. As Workhorse was running out last summer/fall, Vasili launched the A-Z program and named the first few beers after racehorses...Aftershock, Best Bet and C-Biscuit. The "D"-beer wound up being Gearhead, which they decided to launch to replace of Workhorse, and the A-Z program was tabled.
• A little off the beaten path, Vasili said making less Workhorse has freed up brewing capacity and given them more room to experiment with new ideas. He hopes to use some of that production capacity to produce a lager, with a probable summer release.

So there you have it. My supposition that Workhorse was taken out of production so they could easily release Gearhead and later launch Imperial Workhorse over the top appears to have been mistaken. Their plans for Imperial Workhorse are too uncertain to suggest that strategic course.

As for the A-Z program, the information I was given by a Laurelwood employee last summer was incorrect. Vasili had only recently joined the brewery at that time. He says they are working to improve communication between the brewhouse and the pub.

Deschutes Outing

While I'm (sorta) on the subject of Workhorse, there are a growing number of beers out there that offer similar hops character. This surely has something to do with the fact that the hophead pallet increasingly seeks IPAs that feature piney, citrus, grapefruit notes in flavor and aroma. 

Hop City 2 is front left

On a quick lunch outing today, I tasted an IPA that reminded me a lot of Workhorse  The beer is Deschutes Hop City 2. It's one of their special selections at the Portland pub and they're calling it an experimental IPA. It has 95 IBUs and 9% ABV. Excellent lunch numbers, eh?

More importantly for hopheads, Hop City 2 uses nine hop varieties. It features the same kinds of citrus, pine and grapefruit notes that in my mind make Workhorse so popular. Hop City 2 also reminds me Boneyard RPM. Workhorse, RPM and Hop City 2 make a nice trio, despite Hop City 2's higher ABV. Round 'em up!

There was another beer on the taster tray that deserves mention. In the photo above, it's the beer to the right of Hop City 2. This is a blended beer from their Reserve stock. They evidently blended two parts Black Butte XXII with one part of what he referred to as a "house sour." No matter. This beer has a solid backbone, rich chocolate notes, and is wrapped in a mildly sour presentation. Really terrific job, Deschutes!

The Return of Workhorse

A lot of local hopheads will surely be happy to learn that Workhorse has returned. The popular IPA is now available on draft at Laurelwood's pubs, and draft is the only way you'll find it. More on that in a minute.

Workhorse had been out of production for several months. The official reason for the hiatus was a shortage of the hops required to make the beer, particularly Simcoe. My previous post on what happened with Workhorse is here. The story, as well as my view of what they're doing, has changed somewhat.

Yep, Workhorse is back in the pubs

As Laurelwood eased Workhorse out of the daily mix in late September, they launched Gearhead, a lighter IPA at 6.5% ABV (vs 7.5% for Workhorse). Gearhead has effectively replaced Workhorse as the brewery's flagship IPA. You can find it on draft and in 22 oz. bottles around town.

Coinciding with the release of Gearhead, Laurelwood also launched an A-Z IPA program. They were supposedly going to produce a series of IPAs with names A-Z in the absence of Workhorse. The first three entries were Aftershock, Best Best and C-Biscuit. That program was soon abandoned.

A picture began to emerge as I bounced emails back and forth with Laurelwood owner, Mike De Kalb. He told me they intended to bring Workhorse back as soon as the necessary hops were available in a few months. He said they might reposition the beer as an imperial IPA due to the relatively high ABV. Later, he told me Workhorse would only be available on draft in his pubs.

When I heard it was back on draft, I stopped by the Sandy Blvd. location (a hop and a skip from home) to check it out. Sure enough, this was the beer many of us had been missing for several months. The specs and taste are the same. Hmmm, I thought. I wonder what happened to the idea of repositioning Workhorse as an imperial IPA?

Gearhead: the only readily available Laurelwood IPA for now

Well, De Kalb now tells me they decided not to tweak the recipe and reposition Workhorse. For now, at least. However, they will introduce an imperial version that will be available on draft and in bottles later in the year. No word on whether Imperial Workhorse will be a seasonal or standard beer. My guess is the latter.

I have long-believed the strategy behind taking Workhorse out of production was to expand Laurelwood's IPA line. Workhorse had to be removed from the picture to open the door for Gearhead, a beer that doesn't turn heads in the same way. Now that Gearhead is established, they'll bring in Imperial Workhorse over the top.

As I said in my earlier post, I think it's smart marketing for Laurelwood to have two IPAs out there. It's the most popular style around here, for better or worse, and having two versions available in pubs and bottles is good business...regardless of the zigzags in the official version of how they arrived here.

Unfortunately, they have succeeded in pissing a lot of people off in the process of doing what they're doing. Many people I've talked to have expressed frustration with the changes surrounding Workhorse and say they can no longer support Laurelwood. I suspect those feelings will pass, but negative PR is never a good thing, even when it's related to a change that seems to make good business sense. We'll see what the long-term fallout is.

Getting back to the tease at the top, Workhorse is only available at Laurelwood pubs at the moment. Officially. I believe it has been spotted at other places around town, but it's possible those pubs are finally tapping stashed kegs. You can't get it in a bottle anywhere, but growler fills are available.

Laurelwood Adds to IPA line

I was surprised to find out a little while back that Laurelwood would soon be unable to keep its very popular Workhorse IPA flowing. The reason, I was told, is that they do not have enough hops to brew the beer until the new harvest comes in. 

Workhorse, for the unaware, leans heavily on five hop varieties: Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade, Nugget and Columbus. It's a borderline imperial IPA at 7.5 ABV, with a terrific balance of aroma, flavor and bitterness.

Logo for the new IPA

To fill the coming void, Laurelwood has launched a new IPA called Gearhead. (There are also messing around with an A-Z program, which I won't cover here.) Gearhead will evidently join the brewery's list of staple beers. It's on tap in the brewpubs and will soon be available by the bottle in area stores and bottle shops. 

Gearhead is a decent beer, but it definitely lacks the floral and citrus essence of Workhorse. Although it is by no means a session beer, the ABV is lower at 6.5 percent. This is more along the lines of a standard IPA.

Laurelwood's owner, Mike De Kalb, told me via email that they intend to bring Workhorse back as soon as the appropriate hops are available. He also said he isn't quite sure how they will categorize it. Because Workhorse is "on the cusp" (DeKalb's words) of being an imperial IPA, there's a chance that's how they will position it in their line.

I wonder. Could a hops shortage really cause something so smart to happen? In my mind, positioning Workhorse as an imperial IPA is a no brainer. Laurelwood has a great stable of beers, of which Workhorse is one. But Workhorse is a wee bit heavy to be the only IPA on their board. 

Adding Gearhead to the mix is a wise move because it will allow them to very soon market a near-light IPA (Gearhead) and a big IPA (Workhorse). Many brewpubs have more than one IPA...it makes sense in this market to have more than one.

Laurelwood has made a lot of smart business moves over the years. The apparent plan to re-position Workhorse is just one more.