Fanzine IPA 2021
Fanzine IPA, a recurring Spring Seasonal from Fort George Brewery, has made its way across the Pacific Northwest once again. While we can’t celebrate quite like we’re used to, we can enjoy a socially distanced pint of this crisp, clear, IPA from home.
This year we teamed up with our friends at Great Notion to bring you a classic West Coast IPA that’s been dry-hopped with Citra, Ekuanot, Strata, and Columbus hops accompanied by a light grain bill allowing the hops to shine with a blast of mango, tangerine and pine aromas. A hint of bitterness mingles with a heavy dose of citrus and melon flavors leaving the slightest tingle on your tongue. So good some would say it will knock you off your feet…. BONK!
After collaborating on 3-Way 2017, and Mail Owl earlier this year, we were excited to work with Great Notion to bring the PNW yet another IPA. Although we weren’t able to enjoy a traditional brew day, Great Notion Co-Founder, Andy Miller, said not much had changed in terms of how the collaboration process played out. While ideas and notes are typically swapped virtually, the only thing missing was a visit to the Fort George Brewery where we would hang out, brew beer, and drink a pint or two along the way.
Andy and fellow Great Notion co-founders, James Dugan and Paul Reiter, purchased an existing brewery and brew system previously owned by, “Mash Tun,” in 2015 and went on to release their first beer on January 1st, 2016. Now known for their Hazy IPAs and culinary-inspired Sours and Stouts, Great Notion and Fort George were in agreement from the start that they wanted this year’s Fanzine to be a classic, clear, West Coast IPA. According to Andy, “There was some thought about making Fanzine a hazy in the beginning, but part of the reason we like to make West Coast IPAs now is due to the fact that when Great Notion started, people thought our beer was hazy because we didn’t know what we were doing. We were all homebrewers and didn’t have any professional experience before Great Notion at all. Early on, there were a lot of people that didn’t think we knew what we were doing and would literally return beers for being
hazy. So, now, it’s always fun for me to make West Coast IPAs because people don’t expect us to make them.” Fort George Head Brewer, Michal Frankowicz, says “I wanted to try to keep Fanzine a West Coast, kind of to throw people off, but also because I really enjoy West Coast IPA’s. I feel like lately every collaboration now wants to brew a hazy so to be able to push it in the direction of ‘We want to do a West Coast IPA and if you’re down we’d love you to join us.’ is nice.”
As for how they came up with Fanzine’s recipe, the brewers pulled inspiration from our work together early last year. When asked about the hop and grain picking process, Andy said “Looking back at the Mail Owl recipe, we really liked how that one turned out so Fanzine started out as a progression from that.” Michal says “We kind of had a laundry list of hops that we could have used and we just tried to narrow it down based on the ones that we both really enjoyed. There are some parallels to Mail Owl which was a great beer.” After a couple of Beta test batches and many pints later, tasting notes were swapped and the final edition of Fanzine IPA 2021 was ready.
Donning can art by Canadian artist and cartoonist, Marc Bell, Fanzine IPA is now available across the PNW on draft, and in 16oz 4-packs. Find some at a retailer near you using the Fort George Beer Finder.
