De Garde

so i swung by the brewery on Sunday with my girlfriend, navigating some rainy coastal weather and floods all the way from Seattle. we got to de garde brewing around 1pm on Sunday to find out they were closed due to the flooding. we were real bummed because our plan was to stop in and take a nice long break from driving down the coast to California. they had a nice note posted on the door to call Linsey (Trevor's wife) with any questions. i'm not super familiar with de garde, just that they make a style of beer that i happen to love, so i called the number to see if there was anywhere around town i could buy their beers since i've never had them before, and Linsey asked if i could wait 15 minutes and that she'd come down and open up momentarily.

so fast forward about 20 minutes later, and we were inside de garde, just the three of us, tasting their four beers they had on tap (bu, berry bu, stone bu, and cran bu). all of the beers were fantastic - a perfect mix of refreshingly tart and flavorful. i bought 1.5 cases of their beer and left humbled and more or less speechless about the whole situation.

i very much look forward to opening bottles of bu, imperial peach bu, boysen, lucy, deux tetes, and petite desay with friends and families over the next few months, and hope i can make it back there soon to try more of their beer.

cheers @deGardebrewing! thanks for making our road trip truly special.

 

This is awesome! I'm flying up to Portland Friday and I'm driving down the coast for my 30th birthday weekend. Hoping the weather is good, as visiting deGarde may or may not have been a motive for picking Portland - don't tell my girlfriend

 

Our pleasure! Thank you so much for the kind words.
Sorry I couldnt make it too, but I was in the middle of a marathon smoker run. Holiday meat won't prep itself sadly!
Cheers!

 

Highly recommend stopping here to anyone within reasonable driving distance. My brother and I have made the trip from portland several times now and every time there has been great stuff on tap, and great bottles available. The prices are criminally low, and if you happen to be there when the boss is around he seems really receptive to conversation about what he is doing there, or about beer and the industry in general. He fielded questions from my brother and I for a good 60 minutes on saturday, really makes me want to bring some bottles next time in hopes of contributing to the next label frame.

 

be careful who you call the boss

 

Wow! That's a really cool thing that Lindsay did. Her and Trevor are the best people, and your story just confirms it.

 

I just discovered this thread...

 

I'm pretty sure he meant Linsey

 

Petit Desay is carbing nicely...

 

Oh, good deal. Thanks. We just talked about it, and I had high hopes. I'll pop one tomorrow and more than likely swing by for more.

 

Just chiming in to agree. I met Trevor and Linsey briefly while they were here (Spain) earlier this year. Lovely people, great taste in beer.

 

Soda stream?

 

Heh. Nope, just a sloppy pour.

 

I'll be stopping at De Garde sometime in the afternoon on Sunday with my lovely lady on our trip down the coast. It's one of my most anticipated stops along the way and I'll be bringing some beers to open (probably a Prop, some Side Project, we shall see) and share if the bartender is feeling a little thirsty and they are cool with that. If anyone wants to come say hey and have a drink I can post with a more specific time frame Sunday morning. Can't wait!

 

I am going to the first week in March. I can not wait to get out there.... Also gonna bring some bottles to pop out there.

 

Id like to put it to rest...
@deGardebrewing
I have a few friends coming on for the release, they all have memberships, I'm their proxy. Can they all come and get early entry?

 

Yeah man.
One membership=one guest.
Three memberships=three guests.

 

I believe I saw something recently that said the petit desay and bu weisse were going to move to the 750 format. Is that the case? Was that so that to addred perceived carb issues? (I haven't opened bottles yet so I have no opinion on the issue.) And will the price move up a buck or two?

Regardless of price change an extra few ounces of bu or grisette are never a bad thing!

 

Yes. We are moving to 750ml to target an initial 3.5 volumes of co2 vs. the 2+ in the 22oz format. Just as with the 22oz, they are likely to develop a touch more with time. We made the tough decision to make this move based on our impression that the beer, while we are very happy with it now, would be even better with higher carbonation. And yes, certainly a vocal minority of customers played into this decision. Unfortunately, with the cost of high pressure rated 750's being multiple times more expensive, we expect the average retail price to rise about $1. Still, we think it will be a ridiculously good price for authentically wild and barrel/foeder aged beer.
Cheers!