Cascade: It's Back.

Our 421 Cascade Pale Ale is back. This will be our second time doing the Cascade in our single-hop series, replacing our much loved 418 Citra Pale Ale. This is our 41st batch we’ve brewed since opening in August, and will be the ninth pale ale to go in your steins.

So, what’s so special about this pale ale?

Well, this one marks the first time that we DRY HOP one of our pale ales. In all of our previous batches we’ve only hopped in the kettle, but this time we wanted to up our hop game and really showcase the Cascade hop for what it is.

What is dry hopping?

You may hear this term being thrown about in a brewery setting before and not been too sure what it means. Dry hopping is the process where the brewer opens the top of the fermenter and dumps more hops in the beer to give the beer a bigger flavour and aroma profile.

Every brewery has a different method for dry hopping. At Faculty, we wait until the beer has fermented to the final gravity (level of alcohol) we want and then we drop the temperature of the tank to 14’C. At this temperature, the yeast becomes inactive and settles to the bottom of the tank, where we drop it out of the beer. We then dump our hops in the top of the tank and set up a recirculation system with our pump for three days so that the hops mix well into the beer.

What should we expect from this one?

Our 421 Cascade will be less bitter than the Citra Pale Ale. You will still get some citrus flavors shining through like with the Citra but you’ll also get some floral notes and some spice on the tongue, similar to our 408 Chinook Pale Ale.

Get it while it’s in our tanks because when it’s gone it goes to the back of our pale ale queue. Next up after Cascade? Maybe Centennial or Chinook again? Let us know what you folks want to see back in your glasses!

- Brad Bannon

Brewer