Welcome back to Sip Northwest’s Beer Hall of Fame: a twice-monthly induction into a list of essential Northwest beers that have made their mark on the field and region.
As time passes, there are more and more craft beer options. All the time, new styles and flavors are brought into the world. Many are sophisticated and highfalutin; others are made to live simpler on the palate so that they can be more ubiquitous. Rarely, though, do you find a beer that can satisfy refined tastes as well as the casual quaffer. One such brew is the Wanderlust India pale ale from Portland’s Breakside Brewery.
Slight caveat: our original BHOF mission statement said a beer had to be five-years-old to qualify for induction. Well, just this once (maybe), we’re breaking that rule. While the Wanderlust IPA is almost five-years-old and the beer is a relatively newer concoction, its roots are deep.
“It’s an offspring of another beer we brewed — our India golden ale,” says Ben Edmunds, Breakside’s brewmaster. “That beer was a collaboration between Breakside and Ninkasi back in 2013. Both breweries wanted to an IPA with little-to-no crystal malt. This was our first chance to do that. And we definitely owe thanks to Ninkasi for the intellectual conversation that led to the IGA that led to Wanderlust.”
The Wanderlust is lower in ABV compared to the original ale, which is a smooth double IPA. Wanderlust prominently features one of the most popular hops on today’s market, Mosaic, and is bolstered by other hops like Cascade, Simcoe, Centennial and Amarillo. It’s a lighter-bodied beer that Edmunds describes as “austere or lean” without a lot of sweetness or malt “to hide behind” and it has a pleasant mouthfeel with a tropical taste on the tongue.
Breakside Brewery, now boasting three different locations within the Rose City, makes a slew of other beers, including the flagship Breakside IPA, a more citrus-forward ale brewed with Citra and Chinook hops. But it is the softer, more relaxed Wanderlust that turned our heads this time. So cheers to Breakside and its Wanderlust: the perfect beer for a backyard BBQ or a note-taking session with fellow beer nerds.
