Port City Brewing Names Saved Beer “Derecho Common” After The Storm That Caused It

We reported last week on the difficulties Port City Brewing had after the storm-related long-term power loss they experienced.  They ultimately brought in an emergency generator and were able to maintain the correct fermentation temperature in 5 of the 6 tanks that were fermenting at the time of the failure.  Unfortunately the 6th tank fermented at a higher temperature than they intended.  The 6th tank held 60bbl batch that contained lager yeast, but it fermented at ale temperatures so they have deemed it a California Common style and named it “Derecho Common”  after the derecho storm that affected them 2 weeks ago.  The beer will be limited to 120 kegs and be ready in Aug. 

Details from Port City:

Many have asked us if we were able to “save the beer.” We continue to monitor the beer very closely, and we test and taste it daily. Five of our six tanks appear to be just fine. The 6th tank is a 60-barrel batch of lager beer that fermented at a higher temperature than we intended.

There is a beer style that developed in San Francisco called steam beer, or California Common beer. It is a beer made with lager yeast and fermented at higher temperatures like an ale. This is exactly what happened to this 60-barrel tank of our beer.

As a result, this storm has given us Derecho Common beer.