Meet Cuddle Puddle! It took us over 4 years and more than 15 pilot batches to finally bring this beer to
the big dance and release it widely in draft and cans. That seems pretty crazy when the way of the
beer world right now is to package every new recipe, variant, and one-off, right? Why take so long
when you don’t have to? Easy: this beer was too good, and we didn’t want to screw it up when it finally
got its shot.
Cud Pud, as we affectionately call it, has got loads of thiol-derived richness from Oregon-grown
Strata hops that provide big mid-palate pops of blueberry and passionfruit. We complement that with
some Citra, also grown in the Willamette Valley, that blasts in with some top notes of tangerine, lime,
coriander, and a floral-hay situation. We folded in a bit of Simcoe and Nelson Sauvin for some mild
resin and musk, but these are really just accent notes that are there to allow the Oregon hops to shine.
It’s not just Oregon hops that make this beer fit squarely in the Northwest vein of West Coast IPA. The
ABV is milder than many of the California-inspired IPAs that we have brewed in the last few years, and
some mild malt ballast allows notes of brown sugar and sweetened cereal to keep the finish nice and
smooth. This is a modern NW IPA made for enjoying with friends as cool weather and rainy days set in
— get ready for winter and cozy up!