Bend Brewing Company’s Sno’d In winter seasonal has gone through a couple of incarnations. It started out as an English-style old ale, malt-forward with additions of cocoa, molasses, and holiday spices. Then three years ago, in 2019, the brewery changed it up and reformulated it as a winter IPA; I wrote about the beer and the winter IPA concept at the time for the local paper:

[Head brewer Zach] Beckwith appreciates [Sierra Nevada] Celebration, but did not model Sno’d In on it. “Whereas Celebration has that old school caramel malt character, we wanted to build malt complexity without the cloying caramel character that tends to mute hop flavor,” he said.

“That’s why we chose to include a good percentage of rye malt which provides a nice full mouthfeel and some spicy notes that would complement the hop character. Winter brings to mind snow-covered pine forests so we wanted to make it pine dominate with an underlying fruity hop character that makes you almost think fruitcake.”

Since then, Sno’d In has been brewed in this winter IPA style, presumably with the same recipe (though I would not be surprised if there have been tweaks). One thing that has remained consistent, however, is that the beer is a collaboration with SnoPlanks, a local snowboard maker. It was in fact SnoPlanks who suggested the change to IPA: “Sno’d In has always been a true collaboration with SnoPlanks and so we sought out their input into what kind of beers they enjoy and no surprise a ‘sessionable’ IPA was what they wanted,” Beckwith told me at the time for the article.

It’s a beer I look forward to each year, and one that drinks really well around the holidays. (Probably beyond, as well, but I never keep any around long enough to definitively find out!) It’s 6% alcohol by volume with 45 IBUs, and according to the Untappd description, it’s brewed with Chinook, Amarillo, Falcon’s Flight, Crystal, and Simcoe hops.

Appearance: Deep orange color with some golden glow; off-white/cream-colored head with good legs.

Smell: Pine and candied orange, a bit of wet forest and maybe even some pineapple upside-down cake. Rich and pleasing.

Taste: Hoppy-bitter with pine tips, resinous notes, grapefruit peel, tobacco, black tea. Super solid and flavorful even as it hits you with a clean, big bitterness. Clean malt with a touch of caramel, a touch of toast, and it’s well attenuated. Lots of citrus pith that carries through.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, clean, and dry, with a bitter finish.

Overall: This is a top of the class IPA, tasty, and it hits all the right notes.