We made it down for the Jubelale Launch Party at the Deschutes Pub this evening, and even though I didn’t get there in time for the toast, I took a few pictures and it was a Jubelale-themed dinner for sure.

As promised, there were three variations of Jubelale on tap, plus a bonus: the regular, nitro, and cask conditioned, and on the X-Tap, they had their 2007 Super Jubel—last year’s edition that’s 11% alcohol (double the malt), barrel-aged in bourbon barrels, and dry hopped.

I started with the cask conditioned Jubelale (this year’s edition). On cask it’s dangerously drinkable—creamy, smooth, buttery, lively, delicious. If this is available to you, you should definitely go with it.

My next pick was, naturally, the 2007 Super Jubel. At 11% alcohol, they serve it up in a snifter, half-size the normal pint (ten ounces). This is strong and complex; all the Jubelale spicing is there, but there’s a powerful bourbon presence from the barrel-aging and a powerful fruity presence—black cherry, plums, figs, like that. (Our friend Paul pointed this out.)

I had one of their specials for dinner, too (Jubelale themed): Bison meatloaf, which was:

Oven Roasted w/ a Brown Sugar Jubelale Wort Glaze
Served w/ Malt Infused Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes & Steamed Snow Peas
Topped w/ a Jubelale & Wild Mushroom Demi-Glace

It was very, very good.

Finally, they were giving out posters of this year’s label painting—and by "giving out", I mean they were free. And yes, the artist, Pam Jersey Bird, was on hand signing them as they were handed out. (Signature in the lower left corner.)

My picture of this is crappy—that’s really supposed to mostly be white there, not light-flesh-color. But you get the idea. Overall, I think this is my favorite label of recent years.