The Oregon Brewers Guild recently released State of Excitement Harvest IPA, a collaboration beer crafted through the teamwork of 26 Oregon breweries. It’s the third iteration in a quarterly collaboration beer series whose proceeds benefit the nonprofit organization.

Originally intended to be a fresh hop IPA, the September wildfires interfered with the harvest schedule and required the project to pivot. Instead of fresh hops, the beer was brewed with just-harvested, freshly kilned Centennial hops, the next best thing, which inspired the name “Harvest IPA.”

The beer was brewed at Wild Ride Brewing Company in Redmond. Other Central Oregon breweries that participated in the project include Bend Brewing Company, Bevel Craft Brewing Company, and Deschutes Brewery. Ingredients were donated by Crosby Hops, Goschie Farms, PDX U-Brew/Unicorn Brewing, Country Malt Group, and Imperial Yeast. Rose City Label, Craft Canning, and WCP Solutions donated the cans, packaging, and labels.

“It was a pleasure and honor to be the host brewery for the State of Excitement Collaboration this Fall,” said Wild Ride head brewer Mike “Curly” White in the press release. “The way the brewing community came together to help out in all facets of the design, brew and packaging reminded me of the actual community that Oregon brewers maintain.”

The State of Excitement series launched in February with the statewide Zwickelmania event, in the encroaching shadow of the pandemic. With the release of Harvest IPA, I reached out to Christine LaRue, executive director of the Oregon Brewers Guild, to find out more about the project and collaboration in the age of COVID-19.

“COVID, in general, has made everything more challenging for sure,” she said via email. “It’s the reason we launched this program — our budget took a major hit this year, like so many others, and we had to find creative ways to keep funds coming into the Guild. Earlier this summer, as I was trying to come up with revenue-generating ideas, I thought of making it a year-round project with a new beer released each quarter.”

Organizing a collaboration between over two dozen breweries spread out across the state didn’t actually change much due to the pandemic. “Luckily, the recipe development process didn’t change,” said LaRue. “The use of online forms, email and virtual Zoom meetings makes for a streamlined process. The most significant change was the inability to have all 26 breweries on-site for the brew day, as well as any large release event.”

I picked up two cans of State of Excitement at Newport Avenue Market to review. (It’s also available at Broken Top Bottle Shop as well as the participating breweries.) I found it to represent a classic west coast IPA full of vibrant hop character. It’s an attractive beer, bright and clear, with a copper hue. The aroma is dank with grapefruit, pine, fresh-picked hop resin, citrus oil and dried grapefruit peel, and reminded me of a bale of green, earthy hops.

The hops lead the flavor with a resiny bitterness right up front, with spicy hop oil notes that lead into citrus zest. Toasty malts reminiscent of Grape Nuts cereal provide a good base as a showcase for the piney hops, which give the impression of a big green citrus pine tree. With 6.5 percent alcohol by volume, it’s nicely approachable and delivers on its “freshly harvested” promise.

It’s a good beer and worth seeking out to enjoy at home. And if you miss this iteration, the Guild plans to continue into the new year.

“It has been a successful project to date and I am very grateful for the amazing support of our collaborating breweries and supplier donors,” LaRue said. “I look forward to continuing it into 2021, with our first quarter release slated for Zwickelmania in February — although at this point, I’m still uncertain what that event will look like, whether in-person or virtual.”

The collaborating breweries were Baerlic Beer Company, Barsideous Brewing Company, Bend Brewing, Bevel Craft Brewing, Breakside Brewery, Brewery 26, Buoy Beer Company, Deschutes Brewery, Gateway Brewing Company, Gigantic Brewing Company, Laurelwood Brewing Company, Leikam Brewing Company, McMenamins, Modern Times PDX, Ninkasi Brewing Company, Ratchet Brewery, Sasquatch Brewing Company, Stickmen Brewing Company, Three Mugs Brewing Company, Threshold Brewing & Blending, Unicorn Brewing Company, Von Ebert Brewing Company, Weekend Beer Company, Wild Ride Brewing, Wolf Tree Brewing Company, and Yachats Brewing Company.

1. 1. Jubelale — Deschutes Brewery
2. Shakeside Stout — Crux Fermentation Project
3. Wreck the Halls Double IPA — Full Sail Brewing
4. Mic Check Pale Ale — Cascade Lakes Brewing
5. Coastal Cranberry Cider — Legend Cider