A pint of Cascade Golden Ale at Deschutes Brewery Bend Public House in Bend.

Last weekend, On Tap hosted Beers From the Dead, an annual beer festival celebrating “classic Oregon microbrews,” beers representing styles that helped to launch the American craft beer industry that have since waned in popularity.

Brian Yaeger of Grand Craft Beer created the event in part as a response to the proliferation of IPA variants, pastry stouts, smoothie sours, and other modern craft brews.

“A lot of the old styles the microbrewery industry was built on were beers that had provenance,” he said. “They were English styles, they were German styles; they weren’t just a ‘hoppy American something.’”

This set me to thinking about these older, throwback styles and where to find them. I don’t mean historic beer styles, but rather the ones that were the foundation of the early craft beer movement, some of which I’ve written about before. These include pale ale and bitter, hefeweizen and golden ale, amber and brown ale, and so on.

In the early microbrewery days, nearly every establishment poured a standard lineup consisting of some combination of a golden ale, a wheat beer, a pale ale, a stout and an amber or a brown ale. At the time, these styles were considered revolutionary for a customer base accustomed to industrial light lagers.

Over the years, styles (and breweries) evolved, with refined and innovative processes, new varieties of hops, experimentation with other ingredients and drinkers’ changing palates, all shifting the beer landscape away from the classics.

As such, unless they have a modern spin on them, these throwback styles are easy to overlook and don’t always sell well.

But I have a fondness for them, a mix of nostalgia and appreciation for a well-brewed classic, so I decided to put together a list of local beers currently available that scratch this itch.

Golden/blonde ale

These light, pale yellow ales are easy-drinking and approachable, considered something of a “gateway beer” back in the day to entice lager drinkers to try microbrew. Deschutes Brewery recently released a limited batch of its original Cascade Golden Ale (one of the four beers available when the brewery opened in 1988) for Beers From the Dead, and it’s on tap now.

There are a number of examples from other breweries as well, including Blonde Bombshell from Cascade Lakes Brewing Co., Metolius Golden Ale from Bend Brewing Co., and Knotty Blonde from Three Creeks Brewing Co.

Wheat/hefeweizen

American hefeweizen can trace its hazy roots to Portland’s Widmer Brothers Brewing Co., with its Hefeweizen first released in 1986. Bready, yeasty and often cloudy in appearance, it’s a terrific session ale that’s crisp and refreshing.

Sunriver Brewing Co. includes Fuzztail Hefeweizen in its year-round lineup as a great version of the style, available in cans and draft. Other examples include Twheat from 10 Barrel Brewing Co., Hefelumps & Boozles from Initiative Brewing Co., and Whoopty Whoop Wheat from Wild Ride Brewing Co.

Pale ale and bitter

Modern pale ale interpretations focus on hops, many achieving near-IPA levels of hoppiness.

The classic versions of the style have more of a balance between the malt and the hops, with a satisfying drinkability.

I would point to Mirror Pond Pale Ale from Deschutes as a template, highlighting bready pale malt and Cascade hops. You’ll find similar nostalgic notes in Hammerhead Ale from McMenamins.

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In the realm of English-style bitter, Porter Brewing Co. serves up its Infamous ESB (Extra Special Bitter) authentically on cask, and don’t overlook Deschutes’ Bachelor Bitter, another one of its originals.

Amber and brown ale

To my mind, both of these styles should be more malt-forward than hoppy, although interpretations vary. Amber ales have more body than pales, and feature caramel malt notes; brown ales emphasize more chocolate character. You’ll find two excellent ambers in Outback Amber Ale from Bend Brewing and Diablo Rojo from Boneyard Beer.

Cascade Lakes offers its long-running 20 Inch Brown for a malty, flavorful experience, and I find Broken Top Brown from Bridge 99 Brewery to feature sweeter notes with more caramel. And 10 Barrel released its Oregon Brown, first brewed in 2012, for Beers From the Dead, though it’s more aggressively hopped and the brewery calls it a brown IPA.

Porter and stout

There are ample examples of imperial stouts and pastry porters on the market, but when it comes to the standards, Deschutes again leads the way with Black Butte Porter and Obsidian Stout, both widely considered benchmarks in the category.

Bend Brewing recently won a GABF medal for Old Normal Porter, and Crux Fermentation Project offers solid versions of each with PCT Porter and Crux Stout. Silver Moon Brewing brought back its Dark Side Stout for Beers From the Dead, and McMenamins’ Terminator Stout is another classic recipe available year-round.

Seek out and try one of these classics next time you have the chance.

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Chute Da Pier West Coast IPA — Deschutes Brewery 

Yam Sesh — Crux Fermentation Project 

Big Black Jack Imperial Chocolate Pumpkin Porter — Oakshire Brewing

Blueberry Pom Imperial Cider — Avid Cider 

Double IPA — Buoy Beer