Oregon brewing mainstay Rogue Ales will celebrate its newest specialty brew, dubbed Rogue Viktory Ale, with a release party entitled “The Dare, Risk, Dream Graduation Party,” held at Rogue Hall on the Portland State campus on May 21.
The new beer, emblazoned with an image of a Viking adorned in cap and robe and spearing what looks like a term paper, is dedicated to PSU’s 2015 graduating class.
The beer will be available at Rogue breweries and at the PSU bookstore two weeks before finals, according to a May 11 press release from
the brewery.
In accordance with PSU’s focus on environmental sustainability and local business practices, the beer was made using ingredients grown by Rogue in Oregon.
“We are farmers, brewers, and distillers who grow our own,” Anna Abatzoglou said in an email. Abatzoglou is the Marketing Manager at Rogue Ales and a PSU graduate.
“Although growing our own hops, rye, barley, marionberries, pumpkins, jalapeños, hazelnuts, cucumbers and raising 19 colonies of bees on our two farms in Oregon all come with risks, we know that this gives us the highest quality proprietary ingredients to make world class Oregon grown beers, ciders, sodas and spirits,” she added.
In the press release, Rogue Ales President Brett Joyce congratulated this year’s graduating class.
“PSU students have been a vital part of our Portland Community, as friends, neighbors, and customers,” Joyce said in the press release. “They have spent a lot of time doing homework and studying for exams at Rogue Hall, we’re virtually on the campus map.”
“We wanted to say congratulations with a beer just for them,” Joyce added. “They certainly earned it.”
Abatzoglou spoke to Rogue’s prior relationship with PSU.
“We’ve always had a great relationship with PSU; from Portland State IPA to Rogue Hall—in fact we got that space from a PSU [Master’s of Business Administration] graduate student who used to own the restaurant/bar—there is always a community connection,” Abatzoglou said. “Several PSU grads worked on Viktory Ale, including the graphic designer and marketing manager. We are also good friends with PSU’s Director of Communications Scott Gallagher, who used to work at Rogue.”
The ale will be lighter in flavor than Rogue’s previous PSU-themed beer, Portland State India Pale Ale. In the press release it was labeled as being “deep honey in color with malty aromas, fruity notes and a long, spicy finish.”
Wiewel discussed Rogue’s involvement with the PSU community.
“Ultimately, PSU exists to serve Oregonians and contributes to the economic vitality of the state by providing jobs today and training the workforce of tomorrow,” Wiewel said in the press release. “Rogue recognizes the importance of higher education in making our community a better place to live and work. And they make darn good beer.”
Rogue began its involvement with PSU at the start of 2010 with the release of its Portland State IPA. A year later, they opened Rogue Hall in what used to be Paccini’s. That beer was sold in the Public House in the Pearl District, in Rogue Hall and in the Rogue Ales Distillery.
At the time of its release there had been no previous beer named after, or made in tandem with, a public university.
“We’re being associated with a local brand, but also a quality brand,” said Wiewel in theOregonian article, “Portland State University lends its name and logo to beer brand.”