Widmer Brothers Brewing, Soccer Fan Club Team Up for New Beer

I am a fan of the Seattle Sounders FC. There is no other team that even comes close to my love of The Sounders. As equally strong is my intense distaste for the Portland (Portscum) Timbers. This is one hell of a rivalry that is on par with Yankees/Red Sox, Canadiens/Leafs and Seahawks/49ers. There is truly nothing that I like about the Timbers. That said, I love Oregon Beer, and I can truly support a partnership between Widmer Brothers Brewing and our archrival MLS Team in Portland. Craft Beer and Soccer...can it get any better?

PORTLAND, OR—Widmer Brothers Brewing teamed up with a soccer fan club to brew a limited-edition beer honoring the Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer.

Green & Gold Kölsch is the creation of longtime Timbers Army member Abram Goldman-Armstrong, who won the “Full 90” category of the 2012 Timbers Army Homebrew Competition. Goldman-Armstrong has been brewing variations of the Kölsch style since becoming acquainted with it in its native Cologne, Germany, while attending the 2006 World Cup. He entered his latest version of the style into the competition, which incorporated his homegrown Hallertauer hops.

The new beer will be available throughout the Portland area, and in select markets in Oregon and Southwest Washington, beginning on March 3, opening day for this year’s Portland Timbers season.

Goldman-Armstrong and the brewers at Widmer Brothers Brewing worked together to adapt the homebrewed Kölsch recipe to production scale, which will allow the beer to be enjoyed by Portland Timbers fans throughout the region for the entire season. While the batch brewed at the brewery is larger than the initial homebrewed batch, Goldman-Armstrong worked to maintain the integrity of his initial recipe, and even added a few ounces of his backyard Hallertauer hops to this batch of Green & Gold.

“We were homebrewers before we started the brewery in 1984,” said Kurt Widmer, co-founder of Widmer Brothers Brewing. “We are really excited to help Abe share his homebrew recipe with the Timbers Army and Portland Timbers fans, both at Jeld-Wen Field during Timbers matches and throughout the Pacific Northwest this season.”

Green & Gold Kölsch will be available for the duration of the Timbers 2013 season in 22 ounce bottles and on draught at pubs and restaurants in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

“I’m very happy to be able to share my Green & Gold Kölsch with thousands of Timbers supporters and the Timbers Army,” said Goldman-Armstrong. “Here’s to a great 2013 season for the Portland Timbers.”

Watch a video of Goldman-Armstrong describing the beer.