Widmer loses 62,000 pints of beer

Ouch. Due to a power outage in Portland, OR, yesterday, Widmer Brothers lost an entire batch of their new, most expensive, and as yet unreleased Deadlift Imperial IPA. That's 7,750 gallons or around 62,000 pints down the drain.

Fortunately it will be donated to local farmers who will use it as animal feed and fertilizer. The article doesn't mention exactly why the beer couldn't be saved. My guess, since it is going out to animals, is that it was somewhere in the mash or sparge process when the power went out. While it would be hilarious to see a farm full of pigs hopped up on a 9.5% ABV double IPA, I'm guessing they're sending out the unfermented wort and/or mashed grain. Had it been in the fermenting tanks, that volume of beer, in a Portland winter, probably would have held temperature more or less had the glycol chillers cut out, and the beer would be just fine.

I'm sure the batch was probably insured as well.