Barley Mowat 

So earlier this month Chris from lovegoodbeer.com had an opportunity to discuss the whole “Cascadia-gate” issue w/ Walter Cosman, the President of Steamworks. I won’t repeat his article here, but rather suggest that everyone go over to his blog and read it. Seriously, go read it. Chris did all the work here; I’m just reposting his sleuthing like the lazy bum I am.

One thing I would like to highlight, though, is that as part of Chris’ conversation with Walter, Walter stated explicitly that the use of “Cascadia” in a style is fine by Steamworks. Walter upheld this position even when specifically queried about beer names like “Howe Sound Gathering Storm Cascadian Dark Ale.”

Steamworks is still talking about licensing the term for use by third parties, but presumably that would be for use as a brand name. Since no one ever wanted to use Cascadia as a brand name, just as a style name, I guess we’re done here. Steamworks is basically saying “Sorry! We screwed up!” and, you know what, that’s fine. You’re allowed to screw up, and I forgive you. Kudos for doing the right thing, even if it took a few months for you to come around.

Of course, we’ll see how serious Steamworks is about this whole “we’re fine w/ style names” thing when the company producing said style is Granville Island Brewing, whom they seem to have a special kind of hate for. However, if it’s okay for one company to do it, it’s okay for all.

Disclaimer: Please note that I did not talk to Steamworks directly, and all of this is based off of Chris’ work. As such, it should carry all the weight of something you read online in a blog somewhere.