Stone Brewing To Release a Hazy IPA

I saw on Stone Brewing's Instagram account yesterday that it plans to release a hazy IPA, or New England IPA, if you prefer.  The beer is Fear.Movie.Lions Double IPA, and is set for summer can distribution.  I am glad Stone is releasing a hazy IPA.  It has released some unfiltered IPAs, but I am not aware of a specific hazy IPA before Fear.Movie.Lions Double IPA.  The hazy IPA style is new and trendy, and some breweries have avoided this style.  I like hazy IPAs, in general, but have found them either stellar or just mediocre.  The hazy IPAs from Modern Times have intense flavors, but too many hazy IPAs from other breweries I have tried were bland and muted.  I have not tried a truly bad hazy IPA, but too many are dull, lacking distinction and bitterness, and in some cases even much of the characteristic fruit juice flavors.  In short, I have found that when a hazy IPA is good, it is really good, and when it's not good, it is just tasteless and boring.  Because of this style's hit or mediocrity, I am looking forward to Stone's interpretation, expecting aggressive hops to run with the typical juicy flavor.

Rouleur Coaster and a Podcast Plug

I may or may not have a more comprehensive future post on beer podcasts, but locally I like San Diego Beer Talk Radio.  It's a weekly podcast that "drops" Monday mornings and each episode is about two hours in length.  Most episodes have an interview with a local brewer as well as a beer news recap.  I have been listening for about seven months, and a few brewer interviews stick out, including the Green Flash/Alpine episode and one with Dr. Bill Sysak's Wild Barrel Brewing.  Another worthy episode last fall highlighted Rawley Macias's Carlsbad-based Rouleur Brewing Company, which is now celebrating its one-year anniversary. The episode detailed Rouleur's travails and triumphs as it struggled with the Brewey Igniter space in Carlsbad.  What came through to me in the interview, besides Macias's honesty and frustration with Brewery Igniter, was his optimism and commitment to making good beer.

There are many new breweries in San Diego, and while I want to try their beers, I usually don't go out of my way to search for their beers.  After hearing the podcast, Rouleur is one new brewery whose beers I want to try.  I rarely make it to Carlsbad, so a trip to Rouleur's tasting room is unlikely.  I have searched tap rooms in and around the Ocean Beach and Point Loma area, as well as other mid-San Diego locations, but have not seen any Rouleur beers on tap.  I want to try its Puncheur pale ale, Dopeur hazy IPA, and its Belgian Golden Strong Ale, so I either need to find a reason to get to Carlsbad or I need to find some Rouleur draft accounts in central San Diego

Rouleur has a good profile in the latest San Diego Magazine.  And after I started this post, I learned that Rouleur earned a World Beer Cup bronze medal for its Domestique Belgian Blond Ale, so I have another beer to try and another excuse to get to Carlsbad. 

(One bizarre San Diego Beer Talk episode profiled another new hard to pronounce North County brewery, Ebullition Brew Works.  Its owners sounded more suited to opening a pot dispensary than a brewery, but at least I learned in stoner-level detail that Ebullition has really far out, hand turned wood tap handles.)

Local Beer News Round-Up

Here are links to three recent beer articles I found that are worth your time:

The West Coaster reports on the winners of the 2018 San Diego International Beer Festival, where San Diego breweries won 61 medals.  I don't know much about this festival, but 61 is a lot of awards.

This morning, the West Coaster is out with an article that starts as a timeline detailing Green Flash's history, and ends with some ugly comments and back-and-forth from Pat McIlhenney, founder of Alpine, Mike Hinkley, founder of Green Flash, and Rich Lobo of Muirlands Capital, which owns WC IPA, LLC, which now owns Green Flash and Alpine.  The Green Flash / Alpine story is far from over and the animosity is strong.  (The article states that Pat McIlhenney was on two podcasts, but he was also on a third podcast that was not mentioned in the article, San Diego Beer Talk Radio's Episode 159.)

Finally, and ending on a positive note, San Diego City Beat provides a glowing review of Eppig Brewing's new Point Loma Biergarten.  Eppig's waterfront location is a great spot to taste and enjoy beer, and I have only been on weeknights in winter, not a sunny afternoon.  You can't really see it from a major road, so know the address.  Parking is not simple, but it's not too difficult either, so don't let a little walk put you off, the reward is far too great. 

A Good Problem

I noted in my last post that Atlanta's New Realm Brewing is buying Green Flash's closed Virginia brewery.  Yesterday, Good Beer Hunting had more details on the rationale behind New Realm's move.  New Realm is struggling to keep up with demand for its beer.  Only four months after its opening, the brewery is already at capacity.  According to the article:

"(T)he business (New Realm) has struggled to keep up with demand for its distributed products and has a good chance of hitting Georgia’s own-premise to-go sales cap of 3,000 barrels in its first year. New Realm is, on average, selling around 50 barrels a week out of its taproom between packaged and draft offerings, and has at times stopped selling growlers and crowlers of beer to ensure its taplines stay full. And all this before the spring and summer, which are traditionally the busiest sales times for beer in the U.S."

The former Green Flash brewery comes with a 100,000 barrel capacity - which must be in near turn-key condition - and should solve New Realm's immediate supply problem.  New Realm plans to ship most of the beer back to Georgia, but it does plan to open a tasting room at the facility and distribute locally from the Virginia location, unknown points when the transaction was announced two weeks ago.  In addition, New Realm is expanding its Atlanta brewery and had previously purchased land in Charlotte, North Carolina for a planned expansion, but due to the unseen opportunity in Virginia the plans for North Carolina have been delayed.

The New Realm's story is good news for craft beer, especially when stories of closures and over saturation dominate beer media.  New Realm appears to have the capital and management to take advantage of opportunities, which is rare and fortunate for a new brewery.  I want to try New Realm's beers when I visit Atlanta but am not looking forward to wrestling with the 5,000 people that visit the brewery on any give Saturday (is this even possible for a brewery/restaurant?), and I know I won't wait in line an hour wait for a pint of beer.