Beer of the Week: Double Fest

One of the best ways for breweries to engage craft-beer drinkers is by inviting them into their tasting rooms, where they can show off, not only their full assortment of beers, but also their brand. The latter can be conveyed via interior design, service staff and more, making for a full experience, a who-we-are onslaught leaving no question in a consumer’s mind as to what one’s brewery is all about. That said, there are some brewing concerns that don’t operate public venues. Such local interests include Horus Aged Ales, Itza Brewing, Jamul Brewing and the forger of this week’s featured beer, Mac Daddy Brewing. A nano-sized, father-and-son Escondido venture that’s been in operation for a handful of years, Mac Daddy isn’t set up to welcome visitors. Instead, they’ve made a pseudo-tasting space out of Vista’s Hungry Bear Deli, where Mac Daddy’s beers are on tap, sometimes with different names. For instance, the Beer of the Week is an imperial festbier that goes by the handle “Polar Bear” out in the wild, but is actually named Double Fest. That’s a lot of detail for such a tiny operation, but in the end it’s really about the beer, in this case a German-style lager brewed during the Oktoberfest season, which begins in just a week. Brewed stronger than standard festbiers, the malt bill is strong with this one, coming across with tasty breadiness and light caramel notes. Drinkable despite its increased alcohol-by-volume (ABV), it’s the type of beer that can sneak up on you were you to engage with it on an empty stomach. Fortunately, there’s plenty of hearty food on Hungry Bear’s menu (including something called “omelet sandwiches”…what?!) to keep that from happening.

After brewing for 24 years in the homebrew community, we’ve been experimenting with various styles as a professional brewery for the past 4 years. We are particularly happy with our lagers, ranging from American-style to Mexican and, lately, German. We have brewed a normal German festbier for years, and last year we experimented with a more alcoholic version, Double Fest. It comes in at 7.1% ABV verses our normal 6%. This is a result of increasing the base Pilsner malt and adding slightly more bittering hops for balance. Our other German lager, a doppelbock, uses a similar malt bill and recently earned a gold medal at the San Diego County Fair Craft Brew Competition. We are finding lagers balance our other offerings, including Belgian, English and Scottish-style ales. As a relatively young brewery, we are expanding our keg sales and are ready to start canning. You can taste our Double Fest, along with our blonde ale and Mexican dark lager at the Hungry Bear Deli.”

Tom McCaskey, Marketing Manager, MacDaddy Brewing

Hungry Bear Deli is located at 2205 South Melrose Drive, #103 in Vista