Beer of the Week: Hopdouken

If you’re like me, you find yourself humming random tracks from Super Mario Bros. in the shower or recalling the noises that sounded out when it was time for Dirk the Daring to make a particular move in the arcade game Dragon’s Lair. And you like it! The tantalizing nostalgia of a simpler time is a beautiful thing. Not only do I remember the games and their soundtracks, I also recall exact places where I played them with my friends. I remember playing Donkey Kong at the Fun Factory, Punch-Out! (the original preceding Mike Tyson’s Nintendo-deal inclusion) at Palomarcade and Ms. Pac-Man at the sketchy no-name liquor store at the end of the South Bay block my apartment complex occupied. But my favorite of these memories is playing Street Fighter II at a Circle K in Spring Valley. My friend James and I would hoof it two miles from his house to play the suped-up version of the game that was faster and glitched out. I guess you could call it the wholesome underage equivalent of driving across the county to get a far-off brewery’s limited-edition barrel-aged stout or driving to Paso Robles for the Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival. Though I was a Dhalsim guy (surprise, there’s actually someone who regularly used that elasticized, yoga-noogying combatant), most folks gravitated to Ryu and Ken, so I felt the sting of many a defeat to those nearly identical characters, often accompanied by the sound of one of them triumphantly hollering out “hadouken”. Despite that bitter association, it makes me happy to have had these memories stirred by this week’s featured beer, Hopdouken. A year-round hazy IPA from the fantasy-realm and video-game-driven minds of the brewer-proprietors at Vista’s BattleMage Brewing, it delivers an apt punch of flavor. Tropical and stone-fruit essence abound – pineapple, passionfruit, peach Melba – against a light, pillowy textural backdrop that’s in no way cloying; the sign of a good beer of this style. Kudos on a hazy that’s not only tasty but capable of teleporting a young arcade rat back to the good old days.

This is our new core hazy IPA, featuring a light and fluffy mouthfeel that’s rounded out with a balanced bitterness. We use Idaho Pilsner with a touch of Golden Promise as the main malt base, along with standard high-protein malts – wheat, oats and malted oats – to achieve the hazy clarity. The hops are bursting with flavor in our newest addition. Citra is used for the whirlpool, and then we dry-hop heavily with Dolcita, Mosaic and Nectaron. Dolcita is a newer hop on the scene, and it has a creamsicle and peach-ring characteristic that’s super unique. Nectaron doubles down on the peach, stone-fruit and passionfruit character. Mosaic comes in to round it all out with the blueberry and dank balance that makes this our new favorite hazy. It’s juicy and balanced, and the flavor is simultaneously crushable yet pungent. Batch two of this beer took gold at the recent San Diego County Fair Craft Brew Competition, and we are excited to have this as a new core addition. You can now find it all over San Diego, since we shifted from self distro to a partnership with Karl Strauss Distributing, which has grown our footprint significantly. It’s also hands-down my favorite beer to serve, because when I sling a pint I conjure that classic Street Fighter energy and hit the customer with a HOPDOUKEN! Cheers!”

Ryan Sather, Co-founder, BattleMage Brewing

BattleMage Brewing is located at 2870 Scott Street in Vista