Beer of the Week: Dawg Daze

From the Beer Writer: An anniversary is a big-time event for a brewery. As such, they typically go big with the beers they produce to celebrate another year in business, often brewing up double or triple IPAs, or imperial forms of other styles. But not in the case of Second Chance Beer Co. In crafting a quaff to commemorate eight years in the beer biz, that Carmel Mountain operation opted to go big in the hops department, while keeping the resultant IPA at a moderate alcohol level. That special-edition offering, Dawg Daze, is this week’s featured beer. Standard and Cryo incarnations of popular hop varietals and a fruity terpene add-on combine to create a tropical-nosed IPA that hits the palate on multiple levels, covering citrus-grove, stone-fruit, island and even berry-bramble territory all at once and at an ABV (alcohol-by-volume) allowing for all-day enjoyment, so one’s anniversary celebration need not be cut short. While Dawg Daze is restrained in that regard, big firepower was employed in its creation, as Second Chance conspired with San Clemente-based Artifex Brewing (which recently opened a tasting room at Oceanside’s Freeman Collective) to bring this prize pup to life.

From the Brewer: “We are so grateful to celebrate eight years of pups, friends and family. We often make big double IPAs for anniversaries, but this year we wanted something softer and more drinkable while using the most modern ingredients to get big hop flavor and aroma. Our 6% ABV (alcohol-by-volume) IPA is mellow on the bitterness while having a cool and unique hop aroma. We used our normal hop pellets at about 50%, then incorporated about 50% Citra, Mosaic and Strata cryogenic hops for more intensity. We added a new Citra dry-hop extract on day two for the first time, for yeast interaction. Finally, we finished this beer with Blackberry Kush terpenes, which was also a first for us. The result is this very aromatic IPA with great Mandarin orange, mango, berry and cannabis notes, with a light, refreshing bitterness. I’m proud of our team, and we are excited for you all to try it.”—Marty Mendiola, Co-owner & Brewmaster, Second Chance Beer Co.