Beer of the Week: Fist Full of Fives

From the Beer Writer: Anniversaries come and anniversaries go, but we’re usually left with some great, lasting memories. In the case of Escondido’s Jacked Up Brewery, they ended up with a much more tangible takeaway from their five-year anniversary festivities. It’s commonplace for brewing companies to cook up something special as part of their birthday celebrations; a limited-edition beer that’s a little extra in some way. To commemorate reaching the half-decade mark, Jacked Up came up with this week’s featured beer, Fist Full of Fives. An American pale hopped with El Dorado, it tantalizes with a bright nose of lemon verbena, tangelo and papaya. Flavors of white peach and lemongrass give way to a biting finish with a bitterness evocative of grapefruit pith and earthy kitchen herbs. Since debuting in January, this pale ale has been so “money” with the brewery’s customers, Jacked Up has added it to its year-round line-up of core beers, a particularly big deal now that the company is preparing to start distributing canned beers to retail accounts instead of selling all of its stock at its tasting room.

From the Brewery: “Our classic American pale ale is a beer that we brewed for our five-year anniversary celebration, but we will continue to brew it because it became a Jacked Up favorite. This pale is based off the recipe for a tropical IPA. Made with El Dorado hops, it includes notes of melon, passion fruit, citrus and other various tropical fruits. This tasty pale is low in alcohol at only 5% ABV, giving this brew a nice, clean and crisp finish. The inspiration for Fist Full of Fives was to celebrate year five in the Golden State of California with pure California malt made from Great Western, California Ale Yeast and El Dorado hops with their golden nature. Come by for a pint of Fist Full of Fives for just five bucks.”—Michael Poulson, Co-owner & Head Brewer, Jacked Up Brewery