Beer of the Week: Hidden Gem

Sometimes I scroll back through this outlet’s Beer of the Week archives. During these trips down memory lane, I often marvel at the variety of different beers that have been covered, even amid the stylistic consolidation we’ve seen in the past half-decade or so. If an alien landed in San Diego and took a look at just about any brewery tap-list in the county, said extraterrestrial would instantly ascertain that this planet’s inhabitants have a real thing for IPAs and light lagers. Those base styles make up the vast majority of locally produced craft beer. Let me just say that IPAs are awesome, especially those brewed in America’s Finest City. And while I’m not as hardcore into low-alcohol lagers (I drink to savor, not crush), I understand how perfectly suited they are to our warm, sunny weather. But there are so many other amazing beer styles out there; ales and lagers that (gasp) spotlight complex malt bills or (double gasp) workhorse yeast strains. They hail from England, Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, hitting countless spots across a vast sensory spectrum. Yet finding these less-popular styles can be difficult and, in some cases, even impossible. (You let me know the next time you come across a local grodziskie.) In fact, the needle-in-a-haystack nature of a certain dark German wheat ale led OB Brewery Head Brewer Jim Millea to name this week’s featured beer Hidden Gem. A dunkelweizen featuring pleasant notes of caramel, pumpernickel, plantain and chocolate, it pairs exceptionally well with ocean views on OB Brewery’s open-air rooftop deck. You may be thinking: But dark beers are only for colder weather! That simply isn’t true. “Dark” is a relative term and we’re not talking about some jet-black, high-octane imperial stout. Dunkelweizens are umber-colored and light on the palate, much like dark Mexican lagers, and I’ve never heard anyone complain when downing multiple bottles of Modelo Negra poolside. Opting for that dark-yet-refreshing Mexican-style lager instead of its clara cousin would be akin to selecting a dunkelweizen rather than its sister style, the goldenrod-hued hefeweizen. Nearly identical with the exception of the specialty-malts section of their recipe card, they are perfect for summer…or any day really. I applaud Millea for offering Hidden Gem as a year-round beer, providing an interesting Beer of the Week for readers to seek out and, hopefully, enjoy enough to regularly venture beyond the norm and discover the rich array of styles the craft-beer medium has to offer.

One of the many things I like about a dunkelweizen is that it’s almost as fun to say as it is to drink. Try it! But what does it mean? When I first brewed this beer, I thought of simply naming it after the style itself to help educate people about this delightfully light-bodied dark ale. In German, dunkel means “dark” and weizen translates to “wheat”. As a German style, the dark wheat is similar to the more well-known hefeweizen, but on the darker side. Similar to a hefeweizen, for example, my recipe includes about 50% wheat malts, a very light-handed hop addition and a Bavarian-style hefeweizen yeast. For the dunkelweizen, I also add a small addition of chocolate wheat. This provides a medium-brown color and notes of chocolate, complementing the light banana notes from the yeast used to ferment the beer. While not our most popular or quickest seller, this beer truly is a Hidden Gem.”

Jim Millea, Head Brewer, OB Brewery

OB Brewery is located at 5401 Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach