Beer of the Week: iconic

It would be easy to view brewers as a monolithic set of indistinguishable, scientific-minded practitioners manufacturing essentially the same products. But unlike, say, accountants, who must all adhere to the same governing principles of their profession and the unyielding mistress that is mathematics, brewing professionals are able to not only infuse their creations with individual expression, but also specialize in the styles and ingredients they have particular interest in. For some, that’s Old World lagers or wild ales, while others are intrigued by exotic yeast strains or, say, grains from small-batch maltsters. While far from a one-trick pony, hops are a particularly hard-wired obsession for Daniel Cady, the head brewer at North Park’s TapRoom Beer Co. And come the fall (i.e., hop-harvest time), his field of study narrows to fresh and whole-cone hops. He’s not alone. Many are the fermentationists who share Cady’s passion, including the brew crew at Bale Breaker Brewing. A beermaking enterprise erected in the center of a hop farm, that Yakima, Washington operation is well known for its hop fanaticism, so it’s no surprise Cady formed a fast friendship with their squad during a chance meeting this summer. That coalition’s mutual passion for hops is the key ingredient in this week’s featured beer, iconic. A light-bodied West Coast IPA with a hop bill composed of Columbus, Simcoe and Amarillo, it delivers bright notes of tangerine and passionfruit on the nose, followed by navel orange in the mid-palate and a finish evocative of grapefruit pith and pot. At just 6% alcohol-by-volume, one can contemplate its layered hop complexion over two – or even three – pints. To some extent, that’s also true if you find yourself in Yakima, as Bale Breaker brewed and tapped a version of this very same beer at their homebase (theirs goes by the handle “Time Becomes”). In doing so, they worked with Cady to employ matching water profiles and cellaring techniques. The only deviation between the two recipes is TapRoom going with a lager yeast, while Bale Breaker went with the popular Chico ale yeast strain. So maybe Cady’s IPA isn’t exactly traditional, but, in name at least, it’s iconic.

Inspired by a classic Southern California West Coast IPA, this collaboration project with Bale Breaker Brewing out of Yakima, Washington nurtures elements of new- and old-school. We were lucky to meet the gang at Bale Breaker back in August while on our way across Washington to attend the Grainmaker beer-and-grain festival in Spokane. We had a blast and the beers were awesome. Going into hop harvest, we kept in touch, and through some magic we were able to line up a collaborative brew with their R&D team to bookend our month-long ping-pong into Yakima for hop-selection and events. Working with the Bale Breaker team we brought in Tim Wallen from Virgil Gamache Farms to help procure some really cool hops. Primarily, he offered us access to freshly kilned, freshly harvested, whole-cone Columbus. Picked in the early season, these Columbus whole cones presented with massive citrus and resin qualities and restrained dankness. We layered them through mash-hopping, late-kettle addition and hop-back in order to truly exude texture and complexity. We built on this base with fresh 2024 harvest Simcoe T100 pellets and high-terpene Amarillo. Because Simcoe and Amarillo sing the best twosome, right? Paying homage to our favorite IPAs of yesteryear, we let the grain bill play with some caramel malt for color and roundness, all while keeping it neat and tidy.”

Daniel Cady, Head Brewer, TapRoom Beer Co.

TapRoom Beer Co. is located at 2000 El Cajon Boulevard in North Park