Beer of the Week: Oh My Stars!

From the Beer Writer: From the Beer Writer: Normally, our Beer of the Week pieces include a lengthy preamble by yours truly, but this week is different. While I could go on and on about the citrus and stone-fruit aromas, tropical flavors and ever-so-slightly dank finish of this week’s featured beer, Oh My Stars!, I won’t. That’s because, as tasty as this West Coast IPA is, its sentimental meaning is far more compelling…and downright touching. So, too, is the fact that this beer, which was birthed into tributary reality by longtime Home Brew Mart staffer George Cataulin at his Linda Vista workplace, has been produced in the largest batch of its three-year existence at parent company Ballast Point Brewing’s Little Italy R&D brewery. That increased availability should help more people learn about the special individual this beer honors. With any luck, so, too, will this post. So, without further ado, I invite you to learn the story behind Oh My Stars!

From the Brewer: “This is a special beer created as a dedication in memory of my sister Gilda. She fought very hard for ten months, but breast cancer and all the treatment to eradicate it took a toll on her body. At 6:16 p.m. on Saturday, January 12, 2019, Gilda took her last breath. She went peacefully with her family by her side in her home on the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. Oh My Stars! was named for her favorite saying and created to preserve Gilda and the positive impact she had on those around her. 

“Gilda lived and worked at the Grand Canyon for more than 20 years, over half her life. She was an avid hiker and mountain-biker. For over four years she worked at the bottom of the Grand Canyon at the Phantom Ranch, followed by 16 years at the El Tovar Restaurant. Her work schedule at the Phantom Ranch was ten days work, four days off. On her days off she would either stay in the canyon and go for a one-, two- or three-day hike or hike eight miles out of the Grand Canyon on the steep South Kaibab trail. Three days later she would hike back down the canyon on the South Kaibab Trail to clock back in to work. She did this year-round and during some of the harshest weather; freezing winters, blazing hot summers and stormy winds. We were so proud of her.

“Gilda loved her work and coworkers. Oh My Stars captures that love. She would say it often, and at the right times at work, both at the Phantom Ranch and the El Tovar Restaurant. Eventually, her coworkers began saying it until it became common parlance. Although Gilda is no longer at the El Tovar or Phantom Ranch, the staff still utter ‘oh, my stars’ when work gets busy and hectic, both to honor Gilda and preserve her memory. At her celebration of life, which took place at the Grand Canyon, her coworkers posted the words OH MY STARS in huge cut-out letters across one of the walls in the room.

“After her passing, I just knew I had to do something in her memory, hopefully something that would carry over year-after-year. Using Gilda’s favorite saying (oh my stars!), my favorite beer style (IPA), my favorite hop (Simcoe), and my love for night-sky photography (the Milky Way}, Oh My Stars! was created. It’s brewed with US 2-Row malt, Carapils, 10L Crystal malt and lots of Simcoe hops. Thanks to Ballast Point GM Jim Johnson, it was brewed at Home Brew Mart in July of 2019. It turned out so awesome that I took five gallons of it to the Grand Canyon to let Gilda’s friends and coworkers try it, and they all loved it as much as everyone here in San Diego. Oh My Stars! went over so well with tasting-room customers in Linda Vista that it was brewed at Ballast Point’s Anaheim location with an entourage of BP managers, artists and brewers. Three years later, it is still being brewed here in Linda Vista, and most recently for the first time at our Little Italy location. Cheers to Gilda. Oh, my stars!”–George Cataulin, Home Brew Mart