Last year, brewers at Pizza Port’s Ocean Beach brewpub welcomed employees from 14 local breweries to a collaboration brew day. The common denominator was that everyone participating either brewed in, worked in or lived in OB. The result of their efforts was a red West Coast-style IPA hopped with Cascade, Centennial and Chinook, and dubbed Crooked Tree after the leaning, 30-foot-tall symbol of Christmas erected each year by the Ocean Beach Town Council (OBTC).
The beer was put on tap at Pizza Port and bars throughout the neighborhood, and proceeds were donated to the OBTC to help cover the cost of the tree and OB’s annual holiday parade. It was such a success that the beer is back for 2020. Like most things this year, it’ll be different, but there’s an aluminum (read: silver) lining.
“Because the pandemic and public-health orders are forcing us to stay home this year, we are going to be canning a limited amount of the beers at Thorn Brewing in Barrio Logan. Another batch will be brewed at OB Brewery and distributed to local bars for pints or take-home growlers,” says OBTC Vice President Jon Carr.
This year’s participating breweries are the aforementioned OB Brewery, Pizza Port, Hodad’s Brewing and Kilowatt Brewing, all of which maintain venues within the community, as well as Amplified Ale Works, California Wild Ales, Chula Vista Brewery, Coronado Brewing, Ketch Brewing and Thorn. And just like last year, suppliers BSG CraftBrewing and White Labs donated ingredients for the mega-collaboration.
Any funds raised through sales of beer and commemorative t-shirts (beyond production costs) will be donated to the OBTC to support its suite of holiday initiatives, which includes erecting the beer’s namesake Christmas tree on the Ocean Beach Pier as well as an annual food and toy drive Carr says feeds close to 100 families and senior citizens in need.
“The OB hamlet is really fortunate to have a strong, thriving brewer community creating a special holiday brew just for our town,” says Carr. “Last year’s batch of Crooked Tree Holiday IPA was by all accounts a great success. All of the beer sold out during the holiday season, so we don’t expect this year’s batch to last very long. Many OB locals are still talking about how delicious it was and how it packed a punch.”
The beer was distributed over the weekend, with cans being sent to The Olive Tree Market and other OB retailers. It is also available for home delivery in the 92107 ZIP code via Thorn Brewing’s online store. The draft version of the beer is expected to be available later this week.