Many couldn’t wait to bid adieu to 2020 and fostered hopeful mindsets for the year to come. Management at Coronado Brewing was among them and took steps to help ensure a much more positive 2021, developing a game plan that would see them release a plethora of new beers in January. While they tackle styles that go well beyond the company’s existing portfolio, there’s more to these new offerings than hops, malt, water and yeast. There’s also a lot of soul, particularly in a pair of beers that see the Coronado crew working with longtime industry colleagues and new friends in the spirit of advancing the cause of equality in the beer industry.
Last week, the Coronado team had the crew from Chula Vista Brewery over to craft a lager brewed with millet and corn, then dry-hopped with South African hops. The beer will be released in late-February and go by the name “Untitled II”. When asked about that handle, Coronado Vice President of Business Development Eddie Buchannon says, “The beer is less about its name and more about the cause it supports.”
That cause is providing opportunities for minorities in the beer and spirits industries, and proceeds from sales of the lager will be donated to The Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing & Distilling (TMJJF). Chula Vista Brewery is a black-owned business and owner Timothy Parker is on the board of TMJJF. He was on-hand for the brew day along with his Head Brewer tandem of James Hodges and Ignacio “Nacho” Cervantes, and shares their excitement over the awareness this collaboration beer will bring to TMJJF’s efforts.
“The foundation funds technical education and career advancement for black, indigenous and people of color in the brewing and distilling industries, and the proceeds from this beer will go towards eight scholarships to attend brewing schools such as UC Davis,” says Parker.
Coronado is awesome for participating in great works by creating a positive path. We are excited to partake in a beer that gives back in tremendous ways in our industry to provide opportunities, and we love and respect Coronado for their commitment to advance racial equality.”
Timothy Parker, Co-owner, Chula Vista Brewery
Untitled II is one of numerous initiatives borne of Coronado’s Diversity Team, which is comprised of employees from all of its department, unified by the mission to build a more diverse and inclusive company culture. The team focuses on key areas both within and outside the organization.
“Internally, the Diversity Team looks for ways to build a more diverse and inclusive environment by implementing unbiased hiring practices, advancement of women and people of color in leadership roles, and mentorship and development programs,” says Buchannon, who leads the team. “Externally, we look for ways to engage the community in which we serve by ensuring a welcoming atmosphere for all three of our locations, beer education classes and internship programs that target underrepresented groups.”
Coronado has a plethora of other new beers hitting shelves in the first quarter of 2021. Come March, it will debut an IPA it brewed at its Bay Park production brewery with Karl Strauss Brewing Brewmaster Paul Segura. Coronado and Karl Strauss have more than 55 years of combined brewing-industry tenure between them. As Coronado Head Brewer Mark Theisen puts is, both interests are part of the “OG San Diego brewery” class, but their collaborative creation, Core Values—a West Coast IPA brewed with apples—is anything but stale.
“We source the juice from a company in Grandview, Washington, which is in the Yakima Valley where the majority of American hops come from. The apple and hop industries are pretty intermingled and can be grown on the same farms, so it made sense to try them together,” says Theisen. “This was pretty different from any fruited beer I have brewed in the past and we learned a lot about the way the apples play with the malt and hops.”
Theisen says the apple juice was added to the wort so it was present for the entire fermentation cycle, resulting in a beer that is full-bodied yet dry. Then, they used Mosaic, Citra and Simcoe hops as an homage to the hops used in Coronado’s flagship IPA, Weekend Vibes, and Karl Strauss’ mainstay, Aurora Hoppyalis.
Fruits are at the forefront of a variety of new Coronado offerings. A milkshake IPA called Bigger Boat, which is brewed with blueberries, blackberry, vanilla and lactose, will make its debut at the end of January. Its recipe is one that Coronado R&D Brewer Bart Gumpert says he’d been holding on to for a while, waiting for the right time to break it out on a production scale. Earlier this month, Coronado released Orange Avenue Shandy, a citrus-forward take on the British beer-and-soda hybrid gaining inspiration from its well known Orange Avenue Wit, and on January 22, Coronado will debut new mixed 12-packs of fruited hard seltzers.
It’s a busy, varied and meaningful start to a big year for Coronado, which will also celebrate hitting the quarter-century mark in 2021.
Coronado Brewing’s headquarters is located at 1205 Knoxville Street in Bay Park, it’s original brewpub is located at 170 Orange Avenue in Coronado, and its IB bar and restaurant is located at 875 Seacoast Drive in Imperial Beach