In San Diego, it’s important for a local brewing company to have a bankable West Coast IPA. In the case of sizable operations that distribute their beers on a significant scale, it’s important for such an offering to be available far, wide and year-round. And even then, there’s always room for improvement.
Even companies like Stone Brewing, which have decades-old core IPAs, tweak them over time to make them as appealing as possible in light of oft-changing consumer tastes. Or in the case of stalwarts like Coronado Brewing, they switch out their flagship hop-bombs, replacing them with more modern IPAs, some of which go on to achieve even greater success than their predecessors. Such is the hope for Harland Brewing as they prepare to introduce a new West Coast IPA in place of current year-rounder India Pale Whale.
Introduced in 2021, India Pale Whale incorporates Chinook and Simcoe hops, making for a classic IPA recipe given tropical appeal from the addition of Mosaic Cryo. It’s done well for the Scripps Ranch-based company, but having conducted extensive West Coast IPA research and development over the past few years (with 10 small-batch IPAs produced in 2024 alone), Harland’s brew crew has learned a great deal and felt it was time to put those lessons to work.
“We love India Pale Whale, and we’ve had a great time drinking and selling that beer,” says Harland President Anthony Levas. “India Pale Whale made up about 6% of our total volume last year and, with the success of some of our specialty West Coast IPAs in 2024, we saw an opportunity to start fresh with something even more drinkable while lining up the branding on the beer’s packaging with the rest of our core, which will be a major plus at retail.”
When deciding to develop a new year-round West Coast IPA, Levas and company knew they wanted to introduce a “banger”. With that established, Cody Morris, who was recently promoted to Vice President of Brewery Operations, referred back to the pair of pilot-batch IPAs his team was most fond of, examining their recipes and extracting elements that made them stand out in regards to hop profile, grist and yeast.
“We wanted to have an IPA that is tropical-fruit-forward, but still pays homage to the true West Coast style with some dank, resinous character,” says Morris. “We love New Zealand Cascade hops. That varietal has all the characteristics we love in a true West Coast IPA as far as a classic pine profile, but also everything we love about the tropical fruit presence of our heavily hopped New Zealand IPA series, so we included lots of them. Partnered with Simcoe, a tried-and-true favorite that gives our new IPA a dank aroma, and Krush, a newer varietal that provides a lot of mango and guava character, we found our favorite hop combo to make this beer incredibly hop-forward but very drinkable at the same time.”
A pilot batch of what will simply be called Harland West Coast IPA was brewed last fall. Morris says that, while his team felt they pretty much nailed it, they made a couple of minor adjustments to further refine it ahead of its first full run. That inaugural batch will debut at Harland’s quartet of San Diego County tasting rooms and start hitting retail shelves in four-packs of 16-ounce cans on Monday, February 3.
Later this year, Harland West Coast IPA will also be available in 19.2-ounce cans, but that’s not the only change in pack size for one of the company’s beers. The company will also begin offering its Japanese Lager in 12-packs of 12-ounce cans. Furthermore, the beer will also be packaged in 24-packs of 12-ounce cans for sale at warehouse stores. These format additions are part of an earned evolution for a beer that grew by 15%, in 2024, making it the company’s second biggest seller behind Harland Hazy IPA.
“As our business continues to grow, we look for vehicles that will drive volume. This brand-new package will be aggressively priced and is already approved at many chain stores,” says Levas. “We will continue to package Japanese Lager in four-packs of 16-ounce cans, kegs and 19.2-ounce cans, and we feel that this new format will help solidify our position as the top craft brewer of this style in San Diego, expand our chain sales in a major way and appeal to a new mix of drinkers.”
Looking further into 2025, Levas says Harland has some exciting collaboration brews on the books, following in the footsteps of their first such release of the year, a West Coast IPA (what else?) called Magic Window, which was brewed with Carlsbad-based Burgeon Beer Co. And for fans of India Pale Whale, the beer will still be released at Harland’s taprooms from time-to-time, so it’s gone for now but not to be forgotten.
Harland Brewing’s headquarters is loathed at 10115 Carroll Canyon Road in Scripps Ranch, and its satellite taprooms are located at 3718 Paseo Place in Carmel Valley, 4112 Napier Street in Bay Park, and 2953 Beech Street in South Park