Perusing a website listing random pseudo-holidays proves a 24-hour period can be devoted to just about anything. Food and beverage are often given such treatment, but rotations around the sun are generally given to broad-ranging edibles and quaffables like pizza, ice cream, wine and, of course, beer. But sometimes folks get super-specific. Such is the case with Harland Brewing and their second-annual Ube Day, which will take place at the company’s main tasting room in Scripps Ranch on Friday, September 24.
What is ube, you ask? It’s a fair question, or at least it was before this Filipino delicacy became all the rage a couple years back. A dessert of mashed purple yams made with a combination of ingredients, including butter, sugar, and evaporated, condensed or coconut milk. A multitasker, it finds its way into cakes and pastries, ice cream and more, including a wildly popular Harland milkshake IPA. That beer was created more out of curiosity than grand marketing aspirations.
“The first time we made ube, we didn’t think it was going to be as popular as it has been. My wife and I went on vacation to Guam to visit her family and that was the first time I had a broad exposure to ube,” says Director of Brewery Operations Nick Marron. “I sent a photo of an ube donut to our Head Brewer Ryan Alvarez and said, ‘I don’t know how, but we need to make a beer out of this.’ Since then, it’s really been our most important beer. Not only did it establish us as a presence in San Diego, but we really gained a lot of new fans that weren’t necessarily beer drinkers already. It became so much more about the ingredients and how the beers are vessels for them.”
The September 24 event will run from 4 to 9 p.m. and feature the Ube Milkshake IPA as well as three beers with Asian-inspired flavor profiles. Two of those– Haupia Milkshake IPA and Haupia Barrel-aged Stout—mimic the flavor of haupia, a Hawaiian coconut-infused dessert, while the other, Li Hing Mui Sour Ale, is made with salted Chinese plums. In addition to the beer and beer slushies, the ticketed event will feature multiple food vendors, axe-throwing and live music by Tribal Theory and DJ Peter Dactyl.
“We have continually wanted to grow the experience for the annual ube release, and this year is the first year of what will become a bigger and bigger day every year,” says Marron.
Looking beyond Ube Day, Harland is plugging along on its new location in South Park. As reported in June, the company has taken over the 2,400-square-foot former home of Grants Market and Coffee Room to convert it into a bar and restaurant. It will go by the name of Harland South Park, and feature a U-shaped bar and enclosed kitchen that will serve three meals a day, plus brunch on the weekends.
The following are first-look renderings of Harland South Park, which is currently slated to open toward the end of the first quarter of 2022.
Harland Brewing’s brewery and tasting room is located at 10115 Carroll Canyon Road in Scripps Ranch, and its upcoming restaurant and tasting room is located at 2953 Beech Street in South Park