The pandemic may be keeping people further apart than they’d like, but even in a social-distanced world, brewers find ways to collaborate on beer recipes. Take Belching Beaver Brewery’s Troy Smith and Karl Strauss Brewing’s Paul Segura, a pair of local brewmasters bonded by shared interests—music, surfing, skateboarding, and, of course, beer. They’ve wanted to work together for a long time and decided to do so, in part, to bring something positive to each other’s lives in the age of COVID-19. Their positivity-laced beer, High Expectations Hazy IPA, debuted over the weekend and is available in four-packs of 16-ounce cans.
“Our brewing team is psyched to finally brew a collaboration beer with Belching Beaver. They make some pretty successful hop-forward beers, so it’s cool to team up with them and brew a new hazy IPA,” says Segura. “Troy and I exchanged several emails trying to decide on the perfect hops and finally landed on a recipe that we’re stoked to share.”
High Expectations’ hop bill contains a cornucopia of varietals from different regions of the world: Galaxy from Australia, Motueka from New Zealand, Amarillo and Citra from the Pacific Northwest, and Idaho 7 (you’ll never guess its origins). Together, they offer tropical aromas and flavors with citrusy undertones against a soft, Northeast-style IPA body. The beer comes in at 6.7% alcohol-by-volume.
“Karl Strauss is a brewing-industry pioneer well known for making some award-winning beers and operating premier brewpubs,” says Belching Beaver CEO Tom Vogel. “This was our chance to learn from one of the best, while also putting another tasty hazy IPA out to markets for our fans.”
With its own brewpub and a largely San Diego-friendly beer portfolio, Belching Beaver shares numerous similarities with Karl Strauss. Another is both company’s development of hard-seltzer brands. Belching Beaver’s debuted earlier this year and is made using 100% real fruit. With summer a key season in the seltzer industry, the company is introducing a mixed 12-pack featuring 12-ounce cans of three flavors: passion fruit and guava, raspberry and blackberry, pineapple and mango. It will be available starting Thursday, August 13.