When it comes to local, independent San Diego businesses, there are few as widely known or beloved as 91X and Karl Strauss Brewing. The former just celebrated four decades on the air, while the latter’s 34 years in the beer biz make it the county’s longest-operating post-Prohibition-era brewing company. So, it’s fitting that a new year-round beer will soon hit shelves brandished with both their names. That brew will debut this Thursday, March 2, and goes by the name Tower X West Coast IPA.
The brewery and radio station have a long history of working together, with 91X having been part of Karl Strauss’ Beach to Brewery beer-and-music events in the early 2000s as well as its popular Collabapalooza festival, which took place in the years leading up to the pandemic. Additionally, Karl Strauss Brewmaster Paul Segura has co-hosted weekly 91X Beer for Breakfast segments highlighting San Diego County breweries for the past seven years. Even with such a collaborative past, development of this year-round offering represents taking things to the next level.
“The friendship between Karl Strauss and 91X goes back more than three decades,” says 91X Program Director Garett Michaels. “Tower X West Coast IPA is a celebratory toast to San Diego, and the incredible community that has supported us over the years. We couldn’t be more stoked to release this beer with the Karl team.”
91X morning-show host and Beer for Breakfast innovator Danielle Stuht is similarly enthusiastic. “To say I’m excited about 91X’s partnership with Karl Strauss is an understatement. Working alongside Paul for the last seven years, we’ve always said, ‘wouldn’t it be cool if we made a beer?’ And now we have!”
The name Tower X has dual meaning. Not only does it refer to the Tijuana radio tower transmitting 91X’s programming far and wide, it’s also a nod to former Karl Strauss mainstay, Tower 10 IPA. That West Coast offering referenced the lifeguard tower outside a Mission Beach apartment cohabitated by Karl Strauss founders Chris Cramer and Matt Rattner in the late-1980s when they were developing their business plan. Back then, West Coast IPAs had yet to be invented.
Karl Strauss originally opened in 1989 with a line of German-style beers developed by the company’s eponymous brewmaster. A cousin of Cramer’s, Karl Strauss had previously headed brewery operations for Pabst Brewing Company. His easy-drinking beers were right for the times, but by the late-nineties and early-2000s, Southern California craft-beer fans began craving the bold botanic bitterness provided by IPAs of the West Coast ilk.
In the late 2000s, the company overhauled its portfolio to line it up with beer-drinkers’ desire for more hops. That move served the company well, but in the mid-2010s, consumer tastes shifted again, with beer-drinkers valuing nuanced hop aromas and flavors over lupulin-borne bitterness. This led to the rise of the hazy IPA and other softer-profiled hoppy ales, but there has been renewed interest in the West Coast IPA in recent years.
With roots firmly planted in the San Diego soil, Karl Strauss and 91X felt a West Coast IPA was best suited for their collaboration. Segura and Michaels worked most closely on the beer, working through multiple sensory panels to develop a layered flavor profile mixing classic evergreen elements with modern tropical and citrus fruitiness.
“What hits you first is that unmistakable pine, resiny hop aroma you’ll remember from West Coast IPAs back in the day, but then, right beneath the surface, you’ll also get a ton of fruity, citrusy flavors likened to a more modern, tropical IPA,” says Segura. “Pair that with the beer’s super-crisp mouthfeel and, man, it’s a special IPA.”
West Coast-style IPAs are really making a comeback, although if you ask any brewer, we never stopped drinking them.”
Paul Segura, Brewmaster, Karl Strauss Brewing
This is the first year-round beer Karl Strauss has introduced since Tangible Fruited IPA in 2021. Tower X will take that beer’s place in the company’s core-beer portfolio. The beer will be available on draft and in six-packs of 16-ounce cans at all of Karl Strauss’ brewpubs and select retail accounts across California and Arizona.