What’s Tapping (9/28)

Welcome to San Diego Beer News‘ weekly list of beers tapping for the first time or returning to beer lists at breweries throughout San Diego County, including links where you can find additional info or purchase the beers online. For more details regarding release/tapping dates, times and locations, consult the official website or social-media accounts of the brewing companies listed.

And keep scrolling for Bottlecraft staffers’ recommendations about beers they are excited about that can be found at their bottle shop locations in North Park, Little Italy, Point Loma and Oceanside!

• Abnormal Beer Co. (Rancho Bernardo): Still Dreaming Double Dry-hopped Juicy IPA, 7%
• AleSmith Brewing (Miramar): Hopwright West Coast Double IPA, 8%
• Arcana Brewing (Carlsbad): Sauvin & Citra West Coast IPA, 6%
• Arcana Brewing (Carlsbad): Something Pumpkin Ale, 8%
• Ataraxia Aleworks (Kearny Mesa): Harambe Helles-style Lager, 4.4%
• Ataraxia Aleworks (Kearny Mesa): Kilt Commander Scotch-style Ale, 9.8%
• Ataraxia Aleworks (Kearny Mesa): Shillelagh Down to Sleep Irish-style Red Ale, 5.5%
• Athletic Brewing (Miramar): All Out Extra Dark Non-alcoholic Beer, < 0.5%
• Athletic Brewing (Miramar): Oregon Strata Wet Hop Non-alcoholic IPA, < 0.5%
• Black Plague Brewing (Oceanside, Escondido, North Park): Day Walker Red Ale, 6.1% – BUY ONLINE
• Black Plague Brewing (Oceanside, Escondido, North Park): Hell Hazer Double Dry-hopped Hazy IPA, 6.5% – BUY ONLINE
• Black Plague Brewing (Oceanside, Escondido, North Park): Stay Chill Gluten-reduced Blonde Ale, 4.8% – BUY ONLINE
• BLAH Brewing (Normal Heights): Helles Chrome Helles-style Lager, 6%
• BLAH Brewing (Normal Heights): Husker Dupont Avec Fruit, 5.5%
• BLAH Brewing (Normal Heights): Islands in the Haze Hazy IPA, 6.5%
• BLAH Brewing (Normal Heights): Love Boat Belgian-style IPA, 7.2%
• BLAH Brewing (Normal Heights): Rad Pils, 6.5%
• Burgeon Beer Co. (Carlsbad, Escondido, Little Italy): Kōkua Session IPA, 4.5% (collaboration w/ Maui Brewing)
• Burgeon Beer Co. (Carlsbad, Escondido, Little Italy): Perpetual Burst Hazy IPA, 6.4% – BUY ONLINE
• Burgeon Beer Co. (Carlsbad, Escondido, Little Italy): Tinnies XPA Extra Pale Ale, 5.3% (collaboration w/ Balter Brewing) – BUY ONLINE
• Craft Coast Beer & Tacos (Oceanside): NugzRUs Fresh-hop Strata IPA, 7.1%
• Craft Coast Beer & Tacos (Oceanside): Two Dragons West Coast IPA, 6.8% (collaboration w/ Grains of Wrath Brewing)
• Culture Brewing (Solana Beach, Encinitas): Sour Ale, w/ Raspberry, 4.6%

• Deft Brewing (Morena): Black Forest Summer Schwarzbier, 5.3%
• Deft Brewing (Morena): DoubleDeft Secret DoppelSticke Altbier, 9.8%
• Deft Brewing (Morena): Half-a-Weizen Hefeweizen, 5.4%
• Deft Brewing (Morena): Kirschbier Gose w/ Cherry, 4.3%
• Deft Brewing (Morena): Make My Maibock, 7%
• Division 23 Brewing (Miramar): El Hefe Hefeweizen, 5.7%
• Duck Foot Brewing (Miramar, Leucadia): Margarita Beer Slushie, 5%
• Duck Foot Brewing (Miramar, Leucadia): POG Beer Slushie, 5%
• East Village Brewing (East Village): Burn the Boats Dark Kolsch, 6.1%
• Embolden Beer Co. (Miramar): Seeking Aotearoa New Zealand Dry-hopped Pilsner, 5%
• Fall Brewing (Miramar, North Park, South Park): Everything Went Black Schwarzbier, 5%
• Gravity Heights (Sorrento Valley): Cowboy Hippie Rye IPA, 6.5%
• Harland Brewing (Scripps Ranch, South Park, Bay Park, Carmel Valley): Smoke Wheat Every Day Foeder-fermented Smoked Pale Lager, 5%
• Helix Brewing (La Mesa): Pours American Lager, 4%
• Hodad’s Brewing (Serra Mesa): Kōkua Session IPA (collaboration w/ Maui Brewing)
• Hopnonymous Brewing (Kearny Mesa): Sweet Home Amarillo Wet-hopped West Coast IPA, 7.1%
• Hopnonymous Brewing (Kearny Mesa): Two Amigos Mexican-style Lager w/ Lime, 5%
• Jacked Up Brewery (Escondido): Pumpkin Heff Hefeweizen, 5%
• Jacked Up Brewery (Escondido): Reaper Spicy Pale Ale w/ Chile Pepper, 6% 
• Jacked Up Brewery (Escondido): Scottish Ale, 6%
• Karl Strauss Brewing (Downtown, Sorrento Valley, Rancho Bernardo, Carlsbad): Alter Ego Altbier, 4.7%
• Karl Strauss Brewing (Downtown, Sorrento Valley, Rancho Bernardo, Carlsbad): Kōkua IPA (collaboration w/ Maui Brewing)

• Mcilhenney Brewing (Alpine): Parallel Paradise Double Dry-hopped West Coast IPA, 6.9%
• Mike Hess Brewing (North Park, Downtown, Ocean Beach, Imperial Beach, Alpine): Magna Cucurbita Pumpkin Stout, 7.2%
• Nickel Beer Co. (Julian): Deathtöngue IPA w/ Scorpion Pepper, 6.2%
• North Park Beer Co. (North Park, Bankers Hill): A Better Place to Play Triple Dry-hopped Triple IPA, 10% (collaboration w/ Track Brewing) – BUY ONLINE
• North Park Beer Co. (North Park, Bankers Hill): In the Freezer Section Double Dry-hopped Cold IPA, 6.5% – BUY ONLINE
• North Park Beer Co. (North Park, Bankers Hill): Hop-Fu! Double Dry-hopped West Coast IPA, 7.5% – BUY ONLINE
• Pizza Port (Ocean Beach): Wet Lamborghini IPA, 6.5%
• Pizza Port (Solana Beach): Bucket Bridge IPA, 6.7%
• Pizza Port Brewing (Carlsbad, Solana Beach, Ocean Beach, Imperial Beach): Bacon & Eggs Imperial Coffee Porter, 8%%
• Poor House Brewing (North Park): Spare Change Session IPA, 4.9%
• Protector Brewery (Miramar): Double Dry-hopped West Coast Warfighter IPA, 7%
• Puesto Cerveceria (Mission Valley): Kōkua Session IPA, 6.3% (collaboration w/ Maui Brewing)
• Resident Brewing (Downtown): Chasing Tropics Unfiltered IPA w/ Pineapple & Guava, 6.4%
• Resident Brewing (Downtown): Kōkua – Maui Strong Session IPA, 4.2% (collaboration w/ Maui Brewing)
• Second Chance Beer Co. (Carmel Mountain, North Park): Kōkua Session IPA (collaboration w/ Maui Brewing)
• Societe Brewing (Kearny Mesa, Old Town): Surefire Bullseye West Coast IPA, 7.1%
• Stone Brewing (Escondido, Oceanside, Point Loma, Downtown): One Batch Dispatch – All Bark No Bite Imperial Milk Stout w/ Chocolate & Mint, 8.2%
• TapRoom Beer Co. (North Park, Pacific Beach): Figures in the Fog Wet Hop Hazy IPA, 7%
• TapRoom Beer Co. (North Park, Pacific Beach): New Magic Wand Wet Hop Lager, 5.5%
• TapRoom Beer Co. (North Park, Pacific Beach): Stories from the Deep End Wet Hop West Coast IPA, 6.2%
• White Labs Brewing (Miramar): Czech Pils fermented w/ WLP802 Czech Budejovice Lager Yeast
• White Labs Brewing (Miramar): Czech Pils fermented w/ WLP845 Fast Lager Yeast

Gene Fielden | North Park Bottlecraft Manager

Upright Engelberg Pilsner | German-style Pilsner (4.75%): Part of the fun of visiting Upright Brewing in northern Portland is finding it. The lobby of the brick building is all too ambiguous, with multiple firms inhabiting the structure and unclear signage. After descending through a snaking hallway down a set of stairs (and right as you are about to give up and sheepishly inquire) a small portal opens up to a windowless chamber filled with barrels. While the brewery is justifiably lauded for its saisons and mixed-fermentation creations, a highlight of any trip into this subterranean world is fresh Engelberg in tall tapered Pilsner glassware. I still cannot really believe that it has been, 1) packaged in cans, and 2) sent into California for distribution. Firmly bitter from both Noble hops and grainy Pilsner malt, this is a rare treat, so take a trip to Angel Mountain as the name suggests!

Fremont Field to Ferment Simcoe | Wet-hopped Pale Ale (6%): Even within the rarified category of wet-hopped beers, Fremont Brewing stands out. Their deservedly laudatory Field to Ferment series serves to kick-start autumn every year, with a judicious 6% (alcohol-by-volume) pale-ale base upon which the fresh green hop cones are allowed to express themselves. The first of this perennial favorite distributed to California this year is single-hop expression of Simcoe. Drink it now…it won’t get any fresher!

Heater Allen McMinnville Harvest Lager | Fresh-hope German-style Pilsner (5%): Yet who says that only IPAs deserve the fresh-hop treatment? Oregon lager stalwart, Heater Allen Brewing, has sent us a beloved annual harvest seasonal featuring the classic Willamette varietal. While justly prized for Pinot Noir, the eponymous valley (frequently mispronounced by outsiders, the rhyming mnemonic, “It’s Willamette, dammit!”, reveals a certain prickly pride) also grows exceptional hops. Characterized by complex herbal, spicy aromas attesting to UK parental origins, Willamette hops represent a throwback to a simpler time in independent craft brewing, yet utilized in an exciting new way by Heater Allen in this pale lager.

Click here to explore the quality beers at Bottlecraft’s four San Diego locations.