Green Bullet in the chamber

I remember it clear as day. It was a sunny Saturday morning during the 2011 edition of San Diego Beer Week. I was touring the grounds of the San Diego Brewers Guild Festival, getting a feel for the landscape while readying my camera to get some good shots of the fest-goers who were chomping at the bit to get in. That’s when I saw the booth with a banner sporting the spiky green half sun that serves as the logo for Green Flash Brewing Company (6550 Mira Mesa Boulevard, Mira Mesa).

I walked up and asked what they were pouring. In addition to the year-round beers I was very familiar with, they also had a specialty concoction developed to celebrate their ninth year in business—Green Bullet IIIPA. No, I didn’t fall asleep on my keyboard just know. Those three “I”s were intentional as this beer was a triple India pale ale. I’d been hoping to come across this beer and excitedly handed over my empty glass. The Lupulin-rich nectar they filled it with not only lived up to, but exceeded my expectations.

Hopped with an abundant dosing of New Zealand Green Bullet hops, the eponymous beer presents an onslaught of Alpha acid potency amid a rich bouquet of tropical fruit aromas. The bitterness jabs at the palate like a clean, sharp knife, dropping off quickly enough so that the fruitiness lingers unimpeded. It’s a fine beer that I was happy to see brought back last November when Green Flash rereleased it for their tenth anniversary. I was sure to drink a lot of it as I figured I’d never see it again, but happily, I was wrong.

During a recent interview, Silva shared with me that Green Flash is going to bottle and nationally release Green Bullet in September. The bottled version will come in at 10.1% alcohol-by-volume and triple digits where international bittering units are concerned. It will be packaged in four-packs of 12-ounce bottles, 22-ounce bombers, and kegged for draft accounts throughout the country.