Beer of the Week: Mother Earth Headlock IPA

Popular opinion is that Bob Filner is a buffoon. If you didn’t already think so, here’s further proof. While mayor of the craft beer capital of the country, the guy walked into a San Diego bar and restaurant of notable acclaim, looked at the 50 or so taps, over half of which pump out local product, laughed and said, “Where’s the real beer?” By real beer, he meant macro offerings like Bud and Coors. We’ve come to expect such intelligently classy comments from the eight-hour man. Obviously, he’s comedic enough on his own, but that isn’t stopping one San Diego County craft brewery from getting in a quick joke as Filner exits stage stupid. Behold, Mother Earth Headlock IPA.

The name is in jest, but the beer is quite serious. A straightforward San Diego-style India pale ale (meaning, way hoppy and higher in alcohol than traditional IPAs, 7.5% ABV to be exact), it’s brewed with two-row malt and honey then dry-hopped with Belma and Pacific Gem hops. The latter are from New Zealand, so not local, but surely there’s some Kiwi out there who’s been “touched” by the whole Filner debacle. According to the folks at Mother Earth Brew Co., they took a voter’s favorite like the traditional West Coast IPA, boosted it up, then “turned it loose on the community at large.”

The beer is available exclusively on draft at Mother Earth’s Tap House, as well as its original tasting room. That second space was closed for several months after owner Dan Love and company moved into their Vista Village taproom, but reopened in June. A grand opening of that facility is planned for the near future, but not until after some big upgrades are made there.

Behind solid growth, Mother Earth is selling off its 10-barrel system and replacing it with an over-sized 20-barrel system (capable of producing 25-barrel batches). It will be the first triangularly configured system local company Premier Stainless Systems has built, and will join a new boiler and three new 60-barrel fermentation tanks. This will double Mother Earth’s production, but there is room for further expansion. Love and company plan on installing new tanks every quarter over the next two years. That will equate to triple the company's current production. Wider beer distribution is also on the near horizon for the company.

So, while it’s the end for Filner, it looks like it’s just the beginning for those raising a pint to his departure.