Green Flash debuting Genius Lab beers

So far in 2013, all news having to do with San Diego brewing operation, Green Flash Brewing Company (6550 Mira Mesa Boulevard, Mira Mesa) has been of the large variety; announcing they are breaking ground on a second brewing facility in Virginia, embarking on a six-part nationwide hoppy beer project…stuff like that. Today’s news purposely smaller in scale and something most beer fans are likely to be just as excited about.

Green Flash is debuting what it’s calling its Genius Lab, a new small-batch brewing project that will be the company’s vehicle for delivering innovative beers that go beyond their traditional lineup. With the company’s production on a steep upward climb, it would be easy for brewmaster Chuck Silva and his brew crew to put their heads down and focus only on plowing through huge batch after huge batch of their year-round beers, but Genius Lab provides an opportunity to consistently introduce new, innovative, and experimental beer styles to their fan base.

The first of the Genius Lab beers will be Saison Tart, a Belgian-style farmhouse ale brewed utilizing the same techniques used to introduce lactic sourness to German Berliner Weisse. Silva describes the beer as pale and straw-hued with a refined fruitiness and fresh, herbal, grassy bouquet. With just 3.6% alcohol-by-volume with only three IBUs to its name, it’s the perfect small beer to kick-off this small-batch initiative.

Saison Tart will be available at Green Flash’s Mira Mesa tasting room from 3 to 9 p.m. on June 11. Several more Genius Lab beer releases, which may also include collaboration brews, are planned for 2013, but there is no set schedule. Spontaneity and the ability to act on creative brainstorms is what Genius Lab (which takes its name from the company’s Flash of Genius program) is all about. As they put it, “each beer will debut when it is ready.”