Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Capital of Craft IPA, aka San Diego Super Ale

Brewers guild members hammer out commemorative recipe

Brew day for Capital of Craft IPA
Brew day for Capital of Craft IPA

The San Diego Brewers Guild turns 20 this year and has organized a massive collaboration beer to commemorate the milestone.

Dubbed the Capital of Craft IPA, the beer was brewed with input from many of the guild's founding member breweries, using ingredients donated by local and national purveyors, and will feature fretboard tap handles contributed by El Cajon–based guitar manufacturer Taylor Guitars.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The one-off 60-barrel batch was made at Coronado Brewing Company's Bay Park brewery, with dozens of guild members on hand to contribute. Coronado head brewer Mark Theisen wrote and executed the final recipe but describes the process as "recipe by committee," beginning with a meeting of longtime brewers representing Karl Strauss Brewing Company, Pizza Port, Stone Brewing, San Diego Brewing Co., San Marcos Brewery and Grill, and AleSmith Brewing Company, along with Coronado.

"We got together with all the guys who have been around since the guild started 20 years ago," Theisen says. With no shortage of ideas from the crew of veteran brewers, the discussion moved to a 30-person email thread. "We started with what kind of ingredients we could probably get as a guideline," Theisen says.

With ingredients supplier BSG Craft Brewing donating grains and hops, the brewers decided not to rehash the same flavors they worked with 20 years ago, instead opting to produce a forward-looking IPA. They were able to secure a few of the more interesting newer hop varietals on the market, such as Vic Secret, Idaho 7, and the New Zealand strain known as Motueka. They chose English malt that's been around for decades but only surged in popularity among brewers over the past couple years. "We went with maris otter," says Theisen. "That will add a little more nice bready quality." He expects tropical flavors from the newer hops, but also some of the resiny citrusy bitterness of a classic West Coast IPA.

Some of those West Coast aspects will hail from local contributors. Miramar-based White Labs donated yeast for the beer: a strain aptly named San Diego Super Ale Yeast. And Ramona hop grower Star B Ranch contributed whole cone Cascade fresh hops, which were added as bittering hops.

"I've never used fresh hops before in the mash," says Bobby Oliver, the newest member of Coronado's brewing team, who helped make the beer on brew day. Oliver credits Karl Strauss brewmaster Paul Segura with sharing the technique with him. "He was explaining to me that you extract different oils from the fresh hops in the mash than you do in the kettle," Oliver says.

Segura says that kind of sharing between brewers has been a part of local beer culture since the guild first started gathering in 1997. He recalls they would meet to discuss joint marketing efforts and shared ingredient buys, but the fun part was drinking beer with fellow brewers and swapping notes about yeasts, hops, and techniques. "We kind of realized you learn more from talking to other brewers than you do from textbooks," Segura says. "You learn from everybody's successes and failures."

Capital of Craft IPA will be released during the 9th annual San Diego Beer Week, slated to take place November 3rd through 12th. Proceeds will be donated to the San Diego Brewers Guild.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Mid-range fleet scoring bluefin limits off Ensenada

Rockfish to open at all depths April 1st (no foolin’)
Next Article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate
Brew day for Capital of Craft IPA
Brew day for Capital of Craft IPA

The San Diego Brewers Guild turns 20 this year and has organized a massive collaboration beer to commemorate the milestone.

Dubbed the Capital of Craft IPA, the beer was brewed with input from many of the guild's founding member breweries, using ingredients donated by local and national purveyors, and will feature fretboard tap handles contributed by El Cajon–based guitar manufacturer Taylor Guitars.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The one-off 60-barrel batch was made at Coronado Brewing Company's Bay Park brewery, with dozens of guild members on hand to contribute. Coronado head brewer Mark Theisen wrote and executed the final recipe but describes the process as "recipe by committee," beginning with a meeting of longtime brewers representing Karl Strauss Brewing Company, Pizza Port, Stone Brewing, San Diego Brewing Co., San Marcos Brewery and Grill, and AleSmith Brewing Company, along with Coronado.

"We got together with all the guys who have been around since the guild started 20 years ago," Theisen says. With no shortage of ideas from the crew of veteran brewers, the discussion moved to a 30-person email thread. "We started with what kind of ingredients we could probably get as a guideline," Theisen says.

With ingredients supplier BSG Craft Brewing donating grains and hops, the brewers decided not to rehash the same flavors they worked with 20 years ago, instead opting to produce a forward-looking IPA. They were able to secure a few of the more interesting newer hop varietals on the market, such as Vic Secret, Idaho 7, and the New Zealand strain known as Motueka. They chose English malt that's been around for decades but only surged in popularity among brewers over the past couple years. "We went with maris otter," says Theisen. "That will add a little more nice bready quality." He expects tropical flavors from the newer hops, but also some of the resiny citrusy bitterness of a classic West Coast IPA.

Some of those West Coast aspects will hail from local contributors. Miramar-based White Labs donated yeast for the beer: a strain aptly named San Diego Super Ale Yeast. And Ramona hop grower Star B Ranch contributed whole cone Cascade fresh hops, which were added as bittering hops.

"I've never used fresh hops before in the mash," says Bobby Oliver, the newest member of Coronado's brewing team, who helped make the beer on brew day. Oliver credits Karl Strauss brewmaster Paul Segura with sharing the technique with him. "He was explaining to me that you extract different oils from the fresh hops in the mash than you do in the kettle," Oliver says.

Segura says that kind of sharing between brewers has been a part of local beer culture since the guild first started gathering in 1997. He recalls they would meet to discuss joint marketing efforts and shared ingredient buys, but the fun part was drinking beer with fellow brewers and swapping notes about yeasts, hops, and techniques. "We kind of realized you learn more from talking to other brewers than you do from textbooks," Segura says. "You learn from everybody's successes and failures."

Capital of Craft IPA will be released during the 9th annual San Diego Beer Week, slated to take place November 3rd through 12th. Proceeds will be donated to the San Diego Brewers Guild.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

A poem for March by Joseph O’Brien

“March’s Lovely Asymptotes”
Next Article

Mid-range fleet scoring bluefin limits off Ensenada

Rockfish to open at all depths April 1st (no foolin’)
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.