Ballst Point Brewing Co. | Four Brewers Podcast

Episode 253 – This week on the show, we explore craft beer’s venture into the world of "light" and fitness-minded beer, and discuss why this is a win for consumers, as well as craft and independent breweries.

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One of the latest trends in craft beer currently is making beers that actually appeal to a broader market of consumers outside of craft beer enthusiasts. Why are they doing this? Well, why not?! This week on the show, we’re going to the lighter side of beers and drinking light lagers, light IPA (well, that’s what John calls it…) and even fitness-minded beers!

Pictured: Beers from Funk Factory, Revolution Brewing, and New Glarus.

Light lager isn’t a style of beer that one would normally associate with craft and independent beer. It’s a style that has typically been avoided due to breweries trying to make themselves stand out in the market by making beers that are far more flavorful and interesting than the macro-brewed light lager. The question begs, however, why should light lager and lower calorie beers be reserved just for the big breweries? Is there anything actually “wrong” with drinking and brewing these styles of beer? This week, we focus on that question while trying some of the best “light” beer we could get our hands on.

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Episode Chapters:
00:00: supporttheshitoutofit.com
00:08: Theme Music
00:16: Begin Show
00:39: New Patreon Supporter, Sam S.!
02:36: New Review From Christopher Aikin!
03:13: FirkFest 2019!
07:48: Lager – Ballast Point Brewing Company
16:22: Lagunitas Hop Water
21:36: American Light – Hangar 24 Craft Brewing
26:09: Light – TAPS Brewery
32:27: Easy Sport – Boulevard Brewing Co.
37:36: Da HI Life Lager – Maui Brewing Company
43:35: Easy Jack – Firestone Walker Brewing Company
55:40: John’s Tech Reviews…
56:31: supporttheshitoutofit.com

Beers from this week’s episode:
Lager – Ballast Point Brewing Company
Lagunitas Hop Water
American Light – Hangar 24 Craft Brewing
Light – TAPS Brewery
Easy Sport – Boulevard Brewing Co.
Da HI Life Lager – Maui Brewing Company
Easy Jack – Firestone Walker Brewing Company

Direct audio: MP3

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Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 51 – This week, we find out who will rein supreme in the battle between the Light side of the sea, and the Dark side.

Does anyone else smell fish? What is that? Oh, pshht…I know what it is. It’s a Sculpin from Ballast Point Brewing, and an Invasive Species from Beachwood Brewing! We invited both of these underwater dwellers to battle it out on the show this week, with hopes of figuring out which one of these is the bigger fish to fry.

A little back story: once upon a time, Ballast Point Brewing out of San Diego, California, was one the most respected craft brewers in the San Diego beer scene, until the company was sold to Constellation Brands, Inc. for a cool one billion clams (snicker). Since then, many beer geeks have written the brewery off as a “sell out” and stopped buying their products, and some have decided to overlook the buyout and just focus on the beer. But, just because a brewery sells to a larger macro brewery or company doesn’t necessarily mean the quality of their product will suffer, although sometimes recipes and practices tend to change over time to drive down cost and increase profit. In the case of Ballast Point, the beers are still pretty great for the most part.

Enter Beachwood Brewing. Beachwood has been very vocal about their brewing independence and dedication to true craft beer. In a very tongue-in-cheek move, they decided to brew a series of beers that were inspired by Ballast Point’s Sculpin IPA and variants thereof, that positioned Beachwood to both comment on and snub Ballast Point and their wildly popular fruited beers. While they didn’t come out and blatantly say “fuck you,” to Ballast Point (for whatever reason, outside of the obvious craft vs. macro battle cry), the line of beers they brewed and subsequently named “Invasive Species” (with a depiction of a dead fish on the beer bottle’s label) sure did imply it. Fight!

So, here we are. We purchased the freshest Sculpin IPA and variants of Sculpin IPA (and Even Keel) that we could find and put them up against the two-week-old bottles of Beachwood’s Invasive Species IPA and variants. Who will prevail? You can probably guess who we’re rooting for…

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Beers from this week’s episode:
Beachwood Brewing – Invasive Species
Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits – Sculpin IPA
Beachwood Brewing – Mango Invasive Species
Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits – Mango Even Keel
Beachwood Brewing – Grapefruit Invasive Species
Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits – Grapefruit Sculpin
Beachwood Brewing – Habanero Invasive Species
Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits – Habanero Sculpin