Beachwood Brewing | Four Brewers Podcast

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

Direct audio: MP3

Subscribe:
iTunes: Audio / Video
RSS: Audio / Video
Google Play Music
Stitcher
YouTube (Videos)

Support the show:
Patreon
PayPal

4B Social Media:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
tumblr
Flickr
Snapchat

Email 4B: feedback@fourbrewers.com

4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 1, Episode 9 – This week, we’re sippin’ on two delicious IPAs, both of which involve Beachwood Brewing, and then we’re going to the dark side with John’s black oatmeal IPA, Oats N’ Bros.

[Player above not working? Download here.]

Joined by our in-house special guests Sara and Yvonne, we kick off the show this week with Beachwood Brewing‘s third anniversary IPA, aptly named “Greenshift“, which is made with nearly every hop under the sun. Well, not really, but it’s got a butt-load of hops in it, and it’s surprisingly smooth for being a 10% ABV beer. Beachwood Brewing has really been kicking ass this last year, and we couldn’t be happier for them and to celebrate their third anniversary with them.

Stone Brewing Co./Beachwood Brewing/Heretic Brewing - Unapologetic IPA and Beachwood Brewing's Greenshift IPA — Stone Brewing Co./Beachwood Brewing/Heretic Brewing – Unapologetic IPA and Beachwood Brewing’s Greenshift IPA

Next up, we’re drinking another beer that Beachwood had a part in, called “Unapologetic IPA.” A collaboration between Stone Brewing Co., Beachwood Brewing, and Heretic Brewing Co., this IPA was brewed with all experimental hops, which give it a very unique and bright floral character. Really tasty, indeed. We don’t spend a lot of time talking about this beer, really. Rather, we devote a good amount of time talking about Stone’s recent expansion to Berlin, Germany, and their related IndieGoGo fundraising campaign. It’s been the buzz of the interwebs since July 19th, when Stone announced that they’re finally opening a brewing in Europe and on the east coast of the United States, garnering both positive and not-so-positive feedback from the beer community.

Feature: Homebrew – John’s black oatmeal IPA, “Oats N’ Bros”

Next up, we’re trying John’s latest creation, Oats N’ Bros. This is a black IPA made with two pounds of oats, similar in fashion to his standard oatmeal IPA, “Oats N’ Hoes.” It’s 7.3% ABV and made with Centennial, Simcoe, and Amarillo hops, coming in at 95 IBUs. The oats lend a smooth, silky mouthfeel to this IPA, giving it a similar feel to a milk stout without the added sweetness that comes with adding lactose to the beer.

Oats N' Bros Black Oatmeal IPA — Oats N’ Bros Black Oatmeal IPA

The other unique thing about this black IPA is the use of brown malt in the mash. Brown malt is an excellent choice for making a brown ale, due to its biscuity, toasty nature, and it seems to work pretty well in darker beers, too. Click here for John’s Oats N’ Bros recipe.

If you didn’t hear already, we’re officially on Stitcher.

Cheers, and we’ll see you next week!

Subscribe to the show:
RSS
iTunes – While you’re there, give a review of the podcast!
Stitcher

Thumb us up on Facebook:
facebook.com/fourbrewers

Follow us on Twitter:
twitter.com/fourbrewersshow

Got a question? Feedback? Email us:
feedback at fourbrewers dot com.

Help support Four Brewers!
Donate via PayPal