Let’s review a lager! Haven’t done enough of that. And continuing on the theme of south of L.A. breweries we head to Mike Hess Brewing for their Steel Beach lager.
I do like the drink straight from the can pop top from Hess. Big malty aroma up front. Not a super light beer though there are some scrubbing bubbles here. Getting some sugary notes as well. Some toast notes come through as well. I would classify as a Vienna Lager. As such, it does the job and then some.
Video Review – Hess Brewing Anno Quarto
Mike Hess Brewing has reached the 4 year mark and to celebrate they did, surprise, an Imperial IPA which was dry hopped with Simcoe and Amarillo.
Hopefully the brewing went better than in year two.
On to the video to find out…..
Beer in Miramar
In addition to finally making it to the White Labs, me and beer buddy Richard also hit three other extremely, really close breweries near the Miramar area just north of San Diego proper.
And we still didn’t visit Alesmith or Ballast Point!
First stop was Hess (or Mike Hess) Brewing…..
Next stop was Rough Draft Brewing (some of their bottles are making their way to L.A.)
Last on the itinerary was Green Flash….
Nano Nano
Hess Brewing’s Great Nanobrewery List is an awesome resource.
A listing of (as of January 2012) the 82 Nano’s in operation and the amazing 50 that are on the road to brewing. It’s all alphabetized with links back to the brewery sites.
Take a spin and see if there is one in your neighborhood that you should pay a visit to.
Ex Umbris
Hess Brewing is one of many San Diego breweries that I haven’t been able to taste yet. A road trip is long overdue for sure. And Maybe I can snag a bottle of their stout that has rye and three hop additions.
Hess Brewing
One thing that amazes me about the recent spate of brewery openings is that seemingly mature markets seems to bear new entries. Portland keeps growing as does San Diego. Which is the location of a new-ish brewery I would like to spotlight.
Hess Brewing is according to their website, “San Diego’s first licensed nano-brewery. Nano, as in small, hand-crafted batches, one point six barrels at a time (that’s just 51 gallons each batch).”.
They have five uniquely named beers in their roster:
Claritas – kolsch
Grazias – Vienna cream ale
Intrepidus – IPA
Amplus – San Diego pale ale
Ex Umbris – stout