WEST COASTER FEATURE

LOCAL BEERS WITH LOCAL HOPS by RYAN LAMB
WEST COASTER // AUGUST 2015
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Nopalito Farms in Valley Center promises to be one of the most active growers and sellers this year. They’re working with at least five local breweries, plus Tijuana’s Cervecería Insurgente, which is planning a small, two-barrel Chinook and Cascade wet hop ale for their newly-opened tasting room. Two SD breweries will give their core beers a wet hop treatment: Fall Brewing with (TBD hops) Spirit of ’77; and Intergalactic with Chinook and Cascade Andromeda IPA. Nickel Beer Co. and Monkey Paw/South Park Brew Co. are planning special brews as well. Tom Nickel at Julian’s Nickel Beer Co. brewed with 42 pounds of fresh Cascade and Chinook on July 27 to commemorate his twentieth year in San Diego’s beer industry; he started full-time at Home Brew Mart in August of 1995. The beer is called My Way IPA. Cosimo Sorrentino at Monkey Paw/South Park Brew Co. is planning two same-day brews. In the first and second weeks of August, he’ll be in Valley Center at 5 a.m. to help start picking, before driving down around noon to start the brew while the hops are being stripped. The first batch, at SPBC, will likely be more “English/Northwest” and Chinook-heavy. The Monkey Paw Same Day XPA will feature Crystal and Zeus. Nopalito Farms has taken over the plot of ZP Growers, which kept the name and moved over to Fallbrook. Owner Lyle Kafader told us they’ll be supplying homebrewers this year as they ramp up production.