Blogs / Food & Drink / Summer 2011 / New on Tap at Ballast Point

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New on Tap at Ballast Point

When Ballast Point Brewing Co.’s Colby Chandler invited me by for a preview taste of what he’s been working on, I hightailed it to the brewery’s Linda Vista location, which also houses Home Brew Mart, San Diego’s top home brew supply store.

Chandler, Ballast Point’s Specialty Brewer, is responsible for some of my favorite seasonal sippers; every year, I thirstily anticipate the summer return of his Sour Wench, a Berliner Weisse-style wheat beer that gets a dose of tart Oregon blackberries. 

So I was excited to sample Chandler’s latest creation, starting with batch of their 2010 World Beer Cup gold medal-winner, Sculpin IPA, to which he’d added ginger, lime zest and Szechuan pepper.  The pepper, which is actually a dried berry and not a true peppercorn, is used very effectively in spicy Chinese cuisine but I was curious to see how it would translate into a beer. 

It had a nice citrus nose from the lime, the slight warming heat of ginger and yes, the  beer induced an unmistakable, though not overpowering, tingle on my lips, tongue and upper palate thanks to the Szechuan pepper, which Chandler had dry toasted in a pan before adding into the beer.  Tasted side by side with an unadulterated glass of Sculpin, the pepper version’s numbing properties did seem to mute and soften the beer’s hop flavor. 

He also brought out a taste of a beer in-progress that he’s making for Beer for Boobs, a local group that raises funds for the breast cancer foundation, Susan G. Komen for the Cure.  The beer is an English Summer Ale, which gets its pink tinge and tartness from hibiscus flowers and a small amount of cherries; it’s easy-drinking and really refreshing, like a bubbly, boozy agua de Jamaica. 

In addition, Chandler’s getting ready to release another seasonal, San Salvador, for which he sources, and often hand-harvests, local ingredients.  This year’s batch was brewed with California-grown malted barley, Nugget hops from Ramona’s Star B Ranch (Home Brew Mart is just starting to carry these locally-grown hops), sage, Manzanita berries and elderberries picked from an area farm and Lakeside honey. 

Head over to Home Brew Mart’s tasting room on Thursday, August 4, when they’ll be pouring the Szechuan peppercorn Sculpin IPA (only one keg’s worth) in honor of International #IPADay, a social IPA-celebration day.  Then, check out one of the Karl Strauss Brewing Company locations, where they’ll be commemorating the day with a brewed-for-the-occasion IPA called Heavy Petti, which brewer James Petti created using hops from both hemispheres, German caramel malts and Irish rolled oats.

Chandler’s also setting some of his Szechuan pepper Sculpin aside for August 11, the date of Ballast Point’s next Behind the Brewery collaboration with MIHO Gastrotruck, when they’ll also be featuring a vertical tasting - five vintages - of their Navigator Dobbelbock.

Photo by Candice Woo