Rock & Roll Happy Hour

One more beer to wrap up the 6-pack of beers that Harland Brewing created for this years SanDiegoBeer.News Awards. A collab with the man himself, Mr. Brandon Hernandez! What style does this pillar of local beer choose? A West Coast Pale Ale! Once again letting the hops shine bright with just a little more malty backbone.

Here we go with "the big show" the West - West Coast IPA from Harland Brewing created for the SanDiegoBeer.News Awards. A fantastic example of how the West Coast IPA has come from a piney-reinous amber IPA to a bright-citriusy light bodied crusher!

Brandon from SanDiegoBeer.News bought this one as a tribute to his new favorite local watering hole, the brand new Harland Brewing 4-S Ranch. The beer 4-Simcoe Ranch IPA celebrates everything that is a form of Simcoe hops from Pellets to Dynaboost. If you think all that Simcoe would make the hop profile on this beer overpowering, you'd be wrong.

It was a spark of genius on the part of Harland brewers to break up the style by region. Today we try another beer from the SanDiegoBeer.News Awards 6-pack. Central - West Coast Pilsner, tapping breweries in the central area of San Diego to create a truly San Diego take on a hoppy pilsner.

It took someone like Brandon Hernandez who's been writing and promoting San Diego craft beer for years, to come along and put in the leg work in for an awards ceremony that acknowledges all the amazing hard work that goes into the local beer scene. Now in it's 6th year the San Diego Beer News awards are a highlight of the year where brewers and fans of beer can come toghter at a free event! This year Harland Brewing, the hosts of this years even put together a special 6-pack of beers that showcase all the different parts of San Diego. We start today in the North with a malty, let light and crushable Dark Lager.

This music is playing but the mics are still on, Tom Nickel decided to whip out a BONUS BEER for a Friday. As we sip on a nite cap of Nickel Beer 1348 Black Death, a barrel aged stout straitght out of the mad-mind of Tom and his assistant. This beer is not one to be drank too cool, let it sit and watch the flavors open up. The reward is a bourbon barrel aged beer that taste more like it came out of wine barrels.

We started the week with a Double IPA, we end the week with a Double IPA. As Tom and Tyson from O'Brien's has officialy kicked off thier St. Patrick's Day Weekend, we still take a break for Corned Beef Rubens and Irish Tot-Choes to toast with Pizza Port Brewing's Mongo Double IPA.

With St. Patrick's Day around the corner, Tom Nickel from Nickel Beer Co has brought in a cousin to the famous Guiness, but not the frothy nitro version you find in your local Irish pub but the squatty bottled Export version of Guiness. More ABV and a more robust drinking profile, if you want to drink something dark at O'Brien's for the holiday...this is it.

You'd think with as warm is it is right now, a malty beer would be the last thing you'd want to quench your thirst BUT with the amazing balance of Nickel Beer Co's CC O'Neil's Irish Red this beer is satisfying and refreshing! Tom and Tyson from O'Brien's pour out a couple of pints and explain the origins of the beer along with the insanely good pairing of their Corned Beef Ruben.

3-Peat Victory as the Best Craft Beer Bar in America comes with the reponsibility of throwing all the right parties and when a name like O'Brien's is on the door you better deliever when it comes to St. Patricks's Day! Tom and Tyson do that indeed! Rolling in on a Tuesday with two perfect creations Nickel Beer Co's St. Patrick's Irish Lager AND fresh from the kitchen O'Brien's IRish Tat-choes...bring an extra stomach for this episode.

News broke last week, O'Brien's did it again! Three times in a row voted the best Craft Beer Bar in America from USA Today! Tom and Tyson from O'Brien's drop in all week to talk about that victory and the up coming St. Patrick's Day celebration. We start the week of right, with a Double IPA well known for always being on tap at O'Brien's Russian River's Pliny The Elder.

It's time for the big show! It's almost too obvious that a company with the name Tigers Blood would have their most popular beverage be a riff on that iconic Tiger's Blood Hawaiian Ice flavor. Hawaiian Punch is the beverage that will get you hooked into Tigers Blood! You may come for the punch but you'll say for the vitimans and electrolytes.

As a beverage maker its always fun to make an adult version of your favorite soda. For Marc and Walden from Tigers Blood it was Hansen's Mandarin Lime that inspired today's flavor Tangerine.

What do a rockstar and a surf legend like to drink? Tigers Blood, of course. Marc and Walden are back with another killer favor, Black Cherry. Its a scary beverage if you've ever had a Black Cherry seltzer because it taste just like it's non-alcoholic counterpart except Tigers Blood is 5% ABV.

Strap in for this week! Marc and Wladen, founders of Tigers Blood Vodka Sltzr are in the studio. This is what happens when you take a rockstar and a competitive surfer an let them make a beverage! Tigers Blood is 5% AVB vodka based seltzer that's infused with vitimans AND Electrolites! We start our journey together with their Kiwi flavor that taste a lot like you added fresh squeezed kiwi to a vodka soda.

Wrapping up a week of non Ballast Point beers with Jeff and David from Ballast Point as they've been shocasing thier "friends" beers leading up to The Art of Beer happening on March 14th. We end with a beer that has traversed space and time to arrive in the glass we're drinking out of. Societe Brewing's The Visitor is a bright IPA that still has hits of pine with a clean and balanced finish.

With the plethora of tropical IPAs out in the market today I was surpised to see Pizza Port throw their hat in the ring with Coastin' but in true Pizza Port form they make this IPA true to style and focus on the hoppiness of their beer with a hint of tropical-ness.

It is noticably DANK in the studio and it's not because someone just dropped by the dispensary. It's because Jeff & David from Ballast Point brought in the brand new Hazy IPA from Coronado Brewing called Hazy Weekend. Adding to their "Weekend" line up of beers this hazy is exactly what you would imagine a Hazy Weekend in San Diego tasting like.

Another day that Jeff from Ballast Point, didn't bring an Ballast Point beer! Instead we sip Fall Brewing's Tora! Japanese Lager and talk about how Fall's can art really seperates them from every other 6-pack.

It's been too long since we've seen Jeff from Ballast Point in the studio, this week he drops in to talk about the upcoming Art of Beer showcase happening at Ballast Point Little Italy. The crazy thing is, this whole event is based around some of San Diego's oldest and more storied breweries and Ballast Point isn't even pouring thier own beer for it! We start things off with an offering from Karl Strauss and thier Hard Cherry Cola with packs a HUGE cherry cola flavor in an 5% AVB beverage.

MItchell from Smile Spirts hit it a few times this last week. Smile Spirts is like a vacation in a can, something that could have only been spawned in San Diego. Smile Spirits Pineapple Orange Voda Soda is what a San Diego vacation would taste like if you put it in a cocktail. A perfect blend of Pineapple and Orange with that signature Smile light carbonation and zero alcohol burn will envoke visions of palm trees, perfect beaches and the outline of our toolbox skyline at sunset.

It's one of the most iconic cocktials that is also the most simple, a Cranberry Voda Soda from Smile Spirits delievers on expectations you'd have from any bartnender in your favorite spot in town.

It's a dangerous proposition putting "Spicy" on a cocktail because you can instantly cut your audience in half but for Smile Spirits it's almost a dare beacuse once you try their Spicy Vodka Mule you'll understand why there was never a regular vodka mule for them. Huge aroma of green jalapenos with that same fresh green flavor and ZERO heat or warmth!

With the San Diego sunshine (most of the time) it's hard to beat this go-to Smile Spirits cocktail, Lemonade Tea is the perfect mixture of Black Tea with Lemonade with just the right amount of carbonation. At 7% ABV this does not drink like it!

Mitchell from Smile Spirits is back! As we get into spring time, there is no time like now to get into Smile Spirits. Bringing good news of more distribution in 2026, we start with an instant classic that was suppose to be a "season beverage" their Smile Espresso Martini.

Viscus is the best way to describe todays beer. At 18% ABV Gravitas Infinitum has it's own gravitational pull. Aged for three months in bourbon barrels pulled out, then agaed again in fresh bourbon barels, then agaed again in even more fresh bourbon barrels. Finally finished with Tahitian vanilla for the perfect ending the day or blasting off into the next 10 years.

Winslow from Pure Project loves his barrel program and you can taste the passion in the glass! Today showing off their Deja Fruit Barrel Aged Sour with Nectarines and Strata hops. What makes this farmouse saison truly uinique is the once-used necatrines that offer up a very subtle addition of flavor along with the light hop addition.

Toasting to ten years of Pure Project with another Anniversary beer you'll find on tap this weekend. Going back to the "murk" with Planetary Alignement Murky IPA, is like sipping a tropical drink in paradise. Big pineapple and mango flavors with subtle hints of orange peel.

Winslow from Pure Project drops a bomb on how many Pure Project beers will be on tap during thier Anniversary party on Saturday. It's no surprise they can feature 50 plus beers when they are constatly dropping seasonals like today's West Cost Pale called Sun Rays Like Stilts. Taking it's name from Tommy Guerrro the beer, like the song drifts on like a cloud on a calm breeze. Aromas of resin, citrus hit upfront while it instantly cleans up making way to the crushable Pale Ale on the back end.

Just another reason why its near impossible for a San Diego craft beer fan to completely make it through a "dry January," this weekend finds Pure Project celebrating their 10th Anniversary! All week Winslow from Pure Project joins us in the studio to talk about what you'll find on tap this weekend including today's beer, The Force West Coast Pilsner, brewed using an experimenal hop to showcase a bright citrusy yet peachy-pine profile with a light crips malt backbone.

After a week of celebration O'Brien's Tion weekend, its here! Only one beer can mark this mometious occation and that's a blend that Russian River and the O'Brien's crew put together for O'Brien's 25th Anniversary, say 'Hello' to Ovation and say 'Goodbye' if you miss it because the last kegs of it are on tap this weekend!

It is without a doubt the Grand Poobah for out of market IPAs, Russian Rivers Pliny the Elder is like a mark of honor at San Diego watering holes. Due to their strict policies on how their beer should be handeld, you'll only find it on tap in places that have high standards of excellence in their beers and O'Brien's is one of those spots! In fact outside of their Tion weekend its one of the few spots in town where you can almost all the time find it on tap.

O'Brien's Tion Weekend approaches and while it hightlights Russian River's "Tion" beers, the brewery also has a wide range of styles outside of their speciality Belgians. Today I get to try my first Russian River Hazy IPA and from what I already know about the brewrey it 100% lives up to expectations

Russian River is known for it's IPA's from the Pliny family to one of the most OG Blind Pig, there's a flavor for everyone! Blind Pig IPA is one of my favorites because of it's brite almost "lemony" notes and it's ties back to the San Diego beer scene that Tom Nickel from O'Brien's does a fanstic job in explaning!

Kicking off the 32nd Anniversary for O'Brien's their Tion Weekend is upon us! Celebrating one of the more storied Califronia breweries Russian River makes a wide variety of well known hoppy beers as well as Belgian inspiried styles all bearing a name ending in "Tion." We'll get into one of the more rare beers on tap today with Beatification that is naturally fermented from their "Cool Ship" in Windsor.

BONUS BEER! They couldn't help themselves, after wrappign with Treevana our friends from Burgeon Beer decided to crack open a bonus beer after the Rebelution started playing. Lagoon View gives us a great counterpoint to the Campsite IPA we tried earlier in the week. Beefing up the body and ABV allows the brewers to venture off into the world of new hop products to give you that consistent Burgeon thumbprint of huge flavor up front with a clean finish.

Tomorrow is the big Burgeon 9th Anniversary party so we wrap the week with one of their flagship beers, Treevana IPA. Big flavor, bright citrus aroma and some where between old school and new school bitterness...it's no surprise why this is Melody's favorite beer of all time.

Stripping it down to the basics of a Burgeon Hazy IPA! Moonlit encompasses everything that is being free outdoors and of course in true Burgeon style it's light an very crushable. Drinking this Double Dry Hoppy Hazy my have you asking, "did I really see a butt on the can, or was it my imagination?"

We've all heard of KISS, Keep it Simple, Stupid. That is exactly what Burgeon Beer does with this resurected classic! Campfire IPA is at its most simple; the best most flora hops, grains and yeast. I truly enjoyable sip after sip, simple IPA that big on flavor and crushable without beating you over the head with too much of anyone thing...you might said it's perfect for when you're sitting around the campfire in the company of the people you enjoy the most.

One of the things that makes the Burgeon Beer 9th Anniversary party so special is all the guest brewers they intive to pour at the event. Some even stick around for a collab brew day! Today Mel and Tori brought a brand new collab with Cannonball Creek Brewing that just hit shelves in time for the Anniverary! Beware this beer will fool your mind because nothing that smells this dank should be this crushable.

It's going to be a beautiful warm week and a stellar weekend for Burgeon Beer to celebrate their 9th Anniversary! All week Tori and Mel join us in the studio to talk about beer, community and music. We start our journey together with an iconic beer for San Diego, Carlsbad Crush, light, bright, citrusy and infintely crushable!

It was a tropical blast in the studio from the moment Erik from Good Pressure Brewing craked the top on the growler. Huge aromas of guava and oranged bast your senses and that rolls right into the taste!

We FINALLY got to the IPA from Good Pressure Brewing! Althought visison of yesterday's Blonde still dance on my taste buds, this IPA stands up! IF a San Diego IPA history lesson could be poured in a glass this would be in, color similar to a the legendary Green Flash West Coast IPA but a body and bitterness profile that is more in-line with what IPA drinkers now enjoy.

Part of starting a brewery is knowing what you want to be known for, for Erik at Good Pressure Brewing it's a beer he's been constantly building in his head for the last 15 years. Say "hello" to Good Pressure Brewing Blonde, a beer that grabs the best parts of multiple categories to make one ridiculously drinkable all day kind of beer.

Two things Erik from Good Pressure Brewing likes to focus on are drinkability and having options for all, with today's Limeade Hard Seltzer he demonstrates both! An easy drinking 5% AVB Hard Seltzer with real lime makes this a very "Zippy" beverage on tap and a great selection for any non-beer drinker that finds their way into the taproom.

Wrapping up Last Call for 2025 with a brewery to watch for 2026! Started by Erik and his wife, Good Pressure Brewing in Grantville is cranking out great vibes and great beers to serve East County and their local nbhd. This week we'll get into this new spot that just opended thier doors at the start of December and we'll start with a traditional German Pilsner.

Santa Tom brought a stocking stuffer! A bonus beer he brought out after our last tasting. Taking a trip down south to La Cerveceria Minerva for their Stout that hits with flavors that you can't find in San Diego.

It's only fitting since in the past Tomme Arthur held down Beer Santa responsiblities that Tom Nickel brings a Lost Abbey beer to end the week of Santa Tom's Christmas Beers. A rich barrel aged Old Ale that delievers on big dark fruit charactereists and a lot of booze. A great beer to age or as Tom puts it, gift to a friend and then invite yourself over when they open the bottle.

This is the absolute MUST HAVE Belgian Christmas Ale. It's the liquid form of fruit cake; full bodied, furity with zesty season aromas, St Bernardus Christmas Ale is the perfect co-pilot for holiday adventures just mind the ABV.

Santa Tom is upping his game again for our hump-day Wednesday! Showcasing what expert barreling can do to an already amazing stout, pouring out Nickel Beer's 12th Anniversary Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.

Santa Tom Nickel is back with more Christmas cheer from across the pond! A legendary brewery Huyghe Brewry in Melle, Belgium that's known from it's pink elephants on the bottle of Delirium gives us this amped up version of the infamous Belgian blonde with Delirium Noel. Smooth and full of dark fruit flavors it's hard to beleive that this beer hits at 10% AVB.