Rock & Roll Happy Hour

This beer should come with a warning label. Bay City's Jucci Gang Hazy Double IPA is a very deceptive drink because up front it's jucy and tropical with hints of candied oranges that drinks super smooth. Then you try and stand up after downing a pint only to realized that this beer is hiding 8.5% ABV among all that haze.

Sour beers can be an aquired taste and a little daunting for someone getting into craft beer. Where a lot of sour beers focus on the acidity, Bay City takes a different approach and hones in on the fruit for a more balaced sip. Ziggy Sourdust Passion Fruit Sour is a beer that has been in the tasting room for a while, it's now making its way into cans around San Diego just in time for Spring!

When you want an IPA that somewhere between an Non-Alcoholic version and the standard 6% faire, Bay City has you covered! Getaway Day IPA is a 3% ABV beer that deleivers on all the taste, aromas and expectations you have for a standard San Diego IPA but with half the alcohol.

Austin and Rob from Bay City Brewing brought a treat to wrap up a Tuesday! A beer that has been around but is now been dialed in and canned up, Peninsula Lager is an Amber Lager that pays homage to our neighbours to the South. Smooth, roasty and easy drinking this beer belongs next to tacos and some San Diego sunshine.

Baseball season is back and Bay City Brewing has one of the top spots in East Village to be at before a game! All week Austin and Rob stop in to talk about what fantastic liquid they'll be serving at the Faithfull prepare for another winning year. We start with a beer that for the first time ever is being poured at games, Fiesta Island Pilsner.

It's finally Friday and time for the beer that Mel and Tori promised at the beginning of the week! Last week they launched thier Rebelution Colab Courage to Grow IPA with a secret parking lot show with the band. In addtiton to the colaborative effort with the band; what makes this beer special is the usage of all organic hops along with it benifiting organic farmers.

Perfect for the start of Spring Baseball or to cover up why you smell like you just hot-boxed your car. Burgeon Beer dips into the terpene beer world with Faithful Fade, a Double Dry Hopped Hazy IPA packed full of Mosaic, Krush, Simcoe and Pineapple Express Terpenes. Yep! It smells like your uncle Nick's 'secret stash' but is ohh soo drinkable.

It's coming down the mountain! The latest in the Burgeon Beer Adventure Series, Mountain Mode IPA makes it mark onyour palate with a strong pine and citrus edge that gives way to the kind of IPA that will wear your elbow out because it'll keep you sipping over and over again.

Tori and Mel from Burgeon are back with a fresh twist on one of their brewer's favorite styles, the West Coast Pilsner. Named after brewer Anthony's Twin Fin obsession, Twin Fin West Coast Pilsner is thin and light easy drinking hoppy Pilsner that if incredibly deceptive when it comes to ABV.

Coming off some big wins during the SanDiegoBeer.News Awards and a big colab launch with Rebelution, Burgeon Beer has been crazy busy! This week Mel and Tori drop by to show off some of these beers they've been working on but first we get things started with ole' faithful, Carlsbad Crush Mosaic Pale Ale.

Save the biggest for last! Brendan from Coronado Brewing is back one last time with the biggest of the three beers in the Weekend Seriese. Big Weekend is a decietfully easy to drink Double IPA that as Brendan puts it is "very efficient" at almost 9% AVB. Release the weekend!

This beer you won't even find in the tasting room until tomorrow. The very latest in Coronado Brewing's Chasing Waves seriese, Bonanaz Mango IPA pays tribute to a Canadian surf break. But don't worry, there's no notes of maple syurp in this beer, it's a true mango fruit bomb that will have you coming back, again and again and again.

This is the crown jewel of the week! The latest addition to the Coronado Brewing Weekend Seriese, Hazy Weekend Hazy IPA. This Hazy monster is chalked full of Pineapple Express Terps (no THC) to give it a very distinct aroma and flavor. If you didn't think weed and hops were cousins before this beer? You'll know after you drink it!

Same long standing San Diego OC beer, but with a new look! Brendan from Coronado Brewing brought an old classic, Orange Ave a wheat beer that backs big notes of Orange and honey at a very drinky 5.2% ABV. The big twist comes in the new packaging that makes the beer jump off the shelf as much as the flavor does.

I've been trying to nail Brendan from Coronado Brewing down since the launch of their latest edition to the Weekend Seriese. This week he finally drops by the show to talk about Hazy Weekend, but before we get there we need to set a baseline for where the Weekend Seriese started, Weekend Vibes Hazy IPA. A San Diego style IPA packed with Mosaic, Citra and Simcoe held up by a light bodied beer makes this 6.8% AVB an easy all weekend crushing choice.

We wrap up the week with a beer that is a riff on a staff favorite. From Circle of hops the Burning Beard team amped up the hop profile to 11 and gave us Circle of Creeps! You'll want to get your hands on this beer first at the anniversary party this weekend because chances are the staff will make sure all the kegs of this blow first.

It's only appropriate that we sandwitch this beer between St. Patrick's Day and the next full moon, Burning Beard Full Moon Madness Irish Stout. In true Beard form this beer has a little more kick then your standard export stout and that's just the way Nicole likes it!

Gotta tease Dylan a little bit over this beer. His hatred of Hazy IPA's is known far and wide. But, today he's drinking happily. What flavor profile could make this stalwart loather of Hazy beers drink up? Listen and find out what makes Burning Beard Dreamer Deceiver Hazy IPA different.

Because a person can not survive on beer alone, sometime you need a hard seltzer like Burning Beard's Thin Fizzy! Created specificly for Nicole because she wanted a beer alternative behind the bar, this hard seltzer is light a bright with a perfect kiss of raspberry and a hint of lemon. With this beverage in hand you my be inspired to start up the mosh pit during a yacht rock cover from YARP during the Burning Beard 10th Anniversary party!

Who knew that the punks who startred a brewery in an industrial park in East County San Diego could make it to 10 years?! Well if you've seen the family they've built around them it's easy to understand why Burning Beard is celebrating thier 10 year anniversary this week and and are now looking forward to the next 10 years! The BB crew are marking the occation with a Yacht Rock Anniversary complete wtih bands and beers like today's Yacht Mata IPA that reflect the spirit of the people who make the beer, so strap in!

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!