Having erred toward the sweet fruit and coconut flavors of their last Project X Series release,  Mother Earth’s brewers decided to swing the pendulum, calling for more traditional IPA flavors  with Metamorphosis. Mosaic and Citra hops leave passionfruit and strawberries on the nose,  while Strata punches up with flavors of dank marijuana and citrus. A heavy wheat addition and  dextrin malt add ...

The Beer Before Glory IPA Mixed Pack features the all-new Firestone California IPA; the highly anticipated return of Luponic Distortion IPA; the Cold IPA phenomenon known as Hopnosis; and Union Jack, the West Coast IPA icon. Each beer is made at Firestone Walker’s solar-powered brewery in Paso Robles on California’s Central Coast. The Beer Before Glory IPA Mixed Pack is now rolling out to ...

“XPA is the number one craft beer style in Australia and it’s something we’re excited to champion it here in the U.S.," said Brewmaster Matt Brynildson. "The appeal of XPAs is obvious--they offer everything you love in a good pale ale at a crushable ABV. We fell in love with the style during our travels to hop farms across Australia and New Zealand and we were inspired to make our own."

Using bright, bold colors, the updated Mind Haze packaging pops off the shelf with a supporting campaign that guarantees to send the mind wandering.

“The esthetic evolution of Mind Haze personifies what craft beer is all about–fearless creativity in and out of the can,” said Firestone Brand Director Hannah Barnett.

"We're overjoyed with this conundrum of a beer," said Anderson Valley President and CEO Kevin McGee. “This beer shouldn’t taste as good as it does, but here it is. No corners were cut to bring you an actual light beer that still has full craft beer-flavored-beer flavor. It’s a legitimately amazing thing.”

The vanilla beans come from Cook Flavorings, a renowned third-generation purveyor of fine vanilla and spices, located in Firestone Walker’s hometown of Paso Robles. Third-generation vanilla purveyor Josephine Lochhead educated the brewing team on all things vanilla and steered them to cured Madagascar-grown beans that were perfect for incorporating into a seasonal stout. 

 “This beer was created with experience, passion and collaboration, sparing no expense to celebrate our brewery’s 27thanniversary,” said Brewmaster Matt Brynildson. “This may be our most eclectic Anniversary Ale to date—a testament to the blending skills of our winemaker friends.”

The American Cider Association is proud to announce that three individuals have successfully passed the Certified Pommelier™ examination. The new Certified Pommeliers™ are Anthony Chen–head brewer at AleSmith Brewing Company in San Diego; Lester Koga–owner of Bare Bottle Brewing in San Francisco; and Jessica Arlich–cider enthusiast from Vancouver, Washington. The rigorous exam, held in San ...

Stone’s brewers travel across the globe seeking new hop varieties and ingredients in their ongoing beer exploration. A series of innovative beers combining Southern Hemisphere and US hops led to this year’s anniversary beer, which combines Riwaka, Magnum, Mosaic and the newly available Peacharine hops. It is also brewed with Phantasm, a dried grape skin extract from New Zealand that transforms over the course of fermentation to add intense tropical and white grape flavors to the beer. The resulting beer has sweet aromas of peach pulp, Bartlett pear, lemon peel, white wine and herbs. The hops mingle beautifully for flavors of ripe peach and pineapple, mango, orange, lemon and passion fruit. Herbal and sweet orange flavors linger alongside a pleasant bitterness.

“We’ve been having a lot of fun with these Southern Hemisphere varietals lately. The  sweet/tropical/stone fruit characteristics really lend themselves well to the style. The increased  bitterness also helps to balance that perceived sweetness. We typically don’t use lactose in our  hazy beers, which is often done to assist with haze stability and to increase body, but we’ve  found that we can achieve those qualities through brewing methods rather than loading the beer  with adjuncts. The result is a medium to full bodied beer with tons of hop aroma and flavor but  without the cloying sweetness.” 

-Chris Baker – Director of Brewing Operations, Mother Earth Brew Co.

“Oaktoberfest is a beer that has stood the test of time,” said Brewmaster Matt Brynildson. “In fact, I believe that more and more craft drinkers are yearning for beers like Oaktoberfest. There’s a certain nostalgia to the style—smooth, sessionable, flavorful and malt-forward. It’s the kind of beer that you naturally crave as summer turns to fall.”

Golden state retailers and consumers will now have access to the full lineup of canned cocktails, including Pineapple Margarita, Peach Mojito, Grapefruit Paloma, Strawberry Margarita, and Blueberry Cosmo. Packaged in ready-to-drink cans that are easily portable, Craftwell allows consumers to create a unique cocktail moment just about anywhere. Each cocktail is 10.5 percent ABV and available in 4-packs of 12oz cans at retail stores, bars, and restaurants. 

“We are excited to extend our craft beverages to the sunny state of California.” said Nels Jewell-Larsen, co-owner and vice president of business development for 2 Towns. “California is a natural extension of our West Coast adventuresome spirit and vibe.”

“We had a couple objectives when designing the next gen of cans: First, although it would be  tempting to scrap everything and start over, we knew we had built a certain amount of brand  equity we weren’t willing to just walk away from, especially in the Cali Creamin’ Family. We  felt that with iconic imagery like the VW bus, we needed to pull in legacy elements that folks  could recognize, while also introducing some fresh ideas. The second important consideration,  was how the new cans would fit within the rest of our core lineup, especially since we had just  designed three new cans somewhat recently. As it turns out that design template would pave the  way for the new can design – particularly in the Cali Family.” 

Stone Notorious P.O.G. Berliner Weisse effortlessly rides its effervescence of tart orange citrus and tropical flavors with sip-it-like-its-Sunday ease.  It’s tart, refreshing, citrusy and spectacular.  On the nose: tropical fruits, citrus and honey. Passion fruit and guava flavors are present beneath a bright punch of orange. It’s everything POG lore serves up, but it’s beer, so clearly, it’s better.

“We’ve been experimenting with taking up the ABV on some of our favorite beers,” explained Kris Ketcham, Stone Brewing Senior Manager of Brewing & Innovation. “Stone Notorious P.O.G. stood out because not only does the imperial version taste amazing, you can’t even tell the ABV is higher. We knew our fans would welcome this upgrade to one of their favorites.”

“New Horizons and Four Seasons [Summer] are such different beers. While New Horizons leans  on a pillowy body and a soft, drinkable impression, the collab DIPA is much more intense, with  an additional 45 IBUs to go along with a more robust hop profile that’s led by notes of sweet  fruit and grapefruit pith. It’s fun to have them out at the same time to give folks a choice on what  kind of experience they want to have.” 

Greet the sun with Another Life—a bright blonde Cold IPA featuring a blend of Citra, El Dorado, Centennial and Chinook hops. Melding classic Pacific Northwest hop flavors of citrus and pine with new age notes of pineapple and watermelon candy, this is a crisp, clean IPA that’s built for summertime enjoyment. “We brewed this beer with a simple bill of pilsner malt and rice and fermented it with lager yeast to create a true-to-form Cold IPA,” said Brewmaster Matt Brynildson. “The Pacific Northwest hops shine through while the mouthfeel stays light, refreshing and perfectly cold.”

“This was the perfect beer to bring us full circle and mark this milestone brewing moment,” said Brewmaster Matt Brynildson. “It takes DBA’s classic oak-influenced profile to an entirely new level.”

Double DBA Batch 10k originates from DBA that was brewed at double strength, then aged for a year in 11-year-old Old Fitzgerald wheated bourbon barrels. This distinctive barrel treatment enhanced DBA’s classic flavors of toffee and caramel with notes of baking spice, cocoa powder and dried fig.

Stone Downunderstuck IPA’s tropical fruit flavors include papaya, mango and pineapple supported by pleasant malt and lingering bitterness. The aroma is unmatched with that tropical bouquet balanced by peppery-herbal, hearty dankness. It’s 9% ABV and available for just a limited time.   

“Double Hopnosis is brewed with our favorite emerging hops from the Pacific Northwest and Southern Hemisphere, then extravagantly double dry-hopped with Cryo Hops® to take the flavors and mouthfeel to the next level,” said Brewmaster Matt Brynildson. “We call this our new-school rendition of a classic imperial West Coast IPA.”

 “As two brands with synergistic missions and San Diego roots beginning in the 90s, teaming up with the good humans at Stone Brewing just made sense,” said Katie Pruitt, Brand Director at Sanuk. “This collection embodies the ethos of both Sanuk and Stone Brewing by delivering innovative, quality goods, with tasteful design details and superior comfort for that beach-day-mindset, no matter where you are.”

“Combining modern hopping techniques along with the right yeast strain is critical to achieving the right balance of juicy-meets-clean. Head Case is the first beer we’ve brewed to feature our new crop year of Citra and Galaxy, which are showing really strong aromatics, especially in the tropical and stone fruit categories. In order to take advantage of this, we use hops in almost every part of the hot and cold side, including whirlpool, intra-fermentation, and dry-hop additions. Then, of course, our house ‘Juice’ yeast strain is used to give the beer a nice full body while not being overly sweet like some can be.

-Daniel Love – President, Mother Earth Brew Co.

“Hazy, hoppy, and suitable for daily enjoyment, this special lager ticks all the boxes for a springtime crusher,” said Justin Holmes, New Projects Manager. “It's inspired both by the big hitter IPAs we make day-to-day and the Pilsners we drink when the day is done.”