Beer Release: NW: Coming Soon (Again) … Port Brewing Hop 15 Double India Pale Ale
With all the madness surrounding a certain beer from Santa Rosa we almost forgot about Port Brewing’s returning Double IPA.
Voted back by fans, Hop 15 is being produced once again.
We just got word from Production Head Honcho Gwen that the brewers will be clearing the decks at the end of this month and the first part of March to brew not one, but four – count `em, 4 – big, fat batches of Hop 15. (Some of the brewers aren’t so excited about having to make 60 trips up the brew platform — 15 hopping sessions per batch — but they could probably use the exercise anyway.)
Welcome to San Diego- Home to Hop Heads on every corner and THE best place in the world to live if you enjoy Humulus Lupulus and the smell of a well hopped beer.
This is Southern California, it’s the place where Blind Pig started the Imperial IPA revolution and San Diego Brewers have continued to be at the forefront of its evolution.
Today, fans of Double IPA come from every corner of the globe in search of many of the world’s best and most incredibly well hopped beers. It’s no secret that you can find many of them at Port Brewing as well. Like you, we love these beers and mostly we enjoy the happiness they bring us.
First brewed in 2002 to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Pizza Port in Solana Beach, Hop 15 was imagined and designed by Tomme Arthur and Jeff Bagby as a celebration of 15 years of “Good Beer Brings Good Cheer.”
Hop 15 has 15 different hop varieties added to the beer every 15 minutes. Over the years, Hop 15 has racked up numerous accolades. It has won two silver medals at the Great American Beer Festival. It also was named Alpha King in 2004 and 2008, and received a first place award at the Bistro Double IPA beer festival in Hayward, CA.
Hop 15 remains won of the stickiest most resinous beers we have ever tasted and for that, we are thankful it is on tap at our brewery each and every day.
Malts – Two Row and English Light Crystal
Hops – We use 15 Different Varieties on a strictly don’t ask don’t tell policy
Yeast – White Labs California Ale and Proprietary Yeast StrainsOriginal Gravity – 1.086
Terminal Gravity – 1.014
ABV – 9.7 %
Look for bombers and pints of Hop 15 Double India Pale Ale to start arriving mid to late March, 2012. As always if you don’t see this on the shelves or on draught near you, ask your server / grocer to buy some!
Cheers
In 1992, there weren’t many options when it came to locally crafted, freshly brewed beers produced in San Diego. As such, brother and sister team and Pizza Port co-owners Vince and Gina Marsaglia started brewing at home. Soon, they were making more than they could leisurely drink. Yet, they really wanted to share some of the incredible brews they created with their customers too. So in October of 1992, a seven barrel brewery was installed and in 1993 the first handcrafted beer brewed on the premises of Pizza Port in Solana Beach was served.
Pizza Port became famous for fresh, hoppy beers prompting the addition of two more Pizza Port locations in Carlsbad and San Clemente. But even with three brewing systems, there wasn’t enough capacity to distribute the beers outside of the restaurants and Vince and Gina realized they needed to expand the production.
The answer came in late 2005 when another local craft brewery (and long-time friend of Pizza Port), Stone Brewing Company, announced that it was opening a new, considerably larger facility and would be leaving its old location in early 2006. [ more ]
