From the Beer Writer: What do you call this beer? Hall of Fame Imperial San Diego Pale Ale, Imperial Tony Gwynn San Diego Pale Ale .394 or something else? And once you figure out the name, what do you make of the style? An imperial pale ale seems like selling it short. And, at 9% alcohol-by-volume, with majorly pronounce hops, is it officially an India pale ale or double IPA? After tasting this beer, my answer is: who cares. Trade trivial semantics for seriously tasty suds, leaving the latter behind in favor of a bright beer with great piney, fruity accents that was clearly built with a great deal of care in order to properly honor, not only a great baseball player, local legend and greatest Padre of all time, but in the case of AleSmith Brewing Company’s Peter and Vicky Zien…a good friend. This beer debuted last weekend following a pre-sale period online, but 70 barrels were made, and more is available at AleSmith’s tasting room (9368 Cabot Drive, Miramar).
From the Brewer: “Imperial .394 Hall of Fame is a 9% ABV, golden colored beer that’s as equally floral of a hoppy beer as its’ 6% ABV counterpart, San Diego Pale Ale .394. The idea for this beer was first discussed in early 2014 when I had the privilege of meeting with Tony at his home. Once we had the recipe dialed in for .394, we discussed future offerings bearing his name. One of these ideas was to release a stronger version of the beer that would be packaged in an all real gold champagne-sized bottle with his left-handed batting profile as the main feature. Since this beer was only discussed and not formulated with Tony, we took very little liberties in creating a stronger version of .394, attempting to maintain some of the ratios regarding malt and hop use. In fact, the same grain, hop and yeast varieties found in the original .394 are present in the imperial recipe. And to top it off, Tony Gwynn’s special Hall of Fame induction signature with the inscription “HOF’07” under his name appears on each bottle, again, in real gold. One hundred percent of proceeds from the Imperial .394 Hall of Fame beer will go toward construction of the Tony Gwynn Museum and Pavilion, which will be housed at our new brewery (9990 AleSmith Court) when it opens later this year. The museum will help raise money for the Tony and Alicia Gwynn (TAG) Foundation charity.” —Peter Zien, Owner & Brewmaster, AleSmith Brewing Company
From the Bottle: AleSmith’s Hall of Fame version of the legendary Tony Gwynn San Diego Pale Ale .394 pays tribute to the one and only Mr. Padre and his commitment to excellence. Just like its predecessors, this “imperial” or “double” .394 is bursting with even more American hops, lending the beer a diverse palate of citrus, tropical fruit, and pine. Tony envisioned this beer in early 2014 and AleSmith is honored to make another one of his dreams come true.
“Tony Gwynn was incredibly proud to be a member of the San Diego community; he impacted lives all over the world. He was the heart, soul, and flavor of San Diego for so many years and now you can taste his passion with every sip.” —Alicia Gwynn