From the Beer Writer: Every now and then, the ping of an instant message popping up on my computer will summon my eyes to the bottom-right quadrant of the screen, and there it is, the dog profile pic letting me know that Michael Hess wants to chat. Always random, but always interesting, I have received everything from scoops to criticism via these IMs, but my favorite by far was when he invited me and the Lupus Foundation of Southern California to hold one of our Beer to the Rescue fundraisers at Mike Hess Brewing Company’s North Park brewery and tasting room. In doing so, he also offered up the service of his brewing team to work up a beer to help raise funds for the cause. Mike Hess Stock Stout (seriously, how cool would it be to have a bunch of beers all sporting your full name—Brandon Hernández Grammatical Butcher IPA has a nice ring to it), a sweet oatmeal stout coming in at a highly session-able 4.5% alcohol-by-volume is the result, and it’s currently on tap after making its official debut last Friday.
From the Brewer: “Head brewer Jason Stockberger has been masterfully at the helm for 18 months now, leading the charge with a World Beer Cup win for our double IPA, Habitus, and most recently picking up five medals at the Los Angeles International Commercial Beer Competition, plus two at the CaliforniaState Fair. But Jason loves a good session stout, which brings us to this beer, a holdover from his days as the head brewer at Rock Bottom in downtown San Diego. The recipe for Stock Stout was given a once-over to fit nicely in the MHB portfolio, and was brewed in honor of the Beer to the Rescue campaign. Carefully blended with English crystal malts, roasted barley, chocolate malt, two-row and naked oats, it is gently hopped with Nugget, Cascade and Willamette. Stock Stout is light in body, finishing dry—a great summertime session stout. We hope everybody gets a chance to try this ale, as this specialty brew supports a worthy cause and will only brewed once this year.”—Michael Hess, Founder & Proprietor, Mike Hess Brewing Company