From the Beer Writer: The week before last, I wrote about the San Diego Tourism Authority teaming up with Bay City Brewing Company to create an official beer for San Diego. Backed by the SDTA’s powerful marketing engine, that brew received a great deal of press. Bonus, it tasted really good, too! Carrying the name and reputation of a beer Mecca isn’t easy, especially San Diego, so props to Bay City for coming through. Ditto Resident Brewing Company, which recently teamed with La Jolla-based ocean-adventure apparel company Everyday California to produce a “California-inspired” India pale ale (IPA). Considering ours is considered the finest of the 50 states where the manufacture of hoppy beers is concerned, that’s a tall order, especially since IPA styles are different from NorCal to the Central and Southern regions. Modern Cali drinkers are all about the “juicy” flavors of citrus, stone and tropical fruits, but it’s massively piney beers that first brought IPA to prominence. Knowing this, head brewer Robert Masterson and company combined both of these eras in Resident Everyday California IPA, which comes across like many IPAs you’ve likely had before…and that’s a good thing. It’s the whole point when trying to epitomize such a vast and vibrant beer region. Aromas of pine cone, passion fruit, papaya and dewy grass transition to flavors of clementine, peach and more passion fruit followed by a lightly resinous tail-end bitterness. It may not be the official beer of the Golden State, but the Resident team clearly approached the creation of this beer as thought it would be.
From the Brewer: “Everyday California is a traditional West Coast-style India pale ale. This hoppy yet surprisingly drinkable beer is a throwback to when hops from the Pacific Northwest dominated the craft-beer scene. It has a medium body with a light malt backbone, and was brewed with Eureka, Amarillo and Columbus hops for a tropical-fruit aroma with hints of pine and citrus. At Resident, we always hope people feel like they are a part of our brewery family…a ‘resident.’ To do that, we work hard to create a relaxed, inviting atmosphere and tasting experience. Our collaborators at the San Diego-based outdoor adventure and apparel company, Everyday California, embody that same family-like, relaxed vibe, so this IPA speaks to the family of outdoor adventure lovers that they have created.”—Craig Nelson, Brewer, Resident Brewing Company