Green Flash Brewing Company By Sean Creevey

Arriving in the craft beer scene just over a decade ago in San Diego, Green Flash Brewing Company has already left a memorable mark. In 2002 two pub owners, Mike and Lisa Hinkley, decided they wanted to take their love for beer to the next level and opened Green Flash. It wasn’t until their brewmaster, Chuck Silva, got there in 2005 that things really started to get interesting. Now they’re creating brews that never before existed, facilitating the creation of new categories and the blurring the lines of old. They have set sail for the new world of craft beer and they’re not looking back. With Chuck at the helms, Green Flash has come a long way and the voyage just keeps getting better. The current part of this voyage is so spectacular that Green Flash has named it the Hop Odyssey and it’s lasting all year! They’ve made some friends along the way as well, concocting collaboration brews with Stone Brewing Company and Pizza Port (a brew pub in California) called Highway 78 Scotch Ale, and with St-Feuillien brewery in Belgium to craft their Friendship Brew, a black saison. These two collaborations just touch the surface of the distinctive style that is Green Flash. Stretching to fit their brews into ready-made definitions they’ve won a plethora of awards and if history repeats itself, their future looks awfully tasty.

The Hop Odyssey is homage to the complicated bitter climber we all know and love: hops. To complete this homage Green Flash is releasing a new hop centric every other month, thus six new brews will be released for a limited amount of time. These six beers will be like nothing you’ve ever tasted before, from black to pale and floral to grapefruit they’re breaking ground. The brews are as follows, starting in this past February: Black IPA with Warrior, Citra and Cascade hops at 7.2% ABV and 85 IBUs; in April, the Imperial Red Rye with Columbus and Mosaic hops at 8.5%ABV and 80 IBUs; June there’s the Citra Session IPA with Citra hops and an ABV of 4.5% and 45 IBUs; in August the Symposium IPA using Simcoe, Tomahawk, Amarilla, Cascade, and Centennial hops and coming in at 7%ABV and 75 IBUs; October has the Cedar Plank Pale using Warrior, El Dorado and Cascade hops at 6.3% ABV and 45 IBUs; and finally for December and January we have the Double Columbus IPA with generous amounts of Columbus hops coming in at hefty 8.8%ABV and 98 IBUs. If you ever had a craving to experience a wide range of hop flavors now is the time but take note, they’re only available in draft form so check out your local watering hole to enjoy.

Luckily for us over here on the east coast, Green Flash is expanding, they’re moving in to a second location in Virginia Beach. Soon we will be flooded with the delicious libations, 100,000 barrels worth, filling all the shelves of the stores near you. Another plus of the Virginia Beach location is the closer proximity, in case you couldn’t make the trek across the country, Virginia Beach is only a seven hour drive. The new location will house a tasting room, space for private events and a vast outdoor beer garden and is expected to be open sometime in 2015.

The following is only a sampling of the abundance of brews Green Flash produces,

West Coast IPA
Bringing home the cake with 9 different awards and accolades, the West Coast IPA is not only their most popular but a defining brew for IPAs in the west coast style. A unique layering process is employed for this beer (and most of their IPAs) to garner a complex range of hop flavors. In this we have the Simcoe, Columbus and Centennial hops, three classic hops that when combined with the power of Green Flash evokes a feeling of utter contentment. Fruity, citrusy, piney, and so so smooth, the West Coast IPA draws you in with the first sip and yearning for more when that last one’s gone. Standing at 7.3% ABV and 95 IBUs, drink slowly so you don’t miss anything.

Barleywine Style Ale
Arriving on the scene in 2004 this barleywine is one for the ages; you’ll need to by two, one for now and one to age until you can’t wait any longer. Taking tips from the old world styles of barleywine, Green Flash slow boils for four hours to get the sugars as deep and caramelly as possible. As it ages, the aggressive hoppiness turns into a smooth and complicated brew best sipped slowly. Weighing in a hefty 10.9% ABV it’s best enjoyed to help keep warm on a cool Pittsburgh spring evening, or stash it away and let it give you a nice winter blanket when the winter comes back around.

Le Freak
Words cannot sufficiently describe this brew. Here we have the epitome of Green Flash, hoppy, Belgium, and trailblazing. What Le Freak consists of is an American Imperial IPA and a Belgium Trippel mixed together to form something spectacular. The international coupling has led to a brew unlike any other; dry-hopped and bottle-conditioned this ale has the best of both worlds. From bitter to malty and everything in between Le Freak should be drank any time and at 9.2% ABV a couple of the will have you feeling le freaky.

Saison Diego
Can you guess where the name came from? Technically, a saison is a farmhouse ale but Green Flash likes to call it their beach house ale— it’s more appropriate. With Saaz hops, orange zest, ginger and grains of paradise this brew will be the perfect summer libation; crisp, zesty and at 5% ABV totally ready for a summer session. Expect to see it hit shelves come summer time when you can start your summer of saison.

Just so you can mark your calendars now, get ready for a surely amazing brews in the future:

Green Bullet will be released in the fall of this year and get ready to try some New Zealand hops. Two types of hops, Green Bullet and Pacific Gem will be the stars, working together to produce a triple IPA that’s very well rounded for a brew of such strength (10.1% ABV and over 100 IBUs!). With soft pine, citrus and notes of mango and pineapple Green Bullet will be the perfect brew to reign in the fall while reminiscing of those summer nights.

Not even a month ago Green Flash put their Silva Stout into some whiskey barrels and there it will stay for 18 months. That’s right, 18 months, and with that amount of time there’s no doubt in my mind that come fall of 2014 a very, very delicious Green Flash brew will be on the market. It will be limited and selective so check out their website http://www.greenflashbrew.com/ to stay up to date about where and when you can experience the experience.