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Green Flash Brewing Company

Green Flash Brewing Company

Known for their amazingly hoppy and bitter creations, Green Flash out of San Diego, California is quite possibly a hop lovers heaven. Since originally opening their doors in 2002, Green Flash has made a name for themselves in the beer world for having some most hoppy and aggressive beers available, and beer lovers definitely celebrate them for this exact reason.

The award-winning brewery makes beers like Palate Wrecker, a beer so bitter it attacks your palate and fends off any other, less superb tastes while enjoying it. Along with the intense palate wrecker you’ll find higher than average stouts, rye IPAs, a Red Ale/IPA hybrid, and a Triple IPA that’ll definitely make you sit down to enjoy all of it.

Green Flash is a trailblazer in the world of craft beer and after tasting most of their selection, it’s hard to argue that point. While Green Flash tends to focus on the extreme by upping bitterness levels as well as ABVs, their beers retain a high level of complexity and enjoyability that you may not expect at first glance.

Not happy with settling for the given norms, Green Flash is constantly innovating new beers and trying new techniques to get closer to beer Nirvana with every sip. This means the brewery doesn’t just rest on its laurels and sell the same beer every year, but instead they are continuously coming up with new beers and new takes on old styles.
Brewing Something New in Virginia
Along with innovating new beers, Green Flash is making it easier for those of us on the East Coast to get their beers and to enjoy them as fresh as possible. Their first thought was to build a super fast train to transport their beers across the country and to name it after their Green Bullet IPA. Sadly, the finance department got wind of this plan and shut it down quicker than a speakeasy during prohibition. Green Flash still wanted to get their beers to us East Coasters quicker, so they decided the next best thing was to bring the brewery to us.

Green Flash’s second brewery will be located in Virginia Beach, VA. The brewery is very similar to the current California brewery including an on-site lab for beer analysis (no, not the kind of “beer analysis you’re used to doing yourself), a 58,000 sq-ft footprint, and a tasting room and outdoor beer garden. The new brewery will produce 100,000 barrels when running at full capacity.
The Discovery Pack
It’s been said that variety is the spice of life and when it comes to beer this couldn’t be more true. While a case of Green Bullet or West Coast IPA is a glorious thing to behold, most of us want a little variety in our beer purchases. For this reason Green Flash created their Discovery Pack: an 8-pack of 12 oz bottles that consists of their Double Stout, West Coast IPA, and Hop Head Red. Made for fans of higher ABV beers and hops, this is the best way to get a great variety of their award-winning classics.

Double Stout
Darker than most the other beers Green Flash makes, Double Stout is a modern American version of an old world classic. With the aroma and taste of bittersweet chocolate and undertones of coffee, this 8.8% black ale is just what you need to change things up from your favorite IPA. While the aroma and taste is chocolate and semi sweet, the finish is all dryness and hop bitterness. Two of the eight 12-ounce beers in the Discovery Pack are Double Stouts.

West Coast IPA
If citrusy, bitter IPAs from the West Coast are your thing, then you will love Green Flash’s West Coast IPA. This Double India Pale Ale comes in at 8.1% ABV and 95 IBUs, and has enough malty backbone to support both with ease. Green Flash uses a mix of Simcoe, Columbus, Centennial, Citra, and Cascade hops to give this beer a mix of grapefruit, pine, dankness, and a floral aroma to make a beer like you’ve probably wished for. Green Flash knows your obsession with West Coast IPAs, so you’ll get four of these in each Discovery 8-pack.

West Coast IPA originally was listed as having 7.3% ABV, but with more efficient brewing equipment came a better beer, so the ABV is now listed at 8.1%, and we couldn’t be happier about it.

Hop Head Red
One of the newer beers Green Flash has to offer, Hop Head Red is a mix between an American Red Ale and an IPA. This makes for a malty, bitter beer than has the red hue and malt backbone you wouldn’t expect from an IPA that’s 8.1% ABV and 70 IBUs. Hopped during the boil with Amarillo, Warrior, and everyone’s favorite Nugget hops and dry hopped with a nearly unnecessary amount of Amarillo, Hop Head Red has a floral aroma and a citrusy taste that makes this unique style of IPA one you definitely want to try, and with the Discovery Pack you’ll get two of these amazing beers to do just that.
New on Draft From Green Flash
The Discovery Pack isn’t the only new release from Green Flash, but to get these new beers you’ll have to head to your favorite craft beer bar to find them. Green Flash has two new draft IPAs that tone down the ABV a little but somehow turn up the taste.

Soul Style IPA
First up is Soul Style IPA. This 6.8% ABV beer that’s only available in draft form currently uses a carefully formulated blend of Simcoe, Citra, Warrior, and Cascade hops to make an American IPA that’s worthy of having the Green Flash name. Basically, think West Coast IPA but in a beer you can have more than one of. Big on hop flavor with a malt backbone, Soul Style is a single IPA that has tropical citrus flavors as well as floral notes to give a well-rounded hop experience in a slightly lower ABV form. Even with it’s lower ABV, Soul Style still comes to the party with 75 IBUs.

Jibe Session IPA
The other new draft-only offering from Green Flash is surprisingly enough, a session IPA. If drinking a few hoppy, bitter beers in a row is your thing, then Jibe Session IPA is perfect for you. Green Flash turned down the ABV on this beer all the way down to 4% while keeping IBUs at a respectable 65. Brewed with Warrior, Chinook, and Cascade hops, Jibe is just about as perfect of a sessionable beer as you can find. Not watered down and full of flavor you’d expect from higher ABV beers, it’s the perfect beer for a night out.

These and more Green Flash beers can be found in the best craft beer bars, bottle shops, and distributors throughout Pittsburgh and are proudly distributed by Galli Wholesale.