Beer #45 - W/C 4 January 2016
BREWERY //
20 years ago Ron and Rick Chapman were two brothers with a shared passion for great beer. Unlike today, it was once hard to find a good beer in San Diego. They decided to do their bit by opening a small neighbourhood brew pub in their hometown on Coronado Island. The beers they produced in small batches quickly gained renown with Islander IPA and Mermaid Red being integral to the birth of the West Coast style. These days Coronado brew 40,000 barrels of beer a year meaning we don't need to take the ferry to Coronado island to try it.
TASTING NOTES //
Orange Avenue is a deliciously quaffable Witbier with a lot of rich orange flavour- we get tangerine, navel orange, nectarine and satsuma which nicely compliment with the citrus hops. The tartness of the citrus is balanced nicely by a touch of honey. Adding ingredients outside of the Reinheitsgebot holy trinity is sometimes thought of as a modern 'craft' trend but oranges and coriander were used in brewing as early as the medieval times, in Witbiers in particular. For 400 years the lucky inhabitants of East Brabant, Belgium drank Witbiers brewed with barley and wheat from the rich surrounding farmland and also exotic fruits and spices bought to the Lowlands by Dutch traders. In 1745 there were 30 breweries in the village of Hoegaarden (a very healthy number for a village of 2,000 people) but gradually the style went out of fashion as drinkers took to mass produced lagers. The last brewery making Witbiers closed in the 1950's. Fortunately for us, a local milkman named Pierre Celis missed the style so much he decided to start making it again and the rest is history. Today we raise a glass to Pierre - Cheers!
BREWERY // Coronado
BEER // Orange Avenue
STYLE // Witbier
ORIGIN // Coronado Island. San Diego
MALT // 2-Row, Wheat, Cara
OTHER // Pale Orange Zest, Orange Blossom Honey, Coriander
HOPS // Northern Brewer
YEAST // Cal Ale
IBU // 15
ABV // 5.2%
TEMPERATURE // Cool - 9-10C
FOOD MATCH // Potjevleesch. Seafood Risotto. Omelette with SharpApple & Goats Cheese.
GLASS // Tulip