Beer #256 - Alesmith / Muy Sabroso!

Beer #256 - W/C 20th January 2020

BREWERY // San Diego's AleSmith are the 6th best brewery in the World according to RateBeer users. Not bad considering there are over 36,000 breweries listed on the site. It's no surprise though- this is the 17th year they have been in the top 10. AleSmith was founded as a 3 man team in 1995 inspired by the beers of Belgium & Great Britain. They are still known for their American takes on these traditional styles and also their distinctly 'new world' beers such as Speedway Stout & AleSmith IPA (which is rated the best IPA in the World). The brewery is definitely worth a visit. It has the largest tasting room in the city and they have recently started producing cheese (under the name CheeseSmith) in the brewery. Alesmith co-owner & CEO Peter Zien has been an hobby Caseicultureist for years and the new venture is already releasing cheeses such as Speedway Stout Cheddar.

BEER // AleSmith know how to make a muy sabroso (very tasty) IPA. They recently launched their Hopwright series of innovative IPAs carefully crafted by their brewers and sensory team to showcase different hop varietals. Developing new hops is big business and the enigmatically named Hop Breeding Company in Washington is at the bleeding edge of the industry. You may know them from other hop creations such as Citra & Mosaic. Sabro was developed a couple of years ago from a female neomexicanus hop via open pollination meaning the father is unknown. It is classed as a 'wild hop' whose ancestors migrated migrated from Mongolia (the cradle of all hops) to North America around 500,000 years ago so had plenty of time to develop differently to the hop varieties of Europe and the American Northwest. ¡Muy Sabroso! has the solid malt backbone of an expertly crafted classic West Coast IPA which supports the unique aroma and flavours of Sabro. We get big tangerine from this beer along with overripe mango and, most strangely of all, coconut.