SAN DIEGO – There are standard new-beer press releases and then there are the type of new-beer press releases that elicit salivation among craft-beer enthusiasts. This is one of the latter. On May 5, a day that will go down in history as a truly blessed 24-hour span, the clouds will part, glowing light will shine down upon this blue-green orb and the heavens shall bestow upon its populace not one, but two highly coveted beers from San Diego-based AleSmith Brewing Company—AleSmith Double IPA and AleSmith Mexican Speedway Stout.
What may at first seem like marketing-driven hyperbole deserves a bit of explanation so one may truly understand what makes these beers such a big deal. We’ll start with AleSmith Double IPA, a beer with a proven track-record.
AleSmith has produced this mega-hopped powerhouse of an imperial India pale ale dating back to 2000. Until this year, the beer went by the admittedly confusing moniker AleSmith Summer YuleSmith, a name that in no way spoke to the beer’s style or its immense hop-borne flavors and aromas of citrus fruit, pine and resinous spice. Yet, the beer has remained a favorite of the brewery’s offerings despite its odd handle and the fact it was only ever available three months out of every year during the summer season. Both of those deficiencies have been rectified this year, with a rebrand to the straightforward AleSmith Double IPA that includes a spiffy new bottle design replete with bright-green hop buds, and a new five-month window of availability that extends from May to September. Congratulations, hoppy beer fans…summer’s been extended!
And for the many, many fans of what is regarded by many as the finest coffee-infused imperial stout in the world—AleSmith Speedway Stout—we are unleashing a first-ever, culturally inspired, specialty version, AleSmith Mexican Speedway Stout. Enlivened with a sense of terroir from the utilization of tequila barrels and myriad Mexican ingredients, and as lively on the palate as a jumping-bean, this complexly delicious beer is sure to please.
We started by aging Speedway Stout in tequila barrels sourced from across the Border, then blended a percentage of that earthy, matured, spirit-infused vintage with fresh Speedway Stout dosed with Mexican coffee, fine chocolate and spicy cinnamon bark. The result is a multi-layered, soul-satisfying, high-gravity concoction that comes across on one’s taste-buds as the beer-equivalent of Mexican hot chocolate. This beer is ultra-rare, so much so that 750-milliliter bottles will be on-sale exclusively online via Eventbrite.com, beginning at 11 a.m. PST, Monday, May 2.
Those living in or planning to be in the San Diego area can get a sneak preview of the beer at AleSmith’s Tasting Room (9990 AleSmith Court—formerly Empire Street, San Diego, CA) on Thursday, May 5 (which is, not so coincidentally, Cinco de Mayo) from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. An official beer-release party will also be held at AleSmith’s Tasting Room from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday, May 7.
So there you have it—two distinctly different beers bound together by the brewery in which they were conceived and their over-arching incredibility. If you’re still not quite convinced or simply wish to obtain imagery or further information on these beers, please feel free to reach out. It would be impossible for us to tire of expounding the virtues of these flavorful offerings.
QUICK BEER FACTS:
AleSmith Double IPA
- Style: Imperial India Pale Ale
- Alcohol-by-Volume: 8.5%
- Bitterness: 105 International Bittering Units
- Packaging: Draft, 22-ounce bottles & 12-ounce six-packs
- Availability: May-September starting May 5
- Distribution: CA, CO, IL, MA, MN, NC, NY, OH, OR, PA, TX, VA, WA, WI & Denmark
AleSmith Mexican Speedway Stout
- Style: Tequila Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout with Mexican Coffee, Mexican Chocolate & Cinnamon
- Alcohol-by-Volume: 12%
- Packaging: Draft & 750-milliliter bottles
- Availability: Online while supplies last starting May 2
- Distribution: Online Bottle Sales via Eventbrite and AleSmith Tasting Room ONLY (previews on May 5, official beer-release party on May 7)
About Alesmith Brewing Company:
Forged in 1995, AleSmith has been recognized by consumers and critics alike as one of the world’s foremost craft brewing companies behind accolades that include medals won at prestigious national and international beer competitions as well as being named Small Brewing Company of the Year at the Great American Beer Festival. AleSmith is on the verge of celebrating its 21st year in business and recently expanded, moving into a 105,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art brewery featuring a new 80-barrel brewing system that will allow the company to increase its production ten-fold. The expansion also included construction of the largest brewery tasting room on the West Coast (25,000 square feet) with an outdoor beer garden that will soon be joined by a second-story indoor-outdoor mezzanine, private rooms and a museum dedicated to San Diego Padres legend Tony Gwynn. AleSmith’s line of acclaimed beers, which includes IPA, San Diego Pale Ale .394, Nut Brown Ale, X Extra Pale Ale and Speedway Stout, is distributed in 20 U.S. states and five countries.