A good ol’-fashioned civic war is brewing between Anaheim and San Clemente over which is Orange County’s beer capital, and it’s a great one. Ale-a-Heim is where you have a mayor openly courting breweries to open up shop, but Suds Clemente is OC’s unsung (not to be confused with Anaheim’s Unsung Brewery) pioneer in the craft beer scene, mostly because it’s all the way down there in paradise.
But now, Suds Clemente’s brewers are making their move against Ale-a-Heim gracias to a collaboration between Left Coast Brewing , Pizza Port, Artifex Brewing and Lost Winds Brewing: SC Haze IPA. It’s a limited release, and it’s only being poured at Left Coast and Pizza Port, but everyone had a hand in this New England style IPA.
The Haze Craze is craft brewing’s latest trend: while the clarity of a beer was always a true indication of craftsmanship, the Hazy IPA’s unfiltered look is a measure of baller status. It takes effort (and high protein grains like wheat and oats, dry hopping and fruit) to create the haze, and SC Haze IPA looks like fog snuggling Trestles in the morning. It features passion fruit, mango, peaches, and orange rind, with Galaxy, Mosiac and Huell Melon hops thrown in for bite to create a Juicy AF, Hazy AF, Tasty AF beer so delicious you won’t notice the 6.7% ABV.
Oh dear I forgot Smooth AF! Cheers! And Anaheim? What you got?
Left Coast Brewing, 1251 Puerta Del Sol, San Clemente, (949) 276-2699; www.leftcoastbrewing.com. Pizza Port, 301 N. El Camino Real, San Clemente, (949) 940-0005; www.pizzaport.com
