If you’re a microbrew in the Bay Area these days, it’s kind of tough to make a name for yourself. After all, the region is home to some of the world’s premiere small batch beers. But down in the South Bay, just up the hills from the sprawling city of San Jose, a contract brewery named Strike has attracted a good deal of attention in a short period of time.

As an avid aficionado of craft beer, I’ve long been a fan of Simmzy’s (229 Manhattan Beach Blvd.) in Manhattan Beach, CA. I mean, how could you not? It boasts one of the widest selections of microbrews in this part of Southern California, backs that up with some of the most creative, mouth-watering menu selections, and then offers all of it just about a block away from the beach. The winning combination was such a hit that last year they opened a second location in the Belmont Shores section of Long Beach. The newer space is even bigger and has even more beer on draft. It might sound like it can’t get much better. But it can. More like, ‘canned.’ 

When you hit up your local watering hole and order up a traditional, big market beer–Budweisers, Millers and what have you–they typically range between 4.7-5% in alcohol content. This is what the average beer drinker has grown accustomed to. In the craft beer world, however, connoisseurs have been clamoring for heavier brews for years. Is it possible to have too much of a good thing?

Maui Brewing Company isn’t just for Hawaiians anymore. The canned microbrew is widely available throughout the lower 48 these days and it’s worth seeking out. One of their crowning achievements is the heavily-hopped Big Swell IPA.

O Izakaya (1625 Post Street) brings loads of Lagunitas to the heart of San Francisco’s Japantown this Friday when they host a Beer Tasting and Dinner with brewmaster Jeremy Marshall. 

If you call Southern California home, make sure to hit up Sunset Beer Company (1498 West Sunset Boulevard) this Friday afternoon. Beginning at 4PM, they’ll be hosting a Lagunitas Tap Takeover featuring several favorites from one of the nation’s most popular microbreweries.

India Pale Ale is blessed with a long and proud tradition that dates all the way back to mid-nineteenth century England. Whereas the crown colonies initially introduced this hoppier varietal, it can be argued that it wasn’t really perfected until the mid-1990’s, in Southern California. It was then and there that renowned brewmaster Vinny Cilurzo serendipitously stumbled upon a formative formula after accidentally adding fifty percent too much malt to his mash. The industrious brewer from San Diego then compensated by doubling the hops in his recipe. The result was a sap-like sud “so bitter it was like licking the rust off a tin can,” according to Cilurzo. Soon after this serendipitous mistake, he coined the tenuous term ‘Double IPA’ to describe the newly minted monster he had just unleashed upon the world. That was 1994. The bitter beer craze was born. Shortly thereafter, craft brewers up and down the [...]

One of the only things on the planet that I enjoy more than beer is free stuff. So when it comes to free beer, my level of excitement is off the charts. In Boston, Harpoon Brewery is making my wildest dreams come true.