Rip Current Brewing

Go Against the Flow

Beer

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Barrel-aged Reserve Cuvee #2 Release!

This year we are celebrating the annual San Diego Beer Week (Nov 3-12, 2023) with an amazing barrel-aged release. On Nov 3rd, we will be releasing on draft our 100% barrel-aged Reserve Cuvee #2. This masterful blend is comprised of robust ales that were matured in four prized barrels from our cellar. Some of the component beers have never been previously released! The result is a smooth, rich, semi-sweet beer with complex notes of chocolate, dates, fig, molasses, roast and of course a melding of four different bourbons! While the ABV weighs in at 13%, we think you will be amazed by how easy drinking and enjoyable this beer is from first to last sip. Be sure to ask about to-go crowlers!

The blend consists of equal parts:
– Rescue Buoy Imperial Stout aged 2.5 years in Weller barrels
– Rescue Buoy Imperial Stout aged 2.5 years in Blanton’s barrels
– End of the World Double Imperial Stout aged 3.5+ years in Buffalo Trace barrels
– Riding Giants Imperial Porter aged 4+ years in Four Roses Barrels

We hope you will join us to help celebrate craft beer in San Diego!

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10th Anniversary Barrel-aged Tap List

We are thrilled to be sharing with you this amazing list from our long-term barrel aging program. These brews will be pouring and available to-go in mini crowlers during the entire 10th anniversary weekend (while supply lasts).

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Rip Current 10th Anniversary Celebration

The weekend of March 24th-26th, we will be celebrating our 10th anniversary of serving you our wide variety of brews. This event celebrates our 8th year in North Park and 10th year at our brewing location in San Marcos. It has been your loyal patronage that has allowed us to be producing beer for this long, so we want to give a big “thank you” to everyone for all of the support!

In typical Rip Current style, we are breaking out some crazy vintage barrel-aged beers plus adding several new ones. We are particularly excited about the new releases which are based on our brewer favorite barrel(s) from each batch. When you see “Our best barrel” in the description, it indicates that we thought it had the best balance of the desired flavors, so we wanted to share it with you without any blending. Single barrel releases are the most challenging as each beer develops in it’s barrel in ways the barrel controls more then we do!

No advanced ticket purchases are necessary. We will be open during regular business hours at both locations for the event. We are also offering a special package including a multiple barrel-aged beer tasters and the 10th Anniversary glass (while supplies last).

We also will have a 10th anniversary limited edition t-shirt available for purchase. We don’t expect these will last very long, so get them while we still have your size.

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Barrel Bonanza 22′

For the closing weekend of San Diego Beer Week 2022, on Nov 11th we will be offering a huge list of barrel-aged offerings! This year we have chosen seven barrel-aged beers that used either bourbon, wine or rum barrels in the aging process. As part of this line-up, we will have two new barrel-aged beer releases. First, 2022 Barrel-aged Rescue Bouy Imperial Stout will be pouring along with 2022 Barrel-aged Buckwheat Old Ale (collaboration with Horus Aged Ales). These new releases will accompany four vintage barrel-aged elixirs from the past plus the return of our Raspberry wine barrel-aged sour. See below for the menu!

Both locations will be filling a very limited number of mini crowlers with your choice of either of the 2022 newly released beers. This is a great chance to share these beers with your friends, but please arrive early as these crowlers normally sell out very quickly!

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A Storm is a Brewing….

A storm looms on the horizon casting its shadow across San Diego county. Fear not… as this storm doesn’t bring foul weather, but rather is the release of a trio of Storm beers! On Nov 4th to kick off 2022 San Diego Beer Week, we are releasing a new batch of (extra Kona coffee) Java Storm, and the first ever batches of Coconut Java Storm and Hazelnut Java Storm! We also have some vintage barrel-aged beers lurking on a special tap, so be sure to ask the bartender what is available.

On the main barrel-aged tap, we will be releasing 2022 Barrel-aged Rescue Buoy Imperial Stout! This year’s batch spent 3 years (yes, 36 months!) in amazing Heaven Hill bourbon barrels. Who else does 3 years? We would recommend getting a pour of Coconut Storm or Hazelnut Storm and doing a nice blend with Barrel-aged Rescue Buoy if you like coffee, coconut or hazelnut flavors in your barrel-aged beers.

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9th Anniversary Celebration!

It is hard to believe it was just over 9 years ago we opened our doors in San Marcos for the first time to share our first 3 brews with you. Fast forward to the start of 2015 when we proudly opened our second location in North Park. It has been our pleasure to serve you so many beers over the years, and we hope you will join us for our celebration of this monumentous occasion (ok, maybe its more special for us!)

On Fri, Feb 25th – 27th 2022, we will be putting on special beers all weekend at both locations. You can expect to see some vintage and new barrel-aged goodies (watch social media for the list). We hope you will enjoy the beers in our limited edition 9th anniversary glass.

We haven’t forgot you hop heads, so will have the return of Caught in a Rip Triple IPA! Our monster triple IPA will be available on draft and in 4-pack 12oz cans.

On tap, we have some exciting beers including our first ever Blanton’s barrel-aged beer. End of the World Double Imperial Oatmeal Stout spent 2+ years in these rare barrels and is tasting incredible despite its dangerous 15.4% ABV.

We will also be releasing 500ml bottles of Storm Break Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter. We used the Daybreak coffee beans from Steady State Roasting Company lightly sweetened by Tahitian and Indonesian vanilla beans! Get these bottles while you can.

Both locations will have great food items available all weekend. We are excited to have a new Rip Current retro surfing shirt available, so be sure to ask about it before they are gone!

In San Marcos, we will have some special things occurring during the event:

Friday – We are stoked to welcome our friends from Steady State Roasting who provided the coffee beans we used in the Barrel-aged Storm Break release. They will be pouring from 4-7PM their amazing Daybreak Blend cold coffee and have cans available for purchase. From 3-8PM we will have El Canelo serving up some yummy authentic Mexican tacos!

  

Saturday – We will have our raffle happening where you can win: hats, growlers, shirts and rare vintage bottles. Raffle tickets are available for $1 each or as part of the drink “package” (includes the anniversary glass and drink tickets). Dropouts Pizza will be with us from 1-8PM to pair their amazing pizza with the many beers pouring. In the evening from 6-9PM, we are happy to welcome back the Johnny Deadly Trio to rock out the evening.

  

Sunday – Some of us prefer it a little more quiet when doing our barrel-aged sampling, so on Sunday we will still be pouring our amazing line-up and have the Deli Dudes making sandwiches from 1-6PM.

 

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Barrel Kick Out Event

For the kick out (closing) weekend of San Diego Beer Week (Nov 12-14), it is time to share some old favorites from our barrel-aged beer cellar plus introduce a couple new ones! Both locations will be pouring 6 barrel-aged creations based on a variety of beer styles from imperial porters to double imperial stouts. These beers have spent extended time maturing in the barrel. When was the last time you had a beer that was aged in fresh bourbon barrels for over 30 months? How about seeing 4 of them available to choose from at the same event? We don’t believe in rushing the process and hope you will enjoy these amazing elixirs.

Click here for the barrel-aged beers we will have on tap!

We hope you will try a flight and enjoy a delicious meal with our food partners.

In North Park, we will have our Craft House kitchen team  creating some incredible food to pair with your dark beer samplings all weekend.

In San Marcos, we are stoked to have a different food vendor and musical performance each night, so see the schedule below. Please watch social media for exact times for each partners arrival.

Friday 12th:

                     

Saturday 13th:

                

Sunday 14th:

               

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Wakeboarding Wheatwine Wednesday

On Wed, Nov 10th we are celebrating San Diego Beer Week with the release of Wakeboarding Wheatwine and its cousin Bourbon Barrel-aged Wakeboarding Wheatwine!

Wheatwines are a less common style that are an American offshoot of the traditional British Barleywine. The largest difference is the heavy use of wheat instead of malted barley.

Our 10% ABV Wakeboarding Wheatwine uses massive amounts of wheat malt to give it a full body and a smooth flavor profile. We complemented this wheat base with several specialty malts to impart notes of caramel, toffee and honey. The final beer was mostly barrel-aged in Heaven Hill distillery barrels and the limited remaining amount was stored away in kegs for this release event.

Now, after nearly 4 1/2 years from its brew date in 2017 both variations are ready for your enjoyment.  The barrel-aged version introduces notes of bourbon and barrel-character (oak,  vanillin, coconut) from the extensive aging process. Despite the huge 12% ABV, barrel-aged Wakeboarding has matured over the years leaving it with a smooth complex character, more restrained alcohol bite and warming at the finish. We hope you will join us and sample both variations of the wheatwine. This will allow you to compare and taste the flavor impact of the barrel-aging process.

In San Marcos, while you are enjoying the wheatwines, this is a great opportunity to pair it with the amazing BBQ from Carolina Mike’s! The bourbon barrel flavors are a masterful pairing with their savory BBQ sauces. Our North Park location will have our amazing food line-up for your culinary pleasures.

Since it is a Wednesday, we will also be holding in San Marcos our weekly Prize Trivia. This will be a true testing of your trivia skills, so be sure to enjoy a plate of BBQ to help absorb the high ABV beers on tap.

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Totally Stratacal Beer Release!

On Nov 5th, we kick off San Diego Beer Week 80s style (bad mullets aren’t encouraged!). We are releasing one of our most popular hazy brews … Totally Stratacal! As the name hints, we load it up with radical amounts of the popular Strata hop resulting in a beer with juicy tropical (passionfruit, mango) and citrus (apricot, grapefruit) aromas and flavors.  You might also see something special on our barrel-aged beer tap, so be sure to ask the bartender what is pouring.

While you are in San Marcos we hope you will enjoy a bodacious pie from our friends at Dropouts Pizza while rockin’ to the tubular tunes from James Isaac. At the end of the night after a few gnarly brews, we hope you will take home a 16oz 4-pack of Totally Stratacal and forgive us for all the 80s slang.

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Barrel Blast 21′ is Coming!

We are stoked to announce Barrel Blast 21′ that is happening this weekend (9/18-19). We will have a special curated list of vintage spirit-barrel aged beers pouring at both of our tasting rooms plus a new twist on a recent favorite! Over the weekend, San Marcos and North Park will offer differing barrel-aged lists, so we encourage you to visit both locations (on different days :)). Check out what will be on tap at each location:

On Saturday, we will be offering a discounted drink package including 5 BA taster tickets and 3 raffle tickets. We will be raffling off a number of items including branded merchandise and several rare vintage bottles, so be sure to stick around and win some swag! Ask your bartender for time of the raffle. Extra raffle tickets will be available for $1 each. We expect to have most of the beers still pouring on Sunday, but we hope you won’t wait if you have one beer you have been anxious to try!

If you are joining us in North Park, of course we will have our amazing Craft House cooking up some special dishes to go with all the barrel-aged beverages all weekend.

In San Marcos, we have several different food vendors coming over the weekend who will be offering some amazing cuisine for your dining pleasure. We hope you will enjoy a nice meal and desert as a pairing to your barrel-aged gems. This could help absorb some of the high alcohol, but we recommend you come with a designated driver or a way to get you home safely without driving. See below for the day and time window for each food provider:

Saturday 12-8PM

Saturday 6-8PM

Sunday 12-8PM

If that wasn’t enough, we also are thrilled to have live music all weekend. We hope you will enjoy the rock’in tunes of:

Saturday 4-7PM

Sunday 3-6PM

As an added bonus, we will be filling 20 (total per location) 12oz mini-crowlers designed specially for our micro barrel-aged releases. These will be filled with the new Coconut Rye Barrel-aged Rescue Buoy Imperial Stout (only). This is your only chance to take this amazing beer home to share with friends! Get them while you can as they won’t last long (per person limits apply).

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Our Barrel Blast Closes Out Beer Week!

Each year we like to help celebrate San Diego Beer Week with a huge barrel-aged beer night featuring our best cellared barrel-aged beers. This year the event will last an entire weekend! That’s right we will be pouring EIGHT spirit barrel-aged beers plus a wine barrel-aged sour for the entire weekend at both of our locations (while supplies last).  This year’s line-up will include two beers that we have never released before plus our new beer/wine hybrid Wine Grape Sour. We also have a 2-day old batch of Off the Lip IPA plus a couple hazy brews for you hop heads.

Both locations will be offering food as we are thrilled to have the Pizza Trolley food truck serving up brick oven pizza and salads in San Marcos. Thanks to COVID we will be outside, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the amazing tunes. On Saturday in San Marcos, we are stoked to have the return of the Gin Pistons band. They rocked the house at our anniversary party, so can’t image a better group to have at our barrel event.

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Mixed-Culture Wine Grape Sour Release!

After multiple years of maturation, we are thrilled to welcome the newest addition to our mixed-culture Sour Series … Barrel-Aged Grape Sour! On Thurs, Nov 12th you are cordially invited to join us for tasting this amazing new sour on tap at both locations.

The creation of a barrel-aged sour can take years to allow the various fermenting organisms to convert the sugars and other compounds into a bouquet of funky and sour aromas and flavors plus alcohol. Our Grape Sour started its journey as a blonde ale that was placed in a red wine barrel with a collection of multiple strains of brewers yeast, brettanomyces, pediococcus, and lactobacillus. Over the following years, the beer had matured to the right balance of sourness and barnyard-like character. The next step to make this a beer/wine hybrid we added 100 pounds of Cabernet Franc grapes to each barrel to round out the final flavor. A re-fermentation ensues resulting in the final beer that presents a pleasant melding of flavors from the barrel, grapes and the underlying sour beer.

We made this complex sour in collaboration with our friends and neighbors at La Fleur’s Winery. They are making fantastic wines and have a tasting room just down Grand Ave from us in San Marcos, so were a natural partner for this beer/wine hybrid beer.

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Is 2020 the End of the World?

2020 has been a challenging year for all of us, but does that mean this is the end for humanity? We don’t think so, however their is no point in leaving anything left to chance.

Back in 2016, we brewed up an insanely huge stout with roasted malts, oats, molasses and honey that we planned to long term age. Most of the batch went into bourbon barrels for nearly 3 years and was released last year to rave reviews. But what happened to the remainder?

Please join us on Friday, Nov 6th for the release of (non-barrel aged) End of the World Double Imperial Oatmeal Stout. This 4 1/2 year-old, 13.5% monster stout is smooth, complex and delicious yet very dangerous. It features complex aromas and flavors reminiscent of molasses, toffee, coffee, dark chocolate, figs, dates, raisons and plums.

If you still have a bottle of the Barrel-aged End of the World Stout and want to do a proper side-by-side you are welcome to bring in a bottle, no corkage fee! For those arriving when we first open in San Marcos you might find a small number of barrel-aged bottles available to purchase!

 

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Barrel-aged Rescue Buoy on Presale Tomorrow!

After 28+ months maturing in bourbon barrels, we are excited to announce our first ever release of Barrel-aged Rescue Buoy Imperial Stout in 500ml bottles! Rescue Buoy is our flagship Russian Imperial Stout that has recently received several prestigious awards including Gold at the California Craft Brewers Cup and a Bronze at the Great American Beer Festival and US Beer Open Championships!

We took this award-winning elixir and patiently aged it in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels for over 28 months. This allows the rich chocolate, coffee, toffee, caramel and molasses flavors of the beer to meld with the vanillin, coconut notes imparted by the oak barrels. The residual bourbon notes round out the complex flavors offered by this 13.5% ABV masterpiece.

Starting Friday, October 9th at 10:00am PDT, you will be able to pre-purchase up to four 500ml (16.9oz) bottles of Barrel-aged Rescue Buoy for pickup at either our San Marcos brewery location or North Park tasting room. We suggest buying several bottles for your cellar and open one each of the next few years to appreciate how it evolves with time.

Be sure you reserve your bottle before they are gone. Details are at: https://ba-rescue-buoy.eventbrite.com/

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Triple beer release coming on Feb 15th!

In conjunction with our 7th Anniversary Celebration, we are releasing three new bottle/can beers. Beware the bottle count on both barrel-aged beers is low so they won’t last for very long.

First, the Wine Barrel-aged Blonde Sour is our first ever non-fruited sour release. This release comes from a single wine barrel that we thought showed the most compelling sourness and funky profile, so wanted to highlight the flavors without any other fruit additions. This beer was fermented and aged in wine barrels with a mix of Lactobacillus, Pediococcus and Brettanomyces that impart a variety of acids and funky character to the final beer. A very limited number of 375ml bottles will be available for purchase and the remainder will be on tap.

Next, we didn’t want to forget our loyal hophead patrons! We are stoked to be releasing Lupulin Hazed Hazy Double IPA in 12oz 6-packs. Lupulin Hazed is the delicious result of our following the New England approach to brewing hazy IPAs using the hop profile of our flagship beer Lupulin Lust. At 9% ABV, this beer packs a punch but with very little noticeable alcohol and bitterness. We wanted to focus your experience on the juicy citrus fruity aromas and flavors.

Finally, Vanilla Storm is our ultra-exclusive Imperial Porter brewed with fresh Kona coffee and aged with Madagascar vanilla beans. This amazing beer has complex notes of coffee, toffee, chocolate, molasses and of course vanilla. For our anniversary release, we have aged Vanilla Storm in the one amazing bourbon barrel for 33 months allowing for a melding of bourbon and oak flavors in perfect harmony with the base beer. Because this batch was born from a single bourbon barrel, an extremely limited number of 500ml bottles will be available with the rest going on tap. Sorry we didn’t produce enough to offer a pre-sale, so come get it while you can!

 

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Caught in a Rip Triple IPA Release

One of our favorite times of the year is our annual release of Caught in a Rip Triple IPA. For several years we timed the release with San Diego Beer Week, but this year we decided to have it come out when the famous Pliny the Younger releases from our good friends at Russian River Brewing. We will be releasing 6 packs of 12oz cans when our tasting rooms open on Valentine’s day. We hope you love it as much as your valentine’s day partner. What a perfect gift for Valentine’s day!!??

Caught in a Rip is the biggest hoppy beer we brew. It is packed full of our favorite hops from around the world. The list is too long to repeat, but the featured hops are mentioned on the label. At 11.5%, it is truly a huge west coast style IPA balancing the hints of sweetness from the ethanols with the bitterness and overwhelming aromas and flavors from our extensive, multi-stage dry hopping process. While this IIIPA is a beast our patrons routinely remark how incredibly drinkable it is, but please enjoy with caution or you will feel like you are caught in a rip current!

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Rip Current Brewing 7th Anniversary Celebration!

It is hard for us to believe that just over 7 years ago the dream of two avid home brewers became true with the opening of Rip Current Brewing Company. Since 2012, we have explored beer styles from around the world while never loosing our focus on creating the most flavorful hoppy, malty, sour and barrel-aged beers we can produce.

On Saturday February 15th, we wish to thank all of our loyal patrons with our Anniversary Celebration event at both locations. This celebration recognizes both our 7th anniversary of producing and sharing beer in San Marcos and our 5th year serving those brews in North Park! We will have an amazing line-up of barrel-aged gems from our cellar complemented with several fresh limited release hoppy beers for you hopheads.

We will be releasing three new packaged beers at the event:

  • 500ml bottles of Barrel-aged Vanilla Storm (Kona Coffee, Madagascar Vanilla Bean Imperial Porter aged 33 months in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels)
  • 375ml bottles of Wine Barrel-aged Blonde Sour (multi-culture lacto, pedio, brett golden sour)
  • 6x12oz cans of Lupulin Hazed Hazy Double IPA

Each of the new beers will be available on tap along with a slightly different vintage barrel-aged line-ups and many of your favorites at each location. As a sneak peak for what you can expect to enjoy, we will have the following beers on tap (while supplies last):

  • 2020 Bourbon Barrel-aged Vanilla Storm (Coffee, Vanilla Imperial Porter)
  • 2020 Wine barrel-aged Blonde Sour (very limited, single barrel, non-fruited sour)
  • 2019 Bourbon Barrel-aged Black Lagoon Scottish Strong
  • 2018 Bourbon Barrel-aged Down the Line Barleywine
  • 2018 Bourbon Barrel-aged No Hope for Rescue Double Imperial Stout
  • 2018 Wine barrel-aged Apricot Sour
  • Plus several other barrel-aged goodies we will announce via social media

We also have some amazing hoppy beers to share for you. We will be pouring a new batch of Caught in a Rip Triple IPA and Lupulin Hazed Hazy Double IPA. Both of these beers will be available in 12oz cans while supplies last. Note that Caught in a Rip will release the day before the party giving you a good excuse to visit us twice!

We also will have recent batches of a number of seasonal or year round beers including the return of Riding Giants Coffee Imperial Porter.

No advanced ticket purchases are necessary. We will be open during regular business hours at both locations for the event. Be sure to ask about the special event discount package that consists of multiple drink tickets and the limited release 7th Anniversary glass!

 

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Rip Current Sixth Anniversary Celebration

It is difficult to believe that more than 6 years ago the dream of two avid home brewers became true with the opening of Rip Current Brewing Company. Since 2012, we have explored beer styles from around the world while never loosing our focus on rad hoppy beers rooted in San Diego traditions. On Saturday February 2nd, we wish to thank all of our loyal patrons with our Anniversary Celebration event at both locations. This celebration recognizes both our 6th anniversary of brewing beer in San Marcos and our 4th year serving those brews in North Park!

This year we are opening the barrel-aged beer archive to bring back many of your favorites from the past while also welcoming several new additions to the family. When our doors open on Feb 3rd, we will be releasing a limited number of 3 new beers in bottle or cans plus pouring them on tap.

First, Barrel-Aged Down the Line Barleywine will be available in 500ml bottles. We aged this beer for 28 months to extract the amazing oak character from our first use Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels. The resulting 14.2% ABV English-style Barleywine offers a silky smooth balance of the complex oak flavors, residual bourbon and the underlying base beer.

Second, we are releasing 375ml bottles of our second barrel fermented and aged sour called Mango Blonde Sour. This blonde beer matured in barrels for over a year allowing the mix of Brettanomyces, Lactobacillis and Pediococcus that impart a somewhat funky and complex sour aromas and flavors. We finished the sour elixir by adding fresh Mango puree to round out your drinking experience.

Finally for you hop heads, we are releasing Lupulin Hazed Hazy Double IPA in 12oz 6-packs. Lupulin Hazed is the delicious result of our following the New England approach to brewing hazy IPAs using the hop profile of our flagship beer Lupulin Lust. At 9% ABV, this beer packs a punch but with very little noticeable alcohol and bitterness that might take away from the juicy citrus fruity aromas and flavors.

Each of the new beers will be available on tap plus a slightly different line-up of vintage barrel-aged gems. In order to help you decide which location to visit see the following partial lists:

North Park

  • 2016 Barrel-aged Vanilla Storm (Coffee, Vanilla Imperial Porter)
  • 2016 Barrel-aged Coffee Vanilla Rescue Buoy Imperial Stout
  • 2017 Barrel-aged Coffee Rescue Buoy Imperial Stout
  • 2017 Barrel-aged Mocha Mayday (Coffee, Chocolate Imperial Porter)
  • 2018 Barrel-aged Black Lagoon Scottish Strong

San Marcos

  • 2015 Barrel-aged Black Lagoon Scottish Strong
  • 2016 Barrel-aged Coffee Vanilla Rescue Buoy Imperial Stout
  • 2017 Barrel-aged Rescue Buoy Imperial Stout
  • 2017 Barrel-aged Fruit Party No Hope for Rescue (Coffee Double Imperial Stout)
  • 2018 Barrel-aged Reserve Cuvee Blend #1

No advanced ticket purchases are necessary. We will be open for regular business, but event goers will also be offered the option to purchase a special discounted package which includes 4 8oz barrel-aged tasters (or standard pints), raffle tickets and discounts on other brewery items (growlers, beer, glassware).

 

 

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Barrel Night with Reserve Cuvee and Peach Sour Bottle Release

Both locations will be tapping a great selection of our vintage barrel-aged beers as a delicious backdrop to the release of our newest creations – Barrel-aged Reserve Cuvee Blend #1 and Sour Series: Peach Blonde Sour! Both of these new releases will be available to-go in bottles for the first time at retail. The Reserve Cuvee was pre-sold on-line and sold out within the first day, but we have a few cases remaining that will go on sale when we open the doors, so don’t wait or you will miss out on these great beers.

Reserve Cuvee Blend #1 features a complex palate of flavors imparted by the four barrel-aged components included in the blend. Every one of the component beers spent at least 18 months in fresh bourbon barrels! First, we used the bourbon barrel-aged version of our GABF medal-winning Black Lagoon Scottish Strong. This scotch ale provides the silky smooth foundation and contributes flavors of dark caramel, figs, oak tannins, and bourbon character.

Next, we added 3 unreleased barrel aged beers to build out the flavor framework. Barrel-aged End of the World Double Imperial Stout was added to contribute coffee, dates, toffee, and molasses character along with a deeper bourbon richness. Barrel-aged Buckwheat Old Ale adds a complex dark honey and buckwheat flavor and sublime oak tannins. Finally, Barrel-aged Wakeboarding Wheatwine imparts a rich toasty malt flavor and a full body with some bourbon spiciness. The resulting cuvee blend has a very broad array of flavors challenging your senses with every sip while finishing with a mellow warming from its 14% ABV as it goes down.

Our Peach Sour is the first in our wine barrel-aged, multi-culture (wild yeast and bacteria) fermented sour beers to come out of our Sour Series. In early 2017, we brewed a blonde ale that went into a large number of wine barrels with a varying mix of inoculants (fermenting organisms). Our first release roughly 18 months later incorporates peach puree. The resulting 7.4% ABV sour has a fresh peach aroma and flavor with complex lactic/acidic sourness and hints of funk from the brett yeast. This sour is well balanced in part by using a restrained amount of fruits, so the fruit would not cover up the hard work done by the bacteria and wild yeast over the last 18 months.

San Marcos tap list includes:
• Bourbon barrel-aged Reserve Cuvee Blend #1
• Bourbon barrel-aged Black Lagoon Scottish Strong 18′
• Bourbon barrel-aged Fruit Party No Hope for Rescue (NHFR) Double Imperial Stout 18′
• Bourbon barrel-aged Mocha Mayday 18′ (NHFR with chocolate, coffee and ancho chiles)
• Bourbon barrel-aged Rescue Buoy Imperial Stout 17′
• Bourbon barrel-aged Dangerous Undertow Belgian Dark Strong 16’
• Wine barrel-aged Peach Blonde Sour

North Park tap list includes:
• Bourbon barrel-aged Reserve Cuvee Blend #1
• Bourbon barrel-aged Black Lagoon Scottish Strong 18′
• Bourbon barrel-aged Fruit Party No Hope for Rescue (NHFR) Double Imperial Stout 18′
• Bourbon barrel-aged Mocha Mayday 18′ (NHFR with chocolate, coffee and ancho chiles)
• Bourbon barrel-aged Chocolate/Vanilla Rescue Buoy Imperial Stout
• Single (best) barrel-aged Storm Imperial Porter
• Bourbon barrel-aged Vanilla Storm Vanilla Coffee Imperial Porter 16’
• Bourbon barrel-aged Dangerous Undertow Belgian Dark Strong 16’

The North Park location is able to also pour guest beers, so you can expect to see some amazing barrel-aged beers from our colleagues at other breweries around town.

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Barrel-aged Reserve Cuvee Blend #1 Bottle Release

On Friday, November 9th, both tasting rooms will be selling the remaining (after the brief on-line bottle pre-sale) 500ml bottles of Bourbon Barrel-aged Reserve Cuvee Blend #1 for $18 (plus tax and crv). We don’t expect the remaining bottles to last long, so be sure to arrive early to taste it on tap and buy your share.

Reserve Cuvee Blend #1 features a complex palate of flavors imparted by the four barrel-aged components included in the blend. Every one of the component beers spent at least 18 months in fresh bourbon barrels! First, we used the bourbon barrel-aged version of our GABF medal-winning Black Lagoon Scottish Strong. This scotch ale provides the silky smooth foundation and contributes flavors of dark caramel, figs, oak tannins, and bourbon character.

Next, we added 3 unreleased barrel aged beers to build out the flavor framework. Barrel-aged End of the World Double Imperial Stout was added to contribute coffee, dates, toffee, and molasses character along with a deeper bourbon richness. Barrel-aged Buckwheat Old Ale adds a complex dark honey and buckwheat flavor and sublime oak tannins. Finally, Barrel-aged Wakeboarding Wheatwine imparts a rich toasty malt flavor and a full body with some bourbon spiciness. The resulting cuvee blend has a very broad array of flavors challenging your senses with every sip while finishing with a mellow warming from its 14% ABV as it goes down.

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Triple IPA Can and Tap Release Night

This is our yearly release of Caught in a Rip (CIAR) Triple IPA! This year we decided to go one step farther and release CIAR’s brother Caught in a Haze (CIAH) Hazy Triple IPA. Both CIAR and CIAH will be available in 12oz cans as well as on tap! Six-packs of either triple IPA are $15.99 (plus tax and crv). Both Triple IPAs weigh in at 11.5% ABV and have a huge hop aroma and flavor. We repeatedly add our favorite hops (e.g. Nelson, Galaxy, Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe, …) to make the resulting beers have a massive citrus, tropical and stone fruit and background pine-like aroma and flavor.

CIAR is our West Coast-style monster Triple IPA that is blonde in color with noticeable hop haze and finishes crisp and dry with a significant bitterness on the finish to balance the alcohol sweetness. CIAH is a New England-style Juicy Triple IPA that is hazy blonde in appearance and is more-full bodied with a juicy fruity profile then its brother CIAR. CIAH is low in bitterness to allow the fruity sweetness to shine through.

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Introducing Our Sour Series Peach Blonde Sour

We have always been big fans of a well made barrel-aged sour beer, so in early 2017 we decided to allocate separate space in the brewery to start up our sour program. Like our barrel-aged clean (non-sour) program, these beer require significant time typically between 8-12+ months to develop and mature in the barrel before they are ideal to release. We purchased a large number of wine barrels and inoculated (adding of fermenting organisms) each barrel with varying proportions of wild yeast (brett) and bacteria (pedio and lacto) to achieve a complex blend of different acids causing sourness and complementary funk/barnyard/horse blanket (yes, this is how judges describe the flavors) from the brett.

After a long wait, it is time to finalize each sour beer, so we taste and blend the barrels that have our target flavor profiles and add any final ingredients. In this case, we added peach puree and then wait again for the beer to mature. Finally, we bottle and keg the beer and again wait for it to naturally carbonate.

After a long wait, we are stoked to announce the launch of our Sour Series and its first constituent Peach Blonde Sour! The resulting 7.4% ABV sour has a fresh peach aroma and flavor backed by complex lactic/acidic sourness melded with subtle notes of funk from the brett yeast. This sour is well balanced with all the flavors present by not adding excessive amounts of fruit that could cover up the hard work done by the bacteria and wild yeast over the last 18 months.

On Monday, November 5th our North Park location will have the initial pouring and this will be followed on Thursday, November 8th with the second tapping of the Peach Sour in San Marcos. Finally on Friday, November 9th, we will release 375ml bottles of Peach Blonde Sour for purchase for $14 (plus tax and crv). This is a small batch release, so we expect it to sell out quickly. Get your tasty piece of Rip Current history and while your here also pickup some bottles of Bourbon Barrel-aged Reserve Cuvee Blend #1!

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Introducing Murky Malarkey

On Wednesday, November 7th, we will be releasing our latest hazy IPA in our line-up, Murky Malarkey. It uses the super-popular hops – Idaho 7, Mosaic and Citra to create juicy citrus and stone fruit aromas and flavors while imparting very low bitterness. Unlike our previous hazy IPAs, this beer uses a special hybrid yeast that imparts a tropical fruity (pineapple-like) flavor to the beer to complement the orange, tangerine and apricot from the hops. Be one of the first to try this new hazy and let us know which hazy is your favorite.

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Barrel-aged Black Lagoon Bottle Release on June 30th

 

After 2 years maturing in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels, we are thrilled to announce the release of our latest batch of Bourbon Barrel-aged Black Lagoon Scottish Strong on Saturday, June 30th! It will also be available on draft until the keg kicks.

Black Lagoon is our popular Scottish-style Strong Ale (AKA Wee Heavy) that has won many awards in international competitions including a Silver medal at the prestigious 2015 Great American Beer Festival and the 2018 California State Fair.

Black Lagoon has a silky smooth dark malt character with rich caramel, toffee and hints of chocolate and dark fruits. This beer is ideal for extensive barrel aging to round out the spectrum of flavors with bourbon and oak-derived goodness. We don’t rush the barrel-aging process, allowing our beer to blend in the bourbon flavors preserved in the barrel while extracting notes of coconut and vanillin deeper in the oak.

Come try it on tap and buy a bottle to go! This is a limited bottle release, so please don’t wait as they will go fast!

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Rip Current Racks-Up Awards at International Beer Competitions

Rip Current Brewing (Rip Current) recently won several awards during the World Beer Cup and the San Diego International Beer Festival and for its German-style bock and pilsner beers.

Rip Current’s Breakline Bock won a bronze medal May 3 at the World Beer Cup, a prestigious competition with more than 8,000 entries from 2,515 breweries. Breakline Bock is a German-style dark lager featuring a rich, dark malt flavor—yet, it finishes semi-dry, so it can be consumed by the liter-glass at festivals. This style is one of the most difficult to brew, making it especially significant to achieve a world-class example.

Winning entries were blindly judged by a panel of beer experts from 33 countries. Because the competition was worldwide, this means judges considered Breakline Bock to be among the best in the world.

“We are excited to announce our victory in the renowned World Beer Cup, which is our first, but are confident will not be our last,” said Rip Current Co-founder and Brewmaster Paul Sangster, adding that the brewery was one of only six Independent breweries in San Diego County to earn a medal. “We are proud and humbled to have won a medal in this fiercely competitive category—especially considering how many quality German-style bock beers were entered, including many from Germany.”

Just a couple days earlier, Rip Current’s Breakline Bock also won a silver award at the San Diego International Beer Festival—which included over 1,500 entries from 260 breweries.

During that competition, Rip Current also claimed a gold award for its Delaminator Doppelbock, a doppel (double) sized, higher alcohol-by-volume (ABV) beer that is a more dark-malt-forward version of traditional bock. Lastly, Rip Current won another silver award for its Choppy Surf Czech-style Pilsner, a bohemian pilsner lager with a complex graham cracker-like backbone supporting an herbal hop aroma and flavor.

This is the third year in a row that Rip Current has amassed one of the highest medal counts of any brewery at the San Diego International Beer Festival.

“This year we had another very strong showing at the San Diego International Beer Festival, which really speaks to the fact that our team at Rip Current is continuing to make world class beers of many diverse styles,” said Sangster of the brewery, which just celebrated its fifth anniversary. “We invite everyone to help us celebrate at one of our tasting rooms with some of our award-winning beers.”

All of Rip Current’s award-winning beers are available this week at their tasting room in San Marcos at 1325 Grand Avenue, suite #100, and in North Park at 4101 30th Street.