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In what has become an annual tradition, Settle Down Beer, Kelly Brewing, Brewery Twenty Five and Mad Pursuit Brewing have put their individual spins on a recipe for a beer created in honor of the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival. And, for the first time, the four beers will be joined by a cider variation, produced by TenFiveOne Cider Co.
The results will be debuted at 5 p.m on April 14 at Mad Pursuit, which was provided with one keg of each beer. It is the only venue where fans of local beer will be able to sample all five, though each brewery will stock their version at their own location.
“We are really excited about the release of the Poppy Jasper beers,” said Fran Fitzharris, co-owner of Brewery Twenty Five. “This is our fourth year doing it and I think it brings the beer industry and the film industry together. We are really proud of the way that connection has grown.”
The approach for making the beers was the same as in previous years. Each brewery, in rotation, develops a recipe and each of the others use it to create their own variation. This year, the honor fell on Gilroy’s Settle Down Beer, which has participated in the event for the last three years.
“We jumped on when Kelly Brewing made their Hoppy Golden Ale two years ago,” said brewer Giovanni Albanese. “We came up with a West Coast Juicy IPA, which is kind of aligned with a lot of the types of beer that we like to make. The finished product is super delicious and easy to drink.”
The brew begins with Citra and El Dorado hops and includes Cascade hops from Hollister Hopyard, which Albanese said he thought was a good representation of all the breweries in the South Valley and one that film goers would enjoy.
“We tried to use local malts as well,” he said, “to try to make this a wholly local type of recipe. We’ve made juicy West Coast IPAs before but we’ve never done it in this way. We wanted something for people who are just getting into craft beers or who are craft beer aficionados.”
The result is a fruit forward beer with a touch of bitterness and an approachable ABV (alcohol by volume) of 6.2%.
“It is nothing that is going to give you that bitter beer face,” Albanese said. “It is just a clear, easy to drink IPA. It was fun to make and we look forward to doing more of these collaboration beers.”
While he is not sure if he will be able to take in any of the films in the festival, Albanese said that he could tell the event is increasing in popularity.
“Everybody involved with putting that thing together is doing a great job,” he said. “You can see it growing and I hope it continues to grow and that we can continue to be part of it.”
The Poppy Jasper Beers
Mad Pursuit Brewing – “We put our heart and soul into this beer,” said co-owner Alex DeLeon. “We followed Settle Down’s recipe pretty closely and changed the hop quantities a little bit. We wanted to stick to what they did but make it a little more mellow.” The Mad Pursuit version had a restrained bitterness, a little less fruit and a longer finish than the Brewery Twenty Five version, which, for me, gave it a more balanced, herbal substance overall.
Kelly Brewing – “We ended up using our house yeast for the beer,” said owner Ross Kelly. “We open ferment everything and we have a yeast strain that we just keep using. Most small breweries get their yeast from labs, use it for a few generations and then get a new one. That is definitely something that sets our beer apart from the others.” The beer has a beautiful aroma that verges on guava and bubble gum that carries into the bright, light taste of the beer. Others who tasted the beer at the same time as I detected a nuttiness to the beer which I did not pick up on myself. The tropical fruit is not as prominent as the Brewery Twenty Five version,and there are hints of lemon around the edges before an elegantly quick finish.
TenFiveOne Cider Co. – I was not able to contact TenFiveOne Cider owner Laura Bertoldi, but I was able to try her spin on the Poppy Jasper formula. The bright pink cider began with a deceptive citrus-like aroma which did not carry into the sour apple cider vinegar notes of the flavor. It did maintain some of the tropical notes over the prevailing acidity, and was surprisingly refreshing.
Brewery Twenty Five – “I’d say like generally we all used the same hops,” said Sean Fitzharris, “but maybe the way that we utilized the hops was a little bit different this year. We wanted a firm bitterness to it and then definitely we’re going for juicy, so it should have a lot of orange notes.” The orange notes start with the aroma and follow in the beer, which also has hints of mango and tangerine. It is amazingly smooth with very little bitterness, an appealing lightness, and a quick finish. It’s a clean-tasting beer you could comfortably drink all day and was hands-down my favorite.
As of publishing time, the Settle Down Beer was not available for tasting, but will be available at Mad Pursuit starting at 5 p.m. on April 14.
Recommendations for future Eat, Drink, Savor articles can be emailed to roberteliason@benitolink.com.
BenitoLink thanks our underwriters, Hollister Super and Windmill Market, for helping to expand the Eat, Drink, Savor series and give our readers the stories that interest them. Hollister Super (two stores in Hollister) and Windmill Market (in San Juan Bautista) support reporting on the inspired and creative people behind the many delicious food and drink products made in San Benito County. All editorial decisions are made by BenitoLink.
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