Brewery Twenty Five owners Fran and Sean Fitzharris clearly love San Benito County, and looking at the growing list of beers dedicated to people, places, and events in the county is evidence of their dedication. Over the last year, they have created special brews in honor of everything from the anniversaries of local businesses like San Juan Bautista’s Dona Esther’s to famous neighborhood cats such as the Mission’s beloved cancer survivor, Sula.
“Sula will be featured on the next version of our Chonk beer,” said Fran. “‘Chonk,’ by definition, is an aggressively lovely animal. The beer is a double dry hop Hazy IPA, so we decided that naming it after a big fluffy animal would be perfect.”
There have been several Chonks honored, including Wednesday, owned by the Fitzharrises; Clyde, who hangs out at Bear’s Hideaway; and Lolla, the namesake of the local sandwich shop. Each label features a portrait of the cat and a short biography.
“We always love collaborating with local farms or businesses,” Fran said. “Those are our favorite beers, the ones where we work with local people to highlight all of us. Our beers go out of San Benito County, so we are sharing not just ourselves but our town cultures, our farms and our other businesses with people outside of our community.”
Some of the other special beers brewed this year include Two Night Stay, an IPA celebrating La Posada de San Juan that features the blueprints of the hotel on the label; Peter’s Kolch, brewed for the celebration of life for Peter Lottermoser, co-owner of the now-closed Joan and Peter’s Restaurant, and “Poncho,” a lager brewed with maize and named after Al Casteneda in honor of Dona Esther’s 40th anniversary.
“We are trying to highlight the beer production happening now in San Benito County,” Fran said. “We really have not had anything this significant since the San Andreas Brewing Company shut down in 2005.”
One of the more unusual specialty beers they produced this year was a glitter-infused brew for the San Benito County Arts Council Farm to Table Benefit.
Sean and I are really big fans of supporting local artists,” Fran said. “We love the crew at the Arts Council, so anytime we have an opportunity to support them as sponsors or donors, we do it. It is even more important now, as we are recovering from the pandemic, to work within our community before going outside of it.”
Fran and Sean have a few interesting beers in the works, including one they call Island Ninja.
“We do love our tiki drinks, we wanted to infuse some of those flavors into a beer. It will be a milkshake IPA, which is a great place to start, and it will have passionfruit, orange and guava, which blend well together.”
The seasonal Dulce de Muertos beer, blended with fresh-baked conchas, will also be available later in the year.
The Beers of Brewery Twenty Five
Chonk (9%) “The Chonk beers are basically the same recipe,” said Sean. “They all have the same hops listed on the can, Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe, but they are there in different amounts. It’s meant to be like a New England-style Hazy IPA, with oats and wheat for body building components.” The mouthfeel is medium-to-heavy with a pine-citrus flavor and a floral aroma that offers a pleasant hint of oatmeal cookie and caramel.
Fuzzy Jules (5%) This is the second iteration of Fuzzy Jules that I have had, and it remains a delightful beer. About 480 pounds of apricot puree is used to make this beer, and the Blenheim apricots, sourced from B&R Farms, bring layers of bright flavor and add body. “Blenheims have this natural tartness to them,” Sean said, “and I think that is naturally conveyed in this.” It’s a refreshing and fun beer you could drink all day long, and it is my favorite of the ones at this tasting.
Coke Farms Kettle Sour (3.3%) Coke Farms provides the raspberries and strawberries used in this beer, adding a tartness to balance the sourness. “We make a sour-based beer in a kettle, as the name suggests, rather than in a barrel,” Sean said. “They don’t have the same complexity as a barrel-aged beer, but they serve a purpose.” The flavor of the raspberries is fully forward, with the strawberry being more subtle. It’s an easy-drinking beer that delivers a lot of taste, with a peak of sourness right in the middle and just enough acid to clean the palate, getting you ready for the next sip.
Livin’ Lager Than Life (4%) Celebrating the 18th Barrel Tasting Room’s fifth anniversary, it’s a hybrid lager that uses two different yeast strains. “When we asked them what they wanted, they said an easy-drinking beer,” said Sean. “It’s got pilsner malt in it and some rice, which keeps it light in body and color.” The aroma is gorgeous, and there is some hop bitterness, but it is simple and clean and would be great with food.
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 about local food and food products. Hollister Super (two stores in Hollister) and Windmill Market (in San Juan Bautista) support our 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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