Surf Brewery Announces Seasonal Lager Series
14 Jan 2015 --- Surf Brewery, a small commercial craft brewery, open since 2011, with an onsite tasting room and homebrew shop, announced that they are releasing a Seasonal Lager series for 2015, called Surfer’s Point, after the local surf break near the Ventura pier.
Artwork on the bottles will be the iconic pier as expressed by local artist Craig Tyler, who does all of Surf’s bottle art. Three different lagers will be released each for a four month period providing NEW tastes throughout the year.
For the fall/winter season, Surfer’s Point will be featured as an Amber lager; 5% ABV, 25 IBU and 13 SRM color. Brewed in the style of a Vienna Lager, the Amber brings a clean malt sweetness balanced against crisp American hops. Featuring soft notes of toffee and toasted dark bread and hints of chocolate wrapped up with a clean lager yeast profile. Pairs well with a variety of Mexican dishes featuring beef or other gamier proteins.
Spring will bring Surfer’s Point Springtime Bock; 7.1% ABV, 33 IBU and 9 SRM. Brewed in the Bavarian style of a Mai Bock to celebrate the coming of spring; this beer showcases a restrained malt character with just enough hops to balance out the slight sweetness from the malt with a subtle hint of fresh flowers and spice. The clean lager fermentation allows the high-quality German malts and domestic hops shine. The perfect beer to help pass the time as the winter swells give way to the spring calm. Pair with a grilled artichoke with garlic aioli and spring sausage.
Summertime usually means warmer weather and Surfer’s Point will become a thirst quenching Pilsner; 4.6% ABV, 40 IBU and 3.5 SRM. Brewed to the German style of a Pilsner this beer will feature domestically grown hops with noble lineage balanced against a pleasant graininess from the continental European pilsner malt. The clean lager fermentation and light body make this truly a quaffable beer while still very flavorful. Enjoy this beer by itself or with crispy fish tacos with a side of chips and salsa.
Chas Cloud, Head Brewer, enjoys drinking and brewing these lagers, “The slow maturation of these beers is fascinating. When we sample them early on they taste terrible but the evolution of flavors across the weeks of cold conditioning is astonishing. It is nice to be able to work with a different pallet of flavors which helps add to the variety of Surf Brewery’s offerings.” Surf stopped producing lagers back in 2012 because of capacity constraints that were resolved last summer with a much needed expansion. The Surfer’s Point Amber lager recipe won a Gold medal at the 2012 California State Fair Commercial Beer Competition and Bronze at the 2012 Los Angeles International Beer Competition in the Vienna Lager category.
