{"id":247428,"date":"2014-06-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-23T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/hbc-unveils-marriage-equality-beer\/"},"modified":"2014-06-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-06-23T07:00:00","slug":"hbc-unveils-marriage-equality-beer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/hbc-unveils-marriage-equality-beer\/","title":{"rendered":"HBC unveils \u2018Marriage Equality\u2019 beer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hillcrest brewery toasts to same-sex marriage legislation nationwide<\/strong><\/p>\n

Morgan M. Hurley | Asistente de edici\u00f3n de la zona alta<\/p>\n

Two years ago, just before San Diego\u2019s 38th annual Pride celebration, MO\u2019s Universe launched its fourth property in the shadow of the new 60\u2019 Pride flag: the Hillcrest Brewing Company (HBC) at the corner of University Avenue and Normal Street. <\/p>\n

Touted as the first LGBT brewery in the world \u2014 a claim that no one has tried to dispute since \u2014\u00a0HBC has quickly become a gathering place for craft beer-loving locals both gay and straight, with its standard carry of eight brewed-on-site small batch beers along with a dozen other brands also on tap.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, HBC gained mainstream media attention when Interim Mayor Todd Gloria used its beer in a friendly bet with the mayor of Cincinnati during an NFL playoff game between the Chargers and the Bengals. Then just last month, HBC\u2019s U-Hawle Hefe was the featured libation at Linda Perry\u2019s star-studded event for the Los Angeles LGBT Center, \u201cAn Evening With Women.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pride<\/a>Last year the brewery launched its first annual Pride beer, a drinkable, low-alcohol, limited-edition brew meant to commemorate pride season. Called Pride \u201913, the inaugural beer was a Session IPA, also called an Extra Pale Ale.<\/p>\n

\u201cSession stands for \u2018multiple in a session,\u2019 so they\u2019re not going to get you too drunk,\u201d said HBC\u2019s head brewmaster Austin Copeland, adding that standard practice for a session beer is 5 percent alcohol or less.<\/p>\n

Austin Copeland, HBC\u2019s head brewmaster, is excited about the launch of Pride \u201914, a recipe he and his assistant James Fox came up with (Courtesy MO\u2019s Universe)<\/p>\n

\u201cPride \u201813 was designed so that people that come to visit San Diego for Pride and came to the brewery, weren\u2019t bombarded with something dark or too hoppy,\u201d said Eddie Reynoso, MO\u2019s Universe marketing and public relations director. \u201cWe also want them to enjoy Pride and not get trashed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Management at MO\u2019s Universe had long hoped to put this year\u2019s limited-edition pride beer in the White House later this month, during their LGBT Pride celebration on June 28, just two days after the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court\u2019s decision to rescind Prop 8 on June 26. Unfortunately, the powers that be shifted the rules for sending products to the White House, but in this case, San Diego still wins.<\/p>\n

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of marriage equality in California, as well as the advances in marriage equality across the nation since that date last year, HBC just released Pride \u201814: Marriage Equality Belgian Session Ale.<\/p>\n

Another limited edition product, Copeland said 27 kegs of the Belgian Session Ale have been produced so far, with 27 more on the way. They expect sales to last through the summer.<\/p>\n

\"HBC<\/a>
HBC Brewmaster Austin Copeland (Courtesy MO’s Universe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIf it goes well we might have to brew a third,\u201d Copeland said.<\/p>\n

Copeland and his new assistant James Fox came up with the Pride \u201914 recipe, a blend that is easily drinkable, but unique in its style.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to do something that was nice and light and crisp that had a good finish that would be a perfect summer beer, but also something that was a little different,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Pride \u201914 beer is a great way to raise awareness around the country with people being more and more on board with marriage equality,\u201d said Joey Arruda, co-owner and general manager of HBC. \u201cThe feedback has been awesome. People like it. They like the lightness and the flavor, the sweetness to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joey Arruda, co-owner and general manager of HBC (Courtesy MO\u2019s Universe)<\/p>\n

\"HBC<\/a>
HBC co-owner and general manager Joey Arruda (Courtesy MO’s Universe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Copeland said the beer has a low-hop profile, with all of its noble-style hops from a region of Germany near Belgium, and a \u201cclean pilsner malt base.\u201d He\u2019s never seen a Belgian session, so this brew is truly unique.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, June 26, HBC will have an official launch party for the beer, with staff dressed in wedding garb, Pride \u201914 t-shirt giveaways while supplies last, and a complimentary toast to marriage equality.<\/p>\n

Pride \u201914 is currently only available at HBC and other MO\u2019s Universe locations, but after the official launch, the beer will be available to other bars through distribution.<\/p>\n

The beer\u2019s label was designed to promote all the states where marriage equality has become legal, although according to Eddie Reynoso, MO\u2019s Universe marketing and public relations director, state-wide bans on same-sex marriage are dropping so fast, they\u2019ve had trouble keeping up.<\/p>\n

Reynoso said a large amount of the proceeds from the sale of Pride \u201914 will go to local and and other nonprofits that support the march for marriage equality. MO\u2019s Universe will be matching up to $20 thousand in cash donations and offering in kind donations to local LGBT events.<\/p>\n

Copeland, who first joined HBC as brewery assistant at the company\u2019s launch in July of 2012, took over for former head brewmaster David White this past October. Prior to joining HBC, Copeland was a self-described \u201cbeer nerd\u201d and is truly a home-brewer success story.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually worked at the DA\u2019s office,\u201d he said of his former full-time career. \u201cI traded law for brewing. It\u2019s now long weeks, long days, and a lot of work, but I love every minute of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before stepping up to the top spot, Copeland was already putting his personal touches on the beer menu, personally creating recipes for U-Hawle Hefe, the Blond Ale, and the Double IPA Hopsucker.<\/p>\n

The San Diego native has been a lifelong ally of the community and feels in many ways the opportunity to work at HBC was very serendipitous.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to say fate or the universe willed it or not, but my dad was gay and grew up in San Diego,\u201d he said. \u201cHe owned a salon Downtown and he died of AIDS in the early \u201890s back during the crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the big things I\u2019ve wanted to do once I became head brewer was to make Steve\u2019s Imperial Red Ale \u2014 a Red Ribbon AIDS beer \u2014 for World AIDS Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brewery has lots of other things planned, mostly after Pride season has come and gone, but expect them to be getting much more interactive with their customers regarding tastings, infusions and experimenting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are such a small brewery but we want to pull back on some of the stuff we have right now and then make certain things seasonal so we can bring in the Pride beers, the Austin\u2019s AIDS beer in December, and other styles that are out there,\u201d Arruda said, citing the Long and Stout as an example. The popular dark beer was recently put on hiatus until the fall since it is not traditionally a summer beer. That frees up their taps for other options but some have missed it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts just about getting people used to the idea,\u201d he said. \u201cIt keeps people interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pride \u201914 Launch Party will be Thursday, June 26 starting at 7 p.m. at Hillcrest Brewing Company, located at 1458 University Ave. For more information, visit hillcrestbrewingcompany.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hillcrest brewery toasts to same-sex marriage legislation nationwide Morgan M. Hurley | Uptown Assistant Editor Two years ago, just before San Diego\u2019s 38th annual Pride celebration, MO\u2019s Universe launched its fourth property in the shadow of the new 60\u2019 Pride flag: the Hillcrest Brewing Company (HBC) at the corner of University Avenue and Normal Street.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":247429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"HBC unveils \u2018Marriage Equality\u2019 beer","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}