Karl Strauss marks 34th birthday with new beer releases

San Diego County’s oldest brewery, Karl Strauss, turned 34 yesterday. The party is continuing this month at all eight of Karl’s brewpubs: downtown San Diego, Sorrento Mesa, Carlsbad, 4S Ranch, Temecula, Costa Mesa Anaheim and Los Angeles.
They offer “anniversary flights” of the 33rd anniversary beer, a barrel-aged imperial Baltic porter; the 34th anniversary beer, a wheat wine aged in chardonnay barrels with Sauvignon Blanc grapes; and next year’s beer, a Weizenbock.
That’s a tempting lineup, but I’ll miss the anniversary bashes once held inside Karl’s Pacific Beach headquarters. The tasting room that hosted those standing-room-only parties is closed while the already cramped brewery undergoes a remodel, squeezing in a new brewhouse and canning line.
“Our hope is that once these are completed,” said Andrew Wilde, Karl’s marketing and creative director, “we will reformulate what the public-facing component at the main brewery will look like.”
Maybe next year.
Rowe is a feelance writer.
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