Club Corner
Beer of the Month Club May 2025: Asian American Breweries
Asian American Breweries This month we’ll be featuring a trio of Asian American owned breweries from across the Americas. There is a long history of brewing in Asia, with evidence of brewing in China going as far back as 7000 BCE, and as far back as 8500 BCE near the Euphrates in modern day Turkey. Beer’s current popularity on the continent is a relatively recent development though, with larger industrial breweries becoming the norm following colonialism in the early 20th century. Craft brewing is also fairly young, having started in the late 20th century, before exploding in the mid 2010’s. Returning to the Americas, while 19% of restaurants in the United States are owned by Asian Americans, only 2% of breweries are Asian owned. We have selected 3 standouts to spotlight for May: Dokkaebier was founded in February 2020 by Youngwon Lee. Born in Korea but raised in America, Youngwon returned to Korea as a young adult to sell Californian wine and high end spirits. When he returned to California he pivoted to craft beer, eventually working at the Eureka offshoot of Korean Microbrewery The Booth. After the Eureka location closed, Lee began planning out opening his own brewery, recruiting Aaron Weshnak, former Head Brewer at The Booth, with the focus on brewing beer with Korean inspired flavors. Japas Cervejaria was founded in 2014 by Maíra Kimura, Yumi Shimada, and Fernanda Ueno, who met through the Brazilian beer industry and connected over their shared Japanese-Brazilian heritage. Fernanda and Maíra both have over a decade brewing and Yumi is an accomplished graphic designer. They deftly combine Japanese and Brazilian ingredients in their beers. King Cong Brewing was founded by Cong Nguyen. The son of Vietnamese immigrants, he graduated from the University of the Pacific in Stockton with a degree in Biology. After attempting to get into dental school, Cong pivoted and enrolled in UC Davis Master Brewers program and fell in love with the process. While working at his brother’s dental office during the day, he worked on perfecting his craft at night. Cong was eventually able to open his own taproom in 2017, he worked to create a welcome, community oriented atmosphere. Cheers! Plumpjack Wine & Spirits Dokkaebier Calamansi & Tea Lager Oakland, CA USA Tasting Notes: A clear medium amber with slightly thin mousse-like foam. Biscuit like malt notes along with candied lemon peel and tea on the nose. Soft and malty with a slightly bitter citrus finish. Head Brewer: Aaron Weshnak $4.99 per can Suggested Food Pairing: shrimp ceviche, fresh spring rolls Japas Ma West Coast Pilsner Sao Paulo, Brazil Tasting Notes: A clear pale gold with fluffy foam with notes of green tea, guava, grapefruit, and fresh pine. Slightly dry herbaceous finish with moderate bitterness and flavors of fresh herbs, grapefruit peel, and tropical fruits. HBC 1019 and Cascade hops. Head Brewer: Maíra Kimura, Yumi Shimada, and Fernanda Ueno $5.99 per can Suggested Food Pairing: Roasted root vegetables, hard cheeses, spicy dry sausages, cannellini bean salad Japas San Tres Blonde Ale with guava and jasmine Sao Paulo, Brazil Tasting Notes: Slightly hazy amber with a fluffy white foam. Bright guava notes on the nose with a light floral character. Where the guava shows more on the nose, the jasmine shines on the palate framing flavors of guava and satsuma with a slightly bitter finish and pleasant graininess. Head Brewer: Maíra Kimura, Yumi Shimada, and Fernanda Ueno $5.99 per can Suggested Food Pairing: Dim sum, chicken flautas King Cong Brewing Third Rail Rider West Coast IPA Sacramento, CA USA Tasting Notes: Slightly hazy gold with fluffy foam and a tropical, piney nose. Soft with moderate hop bitterness and a grainy maltiness balances notes of guava, passion fruit, and tangerine. Head Brewer: Cong Nguyen $4.99 per can Suggested Food Pairing: Fish tacos, rajas, chile verde, mango habanero wings
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Beer of the Month Club June '24: New World Pilsners
NEW WORLD PILSNER This month we’ll be taking some sidestreets down a very familiar road for most. Pilsners are one of the most popular styles in the world, with the best perfectly balancing a grainy malt character and hop bitterness with a dry finish and low alcohol. Classical styles are usually made with Saaz and/or Hallertauer to impart earthy, spicy, and herbal notes and light pilsner malt for a light bready grain character. While there is variation within this (with Bohemian/Czech Pilsner splitting the difference between the softer more malt forward German style and the dryer more bitter Northern German style), the style has exploded outwards across the world with various stylistic offshoots, as well as faithful takes on the classic style. This month, along with some more traditional pilsners, we will be highlighting a style coming out of California and the Pacific Northwest, the west coast pilsner. This newish style is still being hammered out in breweries across the west coast, but is closer to an Italian pilsner where they dry hop the beer to impart a more intense hop flavor and give the finished beer a more floral hop essence. Instead of using European hops with their more spicy and earthy qualities, these beers use new world hops like Nelson, Strata, Mosaic and similar varieties to bring out bright piney, citrusy, and tropical notes on the nose. These techniques are sometimes combined with those used in a cold ipa, where lager yeast is used and the beer is fermented at a cooler temperature to create a lighter, crisper style of IPA while retaining the hoppyness you would find in an American IPA. Combined with the use of American and other new world hops this creates aromatic, low alcohol beers with all the tropical notes that one would get from an IPA with the malt backbone of a traditional pilsner and a dry to soft finish. These beers are not only fantastic on their own, but pair well with a variety of foods from fennel salad with parmesan and lemon, clams with garlic, caprese salad, leek soup, and all manner of fried treats. Cheers! Justin Malesheetz Beer Buyer Ghost Town Brewing Low God West Coast Pilsner Oakland, CA Dry hopped with Nelson and EXP 586 Hops, Pilsner malts, and their house lager yeast. Pouring a slightly hazy straw with thinner foam with fast rising bubbles. Bright citrus, stone fruit, and floral notes are supported with a grainy maltiness. Moderately hoppy bitterness and dry finish make for a crisp and refreshing pilsner. $4.99 per can / $17.99 per 4pk Cellarmaker Distorted Bliss California Pilsner Berkeley, CA Mashed with Italian grown pilsner malt, fermented cold and then lightly dry hopped with Strata, Mosaic, and Talus. Pouring a clear yellow with a fluffy foam and fast rising bubbles. This is a round, soft, aromatic, rich pilsner. The nose is bursting with floral and green notes alongside bright grapefruit with a toasty biscuit and honey maltiness. The medium toasty malt sweetness and lower hop bitterness mix with rich papaya and guava flavors on the long soft finish. $5.99 per can / $20.99 per 4pk Lowercase Soft Pilsner Seattle, WA This is an interesting new world spin on a German pilsner, where the traditional ingredients were brewed using techniques that would be common when creating a New England IPA. They start with dry hopping using Hallertau Mittelfruh, Saaz and Tettnanger. In place of oats and wheat raw, pearled barley with no husk is used and cereal mashed before being added. Pours a slightly hazy straw, with a big fluffy head and fast rising bubbles. Very pronounced hoppy nose, with lots of spicy herbal notes and hints of unripe guava. Dry finish with medium malt sweetness and hop bitterness on the finish. $5.99 per can / $20.99 per 4pk Wayfinder Party Time Pilsner Portland, OR The most traditional of the pilsners we have this month. Classic take on a Bavarian pilsner using noble hops. Pouring clear straw with a fluffy head, this has classic notes of floral and spicy hops aromas, light grainy maltiness, with a refreshing crisp and bitter finish $5.99 per can / $20.99 per 4pk
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