Santa Cruz, California is best known for its surfing, its collegiate mascot (Banana Slugs), its boardwalk, and of course the colorful characters who call it home.  A young Keifer Sutherland once masqueraded around this beach town as blood thirsty vampire in 1987’s The Lost Boys.  Surfing, slugs, and classic cult films aside, Santa Cruz also sports its fair share of wineries and breweries.  Hapa’s Brewing was fortunate enough to spend a weekend in this scenic pacific town and took advantage by visiting two of its breweries.  The first of these was Seabright Brewery.

Our timing could not have been better.  No sooner had we stepped inside than the assistant brewer shows up.  He was nice enough to take us behind the scenes to check out their brewing rig.  Seabright’s system is a 7 barrel operation with direct fire boil kettle and bright tanks that feed directly to taps in the bar. 

        
Mash tun                                                               Boil kettle

After the mash and boil the young beer passes through a heat exchanger and into the fermentation tanks.  When the beer is ready to serve it is pumped to the bright tanks where it’s chilled and carbonated.

        
Fermentation tanks                                               Bright tanks

After scoping out the system, our thirst was at threat level orange so we partook in a flight of Seabright’s finest.  A pale ale, an amber, an IPA, and a red ale all passed through our lips, but the beer that really left the strongest impression was that from their “Secret Stash.”  Intrigued, by the mystic we added this mystery beer to our flight and, upon its arrival, were told that the mystery ale was a chipotle porter.

Never the type to shy away from a new style of beer, we dove in with both feet.  The nose on the chipotle porter had all the aromas you might expect from the style: roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, but all those took a back seat the the distinct smokey chipotle smells.  A sip of this very dark brown beer reveals complex layers of flavors starting with caramel and dark chocolate and morphing to chipotle spiciness you can feel in the back of your throat.  The spice is not overpowering as it makes its way to the gut where it warms the belly.  After a couple sips you may find yourself looking around for the tortilla chips.  Definitely a unique beer and one that all beer lovers absolutely must try.


Left to right: pale ale, amber, IPA, red ale, and the chipotle porter