In 2002, Navy veteran Mike Hinkley opened Green Flash Brewing in Vista, San Diego County, California, with investors Cindy and Matin Blair and Pam and Philip Palisoul. They struggled. The brand’s rise followed the 2004 hiring of a veteran brewer, Chuck Silva, with a portfolio of distinctive recipes, including the West Coast IPA. In 2011, the company left its small Vista brewery for a massive Mira Mesa plant, giving it a seven-fold increase in production capacity. In 2014, Hinkley purchase of Alpine Beer adding several legendary beers, including Nelson and Duet, to his portfolio. In 2015, he opened a barrel-aging facility in Poway, Cellar 3. His boldest move came in November 2016, when he opened a second large-scale production brewery in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Making beer on both coasts, Hinkley spearheaded a drive to sell Green Flash in all 50 states. At its peak, Green Flash was synonymous with San Diego craft beer. Its distinctive brews won fans and contests, and one of those beers — West Coast IPA — defined the region’s most popular style. In 2018, Green Flash imploded. More than 30 people were laid off. The 50-state strategy was reduced to 18 states, which didn’t include Washington state. A new group, led by former Green Flash board member Richard Lobo, bought the brands at a discount, pledging to keep the Green Flash and Alpine brands alive, but sell those beers only in eight western states. In May, 2023, Green Flash and Alpine Beer returned to Washington, including Peaks & Pints in Tacoma’s Proctor District. Stop by our craft beer and cider bar, bottle shop and restaurant and enjoy an in-house flight of Green Flash and Alpine beer — a flight we’re calling Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Green Flash and Alpine.

Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Green Flash and Alpine

Green Flash Hazy West Coast IPA

6.5% ABV

In 2022, for its 20th anniversary, Green Flash released the new Hazy West Coast IPA brewed with Citra, Motueka, and El Dorado hops, delivering a wave of tropical flavors and aromas of pineapple, stone fruit, and lime with a bright, hazy appearance. The packaging prominently features custom artwork by Matthew Jay Fleming, whose illustrations depict the vibrant San Diego coastline and capture the brilliance of the West Coast’s Green Flash, which is the optical phenomenon that occasionally occurs as the sun sets into the ocean below the horizon.

Alpine Nelson

7% ABV, 40 IBU

Named after Nelson Sauvin, which imparts a beautiful nose of tropical fruit — mango and pineapple — and a dry, earthy body that’s usually compared to the Sauvignon Blanc grape, Alpine Beer’s Nelson spends most of its time off the taps. Low supply does breed high demand though, and much like other great beers Alpine puts out, the Nelson developed a small cult following in its time away from chilled pint glasses everywhere. On the tongue, expect lemon and lemongrass, as in the aroma, with amplified grapefruit, moderate malt sweetness, a touch of resinous pine, moderately dank, strong bitterness, and light grassy notes.

Alpine Duet IPA

7% ABV, 45 IBU

Simcoe and Amarillo. Not a buddy-buddy cop movie but rather the only two hops in Alpine Beer’s Duet IPA. On the nose, Duet’s namesake is beautifully displayed as you can pick out the big contributions from the hop duet right away. Big-time nectarines, mangoes, pineapple, with mild undertones of citrus, likely from the Amarillo, with the wet, dank, pungent, and piney side from the Simcoe. They form a beautifully harmonious union with the tropical explosion versus the raw, dank hoppage. Duet is a tropicpalooza in the middle of an oily, hemp jungle.

Green Flash West Coast IPA

8.1% ABV, 95 IBU

So much of the good, green stuff is packed into Green Flash’s West Coast IPA that you’ll find it overwhelming if you haven’t prepared yourself. Imagine licking a pine sapling on a spring day in a grassy meadow with your friend blowing weed smoke in your face. Seriously, West Coast is a bit like cramming fistfuls of freshly mowed grass into your gob due to a “menagerie of hops” layered throughout the brewing process including Simcoe (to impart a unique fruitiness and grapefruit zest), Columbus (for strong hop pungency), Centennial (for pine and citrus notes), and Cascade (for floral aroma). As the brewery puts it, it is a “multi-dimensional hop experience.” And they ain’t lying. It’s just over 8 percent ABV, with a malt body, resinous, hoppy, and dank.

LINK: Peaks & Pints cooler inventory