A DRINK OF ZEN

Pizza Ports have become places of note in San Diego County. I've been to their restaurant/breweries, but I've never bought a can of Pizza Port Beer at a store. So here we go...per their web site:

"In March of 1987 Gina and Vince Marsaglia, a pair of siblings in their 20′s, bought a struggling pizza place in the sleepy coastal town of Solana Beach, just north of San Diego. Early on, Vince took advantage of free space in the restaurant’s storage area to dabble with home brewing. The hobby took off and at the urging of friends and fans, Vince and Gina decided to go into the brewpub business. Pizza Port offered its first craft-brewed beers to patrons in 1992 and quickly gained a reputation in San Diego’s growing craft beer scene.

Following their success at the Solana Beach location the company has been steadily expanding. Location #2 opened in 1997 in Carlsbad. Location #3 opened in 2003 in San Clemente. In 2008 a premium bottle shop was added adjacent to the Carlsbad location, which offers hundreds of options from other breweries in the craft beer community. Pizza Port location #4 opened in 2010 in Ocean Beach. And, most recently, location #5 opened in 2013 in the Bressi Ranch community of Carlsbad, and introduced a canning line to allow Pizza Port beers to find their home on store shelves across San Diego county!

So far, the Pizza Port locations collectively have won over 91 medals/awards from the Great American Beer Festival, and we continue to encourage our brewers to create."

Well, I found that very interesting. But, let's get to the beer at hand.

Swami's IPA. 6.8% alc. I bought this in 16 oz cans in a 6-pak for $13 (moderately expensive).

The can's art is in the beach/surf style of the time. On first pour, it looks good. It's head is well formed and the shade it should be. The thick glass shows an interesting lacework.

There aren't any particular flavors that jump out at you. The flavors of various hops and lite fruit just blends together into a balanced, lightly carbonated IPA. This makes sense reading Pizza Port's description on their site:

"Swami’s IPA is a special beer to the Pizza Port family as it was the first IPA brewed in our original location over 20 years ago in Solana Beach. With a more traditional hop profile, this beer is the quintessential example of a West Coast IPA as it showcases the fresh bitterness of citrus and pine. Swami’s is named after one of the most famous surf breaks in San Diego county, which, as perfectly depicted on the can, is always crowded with surfers and paddle boarders alike. The break itself gets its name from its proximity to a Self-Realization Fellowship, a landmark in Encinitas that is also perfectly pictured on the can. Whatever your form of meditation is, we hope that each and every sip contributes to your own self-realization!
Hops: Chinook, CTZ, Cascade, Centennial, Citra, Simcoe"

It is very good, showing just what a California IPA should be. If you're looking for something exotic, this is not it. But sometimes that's really not what you want.

In case you're here and want to try them out, their pizza is held in almost as high regard as their beer.
Last time I was there, in the Ocean Beach location, they had 52 different beers on tap. Keep trying, you're bound to find something you like. Try their "Skidmark" - an English BROWN Ale. :-))