SLBC TURNS 5!
It’s Our 5th Anniversary
We're celebrating by throwing a rad party and releasing five new anniversary beers in a variety of styles!
We’ve teamed up with our friends from three amazing California breweries on a few collaboration beers plus two specialty beers that are uniquely SLBC. It’s our way of celebrating this milestone with everyone who has supported our little mountain town brewery since we first opened our doors in 2017.
Both owners of South Lake Brewing Company, Chris and Nicole Smith, are extremely grateful to the community and visitors of South Lake Tahoe who have supported our business through the ups and downs of the last five years.
“Since day 1, we've strived to make SLBC a community hub. The community of South Lake Tahoe has truly helped us achieve this goal. You showed up and supported us through it all — starting with a packed first night open in 2017, through our growing pains of the first 2 years, during the height of the pandemic, after the Caldor Fire, and now helping us grow and thrive heading into summer of 2022!”, Nicole Smith, Co-Founder and Vice President, said. “We are so thankful for your unending support. It's all about the beer of course, but at the end of the day, it's about the people that visit us and make SLBC such a special place.”
“Over the past five years we’ve created a cool, unique company in a small mountain town that offers a sense of community for a lot of locals,” SLBC Co-Founder and Head of Brewing Operations Chris Smith said. “It’s been exciting to come up with cool and unique beers and introduce new styles to Tahoe that are found in the national craft beer scene but tweaking them to make them our own.”
Learn more about each of the five unique anniversary beers and how they came together below!
Brewers from Revision and SLBC enjoy some beers on collab day.
Radical West Coast IPA – Collaboration with Revision Brewing Company
Revision Brewing Company is well-known in the craft beer industry for its hoppy beers and West Coast IPAs. Revision opened its doors at a similar time as SLBC in 2017 under the direction of Jeremy Warren who came from Knee Deep Brewing Co.
“They took off right away and have a cool story of how they started. We’ve been rooting for them since they first opened, and they’ve been at the top of our wishlist to brew a collaboration beer with for a while,” Chris said.
Since Revision traditionally brews hoppier beers and SLBC brews West Coast IPAs that are brighter and lighter in bitterness, the two styles of brewing were blended with an addition of new hop varietals.
“We were looking for bright tropical fruit notes with tons of citrus and pine notes which Revision beers are really well known for. We came up with this new version of a West Coast IPA together featuring some relatively new hops that neither brewery has used before,” Chris said.
The final product is a Radical West Coast IPA hopped with Citra, HBC 586, Eclipse, and Talus hops.
The SLBC and Grains of Virtue crews on collab day.
Tropical Fruited Sour Ale – Collaboration with Grains of Virtue
SLBC has never brewed a smoothie-style sour ale, but there’s no denying this style of beer has taken the craft beer world by storm. Based in Oakdale, Grains of Virtue Brewing Company is no stranger to smoothie-style beers. They specialize in creating unique fruited smoothie sours and seltzers.
“They’re in a similar spot we were in the past where they’re bringing new styles of beer into their local scene. They’re pushing the limits and are really good at brewing these styles that we haven’t concentrated on. It’s fun to learn new stuff from them and share our knowledge as an established brewery that’s been open for 5 years,” Chris said.
The goal was to create something for SLBC’s anniversary that has never been offered before. The resulting beer is a tropical, easy-to-drink smoothie sour ale with guava, mango, pineapple, and peach purée. Marshmellow and vanilla flavoring were layered in to achieve the sultry, smooth character of a smoothie that blends with the bold fruit and acidic character of a sour ale.
Neoteric West Coast DIPA – Collaboration with Cooperage Brewing Company
SLBC’s collaboration with Cooperage Brewing Company based in Santa Rosa came about through mutual friends at each brewery.
“We developed a long-distance friendship with Cooperage. We wanted to reach out of our normal region and work with another brewery that is doing really cool things,” Chris said.
SLBC did a digital collaboration with Cooperage where brewers met over Zoom, decided what to brew, and put together the recipe.
The resulting Neoteric West Coast Double IPA is hop infused with Mosaic, HBC 586, Talus, Strata, and Chinook hops using Incognito, Spectrum, Cryo, and T-90 hop products. This blend of modern hops and hop products used throughout the brewing process accentuates the hop aromatics and flavors of the beer.
Dry-Hopped Kölsch
Having brewed a few Kölsch beers in the past, SLBC is no stranger to this style of German beer. However, the team wanted to mix things up by dry-hopping it, something not traditionally part of the Kölsch brewing process.
“We’ve played with a regular Kölsch before and have learned so much since then in our brewing techniques and styles. We thought it would be fun to bring it back using our new knowledge to make something new for us,” Chris said.
The result is a balanced and refreshing beer that’s light on ABV with a subtle hop character. This Kölsch was brewed with heirloom pilsner malt and dry-hopped with German Hallertau Mittelfrüh and Callista hops which are more nuanced and subtle in their flavors than American hops.
Double Fog Nozzle
If you’re a true fan of SLBC beers, there is no doubt that you’ve come across Fog Nozzle at some point in your craft beverage consumption. This Hazy IPA has become SLBC’s most recognizable beer and features bold flavors while being hoppy, well-balanced, drinkable, and refreshing.
Fog Nozzle started as a beer brewed in support of local firefighters and has made a name for itself in the Tahoe community and beyond. In fact, Fog Nozzle now makes up over 30% of the beer produced by SLBC!
“Fog Nozzle has made us what we are. We brewed it once and people kept asking for it so we brought it back. We’ve continued to brew and perfect it. There are some brewing styles that are very true to SLBC found in that beer,” Chris said.
Creating a double version of this flagship beer has been a goal of SLBC’s brewing team for quite some time. This Double Fog Nozzle Hazy IPA features all the same ingredients and hops as the original version including Mosaic, Ekuanot, Azacca, and Simcoe hops. The major differences are the boldness and more intense flavors in this version.
Get the Beers
You can score the five anniversary beers first in SLBC’s Anniversary Box available for pre-sale through Thursday, May 26th! Each box costs $45 and includes five cans and one commemorative 5th anniversary glass.
Boxes will be available for pick up and shipping on Friday, May 27th starting at 5 PM. Box sales will close on Thursday, May 26th at midnight.
All five beers will also be available on tap and in 4-packs to-go released during SLBC’s 5th anniversary party on Saturday, May 28th.
5th Anniversary Celebration
We’ll be celebrating our 5th anniversary all Memorial Day weekend with the main festivities happening on Saturday, May 28th!
The celebration starts at 11 AM and continues all day with the release of the five anniversary beers, live music from Dutch Carson and the Bison Bluegrass Band, food from Get Rad Pizza and Betty's Balls Tapas & Catering, specialty merchandise for sale, and more.
On Sunday, May 29th, the party will continue with band CB Radio playing from 4-7 PM, food from Betty’s Balls Tapas & Catering, and all the anniversary beers on tap.
Check out our events calendar for details.
