Whenever a keg of one of Alpine Brewing’s hoppy IPAs made it to Los Angeles from San Diego, or when bottles landed at a restaurant or bottle shop, news would spread like wildfire across social media. If you’re plugged into the beer-geek social networks, then you’ve probably seen many more Instagrams of Alpine’s previously scarce Nelson IPA recently, and it looks like this trend is going to continue. The cult-favorite brewery has long struggled to meet demand for its most famous brews, and it’s finally found a solution thanks to help from another San Diego Brewery. And that means more of its beer in the Los Angeles area.

Rapidly expanding Green Flash Brewing has partnered with Alpine’s Patrick McIlhenney to help get more Alpine beer into the marketplace. The large Greenflash production facility will brew a nearly 8,000-gallon batch of Alpine beer -- under McIlhenney’s supervision -- every month, rotating between Alpine’s three most popular brews.

The golden rye IPA Nelson (with a 99-point score from Beer Advocate), featuring the fruity and vinous Nelson Sauvin hops, was the first of the Green Flash-brewed batches to hit the street, and kegs have been tapped across Los Angeles and Orange County this week.

May will see the renowned Duet IPA (owner of a 98-point score from Beer Advocate) hit Alpine’s new distribution partners, and in June, the perfect 100-scored Hoppy Birthday will be released before the cycle begins again with Nelson in July.


Prior to the agreement with Green Flash, Alpine took care of the distribution of its brews itself -- one reason the remote brewery’s taproom was often the best place to find the beer. The brewery has signed new deals with a handful of distributors that will handle Alpine’s brews from San Diego to Northern California. In Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties, Pasadena’s Artisan Ales will be trucking kegs of the sought-after IPAs to your favorite craft beer spots.

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