Art of the Brew

San Diego artist Nan Coffey’ says her work is “heavily influenced by beer and music.” So it makes sense that the venue for her latest exhibit, “Let’s Go!,” is Fall Brewing, 4542 30 St., San Diego.

The show will open Friday at 5 p.m., with the festivities doubling as a coming-out party for Goo Goo Muck, a new Fall canned beer with a label created by Coffey. For the artist, this is a return to her ale-soaked roots.

“I worked in a brewery when I was younger, for about eight years,” she said, while putting some finishing touches on canvases meant for the show. “I have a long history with beer, including a brother who’s been a brewer for 30 years.”

Her whimsical, comic book-like canvases will cover Fall’s walls. “I couldn’t even tell you how many pieces there will be — 50?” she said.


Other questions yielded more definite answers. Yes, she expects Fall to play the punk and ska recordings Coffey relishes: “They always have music playing there, and we have similar tastes.”

No, she has not yet sampled the current batch of Goo Goo Muck.

Yes, she’s thrilled that her art will adorn the Mucky four-packs. “This is the first time they’ve ever canned it,” she said, “which is rad.”

Coffey’s art will be on display at Fall through the month. The beer will be available until supplies run dry.


Kombucha: Do You Kare?

Forrest Dein and Greg Serrao will host a soft opening party Friday of their hard kombucha tasting room, JuneShine. While it occupies San Diego Brewing’s abandoned North Park tasting room, 3052 El Cajon Blvd., this place has no other link to beer.

OK, so why should beer fans kare about kombucha?

I gave Dein and Serrao 60 seconds to answer. Go!

SERRAO: We see our product as a gluten-free, organic, healthy drink for those who want an alternative to beer.


ME: What?

DEIN: Kombucha is essentially a super tea. You have all the benefits of the normal tea. When you ferment the tea, additional vitamin offsets and probiotic offsets are created.

ME: Alternative?

DEIN: The brewery will have 10 flavors on tap at any one time. Hard kombucha, 6 percent alcohol by volume…


ME: To beer?

SERRAO: We’ll have 16-ounce cans in Seaside Market in Encinitas by June 11. We plan to be widespread throughout San Diego County. We’ll start distributing two flavors, blood orange mint and the second is a honey ginger lemon.

ME: We’re outta time. Thanks for calling!

Kings of Beer (Not)

There’s an appealing simplicity to Strand Brewing Co.’s cans, all of which feature a sketch of a lifeguard tower. It’s a pleasing, nostalgic image for someone who grew up in a beach town, as I did.


On cans of Orange Wheat Harvest Ball (4.8 percent alcohol by content), a large orange round floats over the shoreline scene, which seems out of place. I should have taken heed — this beer is not this week’s King, as the ingredients are muddled and flavors muted. Malted wheat softens the body, while this-side-of-prosecco carbonation supplies a welcome lift. Hints of bitter orange peel emerge at the finish, as does a curdled milk lactic sourness.

Worse, the beer tasted stale. With so many superior orange wheat beers available — Hangar 24 Orange Wheat, for instance, and Coronado’s Orange Avenue Wit — I can’t imagine ordering this again. Turns out, you can’t drink nostalgia.

Best of the Week, Local

I’m a fan of Council Brewing and anniversaries, so let’s note the Miramar outfit is celebrating its fourth — that’s the California ale yeast anniversary — Saturday at the tasting room, 7705 Convoy Court, San Diego.

The VIP session, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., features vintage barrel-aged sours, a souvenir tasting glass, a 750-ml bottle of the anniversary beer (an imperial sour brown ale aged in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels with Balaton cherries) and as many as 12 four-ounce pours of draft beers. VIP tickets, $75, are sold at the tasting room and councilbrew.com.


The rest of the day, 12:30 to 10 p.m., visitors are welcome to wander in free of charge and buy a beer or two.

Words to Drink By

“… the natives of north-eastern Africa catch the wild baboons by exposing vessels with strong beer, by which they are made drunk… On the following morning, they were very cross and dismal; they held their aching heads with both hands and wore a most pitiable expression; when beer or wine was offered them, they turned away with disgust, but relished the juice of lemons.” — Charles Darwin, “The Descent of Man” (1871).


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Twitter: @peterroweut

peter.rowe@sduniontribune.com