From the Beer Writer: In a two-year span that’s seen dozens of breweries flood into the San Diego scene, few have come on with as much instant and sustained fanfare as Fall Brewing Company. Some point to it being in North Park, where pretty much everything is cool and there’s a built-in staunchly locavorian clientele. Others point to the fact it is run by a long-term veteran of the Southern California brewing industry. Knowing how many, myself included, travel from other neighborhoods throughout the county to visit Fall’s tasting room, and armed with the knowledge that few really know all that much about the people making their beer, I would contest that the reason for Fall’s long-term popularity has nothing to do with its geography or origin-story. I think it’s all about the beer, which is consistently solid, stylistically sound and, above all, drinkable. It all goes down easy while satisfying one’s taste-buds. Case in point, Fall Plenty For All, a beer crafted to be part Pilsner and part California Common (or “steam beer”, as the style was more commonly known before Anchor Brewing Company trademarked the term). It was the first beer I had when visiting Fall shortly after it opened in 2014. Fast-forward to a week ago, and it was the first bottled-beer I tasted from the company, which just started putting out six-packs of this 4.9% alcohol-by-volume thirst-quencher. In addition to being light yet flavorful, with pleasantly grainy yet clean mid-palate appeal followed by dagger-like dryness in the finish. And a combo Pilsner and Cali-Common seems perfect for Oktoberfest season (happening now) in California.
From the Brewer: “Plenty For All has become my go-to beer at Fall. To me, it’s everything that the big industrial brewers claim their lagers are–crisp, clean, refreshing, wards off voodoo curses, etc. Plenty For All is a blend of a few different styles. First, we use the finest Pilsner malt available in order to impart a pleasant honey and graham-cracker undertone, similar to a Czech-style Pilsner. Then, we blend a variety of Noble hops in order to provide a firm hop bitterness and aroma landing somewhere between what you would expect from a German and Czech Pilsner. We ferment the beer similarly to a California Common in order to allow the yeast to impart it’s subtle fingerprint on the flavor profile, and then we spund (cap) the tank towards the end of fermentation in order to develop most of the carbonation naturally. The end result is a Pilsner that is uniquely ours. We hope you like it.”–Ramon Astamendi, President & Brewmaster, Fall Brewing Company
