Humble Sea (2021)

From the SF Gate article posted above:

They’re also poised to open not one, but two taprooms: one in Pacifica right next to the beachfront Taco Bell Cantina, and a second in Felton, Calif., a Santa Cruz mountain town that’s also home to the Bigfoot Discovery Museum.

So looks like a THIRD location as well in Felton.

 

Thanks, I saw that but I thought that Taco Bell takes up the entire building, so didn't know where Humble Sea would fit into that.

 

Love that Taco Bell ... nothing like a bean and cheese burrito with an oceanfront view

 

They released their 4th Anniversary Beers this morning. All are collabs with other breweries and called "HS4" (except their Great Notion collab, which is called "Jammy Pops"):

HS4 with
Highland Park Brewery
(5.8%) Decocted West Coast Pils hopped with Citra, Cashmere & Centennial
HS4 with
Beachwood Brewing
(7.2%) DDH West Coast IPA double dry hopped with Strata, Mosaic, & Chinook
HS4 with
Cloudburst Brewing
(7%) Pacifica Northwest Foggy IPA with Citra, Chinook & Nelson
HS4 with
Equilibrium Brewery
(8.6%) DDH Hop Fused Foggy DIPA double dry hopped and fused with Citra & Motueka
Jammy Pops! with
Great Notion Brewing
(8%) Superfood Smoothie Series gushing with Blackberry, Boysenberry, Blueberry, and vanilla
HS4 with
Other Half Brewing Company
(11%) Imperial Stout conditioned on sea salt, coconut, hazelnut, and cacao nibs (bottle)

They had a mixed box of all 6 which sold out pretty quickly. The first five were also available separately as 4-packs (they originally said the Pils would be mixed pack only, although it showed up later but sold out.) The Imperial Stout bottles weren't available separately though crowlers were available for local delivery but sold out quickly. The Jammy Pops actually took about half an hour to sell out (which was a lot longer than I expected, considering all their other Super Pops have sold out in ~1 min and I thought a Great Notion collab would have been just as quick to sell out.) As of now, the 3 IPAs are still available.

 

Taking over the former Devil’s Slide Taproom spot

 

Since the Devil's Slide taproom was only 15 mins from me, I wanted to love it. I didn't. *fingers crossed for Humble Sea!

 

Anyone try Boatloads of Nelson? One of the most crushable Nelson beers I ever had. Wish it was available all year round. I'd probably buy nothing else.

 

Picked up a few of the HS4 Anniversary collabs.

Started with the HS/Other Half - Double Decocted Eastern European Lager hopped with Styrian Dragon and Spalter Select

Solid for the style. Great to see a few more Lagers. Went down good after Hockey.

 

They added a few more HS4 collabs since the first announcement. The Other Half lager shown in atomicpunk’s nice picture is one of them. Here’s another:



Triple Black IPA with Riip brewing. At 10.2% it’s intense. In fact it was a bit too intense for the first few sips but then after awhile new layers kept on coming out. Pine, chocolate, some tropical fruit even. Glad I have 3 more of these.

Then there’s this goodie from the first HS4 release:


Being a collab between Humble Sea and Great Notion...this did not disappoint in any way shape or form. This is a very well balanced alcoholic fruit smoothie to the max, nice and thick and creamy and no burn. I think it’s what the Quadruple Berry Super Pops should have been (which to be honest, was the weakest of the Super Pops I’ve tried.)

This next one is not a HS4 release but it showed up as a crowler on Friday so I ordered it along with the Riip HS4 (and they arrived literally 2 hours later — my order must have been placed right before they left):


No exaggeration that Uhuru Means Freedom is one of the best beers I’ve ever had. A dark chocolate and walnut pastry stout, “rich,” “decadent,” and “dark chocolate” describe it better than “sweet” and the walnut makes it creamy with a subtle nutty essence.

I also did snag a crowler of the HS4 Other Half Imperial Stout but I’m going to wait to try that because I am still savoring UMF.

Humble Sea has been knocking it out of the park this year. I generally like what I’ve had by them before, but since they expanded their van delivery zone to San Jose, I’ve gotten a chance to try a lot more of their stuff and I’ve been impressed with every single one. I hope they can keep up the quality when they expand.

 

The Equilibrium hazy collab and Highland Park Pilsner collab are great as well

 

To add on to a few other of the HS4 collabs....

The Westcoast IPA with Beachwood was good. Almost a hybrid west coast as it was a bit unfiltered.

 

Foggy IPA with Cloudburst was solid also.

 

I think this one was my favorite of the HS4 beers I got to try. Collab with Equilibrium (New York), Double Foggy IPA. Citra and Motueka. Huge tropical juice. Super smooth. Dangerous for 8.6%.

 

Another same day delivery:



Kook, I am Your Fogger DDH DIPA (8.3%). Pretty epic can art and great beer made with Vic Secret, Riwaka, and Rakau hops. It has the soft tropical notes from Vic Secret and some grape must flavor from the others. As it was released today, first sip was great but then it started tasting...green. Should settle in a week or two.



Just when I think the names can’t get any sillier, next up is Mrs. Troutfire DDH TIPA (10.5%) with Mosaic lupomax, Riwaka, and Vic Secret hops. Their TIPAs never disappoint. Two of the hops are the same as Kook above but it’s different enough as this one has a softer mouthfeel and the Mosaic makes this one more pungent.

Then we busted out this crowler from February:


A Wintry Blend Dark Farmhouse Ale (6.7%), oak aged for 3 years. Crowler is from Feb. it it held up just fine. This is the first saison/sour I’ve tried from them and I rather enjoyed it. It’s basically a sour winter warmer, tart but not overly sour, and crisp oak to round out the spices.

 

Prawn SOLO DDH Foggy IPA. Nelson hits you first, taste and smell. Diesel finish as well. Some Galaxy in the mix. Solid.



Bottom of can: Prawn shot first.....

 

Ace Ventuna West Coast IPA. Cashmere hops upfront. Some of that Lemon/Lime, then tropical.