We stand by our wordmark of Great Beer, No Exceptions
Our mission when we started Mike Hess Brewing was to craft beers across many styles, to make them with quality ingredients, and to make them well. As we enter our 11th year, we enjoy a reputation of making clean, thoughtful, properly balanced beers. Whether a gentle German-style Kolsch or full-flavored double rye IPA, we produce beers that live up to our wordmark: Great Beer, No Exceptions. We have won awards for almost every beer in our core lineup, and plenty of others as well—not by gaming the system, but by taking beers right off our production line and letting the chips fall where they may—and the awards have stacked up. Enjoy browsing through our portfolio of core beers, seasonals and one-offs. Better yet, join us at one of our world-class locations and try them for yourself!
Year round
Habitus
CANS & DRAFT / ABV 8.0%
4:59
CANS & DRAFT / ABV 4.59%
Solis
CANS & DRAFT / ABV 7.5%
Grapefruit Solis
CANS & DRAFT / ABV 7.5%
Claritas
CANS & DRAFT / ABV 5.8%
Into the Sunset
CANS & DRAFT / ABV 6.5%
Steel Beach
CANS & DRAFT / ABV 4.5%
Hop Cloud
CANS & DRAFT / ABV 7.0%
Umbrix
DRAFT / ABV 10.2%
My Other Vice
DRAFT / ABV 3.5%
Seasonal
Mandatory Fun
DRAFT / ABV 9.3%
Summer Haze
DRAFT / ABV 8.0%
Oktoberhess
DRAFT / ABV 5.6%
Ficus
DRAFT / ABV 8.5%
Limited Release
8 West
DRAFT / ABV 4.8%
Deceptio
DRAFT / ABV 7.4%
Grazias
DRAFT / ABV 6.3%
Infinity +1
DRAFT / ABV 12.3%
Habitus
DOUBLE IPA
ABV 8% | IBU 100 | PLATO 17°
Habitus, winner of the 2014 World Beer Cup℠ in the Rye category, is a spicy, crisp, and extremely drinkable double IPA. We use loads of Sterling and Chinook hops in the kettle and hopback (and even more during the dry hop) for intense pine aromatics accentuated by a rye and 2-row malt base for a truly great IPA experience.
4:59
LITTLE IPA
ABV 4.59% | IBU 60 | PLATO 11.5°
Why wait until 5 o’clock? Our 4:59 “little” IPA packs the flavor and aroma of a “bigger” IPA into a crushable session beer. Hop-bursting techniques give 4:59 a citrusy, delicious bitterness that dominates its sweet barley malt. Drink confidently without sacrificing the IPA flavor you love.
SOLIS
DYNAMIC IPA
ABV 7.5% | IBU 65-80 | PLATO 15.7°
Like a new sunset every evening, each batch of Solis is unique—a new and interesting combination of malt and hops. This bone-dry, hop-forward, dynamic San Diego-style IPA allows us to stay creative and keep your mouth watering.
grapefruit SOLIS
IPA WITH GRAPEFRUIT
ABV 7.5% | IBU 80 | PLATO 16.5°
Grapefruit Solis kicks it up a notch by taking an awesome San Diego–style IPA and pumping it full of citrusy grapefruit—we’re talking real fruit, zest and juice. The hops complement the zestiness, and the subtle malt makes this an award-winning, crisp, and deliciously refreshing India pale ale.
claritas
KOLSCH
ABV 5.8% | IBU 28 | PLATO 12.8°
Claritas is our 2016 World Beer Cup–winning Kölsch ale. This refreshingly smooth, authentically German beer is light straw in color, infused with light fruit and bready aromatics from the German Pilsner malt, hops, and yeast. The result is a smooth and dry ale with a refreshingly clean finish.
into the sunset
BLOOD ORANGE IPA
ABV 6.5% | IBU 80 | PLATO 15.5°
Into the Sunset showcases the skills of our brewers, combining malt, hops and real blood oranges into a true San Diego-style IPA. Originally commissioned for the San Diego County Fair, we loved it so much that we had to put this sunset into a bottle. This refreshing IPA is a riff on our Solis series, originally as award-winning Batch #42.
STEEL BEACH
AMERICAN CRAFT LAGER
ABV 4.5% | IBU 21 | PLATO 10.5°
Steel Beach is a crisp, light-bodied, and refreshing lager named for the legendary Uncle Sam–sponsored beer-days aboard Navy vessels. Steel Beach is what a craft lager is all about: Pilsner malt, American hops, and lager yeast; best enjoyed at the end of a long shift or a well-deserved day off.
HOP CLOUD
HAZY IPA
ABV 7% | IBU 80 | PLATO 15.5°
Hop Cloud, the first of our Hazy IPAs, starts with a classic malt riff of 2-row, oats, wheat, then we rain down furious gobs of late-addition hops. The result is an unfiltered pineapple, mango, and citrus hop-tacular, with almost no percieved bitterness. It’s a party for your senses-tongues and noses rejoice!
umbrix
IMPERIAL STOUT
ABV 10.2% | IBU 75 | PLATO 22.5°
Formerly Ex Umbris, Umbrix is rich, deep, and intensely complex. The roasted malts give this ale flavors of coffee, chocolate and toffee, while the rye malt and generous hopping rate result in light spiciness. Always smooth, always creamy, always great. Seven different malts, three American kettle-hop additions.
my other vice
BERLINER WEISSE
ABV 3.5% | IBU 10 | PLATO 8.8°
A style dating back over 500 years, My Other Vice is a slightly sour white (wheat) beer, at the same time both tart and refreshing, with a clean, lactic tang. The low alcohol level coupled with the surprisingly crisp taste makes this beer a vice worth having.
mandatory fun
DOUBLE IPA
ABV 9.3% | IBU 80 | PLATO 18.8°
This one has all-the-hops. Mandatory Fun is a throw back all the way to the early part of this decade, when IPAs were hoppy and beer drinkers both rejoiced and marveled at brewer’s ability to get so much flavor from those little green buds. Dry and delicious, and yet big and bold. This is a double IPA not afraid of a good time. It’s Mandatory Fun.
summer haze
DOUBLE HAZY IPA
ABV 8% | IBU 50 | PLATO 18.5°
The East coast has humidity, the midwest has tornadoes and summers in SoCal have haze. So. Much. Haze. And we’ve embraced it with a new double hazy IPA that celebrates Summer Haze featuring a grain bill stacked up heavy with all the wheats and oats to keep it light and fluffy. For the hops, we packed in Amarillo, Sabro and a brand new strain called “Strata”, developed by Oregon State University and Indie Hop Farm to be “Tropical and Danky”. It has flavors of papaya, stone fruit, mango and resin with a fluffy mouthfeel. This limited-time beer may burn off quickly, so get yours soon.
OKTOBERHESS
MARZEN
ABV 5.6% | IBU 29 | PLATO 14°
Traditional Oktoberfest Marzen beer with a copper-orange hue. Showcasing a full bodied malt profile, with light roasty notes, just a hint of hops and a clean, dry finish. Cold fermented, this true lager takes twice as long to produce as an ale beer.
FICUS
DARK FIG SAISON
ABV 8.3% | IBU 36 | PLATO 18.8°
A dark Belgian farmhouse ale brewed with organic, locally grown brown turtle figs. This beer has a classic Belgian, estery profile from the use of an authentic yeast strain. With over 10 pounds of figs per barrel, this beer has strong aromas of dark sugar, figs, dates and molasses.
8 west
ORANGE HONEY WHEAT
ABV 4.8% | IBU 24 | PLATO 11.2°
Named for the highway to the sun-kissed Pacific shores of San Diego, 8 West is brewed with local orange peel and more than two pounds per barrel of pure California Orange Blossom honey, resulting in a smooth, crisp taste that embodies America’s Finest City.
deceptio
IMPERIAL BLACK IPA
ABV 7.4% | IBU 99 | PLATO 18.5°
Imperial Black IPA, loaded with hops and malts. Incredibly drinkable for its ABV. The aroma is a flood of resinous hops, citrus and pine, followed by the sweet scent of roast malts. It has won the Bronze medal, 2015 San Diego International Beer Competition.
grazias
VIENNA CREAM ALE
ABV 6.3% | IBU 30 | PLATO 14°
Grazias is a twist on the old-world classic Vienna style, malty and perfectly balanced with German “noble” hops. It has a creamy, smooth texture; a deep amber color from the malt; and flavors of chocolate, vanilla, and light toast, which play off the German hops for a sublime result.
INFINITY +1
TRIPLE IPA
ABV 12.3% | IBU 100+ | PLATO 25°
Our Triple IPA, Infinity +1, pours straw in color, with a white head. An amazing sensory assault from start to finish, with massive hop aroma and a clean bittering to finish dry. This is a really big beer, with taste all the way to infinity…plus one.
