Lightning Brewery

Beers

At Lightning we brew “Better Beer Through Science.” We’ve proven that you don’t need to travel to Europe to enjoy a fine hand crafted European beer of this caliber!
-Jim Crute, Ph.D. (Biochemistry)

PREMIUM BEERS
Lightning Kölsch Style Ale
Elemental Pilsner
Thunderweizen Ale
American Amber Ale

SUPER-PREMIUM SEASONAL BEERS
Fulminator Lager (Early Spring Seasonal)
Ionizer Lager (Summer Seasonal)
Black Lightning Porter (Fall Seasonal)
Old Tempest Ale (Winter Seasonal)

BEER DESCRIPTIONS
Lightning Kölsch Style Ale (ABV 4.8%) A German Light Ale
One of the mainstays of the Lightning Brewery, is Lightning Kölsch style Ale. This is a lightly hopped malted barley and wheat beer typical of ales in and around the city of Cologne (Köln) in Germany. In fact, Kölsch beer is much like French champagnes in that there are 21 breweries that are part of an appellation able to call their beer “Kölsch” by law.

At the Lightning Brewery we make Lightning Kölsch style Ale in a way that respects the German appellation and their fine beers, while still clear on the fact that this is Kölsch beer much in the same way as “Kölschbier” in Germany. We use local untreated water, the finest available German pilsner and wheat malts, and traditional strains of German hops. Those ingredients coupled with our selected strain of Kölsch yeast and our traditional method of cool fermentation, natural carbonation, and lagering of Lightning Kölsch style Ale make for a beer as close as you can find to an original without having to travel to Cologne.

The process that Lightning uses in crafting our beers is painstakingly true to traditionally brewed varieties of European beers. In particular, our German style beers are the only commercially available beers made in San Diego County that would be called beer in Germany. These are beers made under the term of the German Purity Act of 1516 that only allows for four ingredients in beer: water, malted grain, hops and yeast. Since fermentation makes beer and carbon dioxide, we trap our gas in the fermentation to naturally carbonate our beers. In the beers that we filter, the pressure is maintained throughout the process, resulting in beer that has a creamier head, smaller bubbles, and a smoother flavor.

Elemental Pilsner (ABV 5.5%) A local fine German Pilsner
This is the Lightning Brewery’s take on a traditional lager beer. It is the element of the “Pilsner bier” that we try to capture in our beer: A pale smooth-drinking beer with hints of hop aromas and a crisp natural carbonation. We brew Elemental Pilsner with imported pilsner malt, German strains of hops and selected lager yeast. We further encourage a unique crafted beer “lagered aroma” by extensively aging the beer with the fermentation yeast prior to filtration.

Lagered beer has been brewed for nearly 500 years, where brewers found if they stored or aged the beer in caves or other cool environments before serving, the beer tastes better. The “lagering” or storing allows the residual yeast in the beer to remove many of the harsh and sharp tastes commonly associated with fresh or green beer. In the middle 1800’s a new beer was brewed in the City of Pilsen in what is now the Czech Republic. This beer made use of newly available pale malts, local water, mild hops and bottom-fermenting yeasts. This beer was called a Pilsner and quickly caught on across Europe. Many other breweries in Europe and Germany in particular, tried to emulate the initial work in Pilsen with variable degrees of success. With the introduction of modern refrigeration methods, the production of Pilsners became much more wide-spread. Now with a careful attention to detail in modern breweries it is possible to reproduce methods required for brewing world-class pilsners. We have done just this at Lightning, where our Elemental Pilsner is made from the finest imported “pilsnermalt,” local water, German strains of hops, and a selected strain of Pilsner lager yeast.

Lightning Elemental Pilsner is one of the only truly crafted German Pilsner’s commercially made in the Southwest US. It is one of the quartet of German-style Lightning beers that would qualify as beer in Germany, a rare feat for American beers. We use only imported premium “Pilsnermalt,” classic hops, a selected strain of pilsner lager years and local water. Our beer is naturally carbonated with a creamy white head and that special lagered aroma.

Thunderweizen Ale (ABV 5.0%) A Bavarian Hefeweizen
This is the Lightning take on a smooth and freshening German style unfiltered wheat beer. The name hefeweizen means literally yeast (hefe) and white (weizen) beer. To be called a hefeweizen in Germany, the grain bill must have at least 50% malted wheat. This makes the process harder, but also makes for a smooth-tasting beer. We use 60% white wheat malt in our hefeweizen with the balance of the grain bill from imported “pilsnermalt.” We further encourage our Thunderweizen Ale to have a thirst-quenching finish by adding an amount of our own naturally produced lactic acid, and then smooth the beer with low temperature fermentation and cold storage prior to release.

American Amber Ale (ABV 7.5%) An American version of a classic UK “Premium Bitters”
This is our American version of a UK “Premium Bitters.” Historically, UK Bitters have been ales made with local malt, moderate amounts of hops, lightly carbonated, and contained larger amounts of alcohol. Because of the balance of residual maltyness and hops, this beer is full-bodied yet very drinkable. Something that gents could put down a few of and still make it home to the Missus and kids with out too much trouble.

In some respects we have patterned the Lightning American Amber Ale after the classic Premium Bitters, but in other respects it is more malty, more bitter, higher in alcohol content, and at the same time smoother and more drinkable with a prolonged and enjoyable finish.

This beer has been made by the head brewer since his graduate school days with very few changes. If you think back to the early 80s when hair was big and beer was little, there was a need for something more enjoyable. Being fed up with the available beer styles and trying to save a buck, a recipe was developed that made an American version of classic UK Premium Bitters. Using literally buckets of hops from homegrown hop plants in the backyard and a well stocked homebrew shop, the resulting beer was big, malty, hoppy and enjoyable. You might even say like a “bitters” but bigger and better.

We have taken this beer one step further at the brewery by adapting the original recipe to make optimum use of our brewing and fermenting equipment. We include selected British malts in our recipe to bring out the beers’ hoppy character and carbonate naturally to smooth out any possible rough edges. We like to sat this beer is great at a backyard barbecue, but when served in a wine glass it can be enjoyed at any sit down dinner.

SEASONALS

Fulminator Lager (ABV 8.5%) A “Doppleweissbock.” (Spring Seasonal)
AKA “THE FULMINATOR.” Fulminator is a twist on the latin word for lightning and the German naming method, “-ator” for naming dopple-bock beers. This is a high gravity dobble-bock style lager, it has a hefty addition of wheat for even greater body.

An extra–strength strong lager beer made with a hefty dose of malted wheat. We make our dopple-bock with premium imported “pilsnermalt,” white wheat, and dark wheat. We also incorporate the traditional step of decocting or boiling up part of the mash to increase the fermentable sugar in the wort and the mouthfeel of fermented beer. After fermentation, we lager to smooth out rough tastes, naturally carbonate, filter under conditions that maintain carbonation, and package the beer.

We have found this is the smoothest 8.5% A.B.V. beer we have ever had. A real classic big German-style beer with just a hint of aromatic and bittering hops added to balance out its’ big malt character.

Ionizer Lager (ABV 8.3%) A Pre-Prohibition Premium American Lager (Late Spring / Early Summer Seasonal)
“THE IONIZER,” A combination of what happens after a lightning strike and the smoother taste and finish you expect from a Lightning lager beer.

This beer is a Pre-Prohibition-style American lager beer.  We use American malted barley and corn as an adjunct to provide extra fermentable sugars. A solid hopping regime is used through the brewing to balance the beer’s flavor profile, followed by fermenting with a clean strain of lager yeast. Post-Prohibition American Lager Beers as a group have gotten a bad name through the past 40 or 50 years due to a uniform lack of distinction that has now become associated with the style.

Taking this into account, we have now released the “Ionizer Lager.” This beer lies at the intersection of the art, history and science of beer making. As you might expect from a Lightning Beer, we made an American Lager that is unlike others. It is big, has a slight corn taste associated with the style, hefty hopping and a true laggered overall taste. For hops, we used American varieties and a selected strain of American Lager yeast for fermentation.

This is a big beer: around 8.3% A.B.V., with a slight aroma of hops, a moderate amount of bittering hops to balance the maltiness of the beer, and a clean fermentation from the yeast and temperatures we use through the process.

Black Lightning Porter: (ABV 8.5%) A Baltic Porter (Fall Seasonal)
We have created our Black Lightning Porter to have intensely rich malt aromas with strong notes of chocolate and coffee. This has been by the judicious blending of 9 different malts, the bulk of which are from classic UK maltsters. Even though many breweries will add coffee and cocoa extracts to produce these effects, we feel this cannot replace the subtleties experienced by using only malted and then roasted barleys.

Our Black Lighting Porter is further crafted with the generous amount of hops that it takes to balance the intense malt nature of this beer. Without this degree of hopping the beer might taste “sweet” from the residual sugar that remains after fermentation has completed.

Finally, Black Lightning Porter is fermented and aged under a sophisticated process with our house strain of British Ale yeast. This results in one of the handful of truly refined extreme porters available. After fermentation is complete, we extensively age and lager the beer further. This has allowed us to allow sediment to settle and clear from the beer without the use of clarifying agents or filtration that may strip out additional flavor components.

Old Tempest Ale: (ABV 9%) A UK Strong Ale (Winter Seasonal)
Old Tempest Ale is Lightning Brewery’s Winter Seasonal beer. This beer is a classic “Winter Warmer” or a beer that has an alcohol level that causes a “warming” feeling on sipping and drinking. This is an Old Ale or Strong Ale made in the tradition of UK brewers for centuries. We have used strictly “earthy” types of UK malted barley, UK strains of “grassy” flavoring and aroma hops, and our house strain of British Ale yeast in brewing and fermenting this beer. Also note the slight haze we have retained in the beer. That is because we avoid filtration, a process that can remove some of the complex flavors that make a big, malty beer more enjoyable. It is simply settled in the fermentation tank for months and then directly packaged for added flavor. Extensive aging is an investment for the Brewery in terms of tank space and at the same time an added value for enjoyment.

Please note the abv of this beer. This is a true sipping beer that will only improve with age. Enjoy this and all beverages containing alcohol responsibly.