• Zeke Ottemiller
• On October 7, 2024

Moving from San Diego to a small coastal town in Delaware was not as hard as one might imagine. Arriving to the East Coast in mid-January, I immediately missed the nearly perfect weather, but have now embraced seasonality and the beauty of change. When I find myself longing for SoCal, it’s not the sunshine, the surf or the endless summer that I am missing, it’s the beer. That is until Dewey Beer Co. released Sun Camp, a 6% West Coast IPA I now turn to when I’m California dreamin’.

The hoppy, clean bitterness found at so many award-winning breweries in San Diego was nearly impossible to find in my new neck of the woods. Many of the craft breweries of the Mid-Atlantic churn out heavily fruited sour ales and hazy IPAs galore. Dewey Beer Co. is no stranger to the styles mentioned prior, with top sellers like Swishy Pants, their flagship IPA, and Secret Machine, a rotating fruited-sour smoothie style beer. These beers excited me upon arrival, and certainly go down easy, but Sun Camp is what keeps me coming back.

 

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The Juicy Details

Jon Schorah, Head Brewer at Dewey Beer Co., moved back east after living (and brewing) in Colorado and San Diego and missed having clean, well-balanced IPAs. A tale as old as time. With Dewey’s reputation for producing spectacular hazies, Schorah wanted to combine his love for the crisp bitterness of the West Coast and the juicy fruit-forward NEIPAs, and thus Sun Camp was born.

“We use Mosaic and Strata in our dry hop, which are both great multi-use hops, and we top that with Columbus Cryo for a nice kick of dankness,” he shared. Schorah adds that Sun Camp is “not quite as strong of a punch in the mouth as some of the classic West Coast IPAs, and not as juicy and hazy as our typical Dewey IPA, but a nice balance in between.” He likes to call it the “Hannah Montana of IPAs” because you get the best of both worlds!

Break It Down

Sun Camp is a sight. It pours an enticing gold and shines with mouth-watering clarity, a nice change of pace from the opaqueness that has dominated the world of IPA. The effervescence brings to life aromas of tropical fruit and a touch of blueberry. It’s dry and balanced, a nice blend of hop fruitiness and hop bitterness. Pair it with a fish taco, or perhaps a pepperoni pizza, which conveniently can be found next door to Dewey’s Harbeson, Delaware location at Pizza Machine. 

Where can one secure a Sun Camp? Pop into their OG location in Dewey Beach, DE, which was recently named the best brewpub in America by USA Today. A hop, skip, and a jump up the road lands you at their production brewery and tap room in Harbeson. Here you can try Sun Camp from the source. They also opened a new taproom in Colorado of all places. Next time you’re in Denver, find your way to the RiNo District and give ‘em a try. Dewey Beer Co. is distributed in Colorado, Delaware, DC, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Check out their Beer Finder online and soak up the sun!

Feature image by Dewey Beer Co.