Green Flash Brewing Company is an American

craft brewery Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...

headquartered in the Mira Mesa neighborhood of

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, California, and founded in 2002. In early April 2018, the company sold to a group of investors, WC IPA LLC following a foreclosure by the company’s principal lender, Comerica Bank. Starting in 2013 it began expanding, seeking to cover all 50 US states and to export as well. It acquired another company, Alpine Beer Company, in 2014, and opened an East Coast brewery in 2016. However it financed the expansion with loans, and in the face of competition from local craft breweries it was not able to keep up with its payments. The company tried to shrink to control its costs but by April 2018 its lender foreclosed, and the company was sold to a private investor group. In January 2022 Green Flash was acquired by

Tilray Tilray Brands, Inc. is an American pharmaceutical, cannabis-lifestyle and consumer packaged goods company, incorporated in the United States, headquartered in New York City. Tilray also has operations in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin ...

History

Green Flash was founded in 2002 by Mike and Lisa Hinkley. Chuck Silva was brought on as brewmaster in 2004. During his 11-year tenure, Silva created a number of beers, including the West Coast IPA in 2005 and Le Freak in 2006. He left in September 2015 to open his own brewery Silva Brewing, and Erik Jensen was promoted from head brewer to brewmaster. In June 2011, Green Flash moved from its original brewery in

Vista, California Vista (; Spanish language, Spanish for "view") is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. It is a medium-sized city within the San Diego-Carlsbad metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, V ...

, to its new 44,000 square-foot brewing facility in San Diego's Mira Mesa neighborhood. In March 2013, Green Flash announced that it would open a second brewery in

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the most populous city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeastern Virginia. It is the sixth-most populous city in the ...

, with a capacity of 100,000 barrels per year, which would make it the third-largest brewery in Virginia.Greg Kitsock
"Green Flash announces East Coast brewery in Virginia Beach,"
''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', March 14, 2013. It took out a $20 million loan in order to build it. In July 2014, Green Flash partnered with Belgium-based St. Feuillien Brewery to brew and sell the West Coast IPA in Europe, making Green Flash the first American craft brewery to brew, bottle and distribute its IPA throughout Europe. In November 2014, Green Flash acquired Alpine Beer Company, with Alpine co-founders Pat and Val McIlhenney retaining control of their brews. Green Flash had been producing kegs of Alpine's Hoppy Birthday, Nelson and Duet starting in 2013, enabling Alpine to double its output to 3,000 barrels a year. The acquisition allowed Alpine to increase production and expand nationally, beyond California, beginning in late 2015. By the end of 2014 its beer was sold in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Singapore and Europe.Peter Rowe
"Green Flash acquires Alpine,"
''

San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'', November 10, 2014. In 2015, Green Flash opened Cellar 3, a facility and tasting room featuring barrel-aged and bottle-conditioned beers, located in

Poway, California Poway () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Poway's rural roots influenced its motto "The City in the Country". The city had a population of 48,841 as of the 2020 United States census. Poway is part of San Diego's East ...

. By March 2016 it was the 37th largest brewery in the United States by sales volume. The Virginia Beach brewery opened in November 2016, and doubled Green Flash's nationwide supply of beer, and helped move the beer to the East Coast market more efficiently. It produced the same beers and had the same equipment as the company's San Diego brewery."Green Flash to Open Memorial Day Weekend in VA Beach,"
''Veer Magazine'', January 15, 2016. In January 2018, in the face of competition from other craft breweries, the company withdrew distribution from 32 states and cut 15% of its employees. In February 2018 it was looking for financing to restructure its debt. At the end of March 2018 it closed Cellar 3, put its Virginia Beach brewery up for sale, and stopped distributing in 10 more states. In early April, the company said that its main lender, Comerica Bank, had foreclosed on a defaulted $20 million loan and had sold the company to a group of private investors, which intended to bring in new management. In June 2018, the brewery opened Green Flash Brewhouse & Eatery in

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The city covers and had a population of 291,082 as of the 2020 census. It is the state's List of cities in Nebraska, second-most populous city a ...

, across from the

University of Nebraska A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

campus. The brewpub ceased operations in fall 2019.

Products

From its inception, Green Flash has specialized in

IPA IPA commonly refers to: * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation ** International Phonetic Association, the organization behind the alphabet * India pale ale, a style of beer * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA ...

s, building its reputation on aggressively flavored, innovative, highly hopped, high abv and high IBU beers, such as West Coast IPA, Palate Wrecker Hamilton’s Ale, and Le Freak. In January 2016, Green Flash announced the national release of several new beers, including Passion Fruit Kicker (an American wheat ale with passion fruit), Cosmic Ristretto Baltic Porter with Espresso, and Tangerine Soul Style, an IPA with tangerine juice. On May 6, 2016, Green Flash announced the national and year-round launch of three beers sold in cans: Jibe Session IPA, Passion Fruit Kicker and Sea to Sea Zwickel Lager. Green Flash have won a number of product awards, including one of the gold awards for beer style at the 2008

World Beer Cup The World Beer Cup is an international beer competition organized by the Brewers Association, a trade group A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organizatio ...

, and at the 2011 and 2015

Great American Beer Festival The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is an annual beer festival hosted by the Brewers Association, held in Denver, Colorado. Typically held in late September or early October, the event is currently held at Denver's Colorado Convention Cente ...

Treasure Chest program

In 2011, Lisa Hinkely, a breast cancer survivor, launched Green Flash's Treasure Chest program. Each year, the annual charity event includes a new limited-release beer to raise money for local and national breast cancer-related charities. The program begins with an annual festival, Treasure Chest Fest, at the Mira Mesa location. Through 2015, it has raised over $220,000 for various regional breast cancer charities."Green Flash Brewing to Release 2016 'Treasure Chest' IPA to Support Breast Cancer,"
Brewbound, July 15, 2016. Green Flash has also been holding Treasure Chest Fests in Virginia Beach since 2014, as construction of the brewery there began. The 2016 event was specifically set to celebrate the new brewery's grand opening.

History

Products

Treasure Chest program

See also