Strand Brewing - 24th Street Pale Ale (aka Pot Beer)

While dinnering at one of my favorite beachside burger joints, and lamenting the fact that no one aside from me enjoyed their lychee beer on tap (a strange brew akin to a packet of sour patch kids being dumped in a vat of pilsner) I came across what I could only assume was a local brewery. Strand 24th Street Pale Ale. Intrigued and always wanting to help out socali businesses, I asked the waitress for her opinion. She assured me of it's nice grapefruit undertones and refreshingly crisp flavor, and moments later I was rewarded with one of the most interesting beer experiences of my life. ratebeer.com did a pretty good job of summarizing my thoughts...

Dark gold-orange in color with good lacing. Aroma is grassy, herbal, a bit of lime. Palate is very dry and light, keeps you coming back for additional sips. Flavor starts with aggressive grassy hops, grapefruit, minerals. Flavors fades into a pretty firm, clean bitterness. Great with food, and a good first offering from these folks.

"grassy, herbal" which equates to, this beer totally smelled & tasted like pot! Not being a stoner in the slightest, I can't say with utmost certainty that the flavors were the exact same, but it was seriously close enough to give me pause. And who knows, the south bay is full of surfers and hippies, I wouldn't put it past them to ingeniously discover a way to meld substances.

After all they now make Alcoholic Whip Cream.