The origin story of the West Coast pilsner shares a common outcome with the Arnold Palmer: Two liquids, delicious on their own, create something equally dazzling in tandem.
The year is 2016, the city is Los Angeles, and Highland Park brewers Bob Kunz and Tim McDonnell need to fill a specialty cask of beer. They survey their available tanks: In one, a West Coast IPA; in the other, the brewery’s house beer, Refresh Pilsner. The pair decide to combine the two at a 50/50 ratio. The result: a beer with the hop character of a West Coast IPA and the easy drinkability of a pilsner. It electrifies them both.
“The cask was ripping,” Kunz says. “We were like: We need to turn this into a beer.”