Lately, the world has felt joyless. Even the weekends, which once offered a reprieve from the obligation of work, feel bland and gray when you’re stuck at home all the time. Saturday gives way to Sunday, and time melts into hours of couch-sitting, Instagram-scrolling, beer-drinking, and the occasional debate on what to eat for lunch. I long for a trip away from the mundane cycle my life has become.

Against this backdrop, reading Beth Demmon’s latest piece on Good Beer Hunting, “Riding the Party Wave — Pizza Port Brewing Company’s Swami’s IPA,” felt like the rare vacation from day-to-day life. It invites the reader to the sunny shores of San Diego, where Beth poses—and then answers—the question: What is the most San Diego beer? In the article, she makes a compelling case for Swami’s, a West Coast IPA created by Pizza Port Brewing Company in 1992.

Through interviews with legends in the California craft beer scene, Beth shows us how the legacy of Swami’s IPA still influences the beers we drink today—even if we’ve never personally traveled to San Diego. The article feels light and refreshing, offering a break from the heaviness of this moment in time.

In our conversation, Beth and I talk about why she posed this question in the first place, how she settled on Swami’s as the beer that best encompasses San Diego, and why it’s not Stone IPA. Throughout this interview, you’ll hear Beth express her love for San Diego—her adopted home—and her joy as she looks back on the many memories she’s had at Pizza Port Brewing Company over the years.

Grape Therapy: Annaliese Puccini