Green Flash Brewing Company

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, 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, with a capacity of 100,000 barrels per year, which would make it the third-largest brewery in Virginia. 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. By the end of 2014 its beer was sold in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Singapore and Europe. In 2015, Green Flash opened Cellar 3, a facility and tasting room featuring barrel-aged and bottle-conditioned beers, located in Poway, California. 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. In February 2018 it was looking for financing to restructure its debt. In June 2018, the brewery opened Green Flash Brewhouse & Eatery in Lincoln, Nebraska, across from the University of Nebraska campus. The brewpub ceased operations in fall 2019. ==Products==

From its inception, Green Flash has specialized in IPAs, 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, and at the 2011 and 2015 Great American Beer Festival. ==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 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. ==See also==