We originally brewed Kowabonga to celebrate our love for a great modern west coast ipa. Highlighting our favorite hops with a medium bodied malt bill, Kowabonga is designed to be the highlight of any big day. Big flavors, big bitterness, and massively enjoyable.

The name kowabonga not only calls back to west-coast surf culture, but is also a tribute to co-founder Eric Kean’s family history. Edward Kean Sr, Eric’s grandfather wrote the music and scripts for the Howdy Doody show on NBC from 1947 to 1960. During that time he coined the word “Kowabonga!” as a war cry for Chief Thunderthud. Over the years the word was adopted (and respelled) as “cowabunga!” by california surf culture, and later Cookie Monster on Sesame Street and ultimately its most notable uses in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Simpsons.

Our beer features the original spelling of the word as written on scripts for the Howdy Doody Show, and the label artwork connects the dots between Howdy Doody and the west coast surf culture and its towns that ultimately gave birth to the West Coast IPA.