Grapefruit Volcan IPA Doubles Down: Extra Chinook, Real Fruit

Nickel took its standard West Coast IPA, added more Chinook to the dry hop, then zested and juiced local Oro Blanco grapefruit into it. Two sources of citrus, pulling in slightly different directions.

• Style: West Coast IPA
• Release Date: 2026-09-04
• ABV: N/A
• Nickel Beer Company (Julian, CA)

Nickel Beer Company already had a West Coast IPA called Volcan. This is that beer with the citrus turned up from two directions at once.

The Julian brewery has tapped Grapefruit Volcan, a variant of its regular Volcan IPA built on two changes. The first is a little extra Chinook in the dry hop. The second is fresh Oro Blanco grapefruit from Heritage Family Farms, both zested and juiced into the beer. Owner and brewer Tom Nickel says the combination gives it a massive citrus burst in flavor and aroma, and describes the result as super drinkable, with a taste straight out of the orchard.

Chinook is a pointed choice for a beer like this. Among American hops it is the one most associated with grapefruit pith and rind, alongside a resinous pine character, so adding more of it does not introduce a new flavor so much as reinforce the one the fruit is bringing. What arrives from the hop is the bitter, oily side of grapefruit. What arrives from the fruit is the sweet, juicy side.

Using both the zest and the juice matters for the same reason. Citrus aroma lives in the oil in the peel, while the juice carries the sugar and the acid. Adding one without the other tends to give you a beer that smells like grapefruit and does not taste like it, or the reverse.

The varietal choice is the quiet detail. Oro Blanco is a pomelo and grapefruit hybrid grown for being notably sweeter and less bitter than a standard grapefruit. That supports the brewery's claim that you do not have to love grapefruit to love this beer, which would be a harder sell with a sharper piece of fruit.

Nickel credits the idea to the success of its Blood Orange IPAs, making this the second fruit the brewery has run through a hop bill that was already leaning that way. It is on tap now in Julian.