Ten years ago, Firestone Walker opened a small pilot brewhouse in Venice called The Propagator. Every year since, the team has marked the anniversary with a new generation of IPA. Each one a snapshot of where craft beer was headed and what the brewery was learning. This year, for Gen-10, brewer Sam Tierney and the team made a decision that felt both bold and full circle: go back to where it all started.

We sat down with Sam to talk about the decade of Gens, what makes Gen-10 special, and why sometimes the most exciting move is to keep it simple.

Let’s start at the beginning. What was The Propagator when it opened, and what was Gen-1?

The Propagator was a chance for us to move faster. It’s a pilot brewhouse, so we could test ideas, try new things, and respond to what was happening in beer without waiting for a full production run. Gen-1 was the first original recipe we brewed on the new Kaspar Schulz system, right after we ran a batch of Wookey Jack to make sure everything was dialed in. It was a Mosaic and Citra IPA, unfiltered but not hazy, fruity and balanced. For 2016, it was right on the edge of where IPA was going.

And each year after that, you’ve brewed a new Gen to mark the anniversary. How do you decide what each generation is going to be?

It’s really just a reflection of what we’re obsessing over that year. Gens 2 and 3 were tweaks on the original idea. We bumped the ABV and pushed the concept a little further. Then Gens 4 and 5 went full hazy, because that’s where we were with Mind Haze and that whole paradigm. Gen-6 came back to West Coast and was our first collab Gen — we brought in El Segundo, who are right in the neighborhood. Gen-7 went into Cold Double IPA territory after all our Hopnosis work. Gen-8 was this massively dank West Coast collab with ISM Brewing. Gen-9 leaned into the American ale yeast profile we developed with Electric Eagle and started playing with flowable hop extracts.

So yeah, each one is a timestamp. If you’ve followed the series, you’ve basically watched craft IPA evolve in real time.

So what made you want to go back to the original Gen-1 strength for Gen-10?

Honestly, it felt right for a 10-year anniversary. We’ve spent a lot of these years pushing into Double IPA territory, and we’ve learned so much doing it. But Gen-10 felt like a moment to ask: what would Gen-1 look like if we brewed it today, with everything we know now? Same spirit, same DNA, Mosaic and Citra leading the way, but rebuilt from the ground up with better ingredients and a decade of technique behind it.

Talk us through the hop build on Gen-10.

Mosaic is still at the center, but now we’re using it in its Cryo form, which is a concentrated version that really amplifies the character. You get this big blueberry and dank quality from it that I love. Citra is there too. It’s been in every Gen for a reason, it’s just a great hop, bringing that mango, orange zest, and citrus punch.

Then there’s Thora, which is the new addition I’m most excited about. Thora is a thiol-heavy hop variety that we actually helped develop through our work with the Hop Quality Group over the past decade. High thiol content means strong tropical fruit aroma — passionfruit, mango, papaya. It’s a variety we feel a real connection to, because we were part of building it. And then we’ve got a bit of Krush in the dry hop, because Krush is just awesome and adds a nice layer to the whole thing.

What does the beer actually taste like?

It pours a bright gold with a nice white foam. The aroma is the first thing that hits you, passionfruit, mango, papaya, a little blueberry and pine, some orange zest. It’s tropical and dank in the best way. On the palate it’s got a light sweetness, medium body, and then a dry, medium-plus bitter finish. It’s a West Side IPA, meaning it drinks like it belongs here on the west side of LA, not like it’s trying to be something it’s not.

“West Side IPA” — explain that. Why not West Coast?

Because The Propagator is on the West Side of LA. It’s as simple as that. West Coast IPA is a style, but West Side IPA is a place. Gen-10 is a beer made in Venice, for the people who’ve been coming to Venice for ten years. It felt right to claim it.

Any final thoughts on what ten years at The Propagator means to you?

It means we’ve had ten years of being able to take risks in a place where the whole point is to push things forward. Every Gen has taught us something about hops, about yeast, about what people want to drink. Gen-10 is our way of saying thank you to everyone who’s been along for the ride. I hope when you drink it, it feels like ten years well spent.

Gen-10 West Side IPA is available now on draft and in 16 oz can 4-packs. 7.3% ABV. 42 IBU. Find it while it lasts.