Toronado San Diego Celebrates 2 Years

Monday May 24th, 2010 will mark two years open for Toronado San Diego.

I stopped in just a day or two after they opened and was blown away with all the great beer and nice atmosphere. I can’t remember what I drank, but I do remember one funny thing about that night. After a few beers with a friend it was time to use the bathroom. I walked in, used the urinal and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. As I walked over to wash my hands, I looked at the mirror, and then down where the sink should be. Instead of an actual sink was a counter with a sink shape hole in it. But they had bar-goers covered, sitting on the counter was a bottle of hand sanitizer.

The next time I stopped into Toronado the sink had been installed and the place was immaculate.

The anniversary party at Toronado starts tonight at 6pm with plenty of Sierra Nevada brews on tap: Life & Limb, Wood-aged Empire Strikes Black, Bigfoot Barleywine, Fritz & Ken 30th Anniversary Stout, Dark Forces, Summerfest Lager. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale will be on tap all weekend for just $3 a pint.

That’s just the beginning though. Toronado has been saving all sorts of great beer for this weekend. Click below to see the full list of kegs they’re planning to tap throughout the weekend. And follow them on Twitter @ToronadoSD to hear what’s going on tap and when.

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La Jolla Brewhouse 7 Year Anniversary

This time next week La Jolla Brew House will be celebrating their 7 year anniversary. They’ll be hosting a beer dinner and have paired up with Ballast Point Brewing Co. to pair four courses with their own house beers and those from Ballast Point.

This all happens Wednesday, May 26th at 7pm. The four course meal is $30 + tax and gratuity. Reservations are necessary, email: claudette@beachhousebrew.com

Ten Beer Related Reasons I’m Excited to Return to San Diego

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BLAH, dog friendly bars, grand cru, keg n bottle, la jolla brew house, old viscosity, pizza port real ale festival, quaff, quality ale and fermentation fraternity, san diego beer week'nd, san diego beer weekend, san diego festival of beer, san diego international beer festival, speedway stout, stone anniversary and international beer festival, stone bistro and world gardens, stone late night movies, stone sourfest, tap hunter, taphunter

Durango, Colorado, where I’ve lived for the past year and half, isn’t a bad place to be a beer geek (check out my old beer blog from Durango). But it’s not San Diego. It’s also in the middle of nowhere. Durango has four breweries and but it’s also about 300 miles from Denver, which means the many beers brewed in the Front Range, and those from out of state breweries that get distributed in Colorado often don’t make it down here. I don’t mean this as a complaint about Durango but rather a way to show how excited I am about returning to San Diego. Below are ten (of the many) beer related reasons I’m glad to be back.

Hanging out on the patio at the La Jolla Brew House with my dog. The patio at La Jolla Brew House isn’t a bad place to drink a beer, and it’s made all the better because I can bring my dog. Firehouse Brewing Co.’s beer garden is also dog friendly so I’m sure we’ll be enjoying some pints there too. Before I left San Diego Hamilton’s allowed dogs, if anyone knows if they still do please leave a comment below.

Festivals and Events: Summer typically means beer festival season no matter where you are, and because of the number of breweries and beer lovin’ folks in San Diego, there are plenty of festivals. Pizza Port’s Real Ale Festival, Stone SourFest, San Diego International Beer Festival, San Diego Festival of Beer, San Diego Beer Week’nd and Stone’s Anniversary and Invitational Beer Festival. I’ve probably left a few out, but those are the first that come to mind.

QUAFF: Quality Ale and Fermentation Fraternity is a San Diego based home brew club. Their member’s beers have won numerous American Homebrewer Championships over the years. I’m excited to check out and join the club and hope I can learn some skills to further my home brewing.

Beer Box Tijuana. Sure Tijuana isn’t San Diego, but to me they’re inseparable. I came across Beer Box Tijuana while visiting friends and was amazed at their beer selection. In Tijuana terms (where Tecate pretty much rules to the city) they have an impressive beer selection. They have a good selection of San Diego craft beers, but of more interest to San Diegans they have plenty of Mexican craft beers that don’t get distributed in the US and many beers from Europe. In addition to all that the folks at Beer Box Tijuana are homebrewers and often host homebrew club meetings and tastings.

Beers: Regardless of everything else, beer blogging is about the beer. And there are plenty of beers I haven’t been able to easily get out here in Durango that will be much more accessible in San Diego. Here’s a short list of some I’m most looking forward to: Alesmith’s Speedway Stout and Grand Cru, Port Brewing’s Old Viscosity, and so many Lost Abbey beers I’ve never tried.

Stone Bistro and World Gardens: This is one of my favorite places to have a beer and eat dinner. And since it’s all the way up in Escondido I don’t make it up to often, which keeps is special and ensures it will never become ordinary. I’m hoping to make it up for a few movie nights this summer as well.

The beer bars that have opened in the last year or two: Blind Lady Ale House, Small Bar, The Station, Ritual Tavern, Toronado just to name a few. I’ve been to BLAH, Small Bar, and Toronado but I’m looking forward to spend far more time at each.

The Liquor Stores: South Bay Drugs, The Best Damn Beer Shop and Keg N Bottle just to name a few. The beer selection at these stores is phenomenal. I’m like a kid in a candy store every time I walk in.

The Newer Breweries: I’ve never had any beers from Airdale Brewing Co., New English Brewing Co., or Mother Earth Brew Co. There are plenty of other small breweries that have opened tasting rooms or expanded their lineups recently. I’m excited to try them all.

Tap Hunter: Tap Hunter is one of the coolest ideas and websites around. I’m sure every San Diego beer geek already knows and uses it (if you don’t click the link above to check it out) and now I’m happy that I’ll be able to also. Tap Hunter launched shortly after I left San Diego last year. What Tap Hunter does (in a nutshell) is crowd source a list of what beers are on tap at various bars and restaurants. You can check the website before you go out to see what is most likely on tap and use your smartphone to report corrections if a new beer has gone on tap or a keg is empty.

10306 San Diego Mission Road

DrinkAbout 6

Just a quick post to note that the 6th DrinkAbout is happening tonight from 7pm-11pm at Blind Lady Ale House, Small Bar, Live Wire, Toronado, Sea Rocket, The Station, Hamilton’s and Ritual Tavern.

If you’ve never been to the DrinkAbout it’s well worth it, and this one should be especially good because of American Craft Beer Week. For four hours there will be free shuttle buses (provided by Brewery Tours of San Diego) picking up and dropping off passengers at each of the above listed bars every 30 minutes. Most of the bars have beer and/or food specials and the atmosphere is great. I was lucky enough to be visiting in December when the first DrinkAbout happened and it showed me just how far the San Diego craft beer scene had come since I moved away.

You can’t go wrong with the beer selection at any of the bars tonight, but Blind Lady Ale House looks like it might have the best lineup with a Lost Abbey showcase.

San Diego Celebrates American Craft Beer Week, May 17-23

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90 minute ipa, american craft beer week, anchor steam brewing co., big barrel stout, declaration of beer independence, double barrel ale, firestone walker parabola, fritz and ken's ale, idiot ipa, old scallywag, palate wrecker, pale 31, small bar san diego, union jack ipa

This week, May 17-May 23rd is American Craft Beer Week, and just as the name suggests it’s a week long celebration of craft beer across the entire country. Various breweries and bars are holding special events to celebrate and of course San Diego is no exception. Below are some highlights of events happening around San Diego County this week. Check out the American Craft Beer Week website for more events. And don’t confuse American Craft Beer Week with San Diego Beer Week happening November 5-14th (and don’t miss San Diego Beer Week’s sneak preview weekend June 10th-13th).

Week long events:

• Stone Brewing Co. will hold Stone Southern California Storm, with all 32 of their taps featuring beer from Southern California Breweries all week long. Like many breweries around the country, they’ll also have a Declaration of Beer Independence hanging in the lobby for folks to sign.
• Karl Strauss Brewing Co. brewed up a Belgian IPA for American Craft Beer Week that will be on tap all week at various bars and on cask at their restaurants. They’ll also have guest casks on throughout the week.
• Coronado Brewing Co. will have their Big Barrel Stout, an Imperial Stout aged for six months in bourbon barrels as well as their Old Scallywag Barley Wine on tap.

Monday, May 17th:

• In addition to Stone Southern California Storm, Stone Brewing Co. will also be hosting a Beer U class, Beer 101: The History of Beer from 7-9pm. Tickets are $20.

Tuesday, May 18th:

• Small Bar will have $2.50 half pints of nine classic American IPAs both Tuesday and Wednesday. The IPAs include Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Coronado Brewing Co. Idiot IPA and more.

• Blind Lady Ale House will tap the 2010 release of Firestone Walker Parabola, a barrel aged Russian Imperial Stout. They’ll also have other Firestone Walker brews on tap including Double Barrel Ale, Pale 31, Union Jack IPA and more.

Wednesday, May 19th:

• If you missed Parabola Tuesday at Blind Lady Ale House, Pizza Port Carlsbad has you covered. They’ll be tapping the 2010 release of Firestone Walker Parabola as well as having plenty of other Firestone Walker beers on tap.

Thursday, May 20th:

• San Diego Brewing Co. will toast 30 years of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. with the Sierra Nevada/Anchor Steam collaboration Fritz and Ken’s Ale, a big dark, Imperial Stout.

Friday, May 21st:

• Hamilton’s Tavern will host a cask of Green Flash Brewing Co.‘s Palate Wrecker and 9-10% ABV Double IPA.

As for Saturday and Sunday check out some of the week long events.

Welcome to SanDiegoBeerBlog.com

Welcome to SanDiegoBeerBlog.com. My name is Jeff Hammett and I’m a beer geek. You can read a little bit about me and this blog on the About page, but I thought I’d write a little bit more in this first post to introduce myself.

I grew up in the craft beer mecca that is San Diego. I’m fairly young, but so are most of San Diego’s craft breweries. When I came of age there were only a handful of craft breweries in San Diego. My first positive experience with beer was Stone Brewing Co.’s Stone Pale Ale. Like most teenagers I drank some beer in high school, Miller, Coors, Budweiser, but hated it. After I tried that first craft beer I knew it would be a life long obsession.

Since then I’ve spent some time in San Diego, watching the beer scene grow. Traveled a bit and am just now returning to San Diego after spending some time in Durango, Colorado. I cut my teeth beer blogging out in Colorado, Durango specifically which has four breweries and about 20,000 people. I grew my blog Beernbikes.com steadily over the time I was blogging and learned quite a bit about the craft beer industry.

I’ve been homebrewing for a while now, which has taught me plenty about beer that I would have never learned just drinking it or even reading about it. I even got to brew a batch of beer with headbrewer Thomas Larsen at Ska Brewing Co. in Durango as a Beer Blogger – Brewery collaboration.

With my move back to San Diego I’ve decided to change the focus of my blog a bit, with a focus on beer and San Diego specific beer news and information.

You can follow SanDiegoBeerBlog.com on Twitter

If you have beer news or anything else you’d like to talk to us about, send us an email, we’d love to hear from you. You can also fill out the contact form at the bottom of the About page.