Avec Les Bons Voeux de la Brasserie Dupont

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Avec Les Bons Voeux, Avec Les Bons Voeux de la Brasserie Dupont, Belgian holiday beer, Brasserie Dupont, dupont brewery, holiday beer, holiday saison

“Avec Les Bons Voeux” translates from French as “With Best Wishes”, which seems fitting since this is the holiday beer from Brasserie Dupont, the makers of Saison Dupont which is widely considered to be a classic of the saison style. Holiday beers are some of my favorites, something about the seasonal, limited nature of them, and the happy memories they induce. A few friend’s whose beer opinions I respect mentioned that this was their favorite holiday seasonal so I was especially anxious to try it.

The label copy on Avec Les Bons Voeux from Brasserie Dupont reads: “Les Bons Voeux” means best wishes, which is what Brasserie Dupont sends with this very special saison ale brewed only for the holidays. Redolently aromatic, rich and velvety, this is an ale to tast the season and welcome in the New Year!

Avec Les Bons Voeux comes in at 9.5% ABV, higher than most typical saisons and came in a 750ml corked bottle which I purchased for about $12 if I remember correctly.

It pours a hazy dark gold color with a big fluffy white head. According to Dupont’s website Avec Les Bons Voeux is bottle conditioned, so there was quite a bit of sediment in the bottle. I would recommend letting the beer settle and pouring carefully to avoid pouring the sediment in the glass.

The smell was fruity and sweet, hefeweizen like banana and bubblegum dominated. The taste was more dry and less sweet than I expected with sweet bubblegum flavors up front and a bitter and spicy finish. The alcohol was apparent but not overpowering. The mouthfeel was interesting, it was thick, and I hadn’t read the label before I drank it, but velvety describes it perfectly. It isn’t a heavy beer but is much heavier than other saisons.

Avec Les Bons Vouex is very different than the typical “holiday” beer, but exactly what you would expect a holiday saison to taste like. At 9.5% ABV and because it is bottle conditioned I would expect this beer to hold up well for at least a few years in the cellar. That’s not to say that it isn’t excellent now. I’ll be drinking a few more bottles fresh and tucking some away for a while as well.

Manzanita Brewing Co. Gets Label Approval for their IPA

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manzanita brewery bottles, manzanita ipa, manzanita pale ale, riverwalk blonde, rustic horizon red, san diego nanobrewery, santee beer, santee brewery

Manzanita Brewing Co., the nanobrewery in Santee, CA that’s only about half a year old is currently only available on draft, at both their brewery for samplers and growler fills and at various bars and restaurants around town. They do have plans to get their beer into bottles though, and they’re now one step closer to being able to do so. Last time I spoke with them they didn’t have a firm date on when we might see bottles on shelves around town, but they were recently granted label approval to bottle and sell their IPA.

This label is for a 22oz bomber. No word on pricing or exact dates, but we’ll blog again when these bottles (and any more from Manzanita) start to hit local store shelves.

Update: Manzanita Brewing Co. has posted on their Facebook page that four out of the five beers they are planning on bottling have gotten label approval and they hope to have bottles out by the end of the year. The labels for Riverwalk Blonde Ale, Pale Ale and Rustic Horizon Red are below.

Stone Company Store South Park Neighborhood Meetings

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30th street beer, 30th street brewery, south park brewery, south park san diego, stone brewing co. south park

As I’m sure you know by now, Stone Brewing Co. is hoping to open a company store (which will technically be a brewery) at 2215 30th Street in South Park. They are still in the process of obtaining their alcohol permits and are holding two meetings for people to come out and get more info. The first meeting was yesterday which we missed and the next meeting will be Sunday, November 28th at 1pm at the proposed location.

Here’s the text from the sign posted in the window. If you’re interested in seeing Stone Brewing Co. open their new store in South Park or have questions about it, show up and find out more info.

Stone Brewing Co. is proud to announce intent to open a “Stone Company Store.” We believe that South Park is the perfect location due to its pedestrian/bike friendly streets, commitment to local businesses, and strong sense of community.

The Stone Company Store | South Park wil bring Stone Brewing Co. merchandise and growler fills to the city of San Diego for the first time. It will allow fans of Stone’s fresh, locally-brewed beer to fill reusable glass jugs known as “growlers” with a variety of Stone beers. Growlers, which are endlessly reusable, are the most environmentally sustainable way to enjoy Stone beers at home.

Stone Co-Founder & CEO Greg Koch said, “South Park is such a wonderful community with a fantastic and growing craft beer scene. We are excited to contribute to the continued strengthening and development of this unique, tight-knit neighborhood.”

If you would like more information,, please join Greg and other Stone representatives here for one or both of our informal information exchange sessions. Or as we’ll call it, a Talkabout.

San Diego Beer Week: Days Five, Six and Seven

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brandy barrel-aged Angel’s Share, Chicory Stout, Citra Double IPA, Class V Stout, class x stout, Deliverance, just outstanding ipa, lost abbey Deliverance, ourbon barrel-aged Serpent’s Stout, SDBW stout, Trooper's Tipple IPA

Eric and Rebecca Giddens of Kern River Brewing Company

An alternate title for this post could be: “Stouts, Stouts, Stouts (and an IPA or two)”

Tuesday was Kern River Brewing Co. night at Toronado. Eric and Rebecca Giddens and Kyle Smith of Kern River were on hand and brought with them Just Outstanding IPA, Citra Double IPA, Class V Stout and Class X Stout.

Just Outstanding IPA is well, just outstanding and since I had already had it before both bottled and on tap, I decided to skip it that night and try the other offerings. I chatted with Eric Giddens from the brewery for a while about it’s namesake mountain bike trail. And let’s just say a road trip to Kernville is being planned. I was most looking forward to the Class X Stout, and it did not disappoint. Class X Stout is the bourbon barrel aged version of Class V Stout, a respectable beer in it’s own right, and it was really interesting to be able to drink the two beers side by side. Class X Stout starts out as Class V Stout but is 100% barrel aged for eight months which changes the beer dramatically. Both were being served on nitrogen at Toronado, so it’s hard to compare them to other stouts served on CO2, but comparing them to each other was easy.

The Class V Stout had a very strong roasted smell and taste. It wasn’t quite a coffee characteristic, but the roasted smell and flavor were very aggressive. The Class X Stout on the other hand smelled of bourbon and bourbon, vanilla and chocolate were all very apparent in the taste. It had some roasted characteristics but they were definitely more subdued than the Class V Stout. I would really like to try Class X Stout on CO2, so I could better gauge how well it stands up against other barrel aged stouts, because on nitrogen I have to say it is fantastic. Citra DIPA is another great beer from Kern River Brewing Co. My experience with Citra hops is limited, but this one is great. It has a big citrus hop smell and taste, it’s fairly fruity but seems to be more lemon or orange than the typical grapefruit flavors of a lot of IPAs.

Wednesday night started at the new URBN pizza joint in North Park. They were holding a special media preview night at I had a few slices and some beer on the house. It was New English Brewing Co. night so I started off with a Trooper’s Tipple IPA. It’s an English style IPA which uses East Kent Goldings hops, it’s low in alcohol at 4.8% ABV and is fairly malty, but according to New English it’s a fairly classic example of the English IPA style. It was fairly light and refreshing, but I had to move on to something heavier next and had a Dogfish Head Chicory Stout. This 5.2% ABV has strong roasted and maybe even burnt flavors reminiscent of dark black coffee. It was bitter but not from the usual hop bitterness found in most beers. Chicory is used by some people as a decaf coffee substitute as it has a similar flavor which I think came through well in this beer.

After URBN I headed down to Neighborhood where they were featuring The Lost Abbey and Port Brewing Company. I opted to go with the barrel aged again and ordered a Deliverance. Deliverance is a a blend of bourbon barrel-aged Serpent’s Stout and brandy barrel-aged Angel’s Share. I have never had Angel’s Share, and have only had non-bourbon barrel-aged Serpent’s Stout, so this was mostly new to me. Deliverance is good and is maybe my favorite beer I’ve had from The Lost Abbey so far (my experience with The Lost Abbey has been fairly limited, that is being rectified). It hada  strong bourbon smell and taste, I couldn’t detect much brandy, along with roasted flavors from the Serpent’s Stout. The alcohol taste and heat was much strong on this than other barrel aged stout’s I’ve had. It was definitely a sipper and not something that could be drank quickly.

That finally brings us to Thursday when I stopped into Karl Strauss in Sorrento Mesa for lunch where I had a SDBW Stout. This dry stout is around 5% ABV but is pretty flavorful. I’m a big fan of Imperial Stouts, and typically shy away from the lower ABV stouts, but I really enjoyed this. It’s brewed with Star Anise and has a slight liquorice flavor. The roasted barley flavors mostly overpowered the liquorice, but too strong of liquorice flavors could be too sweet. The body was a bit thin but I felt it had a great flavor, I would have preferred a bit more liquorice, but I’m probably in the minority on that one.

Big News Brewing About the Stone Company Store South Park

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stone 30th st, stone brewing co. pilot system, stone brewing co. south park, stone new brewery, stone pilot system, stone south park brewery

Remember the Stone Company Store South Park we told you about? A few days ago we revealed the location when a friend spotted the notice of a permit to sell alcohol, and one detail of that brought up some interesting questions. The type of permit Stone Brewing Co. is applying for at their upcoming South Park location is a “Type 23 – Small Beer Manufacturer”. As you might imagine that suggests they’ll be making beer on premises in South Park. We confirmed with Stone that they will indeed have a small pilot brewing system on site. They’ll be brewing in South Park. Yes, if all goes according to plan 30th Street will be getting a (small) brewery.

This raises some interesting possibilities, that we by no means have any insight into, just speculation and hope.

One possible reason for this could have to do with California liquor laws, this could be a clever way to be able to fill growlers. We won’t get into all of the details, but the way we understand it is that in California, only breweries are allowed to fill growlers. Stone says the focus of the Stone Company Store South Park will be to provide the local community with fresh beer to go, so obviously growler fills will play a big part in this. Having a brewery on site will allow them to fill growlers, not only with beer brewed on site, but also with beer brewed at the main brewery in Escondido. If the Stone Company Store South Park weren’t a brewery they wouldn’t be able to fill growlers at all.

Another, more interesting possibility is that they could produce some beers in the South Park location that they otherwise don’t normally make. Breweries use small pilot systems to test new ideas, brewing on a small scale means that if a beer turns out terribly the financial loss is lessened. We could see some new beers, experimental beers and otherwise not normally produced beers from Stone coming out of the South Park location. Again, this is all (hopeful) speculation, but there could be some interesting small batch, draft only beers coming out of their South Park location in the future.

Another bit of news we confirmed with Stone is that they’re seeking the ability to sell on premises tasters and pints, but again, their focus is on beer to go. They emphasize that the Stone Company Store South Park isn’t a pub.

One thing to remember is that this is all subject to change. Stone is still in the process of applying for their permit to sell alcohol. The guys from West Coaster ran into Greg Koch, CEO of Stone just last night and chatted about the upcoming South Park location. He suggested that if you want to see the Stone Company Store South Park get the proper permits they need to open you write letters to the ABC showing support.

The Bruery Tasting Flight at Olive Tree Market – Wednesday, Nov 10th

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autumn maple, black tuesday, black tuesday tasting, bruery flight, coton, humulus gold, saison de lente, saison rue, san diego beer week bruery, san diego beer week olive tree market, the bruery tasting, three french hens, trade winds triple

The Bruery makes some seriously good beers. One of their beers, the 19.5% ABV Black Tuesday is much sought after among beer geeks. Brewed in small batches it’s fairly rare and can be quite difficult to get a bottle of . When recently put on sale on The Bruery’s website all available bottles were sold out within minutes. But if you haven’t had a chance to taste this beer Olive Tree Market in Ocean Beach has you covered. No, they won’t be selling bottles of Black Tuesday, but they are hosting a tasting with one of the brewers from The Bruery tomorrow (Wednesday, November 10th) with nine beers including Black Tuesday.

$16 gets you 9 2oz tasters, the following beers will be poured:

• Saison De Lente
• Saison Rue
• Trade Winds Triple
• Rugbroad
• Humulus Gold (On Tap)
• Autumn Maple
• Three French Hens
• Coton
• Black Tuesday

The tasting runs from 4-8pm, but if you have your heart set on tasting Black Tuesday (or any of these fantastic beers) I recommend getting there as close to 4pm as possible.

Olive Tree Market is located at 4805 Narragansett Avenue in Ocean Beach.

Craft Beer Bonanza with Says Granite and Park 2 Park, Friday Nov 12th

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craft beer bonanza, park 2 park, park2park, says granite

The Park 2 Park Shuttle has teamed up with Says Granite for the Craft Beer Bonanza Shuttle during San Diego Beer Week, this Friday November 12th from 7pm-1am. And we’re giving away three pairs of passes. Just head on over to our Facebook page and leave a comment telling us which San Diego craft beer is your favorite. We’ll pick three winners at random Wednesday, Nov 10th at noon. Be sure to check back or leave your email address to see if you’ve won so we can get you the info for the passes.

There are so many great events going on and this is a safe way to get around town. The shuttle will have stops near most of the awesome bars and restaurants in North Park, South Park, Normal Heights, University Heights, Golden Hill and even a few stops downtown. Check out the Park 2 Park site for all the details and to purchase passes if you don’t win. The shuttle is a great way to safely get around town while enjoying all the great beer events San Diego Beer Week has to offer.

Stone Brewing Co’s South Park Company Store Location Revealed

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hober, stone brewery south park, stone brewing co. south park, stone south park

A few months ago we blogged about Stone Brewing Co.’s plans to open a store, complete with growler fills, in South Park. There was much speculation about where it would be located, but Stone declined to state the exact location at the time.

I followed up with them a few weeks ago and they still weren’t revealing the location, but did say that due to permitting delays the opening of the store would probably be delayed until early next year.

Stone Brewing Co.’s alcohol permit application notice has been spotted, at 2215 30th Street where many people expected it to be. We’re anxiously awaiting the opening and will keep you posted when we hear more news.

Image: Edward O’Connor, better known as @hober (Creative Commons SA 2.0)

San Diego Beer Week: Blind Lady Ale House’s Brewmaster Series

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blah sdbw, blind lady ale house san diego beer week, blind lady brewmaster series, chuck silva, eric salaza, mark jilg, patrick rue, rob todd, steve grossman

San Diego Beer Week is a big, diverse, decentralized event, which makes it mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. There are events with incredibly rare beers, events where you get to take a glass home, events with cheap beer, events pairing beer and food, you name it and there’s probably a bar or brewery doing it this week. But in my opinion some of the best SDBW events are Blind Lady Ale House’s Brewmaster Series.

For the Brewmaster Series BLAH invites brewers in to talk about their beer to a small group, typically less than 30 people. Everyone gets a tasting flight of six 5oz beers and the brewer guides them through each beer, discussing how the beer was made and answering questions people have.

I’ve attended two of these Brewmaster Series type events, one with Patrick Rue of The Bruery a few months ago, and one this past weekend with Mark Jilg of Craftsman Brewing Co. At $25 they’re incredible deals, not only do you get to drink great beer but you get to hear about the beers from the people that make them. I can’t begin to describe how much I’ve learned at each of these events that I wouldn’t have had I just gone out and had a few beers. The flight alone typically costs $20 at the bar, so an extra $5 to listen to the brewer is quite a deal in my opinion.

Blind Lady Ale House has four Brewmaster Series tasting flights left during SDBW:

• Tuesday, November 9th, 5pm Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. with Steve Grossman (brother of owner Ken Grossman and long time SN employee)
• Thursday, November 11th, 5pm New Belgium Brewing Co. with Eric Salazar (Lead Brewer)
• Friday, November 12th, 3pm Green Flash Brewing Co. with Chuck Silva (Brewmaster)
• Sunday, November 14th, 12:30pm Allagash Brewing Co. with Rob Todd (Brewmaster and Founder)

These tastings are a great way to learn an incredible amount about beer while drinking plenty of great beer with the folks that brewed it.

Head on over to BLAH’s website to purchase tickets for each tasting.

San Diego Beer Week: Day Three

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black lie, eleven food truck, fuego melt, hamilton's food truck, hamilton's tavern food truck, liar's brew ESB, liar's club redux, liars club, m.e.x., Mario Escovedo Experience, pizza port black lie

Hamilton's Tavern Food Truck

After two days of doing some serious beer drinking today had to be pretty mellow. We went down to Eleven for Liar’s Club Redux. I missed last year’s Liar’s Club Redux at Hamilton’s Tavern but I’ve been told it was one of the best nights of San Diego Beer Week last year. Friend’s raved on and on a few days ago about Black Lie, The Liar’s Club’s 7th Anniversary beer brewed by Pizza Port. Unfortunately we arrived at Eleven today and it was nowhere to be found.

The tap list was pretty standard for the bar, no complaints but most of the beers were things that you would expect to find on tap at Eleven any night of the week. The exception was Liar’s Brew ESB, a beer presumably contract brewed for Liar’s Club in the past or Liar’s Club Redux at Eleven. It was far darker and much more malty that I expected from an ESB, not bad but less bitter and more sweet than I would have preferred.

Liar's Club Food Menu

In addition to the beer one of the things people seemed to be excited about was the return of some of The Liar’s Club’s famed food. Since Eleven doesn’t have a kitchen we were a bit confused as to how they would pull this off. As we walked up to the door we saw the familiar logos of Hamilton’s Tavern, Small Bar and Eleven on the back of a food truck with the familiar Liar’s Club menu.

Escovedo Experience (M.E.X) was also there and they seriously rocked the place with their Mexican tinged country rock. There’s something about a drinking a pint of good beer and watching an accordion solo that I can get behind.

With seven more days of beer week we need to pace ourselves to avoid getting burnt out too soon, but we’ll be out drinking more great beer this week.