South Bay Drugs to Move Locations

There are a handful of bottle shops that are often cited as “the best” or “one of the best” in San Diego County. While beer geeks will argue about which store has the best prices, the best selection, gets the rarest beers, has the best location and is ultimately the best place to buy beer in San Diego, South Bay Drugs is considered by many to be up there among the best around.

South Bay Drugs has been involved in an eminent domain dispute with the City of Imperial Beach for the past few months, and this past weekend they announced that they will be moving locations. The last day the retail store will be open at 779 Palm Avenue in Imperial Beach is today. South Bay Drugs does online sales and ships beer as well, the last day for online orders is this Saturday, February 5th. They have not yet announcing where their new location will be but I’ve heard rumors that they may be moving farther north, possibly even up to the beer-centric North Park area. This is a totally unconfirmed rumor which may or may not turn out to be true but a move closer to central San Diego would be welcome by many, myself included. The only reason I don’t visit South Bay Drugs more often is because I’m not often down in Imperial Beach.

Think you know where South Bay Drugs is moving? Leave a comment below.

They expect it could take up to four months for them to get moved and reopen. The full text of their email is below.

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Monk’s Cafe Flemish Sour Ale

Tags

Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V., monk's cafe, monk's cafe flemish sour ale

I’m fairly new to the world of sours; brettanomyces, lactobacillus, pediococcus and the like. I’m slowing learning the different flavors and the different causes of “sourness” in beer. I put sourness in quotes because most of the beers don’t remind me of what I think of when I think sour, but are more tart or earthy and funky.

I picked up this 11.2oz bottle of Monk’s Cafe Flemish Sour Ale at Keg-n-Bottle on El Cajon and College for $3.29. I had hopes that this might be an easy to find, affordable and convenient beer being in a smaller bottle and all ($3.29 isn’t bad for a small bottle of a sour beer in my experience, they tend to be more expensive than many other non-sour beers. Based on my limited experience I’ve come to learn I like the really tart sours with lactic acid. This didn’t have much of that. It isn’t a bad beer, but not what I expected.

Monk’s Cafe Flemish Sour Ale is brewed for the Monk’s Cafe Philadelphia bar and restaurant by the Belgian brewery Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V.

It’s dark red in color with a fully white head. There is a slight balsamic vinegar smell that is common in some sour beers. It smells both sweet and tart, reminiscent of a granny smith apple. I think I can smell some characteristic of wood or barrel aging but I’m not positive.

The taste is far sweeter than I imagined and there isn’t much of a vinegar flavor. It’s very fruity with a lot of berry and cherry flavors. There taste, like the smell, reminds me of a granny smith apple, more sweet than tart. There’s just a bit of earthy funk and maybe wood flavors in the dry finish.

Not a bad beer, but way more fruity than I expected. I wouldn’t have labeled this “sour” had I done a blind taste test. But that’s one of the things to like about sour beers, there are a wide range of flavors. I probably won’t be drinking this too often but it might be a good beer for people that haven’t had many sour beers to easy their way into it.

San Diego Beer Events, January 27th- February 2nd

Tags

22nd Anniversary Vanilla Imperial Stout, automatic coffee imperial brown ale, Belgica Belgian Ale, Bloody Larry, Chipotle-Cocoa Nib version of Black Marlin, Claymore Scotch Ale, Compunction, Consecration, Damnation, Dried Guajillo Calico, Espresso Yeti Imperial Stout, firkin friday, Fresh Hop Pale Ale, Habanero Sculpin, Hades Belgian Pale Ale, Hercules IIPA, Hibernation Old Ale, jolly pumpkin, jolly pumpkin flights, karl strauss 22nd anniversary vanilla imperial stout, karl strauss changing of the barrels, miho gastrotruck, Mortification, o'brien's russian river consumpTION, Oaked Yeti Imperial Stout, Old Ruffian Barleywine, Perdition, redemption, Rejection, Roasted Pasilla Yellowtail, salvation, samuel smith brewery, Sanctification, smoked baltic porter, Supplication, Temptation, titan ipa, toronado pint night, toronado san diego pint night, yeti imperial stout

If you know of anything that isn’t on our events calendar, please email events@sandiegobeerblog.com to get it added.

Thursday, Jan 27:

Homebrew Mart (Ballast Point’s Linda Vista operation) is teaming up with MIHO Gastrotruck for a casual beer pairing dinner with a focus on chili beers. Ballast Point has infused five of their beers with chili peppers: Chipotle-Cocoa Nib version of Black Marlin, Roasted Pasilla Yellowtail, Dried Guajillo Calico, Habanero Sculpin and Bloody Larry (BP Bloody Mary Mix and Abandon Ship Smoked Lager) and they’ll make recommendations for food to pair with it. Fiji Yogurt next door will have a Mango Lime Thai Chili yogurt with Ballast Point beer. Tasters will be $1 and food prices will vary.

Friday, Jan 28:

Iron Fist Brewing Company (I’m not sure, do they still hold the distinction of being San Diego County’s  newest brewery?) has come a long way in a few short months. They’ll be at Hamilton’s Tavern for Firkin Friday with a special cask of an IPA/Belgian-style brew aged in white wine barrels with Brett. They’ll also have plenty of their other beers on draft.

Saturday, Jan 29:

It’s Russian River ConsumpTION weekend at O’Brien’s. They’ll have 17 Russian River beers on tap including 11 Belgian-style “TION” beers. They’ll have: Damnation, Salvation, Supplication, Temptation, Consecration, Perdition, Sanctification, Mortification, Compunction, Redemption and Rejection along with all the hoppy beers Russian River is also known for. They have full kegs of all the beers so they expect them to last throughout the weekend.

KNB Wine Cellars is featuring Great Divide Brewing Co. Saturday night. They’ll have Yeti Imperial Stout, Oaked Yeti Imperial Stout, Espresso Yeti Imperial Stout, Old Ruffian Barleywine, Hades Belgian Pale Ale, Hibernation Old Ale, Smoked Baltic Porter, Titan IPA, Hercules IIPA, Fresh Hop Pale Ale, Claymore Scotch Ale and Belgica Belgian Ale all on tap.

Sunday, Jan 30:

Automatic Brewing Co. (the brewery housed at Blind Lady Ale House) will be unveiling their latest beer Sunday morning for BLAH’s 2nd Anniversary. This Coffee Imperial Brown Ale comes in around 8.3% and is damn good (I got a sneak peak last weekend). For the first time they will be offering a limited amount of growlers, which are being pre-sold through Brown Paper Tickets. They’ll also be doing Jolly Pumpkin tasting flights that afternoon. (BLAH is having special events throughout the weekend, click here for more info on the rest of the events).

Monday, Jan 31:

Monday again which means local pint night at Toronado. $3 pours on all local beers.

Tuesday, Feb 1:

Throughout the month of February Eleven, Hamilton’s Tavern and Small Bar will be showcasing the beers of Samuel Smith Brewery. And they’re kicking things off with some glass giveaways to the first 25 people to buy a bottle. They’ll have different bottles at each of the bars throughout the month for $5 for 18oz.

Wednesday, Feb 2:

Karl Strauss is celebrating their 22nd Anniversary with a party to show off their 22nd Anniversary Vanilla Imperial Stout in it’s full barrel-aged form. Tickets are $50 which gets you tasters of 100% barrel aged 22nd Anniversary (the regular release will be blended with fresh beer) as well as a taste of the 23rd Anniversary beer before it goes into barrels. They’ll have food, live music and send you home with a bottle of the 22nd Anniversary Vanilla Imperial Stout and a commemorative snifter. Buy tickets in advance at the Karl Strauss website. They’re only selling sixty so this will probably sell out.

Guinness Black Lager

Tags

guinness, guinness black lager

I wanted to like Guinness Black Lager, I really did. I try not to get too caught up in beer marketing, but like many beer geeks, Guinness holds a special place in my heart even though I rarely drink it these days. While Guinness isn’t a craft beer per say, it could be said that it is a “gateway drug” to craft beer. I’ve heard many beer geeks cite Guinness as the beer that caused them to branch out from drinking macro import and domestic beers and start drinking craft beer. When I got an email asking if I would like to try a sample I had to say yes. I was a bit skeptical, I’m not typically a huge fan of most lagers, but I had to give it a try, and I’ll be damned if I wasn’t just a bit hopeful based on the Guinness brand.

It’s dark, just like the Guinness Stout you might be used to, but that’s about where the similarities end. I poured it rather aggressively from the 11.2oz bottle into a 20oz imperial pint glass which caused a big light brown colored head. It disappeared rather quickly leaving lacing along the top of the glass and ended up as just a small sheet covering the top of the beer.

The smell instantly reminds me of a lager but I don’t know what that is exactly. The one thing I really can identify is a strong cereal grain smell.

It has a bit of a toasted flavor and no apparent roasted flavors. It’s slightly sweet and not very bitter with a sulfur crispness I associate with lagers. The mouth feel is very thin but not watery. It’s more slick and oily (without being viscous) than watery. It’s a very strange mouth feel I’m not used to in a beer.

I was hoping for a roastier, more hearty lager but this beer just doesn’t do it for me.

Guinness provided me with two bottles for review purposes, but I’ve seen it around town, 6 11.2oz bottles for around $9. I heard that San Diego is one of the test markets for this beer.

Blind Lady Ale House Second Anniversary Weekend

Tags

automatic brewing co imperial coffee brown ale, Bam Biere, Bam Noire, BLAH, blind lady ale house 2nd anniversary, blind lady ale house anniversary, blind lady ale house koozie's, Blind Pig, Consecration, craft beer cans, craft beer koozie, Damnation, DRAFT magazine top 100 beer bars in america, Hanger 24 Alt, Hanger 24 Brewery, hanger 24 orange wit, jolly pumpkin artisan ales, La Parcela- Pumpkin Ale, Maracaibo Especial Oro de Calabaza, Noel de Calabaza, redemption, russian river ipa, Temptation

It’s hard to believe that Blind Lady Ale House is only two years old. They recently got named one of the top 100 beer bars in America by DRAFT Magazine for the second year in a row (in San Diego O’Brien’s Pub and Hamilton’s Tavern also made the list) making the list every year they’ve been open. This weekend they’re celebrating their anniversary with plenty of great beer.

They’ll start things off Wednesday night by putting their 2nd Anniversary T-shirts (with the tandem bicycle rider design) on sale and pouring flights from Russian River Brewing Co. They’ll have Temptation, Consecration, Redemption, Damnation, Blind Pig and Russian River IPA.

Thursday BLAH will have commemorative Blind Lady Ale House/Hanger 24 glasses for the first 155 people (over 21) through the door. They’ll get $2 fills of Hanger 24 Alt and Orange Wit for those with glasses until the kegs run dry. They’ll also have some Hanger 24 flights throughout the night.

Friday they’ll open for lunch with special 2nd Anniversary glasses for the first 155 people (again, only those over 21 will get glasses). Friday night they’ll probably have something else going on, but haven’t announced it yet.

Saturday the folks from Hanger 24 will be coming down to hang out at BLAH and they’ll have a special H24 cask. Later, at 3pm, they’ll have BLAH 2nd Anniversary koozie’s for the first 200 people to order craft beer in a can. They’ll have cans from Avery Brewing Co, Maui Brewing Co, Oskar Blues Brewery and possibly more.

Sunday will be the release of Automatic Brewing Co.’s latest beer an Imperial Coffee Brown Ale. I got a chance to taste this beer last week and it’s good. The coffee is apparent, yet restrained. The 8.3% ABV is hard to believe as this drinks smooth. They’ll have fifty 1 liter growler’s available which can be pre-purchased at Brown Paper Tickets and must be picked up between 11:30am and 12:30pm Sunday. There’s a good chance these will sell out, so get on it if you’re interested. They’ll also be live screen printing t-shirts as well. Later that afternoon at 3pm they’ll put on some beers from Jolly Pumpkin for a tasting flight, Bam Biere,  Bam Noire, La Parcela- Pumpkin Ale, Maracaibo Especial Oro de Calabaza, and Noel de Calabaza.

Check out the BLAH website for all the details and their Facebook page for additional info.

Big thanks to @RedTheTrucker on Twitter for tipping me off that the Automatic growler pre-sale was posted this afternoon.

The Public House, A New Craft Beer Bar Coming to La Jolla?

Tags

Burgundy Wine Grill & Coffee, the public house, the public house la jolla

Word on the street is there’s a new craft beer bar coming to La Jolla. The owners of Encinitas Ale House have been given a temporary liquor license for “The Public House” at 830 Kline Street, which is (or was?) Burgundy Wine Grill & Coffee (their domain http://www.burgundywinegrill.com expired earlier this week).

I haven’t been able to get a hold of anyone from either Encinitas Ale House or Burgundy Wine Grill for comment. If I hear more I’ll update this post. A new craft beer bar would be a welcome addition to La Jolla.

If you know anything more about The Public House leave a comment below.

A Nano Amount of News from Hess Brewing Co.

Tags

alternating proprietorship, hess brewing expension, hess brewing kegs, hess brewing st patrick's day, hess brewing taps, michael skubic, mike hess

I haven’t been to Hess Brewing Co., the nanobrewery located just off Miramar Rd for a few months, but I ran into Mike Hess and Michael Skubic last night at The South Park Abbey for West Coaster’s launch party and got to chat with them a bit. Last night was the first time their beer had been on tap outside of their own tasting room and aside from a few minor issues with too much foam, things were tasting great.

Skubic told me that Hess is looking into knocking down a wall and expanding into some neighboring space. If I recall correctly he told me this would nearly triple their fermentation space. He also mentioned that the next big event at the brewery would be for Saint Patrick’s day and they’re thinking about brewing a coffee stout for the occasion. They’ll use all organic ingredients including coffee beans from a new roaster in town, this will be their “green” beer. They’re still working out all of the details but plan to brew it soon.

Mike Hess also mentioned that they were looking into an alternating proprietorship agreement with Bay Bridge Brewing in Chula Vista that would allow them to brew more beer. In simple terms, alternating proprietorships are a way for different brewers to share space and equipment but still retain creative control of their beer. Bay Bridge Brewing is where Mission Brewery brewed until recently (they moved into the Wonder Bread Factory building downtown) and I believe The Brew House at Eastlake’s beers are also made at Bay Bridge. This would allow Hess to pump out quite a bit more beer, I think he said Bay Bridge has a 15bbl system compared to Hess’s much smaller 1.6bbl system. If this ends up happening we may start seeing Hess tap handles around town.

San Diego Beer Events, January 20th- January 26th

Tags

awesome beer drinkers, awesome beer tasting, barrel-aged wee heavy scotch ale 2009, barrel-aged wee heavy scotch ale 2009 release, bear republic brewery, lost abbey expansion, lost abbey open house, miho gastrotruck, nickel bag dipa, racer 5 ipa, rob todd hamilton's, rob todd san diego, rob todd small bar, west coaster ipa

If you know of anything that isn’t on our events calendar, please email events@sandiegobeerblog.com to get it added.

Thursday, Jan 20:

Stop into Eleven for a Bear Republic Brewery Racer 5 IPA and keep the glass. The first one, including glass will cost ya $4, after that it’s only $3 refills for the rest of the night.

Friday, Jan 21:

Two parties, one celebrating the old and one celebrating the new are happening tonight. West Coaster is holding their launch party at The South Park Abbey. They’ll have special West Coaster beer glasses, beers from Hess Brewing Co., including a specially brewed West Coaster IPA and some never before seen beers from Coronado Brewing Co. including a Black IPA, a Belgian IPA and more. Yes I do write a monthly column for West Coaster, sure I’m probably a bit biased, but there will be some great beer and this will be a fun time.

Up the road a little ways O’Brien’s Pub is celebrating their 17th Anniversary. They’ll have plenty of great beers from the various Pizza Port locations as well as some special bottles from Lost Abbey. Owner Tom Nickel recently helped brew Nickel Bag at Pizza Port Ocean Beach. This Double IPA was the last beer he brewed before leaving Pizza Port Carlsbad in 2005.

Saturday, Jan 22:

The Lost Abbey is hosting an open house from 12-6pm to show off their new space from their recent expansion. They’ll be doing tours of the new space and just might have something special on tap.

Saturday afternoon the website Awesome Beer Drinkers are teaming up with Best Damn Beer Shop to host an Awesome Beer Tasting. $35 gets you ten three or four ounce pours from their impressive list of beers. The tasting is happening at The Beer Company downtown and they recommend purchasing tickets in advance through their website.

Sunday, Jan 23:

Know of a great beer event happening? Email events@sandiegobeerblog.com

Monday, Jan 24:

If you don’t have tickets to Stone Brewing Co.’s Beer U: Strong Ales it looks like you’re out of luck as they’re sold out according to the website. But fret not, head down to North Park for some $3 beers. As always Toronado is doing their local night, all local beers are $3. This week Eleven is also doing $3 beers but there’s isn’t limited to locals. Any beer on tap, all night long, $3. I’m not sure if this will become a regular thing but I hope so.

Tuesday, Jan 25:

Are you a homebrewer? Thinking about homebrewing? The local homebrew club QUAFF holds their monthly meeting the fourth Tuesday of the month at the All American Grill in Hazard Center. Check out their website for more info.

Wednesday, Jan 26:

Alesmith is releasing their Barrel-Aged Wee Heavy Scotch Ale 2009 and bottle sales start at 2pm. But don’t think you can just waltz down there and pick up a few bottles. Sales will be limited to four per person and will sold based on numbers handed out at 10am. MIHO Gastrotruck will be around starting at 1:30pm serving lunch. From what I’ve heard this beer is worth taking a good portion of your day off work, if past barrel-aged bottle releases at Alesmith are indication this one will go quickly.

A bit later Hamilton’s Tavern and Small Bar will be hosting Rob Todd from Allagash Brewing Co. They’ll have plenty of his beers on tap at each bar. Todd will be at Hamilton’s from about 4-6:15pm and Small Bar from about 6:3o-8:30pm.

Know of anything going on Tuesday or Wednesday? Email events@sandiegobeerblog.com

New Belgium cask of Shadow of Foeder at The Linkery

Tags

1554, black sour, la folie, la folie 1554 blend, new belgium shadow of foeder, shadow of foeder

I’ve been trying to be pretty good about putting up weekly summary posts of beer events going on around town, so as not to litter the blog with random one-off event postings all the time, but every once in a while there’s a beer event, or even just a single beer that I feel is worth a post of it’s own.

Tomorrow (Wednesday, Jan 19th 2011) The Linkery will  be tapping a cask of New Belgium Brewing Co.’s Shadow of Foeder. If you’re anything like me you’ve probably never heard of Shadow of Foeder. But if like me, New Belgium’s La Folie is one of your favorite beers, you won’t want to miss this. Shadow of Foeder is a black sour, a blend of La Folie and New Belgium’s 1554.

The story of how and why The Linkery got this rare beer is a good one, head on over to their blog, The Farm and The City to read about it.

Photo from The Farm and the City

Changing of the Barrels – Karl Strauss 22nd Anniversary Celebration

Tags

karl strauss 22nd anniversary vanilla imperial stout, karl strauss anniversary, karl strauss barrel aged stout, karl strauss changing of the barrels, sezio

Karl Strauss, the oldest brewery in San Diego, is celebrating their 22nd Anniversary next month, and are throwing a party to showcase their 22nd Anniversary Vanilla Imperial Stout.

Only sixty tickets to the event will be sold, guests will get to sample an unblended version of the barrel-aged 22nd Anniversary Vanilla Imperial Stout as well as get to sample the next year’s fresh 23rd Anniversary beer before it goes into barrels for a year. This will be the only time the public gets an opportunity to sample the unblended 22nd Anniversary Ale. The $50 ticket also includes appetizers, live musical enteratainment by Sezio, a bottle of 22nd Anniversary Ale and a special 22nd Anniversary snifter to take home.

This all takes place Wednesday, February 2nd from 5-8-pm at the main Karl Strauss brewery in Pacific Beach. Karl Strauss is expecting tickets to sell out, so if you’re interested in attending, buy them early.