A Great Weekend of Beer

Tags

black market brewing company, black market rye ipa, deschutes, deschutes the abyss 2009, infected abyss, jolly pumpkin, Madrugada Obscura, nickel bag ipa, Red Poppy, san salvador saison, stone belgo old guardian barleywine, victory, victory golden monkey, Vrienden

San Salvador Saison

I usually make it a point to have a couple good beers every weekend, but for some reason this weekend seemed to  be all about beer. Maybe it was the rain on Saturday, what else is there to do when it rains? Regardless of the reason, I drank some great beer this weekend.

Friday night I had dinner at KNB Wine Cellars and somehow managed to only have one beer. Their tap list is so good it was hard to decide on what to drink but I had Vrienden, the slightly sour and a little sweet (thanks to hibiscus flowers) New Belgium/Allagash collaboration. This wasn’t the first time I had Vrienden and I’m still undecided on it. The first time I had it out of a bottle I thought it was good but not great. I had it on draft about a month ago and really enjoyed it. This time it seemed sweeter than I remember, the fruity hibiscus flowers were very apparent. A good beer but I didn’t like it as much as I remembered.

Saturday I started the day off watching the SDSU/BYU game and opened my last bottle of Deschutes 2009 The Abyss. It’s been reported that many of The Abyss bottles from 2009 were infected and had off smells and flavors which was the case with this bottle. (The last bottle I opened before this one was last summer and the off smell/flavor wasn’t nearly as prominent.) There was a strong Brett smell and some off flavors, it wasn’t terrible but didn’t taste right. I’ve heard some people say they really like these infected bottles, and others say they can’t stomach it at all and have to pour it out. I was able to drink about half the bottle but am glad I don’t have any more of these bottles sitting around.

A bit later in the day I went to The Linkery for their 6th anniversary where they had some nice beers on tap. I started off with Ballast Point’s San Salvador Saison, which now is about five or six months old. I had a small taster of San Salvador at the Ballast Point 14th Anniversary Festival when it was fresh and it was one of my favorite beers of the day. If memory serves me it has changed a bit, but it still a great beer. It has a much stronger yeast characteristic that gives it a bit of a sweet flavor up front. There is still plenty of spice in there but the yeast is what stands out. I also had Black Market’s Rye IPA on cask dry hopped with Cascade and Amarillo hops. This was only my second time having this GABF gold medal winning beer, plenty of citrus hops and a nice mouthfeel from the cask.

Later that night I ended up at Counterpoint where they had a keg of Lost Abbey’s Red Poppy on. This is one of my favorite sours but sadly it’s pretty rare. I heard they weren’t doing too many kegs of it this year, so far I’ve seen it at Eleven, Ritual Tavern and now Counterpoint. If you see this on tap I highly suggest it. Bottles have started showing up at some of the better liquor stores in town, but they surely won’t last long. I also tried a Victory Golden Monkey, a strong Belgian-style golden ale, it was slightly sweet and fruity and had some serious alcohol heat to the first few sips but was overall a good beer.

Sunday I had to go for a bike ride to burn off all these beer calories, but that ride took me right past Pizza Port Ocean Beach where I stopped in for a few beers. Jolly Pumpkin’s Madrugada Obscura is a nice slightly tart and sour but still good and roasted stout. If only this is what the infected 2009 The Abyss had tasted like. I haven’t seen this on draft before, but I know some bottles showed up recently at some local liquor stores, I highly recommend it. It’s sour, but not too sour, so give it a chance if you like stouts and are on the fence about sours. And being a Pizza Port, I just had to try Nickel Bag, the double IPA brewed with help from O’Brien’s Pub’s Tom Nickel. This was so smooth and easy to drink (for being 10% ABV) it could be dangerous. There are a ton of hops in there, but it’s not overpoweringly bitter, it has some citrus and pine flavors from the hops and a nice malt backbone to balance things out.

And for the final beer of the weekend I cracked open a 2011 Stone Belgo Old Guardian Barleywine while watching the Oscar’s. I would have loved to do a side-by-side comparision for the Belgo and the regular, but wasn’t able to do that last night (I’m sure I’ll get another opportunity in the future). I really enjoyed the Belgo OG. The Belgian yeast made it fairly sweet, but not in an overpowering or cloying and syrupy kind of way, which took a lot of the alcohol heat off. At about $6/22oz this is a solid beer. I can’t wait to try it along side the original OG and probably put some of both versions away to age for a while.

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San Diego Beer Events, February 24th – March 2nd

Tags

2005 imperial russian stout, 2007 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine., black market rye ipa, eleven pint night, knb wine cellars pint night, le merle, lost abbey carnevale, north coast brewing company, old rasputin, san diego pint night, san salvador saison, scrimshaw pils, Tongue Buckler, toronado pint night

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

Thursday Feb 24th:

Pizza Port Ocean Beach is doing a North Coast Brewing Company keep the glass night. Old Rasputin has been one of my stand by beers for sometime while Le Merle and Scrimshaw Pils are recent favorites. They’ll have regular and Belgian-style glasses to take home as well as some other North Coast beers on tap.

Friday Feb 25th:

This Friday is the first ever Friday Afternoon Club (FAC) at Hess Brewing Company. They’ll have live music, catered food and $3 pints in your Hess Brewing Company glass. If you don’t have a glass yet you can buy one for $8 including your first beer.

Hamilton’s Tavern will have a cask of Ballast Point Brewing Company’s Tongue Buckler an Imperial Red for Firkin Friday this week. I haven’t had this years batch yet but I hear it’s good.

Saturday Feb 26th:

The Tap Room in Pacific Beach is celebrating their 4th Anniversary this weekend with a beer festival on Saturday. $20 gets you eight 6oz tasters. They’ll have a ton of limited and rare beers available for sampling.

Lost Abbey is hosting their fourth annual Carnevale, a Venetian-style Carnevale masquerade party from 7-11pm. Beers are all regular price but if you attend in costume food and entertainment are free. Check out their website for pictures from past years, it looks like a good time.

Sunday Feb 27th:

The Linkery is celebrating their Sixth Anniversary all weekend long (starting Friday) with their Festival of Sausages and Beer. They’ll have some great stuff on cask and draft all weekend in addition to their solid bottle lineup. They’ll have the declicious and locally sourced Ballast Point San Salvador Saison (which The Linkery helped source ingredients for and brew) as well as 2007 Stone Old Guardian Barleywine and a cask of Black Market Brewing Company Rye IPA in addition to some other great beers. Some stuff may run out, so if there’s a particular beer you’re especially interested in you may want to head down there earlier in the weekend.

Up in Escondido Stone Brewing Co. will be filling growlers of 2005 Imperial Russian Stout. This is a great beer with a few years on it, and in Stone’s cellar I’m sure this is holding up just fine. Sunday growler fills can be extremely limited. I’d suggest stopping by in the morning.

Monday Feb 28th:

Pint night at both Toronado and Eleven with $3 drafts. Eleven offers all of their on-tap beers for $3 from open to close while Toronado offers locals for $3 from 6pm to close.

Tuesday March 1st:

I haven’t heard of anything special going on. If you know of something please email events@sandiegobeerblog.com to get it added.

Wednesday March 2nd:

If you didn’t get enough $3 pints on Monday night stop by KNB Wine Cellars anytime Wednesday when they’re doing $3 beers.

Ska Brewing Co. Euphoria Pale Ale

Tags

euphoria pale ale, ska euphoria, venture snowboards

Ska Brewing Company is the biggest brewery in my former home of Durango, Colorado. Durango is home of four breweries and about 20,000 people, a pretty good ratio in my opinion. I’m a big fan of Ska so I brought back as much beer as I could when I visited earlier this month.

Euphoria is Ska’s winter seasonal which they team up with Venture Snowboards on. Every year they throw a kick off party up in Silverton, Colorado (above 9000 feet) in the dead of winter. Sadly I didn’t get to attend when I was living out there, but I hear it’s quite the party. Venture makes a Euphoria branded snowboard which is given away at the party.

Euphoria pours a dark amber color (I didn’t take a picture when I was drinking it, but found this picture on Flickr, I’m not sure if there’s much more light in the photo or if my Euphoria is just darker than in the photo, but what I’m drinking is much darker) with a thin off white head that disappears pretty quickly. The citrus, specifically grapefruit as well as some sort of grainy malt smell stand out.

The taste is well balanced between bready and grainy (with maybe a bit of toffee or carmel) malts and grapefruit like bitter hops. There isn’t nearly as much pine in Euphoria as there is in Ska’s IPA Modus Hoperandi (look for a little write up on it soon).

Euphoria is just over 6% but easily drinkable. One of my favorite things about it is that it comes in a can (I’m a big fan of canned craft beer). Last year Ska released Dementia a barrel aged version of Euphoria to commemorate their 15th anniversary, unfortunately I wasn’t able to get any of this (If anyone out there reading has a bottle they want to trade email me using the contact form on the About page).

Sadly Ska doesn’t distribute in California, so there’s nowhere to find this beer in San Diego, although Ska is usually at the Stone Brewing Co. Anniversary Festival in the summer. And they do distribute in Arizona, so if you find yourself out there, pick up a six pack. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Photo: CC Flickr User TRAFFIK [US]

San Diego Beer Events, February 18th – February 23

Tags

2007 Decadence, 2007 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine., 2008 Imperial Russian Stout, 2011 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine, AleSmith My Bloody Valentine, Barrel Aged Wee Heavy, beer u: abbey ales, green flash double stout, My Bloody Valentine, speedway stout, Stone Old Guardian BELGO Barley Wine, Vanilla Bean Smoked Porter, Will Powered IPA

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

I got caught up with some other things this week and am putting this post up a day later than usual. Luckily, as far as I can tell, it doesn’t look like a whole lot was going on yesterday.

Friday Feb 18th:

This week’s cask at Hamilton’s Firkin Friday is AleSmith’s My Bloody Valentine. I haven’t had it yet this year but I hear it’s good.

Both Friday and Saturday Stone Brewing Co. is doing growler fills of the recently released 2011 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine and Stone Old Guardian BELGO Barley Wine.

Saturday Feb 19th:

Blind Lady Ale House will be tapping the last kegs of their latest beer, Will Powered IPA. This was the beer brewed for the Will Farrel related charity event they had a few weeks ago where they raised a ton of money for Cancer for College.

The Saturday Night Special growler fill at Stone is 2008 Imperial Russian Stout. IRS is one of my favorite beers, and IRS with a few years on it is even better in my opinion. As with all the Saturday Night Specials,  they’re only filling growlers from 8-10pm.

Sunday Feb 20th:

One more Stone growler fill. They’ll be filling a limited amount of growlers with 2007 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine. Another one that’s great with some age on it.

At O’Brien’s Pub they’re doing a tasting with AleSmith. Owner/Brewer Peter Zien will be on hand to lead the tasting of about 10 beers. Barrel Aged Wee Heavy, 2007 Decadence and some vintage of Speedway Stout should make appearances as well as many other AleSmith beers. Some of Zien’s cheeses will also be available for tasting. Cost is $40, check with O’Brien’s for tickets. You’ll want to get them ahead of time.

Monday Feb 21st:

In addition to the $3 pint nights at Toronado and Eleven, this Monday is another Beer U at Stone Brewing Co. This month is Beer U: Abbey Ales and they have quite the tasting list. Be sure to buy tickets in advance as they often sell out.

Tuesday Feb 22nd:

The monthly QUAFF homebrew club meeting happens on the fourth Tuesday of every month. Even if you’re not a homebrewer (yet) check it out, you’ll certainly learn something new.

Wednesday Feb 23rd:

There’s a lot going on Wednesday night and surely more than I’m listing here. Main Tap Tavern is featuring a cask of Green Flash Brewing Co.’s Double Stout. URGE Gastropub will have a handful of Stone Brewing Co. beers on (many “Double Dry Hopped) as well as the delicious Vanilla Bean Smoked Porter. The Pizza Port Carlsbad Bottle Shop will be hosting a “Sweet Beer” tasting. And as with every Wednesday, KNB Wine Cellars has $3 pints.

General’s American Pub coming to Scripps Ranch

Tags

scripps ranch bar, scripps ranch o'brien's, scripps ranch pub, tom nickel

UPDATE: 6/22/2011: Word is that this project is no longer happening. Nickel’s announced at the National Homebrewers Conference that he is now focused on opening a BBQ-centric brewpub in Julian, CA with Vince Marsaglia of Pizza Port.

These days a new beer bar opening up isn’t exactly newsworthy. It seems like craft beer focused bars are opening up all over the county at a good rate. It’s nice to see areas outside of the central San Diego – South Park/North Park/University Heights/Normal Heights getting better beer selections which is happening more and more. I try not to blog about every new place opening up, but this one caught my eye.

General’s American Pub is looking to open by June 1st in a shopping center in  Scripps Ranch, just off Scripps Poway Parkway not too far from the 15. The previous tenant of the space was a restaurant called Santorini Island Grill.

What stood out about General’s American Pub was the fact that Tom Nickel is involved. Nickel is a former brewer for Pizza Port Solana Beach, but these days he’s known as the owner of O’Brien’s Pub, one of the best beer bars around. I don’t know many details about what’s in store for General’s American Pub, but Nickel had this to say about it in a recent O’Brien’s newsletter: “Lindsey and I are helping our friend Larry open a pub in Scripp’s Ranch that should be operating by June 1st.  Larry will be the owner and his pub will be called General’s American Pub and it will feature great beer and food just like O’Brien’s.  Coral will be working up there full time when the pub opens, so soon you will be able to see her more regularly behind a bar.” Nickel is listed as an officer of the company applying for the liquor license for General’s American Pub, so it sounds like he’s formally involved with the new bar in some way.

If General’s American Pub is even just half as great as O’Brien’s Pub is it will be a great thing for the people living nearby. June is still a few months off, so if I hear anything else newsworthy about General’s American Pub I’ll post it. And I’ll be sure to post an update once they open and I get to check it out.

UPDATE 3/1/2011: I stopped by the location where General’s American Pub will be opening and took a picture of the posted ABC sign. It looks like Santorini is still operating in the space (they were closed when I went by but it looked like they were opening a bit later in the day). A sign posted in the window said they were planning on moving into a currently empty storefront next door and General’s American Pub would move into their current location, but it did note that the deal has not been finalized.

Kona Brewing Company Koko Brown

Tags

Big Kahuna's, coconut brown ale, koko brown, kona brewing company, kona coconut beer, kona koko brown, mattson davis

Mattson Davis, President of Kona Brewing Company

Kona Brewing Company had a little party last night at Big Kahuna’s in Pacific Beach to unveil their newest beer coming to San Diego, Koko Brown, a brown ale made with coconuts. Kona Brewing Company president Mattson Davis was on hand chatting with folks and talked with us a bit about the beer. He said they use 100lbs of coconuts per batch (25 barrels if I heard correctly). They use toasted coconut chips in the mash and add coconut flavor in the bright tank. Koko Brown will be a late winter/early spring seasonal, it should show up in San Diego in a few weeks and will be around through April.

So how is Koko Brown? Pretty good, it smells and tastes strongly of coconut, the initial flavor may be a bit too sweet, probably a result of the coconut flavoring, but I imagine it would be extremely difficult and costly to get enough coconut flavor using only actual coconuts and not flavoring. It finishes dry enough that the sweetness isn’t a huge problem, but that first sip did catch me off guard. It’s a bit nutty like many other brown ales, but the coconut is what really comes through. Davis says it pairs well with Thai food and especially caramelized onions which I isn’t hard to believe.

Koko Brown isn’t a beer I could drink all night, but it’s not hard to drink one or two.

San Diego Beer Events, February 10th- February 16th

Tags

06 06 06 Vertical Epic Ale, 2009 Double Bastard, 2010 Double Bastard, 2010 Dry Hop Lucky Bastard, 2010 Dry Hopped Chipotle Double Bastard, 2010 Lucky Bastard, 22nd Anniversary Vanilla Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, 2nd Annual Brewbies Festival, 60 Minute IPA, 90 minute ipa, Arrogant Bastard, Backlit India Black Ale, Bitches Brew, burton baton, Chateau Jiahu, Chicory Stout, Flan-Diddly-Anders Red, Habanero Sculpin, indian brown ale, karl strauss saison, lost abbey red poppy, Midas Touch, mongo, Oaked Arrogant Bastard, Palm Belgian Pale, Palo Santo Marron, Pangaea, Raison D'Etre, Red Poppy, Rodenbach Grand Cru, Rodenbach Vintage, will ferrell beer, will ferrell ipa, will powered oatmeal ipa

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

Thursday, Feb 10th:

Toronado will be opening early at 10am to tap Pliny the Younger. If it hasn’t been delivered yet they’ll let everyone in to wait for the delivery driver. They promise to have an empty tap, clean lines and that the keg will be delivered cold. Say goodbye to your productivity for the rest of the day. For more on Pliny the Younger around San Diego click here.

For Dogfish Head night at O’Brien’s Pub they’ll put on nine DFH taps and have two more beers in bottles. They’ll have 60 Minute IPA, Bitches Brew, Palo Santo Marron, Pangaea, Chateau Jiahu, 90 Minute IPA, Chicory Stout, Raison D’Etre and Indian Brown on draft and bottles of Burton Baton and Midas Touch.

Friday Feb 11th:

Downtown Johnny Brown’s is having a mini Belgian keep the glass with Rodenbach and Palm. They’ll have Rodenbach Vintage, Grand Cru and Palm Belgian Pale. Rodenbach will be $12 with glass and $6 refills while Palm will be $6 with glass and $3.75 refills.

Saturday Feb 12th:

There’s so much going on this Saturday it’s hard to pick just a couple things going on. First and foremost it’s Hamilton’s Second Saturday, this month with Karl Strauss Brewing Co. They’ll have 22nd Anniversary Vanilla Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout and Backlit India Black Ale on cask with plenty of great Karl Strauss beers on draft. I’m especially looking forward to trying the pilot batch of the Belgian-style they’re brewing with Flying Dog as well as their Saison and Flan-Diddly-Anders Red. This month is Mardi Gras themed and they’ll have plenty of New Orleans influenced food.

Automatic Brewing Co. will be tapping a keg of Will Powered Oatmeal IPA when Blind Lady Ale House opens at 11:30am Saturday. This was the beer brewed especially for the Cancer for College benefit with Will Ferrell they held last week.

The Lost Abbey will be releasing bottles of 2011 Red Poppy when they open at noon. I got a chance to try this on draft at Eleven recently and it is good! Bottles will be $15/375ml with a limit of six. They’ll also be releasing Port Brewing Co. Mongo in bottles as well. The bottled version is finished with Simcoe hops and I’m told that it’s even better than it is on tap.

O’Brien’s Pub will also be tapping a keg of Pliny the Younger at 4pm and the 2nd Annual Brewbies Festival, benefiting The Keep A Breast Foundation is happening at Pizza Port Carlsbad. For more on Pliny the Younger around San Diego click here.

Sunday Feb 13th:

Head to Stone Brewing Co. where they’ll be filling growlers of 06 06 06 Vertical Epic Ale. This one was a Belgian Strong Dark Ale which was recently on tap for Stone Winter Storm and folks say it’s holding up well, probably even better and more mellow with some age.

Monday Feb 14th:

Monday’s have become pint night with both Toronado and Eleven offering $3 drafts. Eleven offers all of their on-tap beers for $3 from open to close while Toronado offers locals for $3 from 6pm to close.

Tuesday Feb 15th:

Chicks for Beer at the High Dive is hosting Colby Chandler and Ballast Point Brewing Co. This one is ladies only and they should have some good beer and food pairings. I’m not sure what exactly what they’ll be pouring but I hear the excellent Habanero Sculpin will be on draft.

Can’t attend Chicks for Beer? Blind Lady Ale House will be tapping a keg of the ever-so-sought-after Pliny the Younger when they open at 5pm. It will probably go fast, and there will probably be a line. For more on Pliny the Younger around San Diego click here.

Wednesday Feb 16th:

The third Wednesday of the month means that it’s time for the Drinkabout. The monthly event means a free shuttle runs between Hamilton’s, The Station, Sea Rocket, Toronado, Ritual, Small Bar, Blind Lady Ale House and Livewire and most of the bars have drink and/or food specials. Small Bar is doing the “Night of the Bastards” with Arrogant Bastard, Oaked Arrogant Bastard, 2009 Double Bastard, 2010 Double Bastard, 2010 Dry Hopped Chipotle Double Bastard, 2010 Lucky Bastard, and 2010 Dry Hop Lucky Bastard all on draft. Three 6oz tasters will set you back $6.

Russian River Brewing Co. Pliny the Younger in San Diego

Tags

pliny the younger, pliny the younger 2011, pliny the younger BLAH, pliny the younger blind lady ale house, pliny the younger churchill's pub, pliny the younger hamilton's tavern, pliny the younger linkery, pliny the younger neighborhood, pliny the younger o'brien's pub, pliny the younger pb tap room, pliny the younger release 2011, pliny the younger release san diego, pliny the younger san diego, pliny the younger san diego 2011, pliny the younger san diego tap room, pliny the younger toronado, pliny the younger toronado san diego

Russian River Brewing Co.’s Triple IPA Pliny the Younger is one of the most anticipated beer releases amongst hop head beer geeks. Released just once a year, usually in February the beer is very limited which adds to the intrigue and demand. Last year Russian River sold out of Pliny the Younger at their brewpub in Santa Rosa in about ten hours. This year they changed things up a bit so it will last longer; they aren’t filling growlers, it is available for on-premise consumption only and they have specific allotments for each day, so even if they run out one day, they’ll have another keg to put on the next day so it will be on tap for at least two weeks. But Santa Rosa is quite the drive from San Diego, so thankfully Russian River is sending some kegs down our way.

While I appreciate a good IPA or Double IPA I’m not the biggest hop head aound, and I’ve actually never gotten to try Pliny the Younger, but I’m hoping to get a taste this year. In the past lines at San Diego bars have been long when Pliny the Younger is released and a full keg blew at O’Brien’s Pub in about 45 minutes a year or two ago. So it might be a hassle to get some, but from what everyone says it’s worth it.

I’m unsure of how many kegs will be sent to San Diego, and exactly which bars will be getting it, but below is a list of the bars I do know that are getting it, as well as my best guesses on which other bars might get some Pliny the Younger and those that got some last year. It’s expected that the kegs will be arriving in San Diego this week, maybe even as early as tomorrow, Wednesday February 9th. UPDATE: According to Ian Black at Toronado the first kegs of PtY did indeed arrive at Stone (they distribute Russian River in San Diego) Wednesday and should start going out to bars Thursday. I’m told that there will probably be at least two different shipments of kegs down here, so we could see Pliny the Younger start showing up at bars this week and then again in a week or two.

This is all subject to change and you should check with individual bars for more info. But I’ll try to keep this list as up to date as possible. If I hear of any bars tapping additional kegs at a later date I’ll post that info as well.

Know of any other bars that will be getting Pliny the Younger? Or have updated info on when it will be tapped at any bar? Leave a comment below or send an email: events@sandiegobeerblog.com

• Pizza Port Ocean Beach – Tuesday, 3/8 at 4pm
• Neighborhood – Tuesday, 3/15
• Churchill’s Pub – Saturday, 3/5 at 11am for Churchill’s Renaissance
• The Linkery – Thursday, 3/3 at 5pm. Only served paired with food, click here for the details
• Toronado – Thursday, 2/10 at 10am UPDATE: The first keg ran out around noon, they tapped a second keg which ran out around 3pm. They had another keg on when they opened at 11:30am Sunday 2/13.
• Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens – Thursday, 2/10 at 4:30pm UPDATE: Their keg kicked around 5:45pm. I’ve heard second hand that they have two additional 1/2 barrel kegs.
• Pizza Port Solana Beach – 2/11 at 4pm
• Newport Pizza and Ale House – Wed 2/16UPDATE: They’re tapping another five gallon keg 3/1 at 5pm
• O’Brien’s Pub – Saturday 2/12 at 4pm UPDATE: I heard the keg kicked in just over 20 minutes.

• Hamilton’s Tavern – Sunday 2/13 at 1pm UPDATE: They also had a keg on 2/28
• Blind Lady Ale House – Tuesday 2/15 at 5pm UPDATE: BLAH had a 1/2 barrel keg which was emptied in about an hour.
• Tap Room – Monday 2/21 at 5pm and at their Anniversary party Saturday 2/26
• Live Wire – Sunday 2/13
• San Diego Brewing Company – Tuesday, 2/15 at 4pmUPDATE: I’m told the keg kicked around 5:3opm
• Downtown Johnny Brown’s – 2/25 at 6pm
• Pizza Port Carlsbad – Unknown

Check out THINKBREW for a list of bars in Los Angeles and Orange County that are expected to get Pliny the Younger

This post was last updated 3/7/2011 at 3pm

Press Release: San Diego CityBeat Festival of Beers

Tags

citybeat festival of beers, san diego beer fest, san diego beer festival, san diego citybeat festival of beers

Tickets for the 4th Annual CityBeat Festival of Beers go on sale at 3pm today. Looks like they haven’t released the list of participating breweries but they are having a special VIP session this year with some exclusive beers. The festival takes place Saturday, April 9th on El Cajon Blvd.

The full press release is below.

Full disclosure, my wife works for San Diego CityBeat, although she has nothing to do with this festival and regardless of that, they’re sure to be pouring some great beers.

Alpine Beer Co. to release Exponential Hoppiness

Tags

alpine black ipa, alpine ugly, Exponential Hoppiness, Hoppy Birthday, pliny the younger

Chances are good that by the time you read this Exponential Hoppiness will be on sale at Alpine Beer Co. They’re set to release the latest batch of this super hoppy double IPA Friday, February4th at the brewery and pub in Alpine. They’ll have 22oz bottles to go for $8.99 each (limit of 6 per person/per day at the brewery, 3 per person/per day at the pub). They’ll also be filling growlers at the brewery and serving it for on premise consumption at the pub. They warn that they don’t want to see any growlers of Exponential Hoppiness for sale on “public auction sites” and if they do they’ll stop filling growlers.

I’ve never had Exponential Hoppiness, but am hoping to get a chance to try it this time around. I’ve heard a few people compare it to, and some even say it’s better than another sought after and rare hoppy beer that’s being released soon, Pliny the Younger. I can’t vouch for that but sure hope to find out soon. I’d love to see one of our local beer bars put on a keg of Exponential Hoppiness at the same time as PtY to let beer geeks taste the two side by side.

They’re also set to release the latest batches of the Black IPA Ugly and the lower alcohol but still deliciously hoppy IPA Hoppy Birthday for growler fills at the brewery and on premise consumption at the pub next week, February 11th.

Head on over to Alpine Beer Co.’s website for all the details.