San Diego Weekend Beer Events Thursday 9/29 – Saturday 10/1

Tags

Art + Beer, Beer + Art, big sky brewing co., Evil Dead Red, grand teton brewing co., katie scott, kinsee morlan, san diego citybeat, tour de fat, Wake-up Call Coffee Imperial Porter

I won’t be posting all events, and just because an event isn’t listed doesn’t mean it isn’t worth going to. I’ll just pick one or two a day. I try to keep the Events Calendar up to date, so check it for the full list of things going on around down. If you know of a beer event that isn’t listed send me an email, events@sandiegobeerblog.com

Instead of posting a weeks worth of events at once, I’ll be posting the weekend events on Wednesday night or Thursday and then posting on Sunday or Monday if there’s anything noteworthy going on Monday-Wednesday of a given week.

Thursday, Sept. 29th, 2011:

Getting a little self promotional here, my wife (San Diego CityBeat Arts and Culture editor Kinsee Morlan) and I have partnered up to put on an art show and beer tasting at Bottlecraft. From 7-10pm the artist Katie Scott will be on hand with plenty of her work showing. There will be three different flights available for purchase as well as all the rest of the great beer at Bottlecraft. More info here.

Friday, Sept. 30th, 2011:

It’s 30th on 30th and there are a couple great casks getting tapped Friday night. AleSmith Evil Dead Red will be at Ritual Tavern and Hamilton’s Tavern will have Grand Teton Wake-up Call Coffee Imperial Porter as well as plenty of other great Grand Teton and Big Sky Brewing beers on draft.

Saturday, Oct. 1st, 2011:

Grab your bike and head down to Golden Hill Park (technically part of Balboa Park but nowhere near where it was held last year) for New Belgium Brewing Co.’s Tour de Fat. The bike parade starts at 11am and other entertainment will run throughout the rest of the day.

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San Diego Brewed: Stone Brewing Co. Ruination IPA

Tags

ruination ipa, Stone Ruination, The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.: Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and Unabashed Arrogance Ruination

San Diego Brewed is sponsored by Bottlecraft.

Bottlecraft is a retail shop and tasting room in Little Italy showcasing local, domestic and international craft beers. They offer hundreds of beers for your enjoyment in their onsite tasting room or to-go, as well as daily beer flights, events, glassware, merchandise, and gifts. Open Noon-10pm seven days a week. 2161 India Street, San Diego, CA 92101.

I’ll admit that to me Stone Brewing Co.’s Ruination IPA sometimes gets lost in the mix of all the IPAs and Double IPAs available here in San Diego. I feel like I sometimes look it over because of how often I see it, Ruination can be found in many grocery stores as well as most bottle shops and liquor stores. There’s hardly a time or place that I don’t see a bottle of Ruination when I’m shopping for beer. This widespread availability can be both good and bad. I often look it over when shopping specifically for beer, opting for something that I may not see again soon. On the positive side if I find myself at the grocery store looking to pick up a beer at the last minute Ruination is often what I grab.

These days Ruination is on the lower end of the Double IPA spectrum at 7.7% ABV but back when it was first released in 2002 big hoppy Double IPA’s weren’t nearly as readily available as they are now. In fact, according to Greg Koch in the new book The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.: Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance Ruination was the first bottled Double IPA to be brewed year round.

As the label states, Ruination is named as such “because of the immediate ruinous effect on your palate.” The ruination of your palate happens thanks to the 100+ IBU bitterness of the beer. Hopped with Columbus and Centennial it has a bit grapefruit citrus bitterness with a bit of a floral bite.

It’s fairly light bodied, there is just a bit of malty sweetness to stand up against the hops, but this isn’t a balanced beer. With less malt it might taste more like hop tea than beer. The finish is long and dry with a lasting bitterness that doesn’t go away too quickly.

This is exactly how I like my Double IPAs, sort of low bodied and not too malty but extremely hoppy. “Balanced” isn’t a word I look for when picking up a beer like this.

If you’re anything like me you’ve probably had Ruination more times than you can count, but make sure to revisit it every once in a while as this was one of the beers that really put San Diego on the map in terms of hoppy beers.

Beer Release News from Alpine Beer Co.

Tags

Alpine Bad Boy, Alpine Duet, Alpine Ichabod Ale, Alpine Whale, Barrel-Aged Odin's Raven, Briscoe, Chez Monieux, New Millenium Pale Ale

Alpine Beer Co. sent out a newsletter this morning with some news about upcoming releases, as well as some not so nice info on a beer that won’t be coming back because of a cease and desist letter from another brewer.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. We won’t be seeing Ichabod Ale, Alpine’s Pumpkin beer that changes styles every year due to a cease and desist letter from Michigan’s New Holland Brewing which also brews a pumpkin beer by the name of Ichabod. Alpine’s newsletter states, “It seems they Trademarked the name right after we won the World Beer Cup medal for it in 2008. Let’s all let them know what we think of their dirty move.” Last year’s version was a sour beer aged in (white wine?) barrels that was just fantastic. If you’d like to let New Holland know what you think about their C&D letter they have a contact from on their website. Hopefully the two breweries can work something out and we can get Alpine’s Ichabod Ale next year.

Update: Beernews.org has a post up with some further info from both Alpine’s Pat McIlhenny and New Holland’s Bret Vanderkamp. According to Beernews Alpine has tried to work the naming dispute out with New Holland to no avail. Click through to read all of their comments, but this one from McIlhenny stood out to me: “He (alluding to New Holland’s Vanderkamp) would be well-served to have his beer mistaken for ours.”

Update 2: New Holland posted a message on their Facebook page which Beernews.org has reprinted.

Now on to the good news from Alpine.

A few weeks ago Alpine noted that they were unable to get any more Simcoe hops for the time being and would have to stop production of Duet. Well it seems they were able to work out a trade with another local brewery that had some Simcoe hops but needed some hops from New Zealand which Alpine did have. The short hiatus is over, and as Alpine says: “Long Live Duet!”

Bad Boy, (Alpine’s “other double IPA”) is being released on draft in the pub and will be available for growler fills at the brewery. Tuesday, September 27th will see the release of New Millenium Pale Ale one of my favorite Alpine beers (admittedly I’ve only had a few pints but fell in love, and then it was gone. Glad to see it back). It too will be draft only, pints in the pub and growler fills at the brewery.

Friday, October 7th will see the release of two beers, Whale and Barrel-Aged Odin’s Raven.  Whale is a wet hop ale (WetHopAle), and amber brewed with fresh Citra and Simcoe hops. Again, no bottles of Whale will be available, it’ll be on draft in the pub and available for growler fills at the brewery.

Barrel-Aged Odin’s Raven on the other hand will make it in to bottles (and won’t be available for growler fills, although there will be a small amount available on draft in the pub). There are only 20 cases available so expect bottle limits, high prices (“The price of the 22 oz. bottles have yet to be determined, but it will be pricey”) and for it to not last long.

Also mentioned as being in production but sometime away are two sours, Chez Monieux and Briscoe. And a note on the next sour, it “will involve white peaches and apricots”.

Good things are happening at Alpine. They’re getting ready to present their Business Plan for expansion to interested investors.

They often post their newsletters to their blog, but this one isn’t up yet (although it may show up there soon).

What’s the deal with Fresh Hop Beers?

Tags

dry hop vs fresh hop, dry hop vs wet hop, Fallbrook Estate Pale Ale, fresh hop, Get Wet IPA, High Tide Fresh Hop IPA, Low Tide Fresh Hop Pale Ale, Schooner Fresh Hop Ale 2011, Wet Coaster, wet hop

As we head into Fall here in San Diego the leaves might not change much, but the beers available on beer shelves around the county sure do. Gone are the lighter summer seasonals and out come the darker beers that are more fitting for the Fall season including: Oktoberfest/Märzen and pumpkin pie spiced beers. But there’s one group of beers that comes out in the fall out of necessity, there’s a short window at the end of summer and beginning of Fall these beers can be brewed, these are fresh hop, or sometimes called wet hop beers.

Hop Pellets

To understand the fresh hop beers you have to understand hop production. Hops are an herb that are harvested once per year at the end of summer (technically hops are harvested twice per year, once in the Northern Hemisphere and once in the Southern Hemisphere, but we’re going to ignore the Southern Hemisphere for the sake of explanation). Once harvested hops are delicate and must be used in their fresh form very quickly (which is why not many Northern Hemisphere brewers make fresh hop beers with Southern Hemisphere hops, although Sierra Nevada has done it). In order to brew beer year round most of the hops harvested are dried and formed into pellets or plugs, this allows them to last longer. The vast majority of beers are made with these dried hop pellets.

Fresh hop beers are often Pale Ales or IPAs, but typically not as bitter as their more common counterparts made with dried hops in order to better showcase the fresh hops which can often be more bright and fragrant. Depending upon the hop variety used the beers can showcase more herbal, floral, grassy and even fruity characteristics. It can be hard to describe and sounds kind of silly, but often compared to traditional beers made with hop pellets these beers just taste more fresh.

Fresh Hops

Locally there are a handful of breweries making fresh hop beers. Port Brewing Company released Fallbrook Estate Pale Ale a few weeks ago, made entirely with hops grown in North County. This one is pretty limited and is draft only and available only at the brewery, it’ll go quick (if it isn’t gone already).

Port Brewing Company also produces High Tide an IPA every year. This one does make its way into bottles and hits distribution so it should be easier to find. Check out pictures of Port’s Tomme Arthur’s trip to Yakima, Washington to pick out the hops for this year’s batch.

Ballast Point releases their Schooner Fresh Hop Ale 2011 today. It’s a 5.4% ABV American Pale Ale that is only available on draft. It will be at both Ballast Point locations until it runs out, I’m not sure if they’ll be sending kegs out to other bars and restaurants.

Hess Brewing Company brewed two fresh hop beers this year, both called Wet Coaster IPA. One uses Centennial and Amarillo hops while the other is a single hop brew using only Crystal hops. The first version was released last week, no word on if they have any left or not as for today (9/22) Hess still has some of the Centennial and Amarillo hopped version of Wet Coaster available, and they’re planning on releasing the second all Crystal version tomorrow. Hess brews in small batches so check with them before hand to see if it’s available before making a special trip.

The Pizza Port brewpubs often brew fresh hop beers. Get Wet IPA is at Pizza Port Ocean Beach, Low Tide a Pale Ale is at Pizza Port Solana Beach and Plant to Pint made with fresh Centennial, Cascade, Amarillo, and Simcoe is available at Pizza Port Carlsbad.

Fresh hop beers from Sierra Nevada, Great Divide and others usually make their way to San Diego in bottles, just make sure to drink them fresh like they’re intended to be had!

A note about the term “wet hop” and the process of “dry hopping” beers. Dry hopping means adding hops (in any form, fresh, dry, pellets, etc) to the beer after the boil while it is fermenting. This is done to add hop aroma. The term wet hop typically just refers to beers made with fresh hops. A fresh hop beer can be “dry hopped” with fresh hops, and some brewers choose to use the term “wet hop” instead of “fresh hop”. Kinda confusing ain’t it?

Got any questions about fresh hop beers? Leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Images used under Creative Commons license. Fresh hops: _Dekan_, Hop Pellets: epicbeer

Updated 9/22/2011 at 4:07pm

San Diego Weekend Beer Events Thursday 9/22 – Sunday 9/25

Tags

2007 Stone Imperial Russian Stout, adams avenue beer taste, Ballast Point Behind the Brewery, beer for boobs, Beer for Boobs fundraiser, Dark Seas Russian Imperial Stout, Dorado DIPA, miho gastrotruck, San Diego County Beer Fair, Schooner Fresh Hop Ale, Stone Imperial Russian Stout

I’m hoping to get back into the habit of regularly posting beer events. I won’t be posting all events, and just because an event isn’t listed doesn’t mean it isn’t worth going to. I’ll just pick one or two a day. I try to keep the Events Calendar up to date, so check it for the full list of things going on around down. If you know of a beer event that isn’t listed send me an email, events@sandiegobeerblog.com

I’m also testing out a new format, instead of posting a weeks worth of events at once, I’ll be posting the weekend events on Wednesday night or Thursday and then posting on Sunday or Monday if there’s anything noteworthy going on Monday-Wednesday of a given week.

Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011:

The “Behind the Brewery” beer dinner’s at Ballast Point Linda Vista/Home Brew Mart are always fun. MIHO Gastrotruck pulls up behind the brewery and pairs their food with some of Ballast Point’s beers. It’s also the last day to get growler fills of Dorado DIPA and the first day to get your growlers filled with Schooner Fresh Hop Ale.

New Mission Brewery release - Dark Seas Russian Imperial Stout

Down at Mission Brewery they’ll be unveiling Dark Seas Russian Imperial Stout at 5pm with a cask tapped at 6pm. We hope that this is the first of many new and seasonal beers to come out of their new space. They’ll also have a food truck on site.

Friday, Sept. 23, 2011:

Up in North County Lost Abbey/Port Brewing Company is hosting a Beer for Boobs fundraiser. $10 gets you a commemorative pint glass and two pints of anything on tap.

Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011:

Some people say that the San Diego beer festival market is getting saturated, and that could be the case, but don’t let it stop you from checking out one of the two festivals happening today. The San Diego County Beer Fair is happening at Liberty Station. Prices range from $35-50 for 12 4oz pours.

Over at the Adams Avenue Street Fair they’re having the Adams Avenue Beer Taste and billing it as the cheapest beer tasting event in San Diego. $20 gets you 12 4oz tasters.

Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011:

Stone Brewing Co.’s Imperial Russian Stout gets better with age, stop by the Stone Company Store in Escondido to pick up bottles that Stone has properly cellared since 2007 starting at 11am when the store opens.

San Diego Brewed: Lost Abbey Inferno Ale

Tags

inferno ale, lost abbey inferno

San Diego Brewed is sponsored by Bottlecraft.

Bottlecraft is a retail shop and tasting room in Little Italy showcasing local, domestic and international craft beers. They offer hundreds of beers for your enjoyment in their onsite tasting room or to-go, as well as daily beer flights, events, glassware, merchandise, and gifts. Open Noon-10pm seven days a week. 2161 India Street, San Diego, CA 92101.

As with many of the beers from Lost Abbey, you can’t tell exactly what you’re getting just by looking at the bottle of Inferno Ale. You get the alcohol content (9.0% ABV), a pretty picture (satan burning bodies with demons looking on) and a two paragraph story about hell which if you read to the bottom you get only the slightest hint about what kind of beer might be in the bottle (“straw yellow, bone dry and simply labelled Inferno”). I kind of like that.

For those that really like things classified, I don’t think anyone would argue with Inferno Ale being called a Belgian Strong Ale, or even a Belgian Strong Pale Ale if you want to really narrow things down.

The smell is doughy with spicy yeast. There is far less doughy-bread like flavor in the taste than the aroma would let on. Inferno Ale starts out fruity and sweet before fading to become spicy and a bit grassy, I’d guess from both the hops and the yeast. The finish is bitter and pretty dry, I don’t think I’d describe it at “bone dry”. The alcohol doesn’t really make itself apparent until the very finish creating a warming sensation that sticks around for a while. Not heavy at all, Inferno is pretty low bodied considering it’s alcohol content and it might have a slightly slick feel to it, but not so much as to detract from the drinking experience.

San Diego Brewed: Lightning Brewery Thunderweizen Ale

Tags

Jim Crute, Lightning Thunderweizen, Thunderweizen Ale

San Diego Brewed is sponsored by Bottlecraft.

Bottlecraft is a retail shop and tasting room in Little Italy showcasing local, domestic and international craft beers. They offer hundreds of beers for your enjoyment in their onsite tasting room or to-go, as well as daily beer flights, events, glassware, merchandise, and gifts. Open Noon-10pm seven days a week. 2161 India Street, San Diego, CA 92101.

Poway’s Lightning Brewery often gets overlooked in the crowded beer market that is San Diego today. They don’t brew any over the top hop bomb West Coast IPAs, in fact they don’t brew any (American style) IPAs at all (although Lightning’s Jim Crute says their Black Lightning Porter is really a Black IPA, I’ll have to revisit that one when the fresh batch comes out. Unlike most other breweries in San Diego, Lightning focuses mostly on classic European styles, sometimes with tweaks and changes and sometimes brewed traditionally. Case in point: Thunderweizen Ale their German-style Hefeweizen.

I’ll admit I’m not hefeweizen expert (I wouldn’t call myself an expert on any style of beer, but there are plenty of styles I know a lot more about) so I can’t evaluate Lightning’s claim that this is a traditional German style hefeweizen, though I have no reason to doubt it.

Thunderweizen is listed at 5.5% ABV with no IBU given, but I would guess not much, this beer is much more about the yeast (‘hefe’ means yeast in German) and wheat than being hoppy. It’s cloudy and unfiltered, as even novice hefeweizen drinkers have come to expect from the style, dark yellow with a fluffy white head.

As soon as I stared to pour I could smell it, even with my nose about a foot away from the glass, this is a aromatic beer. Big sweet over-ripe banana smells dominate with just a bit of clove spiciness in the background when you really get your nose in there.

The taste however was just the opposite. Spicy clove flavors up front with a noticeable but somewhat subdued banana flavor coming second. The finish is dry, much drier than I expected for a beer like this. And there’s a pleasant bitter, clove like spice aftertaste that hangs around after taking each sip.

Thunderweizen is available in 22oz bottles ($4-6) and on draft.

Tiger!Tiger! a new Bar from the Owners of Blind Lady Ale House

Tags

bike the boulevard, el cajon boulevard pub crawl

By now you may have heard that the owners of Blind Lady Ale House are opening up a new bar and restaurant, called Tiger!Tiger! at 3025 El Cajon Blvd, near the corner of 30th St.

BLAH Chef Aaron LaMonica will be in the kitchen and despite the wood fired oven in the dining room pizza will not be on the menu. And just like BLAH there will of course be plenty of beer. They’ve stressed that the intention isn’t to do another Blind Lady Ale House, so expect something a bit different.

As for when Tiger!Tiger! will open there seems to be no firm date in place, but it will be a stop on this Saturday’s Bike the Boulevard, a bike ride along El Cajon Boulevard starting at Til Two and ending at Live Wire with stops at Soda Bar, Tiger!Tiger! and the Lafayette Hotel along the way. I’m unsure of whether this is a preview or a soft opening, I’ll post more details about when to expect Tiger!Tiger! to be up and running when I hear about them.

For now, if you want to check it out, be sure to be at Til Two Saturday at noon with your bicycle. Check out more details on Facebook.

UPDATE: Just noticed in their latest newsletter that MIHO Gastrotruck will be parked outside of Tiger!Tiger! from 3-6pm Saturday.

UPDATE 2: Co-owner Jeff Motch reiterated on Facebook that Tiger!Tiger! is open this Saturday for Bike the Boulevard participants only and that they’ll be closing the doors when the ride moves on to the next stop (around 3:50, fifty minutes after they arrive). So be sure to show up on your bike if you want to check out Tiger!Tiger! this Saturday!

Adams Avenue Beer Tasting at Adams Avenue Street Fair, Saturday Sept. 24th

Tags

adams ave beer taste, adams ave street fair, adams avenue beer taste, adams avenue street fair

The Adams Avenue Street Fair, which happens over two days in September every year along Adams Avenue in Normal Heights has long been one of the best street fairs and free music festivals around. In order to make things even better this year they’re adding a beer tasting area from Noon-6pm on Saturday, Sept 24th.

They’re not calling it a beer festival, but it’s a similar concept. $20 gets you in (far cheaper than most beer events of the kind) and 12 4oz tasters from fifteen breweries including Karl Strauss, Coronado, Manzanita, Stone, The Lost Abbey, Ballast Point and more. I’m told they’re selling a limited number of tickets, so things shouldn’t get too crowded and chances are good it will sell out before the day of the event.

The Adams Ave Street Fair always has good music, and now there will be good local beer as well. And if you still need more beer when you run out of taster tickets you can stop into Blind Lady Ale House, conveniently located in the heart of the festival for more.

Click here to buy tickets to the Adams Avenue Beer Tasting at the Adams Avenue Street Fair.

Photo: CC flickr user Roebot

Ballast Point Seafood Pairing Dinner at Sea Rocket Bistro | Sept 8th, 2011

Tags

chad white, colby chandler, Even Keel Session Ale, sculpin ipa, Sour Wench Blackberry Ale, Tongue Buckler Imperial Red Ale, Wahoo Wheat

Taking a look at Ballast Point’s beer names and label’s it’s obvious that the folks at Ballast Point are into fishing. So it surprised me a bit when I read on Sea Rocket Bistro’s website that their upcoming Ballast Point dinner happening tonight, Thursday, Sept 8th was the first to pair Ballast Point’s beers exclusively with seafood.

I’ll admit, I don’t know a thing about seafood, but I met and drank beers with Sea Rocket’s chef Chad White last week, discussing flavors and pairing ideas for a vegan beer dinner we’re planning for San Diego Beer Week with LoveLikeBeer and the guy knows his stuff.

But more on that later. The five course, $60 Ballast Point seafood dinner is happening tonight at Sea Rocket Bistro with Ballast Point Specialty Brewer Colby Chandler on hand. Reservations are recommended (619-255-7049, sorry for not posting about this sooner) but walk-ins are welcome as well.

The Ballast Point beers for the dinner will be Wahoo Wheat, Even Keel Session Ale, Sour Wench Blackberry Ale, Sculpin IPA (on cask) and Tongue Buckler Imperial Red Ale. Click the image above or click through here to see the food paired with each beer.