“Don’t Bro Me if You Don’t Know Me” – How Not To Build Community Around Local Craft Beer

Tags

don't bro me if you don't know me, Neighborhood bottle shop, Stone Mixed Tape-GK & LU's Blend Vol. 1

3/10/12 See update with info from Arsalun Tafazoli at bottom of post.

I have no idea if this pint glass, adorned with the Neighborhood name and logo along with the Stone Brewing Co. name and gargoyle is a commentary by Neighborhood aimed at Sid Mikhail of Best Damn Beer Shop. If you know Sid you’ve probably been greeted by him with “Hey bro” at least once, it’s something he’s fairly well known for in the local beer community. I’ve had multiple people bring it up with me when talking about Best Damn Beer Shop. Granted some people don’t like it, some people find it a little odd, others just understand it’s the way the guy talks and don’t mind it (myself included).

Neighborhood recently had a fairly public dispute with Best Damn Beer Shop when they announced plans to open a tasting room and off-premise bottle shop near their current bar/restaurant at 8th and G St Downtown (which happens to be just a few blocks from Best Damn Beer Shop). You can read more about that here (and be sure to read the comments).

An email to Arsalun Tafazoli, owner of Neighborhood, asking about the glasses and if they are a commentary about Sid Mikhail was not returned. Neighborhood’s publicist who sent me the image of the glass and info about the night had this to say about it: “It’s just a Neighborhood saying that means just that. A quote from Arsalun I believe.”

I’m perfectly willing to admit that there’s a chance that this has nothing to do with Sid and Best Damn Beer Shop, if that is the case it is a most unfortunate coincidence. Previously Arsalun Tafazoli said his opening a bottle shop wasn’t about competition but rather about building community in craft beer. If that’s really what he’s after this certainly isn’t the way to do it. Arsalun is a smart guy, and pretty on top of things, it’s hard for me to imagine that even if it weren’t his intention he wouldn’t know that some people might see this as a comment about Sid at Best Damn Beer Shop given what’s gone on between the two businesses recently.

And just why is the glass co-branded with Stone Brewing Co.? The glasses will be given away Tuesday night (March 13th) with the purchase of any Stone Brewing Co. beer at Neighborhood, when they’ll also be releasing for the first time a new custom blend which they just got ABC and TTB approval for, Stone Mixed Tape-GK & LU’s Blend Vol. 1 will be on tap for the first time ever. It’s a blend of Stone Levitation Ale, Stone LeVariation Ale (Levitation w/ our Belgian yeast strain), Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale, Stone Smoked Porter, Stone Cali-Belgique IPA, 2011 Stone Imperial Russian Stout and 2011 Stone BELGO Anise Imperial Russian Stout with added notes of sage, peppers, lemon thyme, and Citra hops.

In an email Greg Koch CEO of Stone Brewing Co. distanced the company from the glass and any potential bad blood between Neighborhood and Best Damn Beer Shop, “I’m not aware of the source of the “Bro” thing.  We were not part of the design process of the glass.  We are not part of any ‘spat,’ and I’m not aware that the glass is either.”

As for the beer I’ll say it sounds interesting — in both the I am really genuinely curious how that will taste sense of the word, as well as the way one might stretch out the first syllable when they say the word, innnnnteresting, to denote that they might have a few reservations about it. One way to find out how the blend works out is to try it, 6pm Tuesday at Neighborhood, Koch will be on hand to see how folks respond to it.

Update: Arsalun Tafazoli of Neighborhood wrote back to say this has nothing to do with Sid and Best Damn Beer Shop and that glasses were actually planned and made for a San Diego Beer Week event that had to be bumped due to scheduling conflicts. So it turns out that this is just a really unfortunate coincidence as I previously wrote could be the case. I asked around a bit before publishing this post yesterday and every one I talked to assumed this was aimed at Best Damn Beer Shop, so regardless of intention, I wasn’t the only person that interpreted it as such. Tafazoli’s email is below.

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San Diego Beer News Roundup

Tags

Chez Monieux, churchill's renaissance, Exponential Hoppiness, Neighborhood bottle shop

I’ve been a bad blogger lately, with a ton going on at work and home I haven’t been blogging much. Things might be a little slow for a while longer, but here’s a quick roundup with some links to keep you up to date.

According to Amy T. Granite, the CCDC has approved Neighborhood for an off-site consumption permit. They still need to get a license (or a change to their current license depending on how they will be operating) but it looks like they’re one step closer to opening a spot to sell bottles to go near 8th and G downtown. Here’s a post with a bit of back story on their proposed bottle shop/tasting room. Check out the comments to see what folks are saying about it.

Live from the CCDC public hearing: @NeighborhoodSD has been approved a permit for off-site consumption. #bottleshop

— Amy T. Granite(@saysgranite) March 1, 2012

This Saturday is Churchill’s Renaissance at Churchill’s Pub and Grille in San Marcos. The tap list looks amazing (dare I say Pliny the Younger is the most pedestrian beer on the list?). They’ll also have a limited amount of bottles of Port/Lost Abbey brewed Churchill’s Finest Hour available for sale to go, if last year was any indication it’s a good idea to get there early if you’re looking to score a bottle.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is also the second Turista Libre TJ Craft Beer Tour, the last one was a ton of fun, it’s great to see ambitious homebrewers turning out good beer south of the border.

Pat Mcilhenney at Alpine Beer Co. sent out a newsletter earlier in the week in which he announced a few changes to the ways their beers get released. First off he says they won’t be giving much notice when a new beer is coming out, maybe they’ll announce it the day before it goes on sale, maybe once it’s already on sale, or (Mcilhenney  doesn’t explicitly say this) but maybe they won’t announce beer releases at all. Much of his email is about rewarding local and loyal customers, not out-of-towners and those looking to resell Alpine’s beers and make a quick buck. Which brings up the part that got everybody talking (just check out the comments at Beerpulse):

You have seen your very last growler of “Exponential Hoppiness” ever to be dispensed. [The link included no longer show’s the auction which was ended soon after the email went out, here’s a link to the seller’s Ebay page]

Since I previously stated if I ever saw a growler of “Exponential Hoppiness” for sale on ebay there would never be another growler sold again. Don’t blame me, but you can see who to blame on the above link. As for bottles of “Expo” on ebay, I’m seriously considering never bottling it again. This is not just a personal issue, it’s illegal.

Mike Shess at West Coaster and Peter Rowe at Brewery Rowe both followed up with Mcilhenney, and it sounds like he may change his mind somewhere down the line, but I wouldn’t expect to see Alpine filling growlers of Expo during the next release.

And not to be forgotten in the hoopla, Alpine released bottles of the always delicious Chez Monieux Kriek this week. No word on how fast it’s selling (or if it’s sold out already) but I’d hurry up there if you want some.

Speaking of West Coaster, the March issue is out now, and if you didn’t get a chance to pick up the February issue, my column about “imitation” craft beer was posted to the web a few days ago.

Neighborhood’s Proposed Bottleshop and Best Damn Beer Shop’s Response

Last Wednesday Ryan Lamb at West Coaster put up a blog post with a few details about a proposed bottle shop and tasting room that Arsalun Tafazoli, owner of downtown restaurant and craft beer bar Neighborhood is hoping to open in the same building that houses Neighborhood on the 700 block of G Street. As Lamb put it, “This move would bring the beer-for-here/beer-to-go model close to the Gaslamp Quarter where many tourists and conventioneers stay while in town.”

Tafazoli filed for a Conditional Use Permit with the Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC) on January 17th. West Coaster’s post provided a contact at the Centre City Advisory Committee that readers could contact to get more information about the project, and concluded with: “Support for this project can be sent to Lorena Cordova at the CCDC is the woman to contact. Her e-mail address is cordova@ccdc.com.”

Support was positive on Facebook and Twitter with a few people leaving comments in favor of it. One person said that it would be a great addition to East Village while another said he wrote an email to Cordova at CCDC to show support. But it turns out not everyone is looking forward to the possibility of Neighborhood opening a bottle shop downtown.

A few days later on February 13th, Neighborhood posted the following messages to Twitter:

Wow, just got call from the City only one to protest our retail license was @BestDmnBeerShop. Really??? pretty deceitful.

— Neighborhood777Gst. (@NeighborhoodSD) February 13, 2012

 

You could have came to us in person and tried having a conversation. Its not about competition but community you schmucks.

— Neighborhood777Gst. (@NeighborhoodSD) February 13, 2012

According to Tafazoli CCDC contacted him to let him know that Sadeer Mikhail (Sid at Best Damn Beer Shop (BDBS), and the son of the owner of Super Jr Market which houses BDBS) emailed to inquire about more information on Neighborhood’s plans and for information on how to petition the license application. Mikhail would not confirm nor deny that he wrote the email to CCDC which said in part, “I’m afraid if the Neighborhood Ale House opens up a bottle shop/tasting room it will dramatically effect us [Super Jr Market/Best Damn Beer Shop] directly considering we are 3 blocks away. Please let us know how we can petition this application for beer and wine off sell license.” The email also listed three other businesses that would be effected if Neighborhood were to open a bottle shop, though Mikhail later declined to provide me with any contact info for other business that would be effected.

Mikhail provided a statement (which he asked that I post in full, see below) in which he said “I was told by a few people in the community that The Neighborhood has plans to open up a bottle shop beer & wine. So I inquired about what their plans are. I was told to email CCDC to find out more information about the license they are applying for. I’m not the only business that is concerned about this application. Super Jr. Market (Best Damn Beer Shop) never filed anything. My family has owned the store since 1978, and many employees and family members live off of Super Jr. Market. We have nothing against The Neighborhood Ale House, I actually enjoy that they do not supply ketchup with their fries. However, any business person would try to protect his/her livelihood and their employees from someone opening a similar type of business 3 blocks away.”

One can’t fault Mikhail for wanting to protect his family’s business, but some don’t like the way he’s possibly going about it, with one person responding to Neighborhood’s tweet: “WEAK!” another person commented on Facebook, “It really sucks. I love the Best Damn Beer Shop, but such animosity for fellow beer lovers makes me not want to patronize them anymore.” Tafazoli added in an email, “the city official was even surprised she said it was the first time she had seen a protest from another business on the grounds of competition.”

Tafazoli doesn’t seem deterred, “As you know this town has been flooded with establishments focusing on Craft Beer which has been a good thing for all, and something we’ve taken an enormous amount of pride in. We’re not competing against each other, our interests are aligned, and for those guys to actually file a protest is really disappointing. But the community will prevail. Ever since I sent out that tweet, the feedback has been awesome, Jack [White] from Ballast Point, Greg [Koch] from Stone, even Rob Tod [from Allagash] who is in Maine offered to help me out if needed. Greg said he would come out and speak in support if there was a hearing.”

Below is Mikhail’s full statement

Pliny the Younger in San Diego, 2012

Tags

pliny the younger, pliny the younger san diego, pliny the younger san diego 2012, where to find pliny the younger in san diego

This post last year about where and when to find Pliny the Younger in San Diego got a ton of traffic and a whole bunch of folks told me it was very helpful. Since I’ve already been asked multiple times if I’ll be keeping a list this year I figured I should start. See last year’s post (linked above) for more info on Pliny the Younger and some notes about how quickly it tapped out at various bars in San Diego last year.

Pliny the Younger hits taps at Russian River’s Brewpub in Santa Rosa today according to their website. At the brewpub they have a dedicated number of kegs each day to make sure it lasts until at least mid February (meaning if they’ve sold enough one day it might be gone at 9pm, but they’ll have more on tap the next day when they open). Down here in San Diego we’re not so lucky. Most bars get a limited amount and it goes rather quickly, so if you want to get a taste don’t straggle, and be prepared for long lines, crowded bars (and sometime higher than usual prices for smaller than usual pours). But I think most people would agree, it’s worth the hassle.

It should be noted that we probably won’t see Pliny the Younger down here in San Diego for a week or two, I’d guess it will start showing up around town sometime between Feb 8th and 15th.

Below is a list of bars that I expect will be getting Pliny the Younger or have confirmed to me that they will be getting it. Any of the information could change, I suggest you check with individual bar’s if you want to be 100% sure, but I’ll do my best to keep this list updated.

Upcoming 2012 Pliny the Younger:

Blind Lady Ale House – Fundraiser, Monday 2/20/12 from 6-8pm. Tickets must be purchased in advance and will go on sale at 6pm today (2/13/2012). $16 for .25 liter of Younger, .25 liter of Elder and a raffle ticket. Read more about the fundraiser, all the details and buy tickets here. Tickets sold out in approximately ten minutes.

Churchill’s Pub – March 3rd for Churchill’s Renaissance via Beer Advocate

Downtown Johnny Brown’s – Friday, February 17th for a Russian River Night

Encinitas Ale House – They say they’re getting a full keg, no word on date it will be tapped.

El Take it Easy –  From their newsletter: “The Chef’s dinner at El Take It Easy featuring Pliny The Younger and other rare/allocated drinks, will be on Monday, February 27th.”

O’Brien’s Pub – via their newsletter. They’ll tap a keg on Saturday 2/11/2012 at 5pm. According to a comment below the keg ran dry after about 22 minutes.They’ll be tapping another keg for a charity event (proceeds going to local animal shelters and programs). There will be a sign up list at the bar, which your will be required to get a pour. Details will follow in their email newsletter next week (week of 2/12/12). They’ll tap another keg on Friday 2/24/12 at 11am.

Pizza Port Carlsbad – Saturday Feb 11th at Noon for the Brewbies Festival. As of this writing there are 40 $25 General Admission tickets left. Proceeds benefit Keep a Breast. Unconfirmed but according to this Untappd Checkin Pliny the Younger is on tap as of 4pm 2/17

Tap Room – Tuesday 2/21 at 5pm. And again Saturday 3/3 at 1pm for their 5th Anniversary Party.

Tiger!Tiger! – Saturday 2/25 12-2pm and Sunday 2/26 11:30-12:30pm. After selling over 100 ticket’s to the Pliny the Fundraiser night at Blind Lady Ale House in only 10 minutes, the folks at BLAH/Tiger!Tiger! were able to score a bit more PtY to make more money for a good cause. Tickets are limited to 75 people per day and go on sale Monday 2/20 at 7:00pm for Saturday and 7:30pm for Sunday. Same deal as before, $16 gets you a .25 liter of Pliny the Younger, a .25 liter of Pliny the Elder and a raffle ticket. (Dates above link to the online sales). Don’t straggle, they’re sure to sell out fast.

URGE Gastropub – Probably early March for a Triple IPA night, see comment below from Grant at URGE.

Suspected based on Previous Years (but not confirmed):

Pizza Port Ocean Beach

Past 2012 Pliny the Younger:

Breakwater Brewing Company – 2/10/2012 via Facebook and it’s gone.

Eleven – Tonight (2/13/2012) at 8pm. Pre-sale at 7:30pm. Reportedly sold out during pre-sale time, before 8pm tapping.

Hamilton’s Tavern – Tapping PtY at 3pm on Wednesday, February 8th.

Live Wire – On tap as of 9pm 2/8/12 – via Twitter One person on Twitter says it ran out the same night.

Neighborhood – Sometime mid February via their Twitter (warning bit of profanity at the link). A reader emailed to tell me that they got 2 kegs, at least one of which will go on at 4pm today (2/13/2012). This has not been confirmed by Neighborhood. (Also, see this tweet from Neighborhood)

Newport Pizza and Alehouse – Wednesday 2/15/2012 at 4pm. A reader wrote in to say that it was gone an hour and six minutes after they first started serving it.

Pizza Port Solana Beach – Someone emailed to tell me that they put PtY on last night and as of this writing (2/10/12 at 4:45pm) I see it listed on the tap cam. Gone from the tap cam.

San Diego Brewing Company – Tuesday, February 14th at 4pm

Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – 2/9/12 “At the Inside Bar Only!” Reports are that it ran out sometime around 6pm. A few people have told me that they’ve been told by bartender’s at Stone that they would have some Younger on tap Tuesday night, February 14th (not confirmed with Stone)

Toronado – 10am February 8th (they’ll be putting it on as soon as it shows up) and will tap a second keg when the first one blows per their newsletter. Toronado tapped two kegs, the first at 10am and the second when the first blew. The second ran dry around 12:45pm.They may also be tapping a keg when they open on Sunday at 11:30am. 10oz for $8 on Wednesday, “slightly more expensive” other times they tap it. 6pm tonight (2/14/12) for their last keg of Younger.

If you know of a bar or restaurant in San Diego that will be getting Pliny the Younger, or what day/time they’ll be tapping it, send me an email to get the list updated.

If you’re looking for Pliny the Younger in Orange County check out Craft Beer Culture’s list here.

Updated 2/17/12 at 4:04am

Church Ale House and Restaurant a Proposal from the Owners of Neighborhood and El Camino

Tags

Arsalun Tafazoli, church ale house and restaurant, cortez hill, Mauricio Couturier, san diego beer hall

Update: Whether Church Ale House will ever become a reality or not is uncertain, but James Hebert at Sign on San Diego is reporting that CCDC has recommended this project move forward out of the four proposals they looked at.

First let me start off by saying that Church Ale House may never become a reality, at this point it’s one of four proposals for what to do with the building at 1620 Sixth Ave. in the Cortez Hill neighborhood of Downtown San Diego.

The proposal comes from Arsalun Tafazoli (Neighborhood) and Mauricio Couturier (El Camino) and would convert the chapel “into a European style beer hall and locally sourced restaurant”. There are a few more details about what Church Ale House would be like if selected to move forward in the proposal which you can read here, but not a whole lot more information.

Church Ale House would be tucked away in a corner of downtown that currently has very little craft beer presence. Neighborhood and the emerging East Village craft beer bars are about a mile south of the proposed location with Little Italy and it’s few craft beer focused  business about half a mile to the west.

Church Ale House faces stiff competition from the other three proposals, an art gallery and exhibition space, a space for art and architecture forums, and another church themed restaurant from the owner of Candelas Restaurant downtown. This blog post at San Diego CityBeat has more info about the building as well as links to all of the proposals.

Even if Church Ale House never becomes a reality it seems to show that Tafazoli and Couturier are actively looking to expand craft beer downtown.

See below for a few renderings and the floor plan from the Church Ale House proposal.

Russian River Brewing Co. Pliny the Younger in San Diego

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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

San Diego Beer Week: Days Five, Six and Seven

Tags

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.

Great Divide Brewing Co. Coming to San Diego

Tags

38 degrees, beachwood bbq, blue palms, brian dunn, espresso oak ages yeti imperial stout, farmer's harvest, great divide brewing co los angeles, great divide brewing co san diego, great divide brewing company los angeles, great divide brewing company san diego, great divide brewing company southern california, great divide san diego, hades, hercules double ipa, hibernation ale, old ruffian, smoked baltic porter, titan ipa, whole foods tustin, yeti imperial stout

Great Divide Brewing Co. is one of my favorite Colorado breweries that doesn’t get distributed in California, but that’s about to change next week. Stone will be distributing Great Divide in San Diego and they’re hosting kick off parties at bars and restaurants throughout Southern California next week. Great Divide’s founder Brian Dunn will be on hand at some of the releases in addition to the many delicious Great Divide beers.

Wednesday September 29th they’ll kick things off at KNB Wine Cellars in Del Cerro from 5-8pm. They’ll have an awesome line of Great Divide beers, on tap will be: Titan IPA, Hercules Double IPA, Yeti Imperial Stout, Hibernation Old Ale, Smoked Baltic Porter, Hades Stong Belgian Pale Ale. All of those minus Hades will be available in bottles (either 12oz six packs or 22oz bombers) and they’ll also have bombers of Old Ruffian Barley Wine and Espresso Oak Aged Yeti.

The next night, Thursday September 30th, they’ll be up north at Churchill’s Pub and Urge Gastropub with many of the same beers on draft.

Friday, October 1st Blind Lady Ale House, The Tap Room and possibly Neighborhood will be hosting and tapping some Great Divide Beers.

Saturday, October 2nd they’ll finish things out at Pizza Port in both Ocean Beach and Carlsbad.

For you LA folks, it looks like they’ll be at Blue Palms for a lunch event Wednesday Sept 29th. Thursday they’ll be at Farmer’s Harvest and Beachwood BBQ. Friday October 1st they’ll be at Whole Foods in Tustin and Saturday they’ll stop by 38 Degrees.

All the events are subject to change, please check with the individual establishments to confirm times.

Cicerone Certification Program

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cicerone, cicerone certification, cicerone san diego, ray daniels, siebel institute of technology

Ray Daniels is well known in the beer community. Author of the book Designing Great Beers, he’s a well known beer judge and senior faculty member at the Siebel Institute of Technology. He’s also the founder of the Cicerone Certification Program. The Cicerone Certification Program is a three level certification for beer industry folks to show that they know what they’re talking about when it comes to beer. From various flavors, styles and brands to proper storage and serving techniques, the Cicerone Certification Program covers much of the beer spectrum.

There are three levels of certification. The first is “Certified Beer Server”, an online quiz which must be passed with at least 75% correct answers. It covers popular beer styles and beer culture, beer tasting and flavors as well as the brewing process and beer ingredients.

The next level is the “Certified Cicerone”. Certified Cicerone’s must have already passed the Certified Beer Server test and have a year’s experience in the beer industry (or a recommendation from someone in the beer industry. This test includes both an in person written test and a beer tasting test. The skills needed build upon those in the Certified Beer Server test and include indentifying off flavors in beer and the ability to recommend beer pairings with common foods among other skills.

The last level is the “Master Cicerone”. This highest level Cicerone Certification is not to be taken lightly. It requires mastery of all areas covered in the Master Syllabus. As of this writing there is only one certified Master Cicerone.

Ray Daniel’s wrote a short article on the CraftBeer.com blog called, “Blowing your Credibility as a Beer Expert”, and while it’s not Cicerone specific, it does cover many common mistakes bars and restaurants make that are almost certainly covered in the Cicerone program.

Locally, Neighborhood in the East Village has made it a point to get all of their staff Cicerone Beer Server certified. Craft and Commerce in Little Italy (which shares an owner with Neighborhood) is currently working on getting their staff certified. We checked with Daniel’s to see if he could verify this and he said that certifications are granted to individuals not entire establishments, but that bars and restaurants around the country have pursued widespread certification for their entire staff, so he couldn’t say if an entire staff was certified, but we’ll take Neighborhood at their word.

Know of any other San Diego bars or restaurants making an effort to get their staff certified? Leave a comment below.

Click here to check out the Cicerone website for more info about the program.