30 Monday Apr 2012
Posted in bars and restaurants, pizza port, pizza port bressi ranch
Pizza Port today celebrated what will be their fifth location (previously reported here) at Bressi Ranch in eastern Carlsbad near Palomar Airport Rd and Gateway Road. The 35,000+ square foot building will house a brewpub similar to Pizza Port’s four other locations as well as a production facility and canning line.
Peter Rowe at U-T San Diego’s Brewery Rowe reports that Pizza Port is aiming to open the facility later this year.
Photos: Mark Ranallo
03 Friday Feb 2012
Posted in bars and restaurants, beer previews, blind lady ale house, breakwater brewing co., chuchills pub, downtown johnny brown's, eleven, encinitas ale house, hamilton's tavern, live wire, neighborhood, o'brien's pub, pizza port, pizza port carlsbad, pizza port ocean beach, pizza port solana beach, stone brewing world bistro and gardens, the linkery, the tap room, tiger!tiger!
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):
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
28 Wednesday Dec 2011
New Year’s Eve and beer (well alcohol in general) seem to go hand in hand. As such, there are plenty of beer related New Year’s eve happenings in San Diego this upcoming Saturday night.
If staying at home is your thing
Starting Friday and going through 6pm Saturday Stone Brewing Co. will be releasing various beers from the past year at their Growler Fill Year in Review. Both the Stone Store in Escondido and South Park will be filling growler’s with limited and special release beers from the past year.
If going all out is your thing
Stone Brewing Co.’s New Years Eve Party at the Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens is the place to be. It’s not cheap (tickets will set you back $175) but it includes buffet dinner, live music, complimentary beer and a brewhouse dance party. Yes, you read that right, a brewhouse dance party.
If going to sleep early is your thing
Ring in the New Year with the Belgian’s at 3pm Pacific Time at Blind Lady Ale House. There will be a ton of great Belgian beer on tap of course. They’ll be open until 10pm if you decide to party a few hours into the (Belgian) New Year.
If you love Pizza Port but live in North Park
Head down to Toronado where starting at 11:30am and going through the night they’ll be filling all their taps with beers from all four Pizza Port locations. They say they’ll be posting the tap list to their website soon, but we expect there will be plenty of great beers no matter what they have.
If you want a cozy sit down dinner with great beer
Alpine Beer Co.’s Pub is the place to be. They’ll be serving a three course dinner with two beer (or wine) pairings for $35.95 which includes ‘Beeramisu’ Made with Captain Stout for dessert. Alpine Beer Co.’s pub is pretty small, so be prepared for it to possibly be a little crowded, but don’t let that deter you.
Didn’t find anything that sounded good here? Check out San Diego CityBeat’s comprehensive New Year’s Eve guide.
07 Wednesday Dec 2011
Tags
hollister brewing, jeff bagby, Noah Regnery, Pizza Port cans, pizza port carlsbad, pizza port palomar airport rd, pizza port production facility
Some more Pizza Port news to report following Monday’s post about Head Brewer and Director of Brewing Operations Jeff Bagby’s plans to leave Pizza Port to open his own brewery…
03 Thursday Nov 2011
Tags
guided beer tasting, meet the brewer, san diego beer week, San Diego Beer Week events, sdbw, sdbw blind lady ale house
Chuck Silva of Green Flash Leading a Flight Tasting During SDBW 2010
Yesterday I posted a roundup of what in my opinion are some of the best events happening during San Diego Beer Week. (And also posted a list of some of the best looking food and beer events as well).
But I wanted to highlight a series of events that Blind Lady Ale House did last year and will continue to do this year, Meet the Brewer Guided Flight Tastings. Throughout the week they’ll have a handful of different brewers in leading tastings through some of their beers. Last year I went to guided tastings at BLAH with Mark Jilg from Craftsman, Chuck Silva from Green Flash and Pat Mcilhenney of Alpine Beer Co. All were extremely educational, there’s no better way in my opinion to learn about a beer than to hear the brewer himself talk about it while tasting it, and affordable. Last year prices were around $25 per event. I haven’t seen prices this year, but I’d guess they will be similar. In order to keep things fun and make sure everyone can hear and ask questions BLAH limits the size of the events, which take place in the Hamm’s Room (West room at BLAH). So make sure to get there early if you’re interested in sitting through one of these guided tastings.
Blind Lady’s Meet the Brewer Guided Flight Tastings start tonight (technically SDBW Eve) and go throughout San Diego Beer Week. The full schedule (subject to change, so check with BLAH) is below.
Thursday, November 3rd 5pm with Tomme Arthur of Lost Abbey and Port Brewing Co.
Friday, November 4th 12:30-2:30pm with Jeff Bagby of Pizza Port Carlsbad
Sunday, November 6th 12:30-2:30pm with Mother Earth Brewing Co.
Wednesday, November 9th 5pm with Yiga Miyashiro of Pizza Port Ocean Beach
Thursday, November 10th with Chuck Silva of Green Flash
Friday, November 11th 12:30pm with Patrick Rue of The Bruery
03 Monday Oct 2011
Tags
gabf 2011, gabf san diego 2011, gabf san diego awards, gabf san diego medals, great american beer festival, san diego beer awards
Last year San Diego breweries brought home fifteen medals from the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. Saturday afternoon the awards were announced in 83 beer categories with San Diego breweries bringing home twenty medals. In addition to the individual beer categories six brewery awards are given out and San Diego breweries brought home two of those titles.
Pizza Port Carlsbad was named Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year for the third year in a row. Pizza Port Ocean Beach and brewer Yiga Miyashiro took home the award for Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year for the first time. Overall the three San Diego Pizza Port locations dominated, bringing in twelve of San Diego’s twenty medals (Pizza Port San Clemente took home one bronze medal).
Pizza Port Carlsbad alone brought home six medals, tied for second place for most medals with Firestone Walker (Rock Bottom also took six medals, but all Rock Bottom locations were entered together, not separate for each location as Pizza Port was). Pizza Port Carlsbad also tied for second place with Firestone Walker for most gold medals won with three. Sun King Brewing in Indianapolis took home the most gold medals (four) as well as most medals overall with eight.
California breweries took home the most medals with 51 total while Colorado came was second with 44. The state of Oregon was third with fifteen medals. Think about that for a moment, San Diego breweries alone came home with five more medals than the entire state of Oregon and San Diego accounted for nearly 40% of California’s medals.
Congrats to Pizza Port Carlsbad, Pizza Port Ocean Beach, Pizza Port Solana Beach, Rock Bottom La Jolla, Rock Bottom San Diego, The Lost Abbey/Port Brewing Company, AleSmith and Karl Strauss for their awards. Keep reading for the list of San Diego winners and a link to the full list.
02 Monday May 2011
The May issue of West Coaster is out now, it’s all about travel and mostly beer from places other than San Diego. There are stories about beer in LA and the Central Coast as well as snippets about tons of other cities and countries throughout the world.
I wrote articles about the breweries of the Front Range in Colorado (Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins) and wrote about cycling down the coast here in San Diego with stops at the three San Diego County Pizza Port locations. It’s a great ride, one I’ll be doing again soon.
Pick up a copy at at breweries and better beer bars and bottle shops (distribution list here) or read it online.
07 Thursday Apr 2011
Posted in beer festivals, events, homebrew, pizza port, pizza port solana beach
Tags
big wednesday, big wednesday belgian ipa, san diego county fair, san diego county fair beer festival, san diego county fair beer festival homebrew competition, san diego county fair beer festival pre-sale, san diego international beer festival
The 5th Annual San Diego International Beer Festival takes place at the San Diego County Fair over four sessions Friday June 24th – Sunday June 26th. Each four hour session includes a souvenir tasting cup (white supplies last, no word on how many they’ll have) and unlimited one ounce beer samples. Admission to the festival is $45 per session, which also includes admission to the rest of the San Diego County Fair for the day (I recommend going on the Kamikaze before partaking in unlimited beer samples).
For the next week, from today, April 8th through April 15th, they’re offering a pre-sale discount for $10 off admission. Tickets can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com with the presale password: “Stout”
The festival also hosts both an amateur and professional competition. The BJCP/AHA-Sanctioned homebrew competition takes place on July 3rd, after the festival itself. Entry information is here and the deadline for registration is May 18th.
The judging for the professional competition will take place in May, with the results announced at 12:30pm on Saturday June 25th during the second session of the festival (the first Saturday session). Last year Pizza Port Solana Beach won Best in Show for their Big Wednesday Belgian IPA. This was the second year in a row that Pizza Port took top honors, let’s see if they can continue the streak this year.
Click here for more info on the San Diego International Beer Festival and here for more info on the San Diego County Fair in general.
Disclaimer: The San Diego County Fair has offered me complimentary passes to the fair.
08 Tuesday Feb 2011
Posted in bars and restaurants, beer previews, blind lady ale house, chuchills pub, downtown johnny brown's, eleven, hamilton's tavern, neighborhood, o'brien's pub, pizza port, pizza port carlsbad, pizza port ocean beach, pizza port san clemente, pizza port solana beach, russian river brewing co., small bar, stone brewing world bistro and gardens, the linkery, the tap room, toronado
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
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
20 Thursday Jan 2011
Posted in alesmith brewing co., allagash brewing co., bars and restaurants, beer u, best damn beer shop, coronado brewing co., eleven, events, hess brewing co., lost abbey, o'brien's pub, pizza port, port brewing co., QUAFF, small bar, south park abbey, stone brewing co., tasting flights, toronado, west coaster
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
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