Pliny the Younger in San Diego, 2012

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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

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More Local Beer Coming to Lindbergh Field

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craft beer at lindbergh field, craft beer at san diego airport, craft brews on 30th st, stone lindbergh field, stone san diego airport

Yesterday the the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority Board approved ten new food and retail concession packages which include close to fifty outlets. Both of the approved food service concession packages include locations of interest to craft beer fans that often find themselves waiting for flights at the San Diego airport.

(I won’t pretend that I fully understand the way restaurants operate at the airport, but it’s my understanding that a restaurant (or any business) partners with a concessionaire, High Flying Foods and Host being the two involved here, which then operates the retail location inside the airport.)

Stone Brewing Co. has partnered up with High Flying Foods for a restaurant location with a bar in Terminal 2. As with Stone World Bistro and Gardens in Escondido and the planed Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens Liberty Station expect good food and quality beer. This Union Tribune article suggests that High Flying Foods will be using some produce from Stone Farms in their airport restaurants, which presumably includes the Stone restaurant.

One of the other new eateries at the airport that will be of interest to craft beer lovers is Craft Brews on 30th St a restaurant that will “promote the whole 30th Street experience in the airport” according to Jay Porter proprietor of 30th St restaurants The Linkery and El Take it Easy, and also one of the folks behind the future eatery at the airport. The focus will be to have great food and great craft beer while reminding visitors that 30th Street is one of the best stretches of road in the county for dining and craft beer. UPDATE: Jay Porter got in touch to let me know that the restaurant “Craft Brews on 30th St” that the Airport Authority approved is not the same restaurant that he was going to be involved with. The confusion was caused by similar names between the two proposed restaurants. If anyone knows anything more about Craft Brews on 30th St drop me a line mail@sandiegobeerblog.com

When talking about eating or drinking at any airport, the cost is one of the first things that comes to mind, as it did in the comments on the Union Tribune article about the new restaurants. Greg Koch, Stone Brewing Co. CEO left a follow up comment that should appease those worried about exhorbitant costs, “The airport requirements are that the prices be no more than 10% above the pricing you’d find outside of the airport (and stadiums and such were disallowed as comparables).” So expect prices to be slightly higher, but still within reason.

According to the press release put out by the airport, the new eateries will be located throughout all terminals at the airport, including the Terminal 2 expansion set to open in 2013. Some of the new dining and retail outlets are expected to open as soon as December 1st, 2012.

Stone’s Koch also commented on the UT article that they would be the first stop after security in Terminal 2. “You’ll be able to relax with a fresh local craft beer while you watch your fellow travelers get patdowns, fumble with their luggage & plastic baggies full of ridiculous amounts of lotions / cosmetics, and take ten steps before turning back around in momentary panic as they realize they didn’t grab their cellphone off the conveyor,” Koch commented.

Karl Strauss works with a concession partner at Lindbergh Field with locations in both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. They don’t anticipate much changing with the new dining locations coming in.

Click here to read the full press release which includes all of the new dining and retail outlets approved by the Airport Authority.

This post was edited to remove an artist’s rendering provided by the airport of the Stone restaurant as well as text describing it because Stone said the image was inaccurate and to clarify details about “Craft Brews on 30th St”.

Photo: San Diego Shooter. Used under Creative Commons license.

International #IPADay, Thursday August 4th, 2011

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#IPADay, #IPADay san diego

International #IPADay is an effort to unite craft beer fans, both new and old, on the internet to raise a toast to India Pale Ales while conversing about beer. As the # in the name implies, this is an online organizational effort, asking people to blog, tweet, post pictures and video and more all based around the hashtag #IPADay making it easy for others to join the conversation. #IPADay is the idea of beer blogger The Beer Wench, and San Diego’s own Ryan Ross. But not all of #IPADay will take place online, many bars and restaurants will be putting special IPAs on tap, running discounts and specials and helping to celebrate IPAs IRL (in real life).

As expected, there won’t be any shortage of places to get a good IPA on Thursday in San Diego. Below is a list of all the #IPADay events going on in San Diego that I could find. If you know of any more please send me an email events@sandiegobeerblog.com

 

• Ballast Point Linda Vista/Homebrew Mart will have IPAs all day long, with a special Sculpin IPA with Lime, Ginger and Szechuan Peppercorn brewed just for the occasion. They’ll also have plenty of other treats including Sculpin IPA with Habanero, Sculpin IPA on Nitro, “Regular” Sculpin IPA, “Regular” Big Eye IPA, Big Eye IPA with Ginger and more.
• Karl Strauss will have IPA specials at all of their brewpub locations. $4 pints and $9 growler fills of Tower 10, Heavy Petti and Boardwalk Black Rye will be available all day. They’ll also have a cask at night with Tower 10 IPA dry hopped with  Ahtanum, Amarillo, Cascade, Chinook & Pacifica hops. Heavy Petti was brewed by Karl Strauss’s James Petti especially for #IPADay. It uses Cascade, Palisade, Moteuka, and Nelson Sauvin hops with some rolled oats in the mash for a floral and tropical smooth IPA.
• Bottlecraft in Little Italy will be doing 3 IPA flights with four tasters each. One single IPA, one Double IPA, and of Mikkeller’s Single Hop IPA series.
• KnB Wine Cellars in Del Cerro will have a number of IPAs on tap including Stone Double Dry Hopped Ruination, Great Divide Rumble Oak Aged IPA, Karl Strauss Heavy Petti and more.
• Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens will host a tweetup from 5-7pm with a special cask of Stone IPA and other rare IPAs on draft.
• Ritual Tavern will host the release of Butcher Brewing’s latest beer, Imperial Mucho Aloha Double Shaka.
• Tatiana Peavey of the beer blog Fugglybrew.com is hosting a craft beer pub crawl in North Park with specials at IPAs at each bar. Bars and restaurants include: The Linkery, True North, URBN, El Take it Easy, Toronado and Ritual Tavern.
• Phileas Foggs in Poway will have at least 10 IPA’s on tap and 15 others in bottles with live music from 7pm to 10pm. They’ll also be serving an IPA Beer Cheese Soup in a Sourdough Bread Bowl and IPA Mustard Chicken Wings.
• Blind Lady Ale House will have many IPAs and Double IPAs on draft including  and Firestone Walker Double Jack, Grand Teton Trout Hop, Firestone Walker Union Jack, Russian River Pliny the Elder, Coronado Black Ops, Hanger 24 Black Rye IPA more.

The Linkery Investigating Brewing on Premises

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north park brewery, north park brewpub, the linkery brewing

The Linkery has always focused on well made, handcrafted (and often local) food. In their own words from their website, “Making everything by hand, from scratch, including house-baked bread, house made mustard and sauerkraut, and hand spun ice cream.” The Linkery has a great beer lineup but they have never been able to make their own beer, however in this blog post by Linkery owner Jay Porter he announces that The Linkery is looking into brewing their own beer.

I don’t have any more info than is in the Linkery’s blog post, and Porter stresses that this is still very early in the planning process, adding “It may be that making no change [to The Linkery] at all is the best action; we’ll see.”

Done right, I think a brewpub would be a great addition to the neighborhood. The uptown neighborhood’s of South Park, North Park, Normal Heights and University Heights have some of the best beer drinking establishment’s around in my opinion but only one “brewpub” (Blind Lady Ale House/Automatic Brewing Co. being the only current brewery in those neighborhoods).

Click over and read more about it on The Farm and the City (The Linkery’s blog). Their blog doesn’t allow comments, so if you have any thoughts on the prospect of a brewery at The Linkery feel free to leave a comment below.

Photo from The Farm and the City

San Diego Beer Events April 14th – April 20th

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2008 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine Aged in Red Wine Barrels, Beer and Chocolate pairings, bitter and sour night, Bombay By Boat IPA, Death and Taxes Black Beer, DoBelgo DIPA, downtown johnny brown's bitter and sour night, Ginger Big Eye, Master Pairings Beer and Chocolate, miho gastrotruck, moonlight brewing, Oakquinox, pizza port real ale festival, real ale festival, Reality Czeck Pils, stone oakquinox, Two Weeks Notice Gruit Ale

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

Thursday April 14th: It’s not often that beers from Santa Rosa’s Moonlight Brewing show up down here in San Diego, but the folks at The Linkery will have four Moonlight beers on tap starting Thursday. They’ll have Death and Taxes Black Beer, Bombay By Boat IPA, Reality Czeck Pils, and Two Weeks Notice Gruit Ale. The Death and Taxes is in honor of Tax Day the following day.

Friday April 15th: The Real Ale Festival at Pizza Port Carlsbad gets underway, they’ll have over 50 cask conditioned beers which makes it the largest selection of real ale on the west coast. It takes place all day Saturday as well.

Another Tax Day celebration, Downtown Johnny Brown’s is doing their 3rd Annual Bitter and Sour Night featuring some of the best IPAs and sours around. The lineup looks stellar, if you’re a fan of either of those styles (which if you’re reading this blog I would guess you like one of them if not both) this night is highly recommended.

Saturday April 16th: The Real Ale Festival is happening all day, from 11am to 11pm. $30 gets you in with eight 4oz tasters. Starting at 7pm they’ll let you in for $20.

Sunday April 17th: If you don’t already have tickets for Stone Oakquinox you’re out of luck, it’s sold out. But do if you happen by Stone make sure you have your growler with you, they’ll be doing 2008 Stone Old Guardian  Barley Wine Aged in  Red Wine Barrels growler fills.

Monday April 18th: It’s $3 local pint night at Toronado from 6pm to close. I think Eleven is still doing their pint night as well (all draft beers) but I haven’t heard much about it lately. I’ve sent an email over to the folks at Eleven to confirm their Monday night special is still on. I’ll update this post when I hear back.

Tuesday April 19th: The Master Pairings Beer and Chocolate pairing at Stone sounds delicious. I’m not sure what beers they’ll be serving but it’s sure to not disappoint.

Wednesday April 20th: Third Wednesday of the month means it’s time for the DrinkAbout. No word on any of the specials this month but it’s sure to be a good time as always.

They’re also doing another beer pairing dinner at Homebrew Mart/Ballast Point Linda Vista with MIHO Gastrotruck and Fiji Yogurt. Fiji is making a Ballast Point Even Keel wort based Lemonade Ginger Sorbet flavored with Cascade Hop Oil. They’ll have a ton of great beers on tap including Ginger Big Eye and DoBelgo DIPA (Dorado with Belgian Yeast).

New English Brewing Co. Coming to Bottles and Casks

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explorer esb, mission brewery building, new english bottles, new english cask, new english tasting room, pizza port real ale festival, troppers tipple ipa, Why?Not American Wheat Beer

New English Brewing Co. has been around for a couple of years now on draft at various bars and restaurants around town, but it seems like they might be stepping things up hoping to become more visible in San Diego’s ever growing craft beer landscape. New English’s current lineup of four year round offerings don’t put them atop the list of beer geeks looking for rare, barrel aged, high alcohol beers but it is a solid lineup of easy to drink flavorful beers.

New English recently purchased some firkins and pins to get their cask program under way. They had a cask of their Why?Not American Wheat Beer at The Linkery last month and they’ll be at the Real Ale Festival at Pizza Port in April. New English’s Explorer ESB and Troopers Tipple IPA seem like a perfect fit for cask conditioning.

In addition to casks, New English’s beers will be coming to bottles soon and will quite possibly be available in a bottle shop near you. They’re working on label approval for all four of their beers. Simon Lacey owner and brewer at New English tells me he recently took delivery of a bottle filler and labeler last week and already has bottle distribution lined up. His hope is that the bottles will start showing up at local bottle shops around the first of May.

And one more bit of news. New English’s lineup might not be limited their four standard beers for long, a picture they posted to their Facebook page of a new tap handle suggests that seasonal and special releases might be coming in the future.

New English Brewing Co. is located in the Mission Brewery building on Hancock Street near Washington. Confusingly, New English shares this building with 5 Points Brewing Co. but not with Mission Brewery who just opened their new brewery downtown.

New English’s tasting room is open Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons and they just might have the best growler fill prices in town. Check out their website for more info.

A Great Weekend of Beer

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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.

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.

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

New Belgium cask of Shadow of Foeder at The Linkery

Tags

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

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

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

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

Photo from The Farm and the City