San Diego Beer News Roundup

Tags

All Day IPA, Dogfish Head / Victory / Stone Saison Du BUFF, Founders Brewing San Diego, Green Flash bottled on dates, Green Flash date codes, Ken Schmidt, Ken Schmidt / Iron Fist / Stone Mint Chocolate Imperial Stout, Ken Schmidt / Maui / Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Coconut Porter, Stone Company Store Pasadena, Stone Ruination Tenth Anniversary IPA, Stone Smoked Porter with Chipotle Peppers, Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean

Apologies for the lack of posts lately. Things have been busy outside of beer blogging.

The 2012 Craft Brewers Conference and World Beer Cup have come and gone. San Diego brewers didn’t do as well as two years ago at the WBC, but our local brewers still brought home a handful of awards. The full winners list can be seen here.

Earlier this week Green Flash Brewing Company posted a picture to their Facebook page of a bottle of West Coast IPA with a bottled on date. Until now it’s been hard to know for sure just how long that bottle of Green Flash beer had been sitting on a shelf, but once these new bottles with dates start getting out into stores it should be easy enough to tell exactly when the beer was bottled. I have to admit, the lack of bottle dates has kept me from buying Green Flash beers on more than one occasion (usually at larger stores, places like Trader Joes, where I don’t know how long the beer has been sitting around). I see more four packs of fresh West Coast IPA in my future.

For the last few weeks beers from Michigan’s Founders Brewing Company have been turning up at various bars, restaurants and even a few bottle shops around town. Founders hasn’t distributed in California in the past, and unfortunately this looks like it is only temporary. The beers started showing up around town during the CBC in early May, according to The Full Pint, Founders has a temporary 60 day license for distribution here, which will end next month after the Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival. Some people have speculated that Founders could be using this time as a way to test the market, but so far there is no indication that Founders is looking to distribute here on a regular basis. So if you see anything from Founders on tap at your favorite bar in the next few weeks it might be a good idea to order a pint. The stand out for me has been the All Day IPA, a 42 IBU, 4.7% ABV session IPA that tastes much hoppier than the IBU’s let on.

A thread on the BeerAdvocate Forums last week pointed out that Stone Brewing Co. is looking into opening some sort of tasting room and retail store in Pasadena. The post links to a PDF at the City of Pasadena website regarding a public hearing for a conditional use permit. The notice describes the space as being 2,071 square feet including a 363 square foot outdoor patio which would have on-site tasting of beer and off-site (to go) sales. No word on exactly what this will be, but it sounds a lot like the Stone Company Store South Park and the in progress Stone Company Store Oceanside. The public hearing was held last week and it looks like the recommendation was to approve the permit.

Speaking of Stone Brewing Co., they have a number of special releases coming out in the next few months:

Stone Ruination Tenth Anniversary IPA will make it’s debut Sunday, June 10th with a special release party at Henry’s Pub downtown. It’s described as an amped up version of Stone Ruination IPA which clocks in at 10.8% ABV with extra dosings of Columbus and Centennial hops as well as Citra and Centennial for dry hoping. 22oz bottles should start hitting store shelves the next day.

Stone’s version of the second release of Dogfish Head / Victory / Stone Saison du BUFF was rebrewed in early May when Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione and Victory Brewing Company’s Bill Covaleski were in town and is set to be released Monday June 18th on draft and in 12oz bottles. I was a big fan of the original Stone brewed version released about two years ago, but recently picked up a bottle of the new release of the Dogfish Head version and was pretty disappointed. The herbs (the beer is brewed with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme) were way too over the top for my tastes. I typically like herb-y beers, but couldn’t finish a 12oz of this one. Here’s to hoping that I find the Stone version more palatable.

Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean and Stone Smoked Porter with Chipotle Peppers are also being released in 12oz bottles on Monday June 18th. Stone has been brewing both of these as occasional draft only beers for a few years now, so it’s nice to see them make it into bottles. Stone says “It’s a one-time only bottled release, unless we decide to change our minds later.”

Last but not least, Ken Schmidt / Iron Fist / Stone Mint Chocolate Imperial Stout was brewed a few weeks ago and is expected to be released on draft and in 12oz bottles sometime in early July. Ken Schmidt was the top prize at the Stone March Madness Homebrew Competition which earned him the right to brew his beer at Stone as a collaboration with them and another brewer of his choice. If the name Ken Schmidt sounds familiar it’s because he was also the winner of the original Stone March Madness Homebrew Competition a few years ago, which brought us Ken Schmidt / Maui / Stone Kona Coffee, Macadamia, Coconut Porter

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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

Mikkeller Invasion IPA brewed in California

Tags

mikkeller, Mikkeller brewed in US, Mikkeller Drake's, Mikkeller Invasion IPA

Mikkeller isn’t so much a brewery, but rather a gypsy brewer. Mikkel Borg Bjergsø travels around the world and brews beer under the Mikkeller label in various breweries, mostly in Europe. If you’re familiar with Mikkeller you’d probably agree that they put out some fine beers, but one drawback to buying European beer is that it often isn’t as fresh as it should be when it gets down here to San Diego. That isn’t always a problem, Mikkeller makes some fine stouts and other beers where freshness isn’t crucial, but for the most part I’ve long avoided their IPAs, having felt I payed too much money for a stale IPA that unbeknownst to me had been sitting on a shelf (of even in a distributors warehouse) and was a shadow of what it once.

Because of that I was pretty excited to hear that Mikkeller has teamed up with Drake’s Brewing up in the Bay Area to brew some of his beers for the US market. For us down here in San Diego this will help immensely with the freshness aspect. Chances are also good the price points could be a bit better as well since the beers don’t have to be shipped nearly as far.

Invasion IPA didn’t blow me away, it’s a sold IPA, but far from the best I’ve ever had (though I wouldn’t hesitate to drink it again). At $7 or $8 for a 22oz I felt it was a fair price, a bit higher than many of San Diego’s best IPAs, but much easier on the wallet than European-made Mikkeller beers tend to be. Hopefully we start to see more US brewed Mikkeller beers showing up, especially the IPAs.

Jolly Pumpkin Collababeire

Tags

Collababeire, Jolly Pumpkin / Nogne-O / Stone Special Holiday Ale, Stone / Nogne O / Jolly Pumpkin Special Holiday Ale

A couple of years ago, Stone Brewing Co., Nøgne Ø, and Jolly Pumpkin got together to brew Special Holiday Ale in Escondido. After that the same recipe (which used chestnuts, juniper berry, white sage, caraway seed and rye malt) was brewed at both Nøgne Ø and Jolly Pumpkin’s breweries. The Nøgne Ø version came out about a year after the original brewed at Stone, and then Jolly Pumpkin version (dubbed Collababeire) was aged in oak barrels and released on a very limited basis earlier this year.

From what I’ve heard very few bottle shops in San Diego got this Jolly Pumpkin version when it was first released in the Spring. But now that it’s the Holiday season, it seems as if more is being released from the distributor. Bottlecraft posted on their New Arrivals page that they got some in, and while I haven’t heard about any other shops getting any, I’d be surprised if Bottlecraft was the only one.

The Jolly Pumpkin version is a great beer, and if you’ve hung on to the previous two releases makes for a nice tasting of all three together. According to Peter Rowe at Signon San Diego Stone, will be releasing some bottles at 11am on Sunday in Escondido. Rowe doesn’t specify if they’ll be for sale at the Stone Store for take away consumption, or in the Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens for on-premise consumption, nor does he elaborate on which version will be available, but regardless, they’re all pretty good. The original Stone brewed version seemed like it had dropped off a bit when I tasted it in the Spring, so I wouldn’t recommend holding any bottles past this Holiday season.

Coors Tries to Catch the Attention of Craft Beer Drinkers with Batch 19

Tags

Coors Batch 19, Coors craft beer, Pre-Prohibition Style Lager

I have mixed feelings about Batch 19, Coors Brewing Company’s Pre-Prohibition Style Lager. On one hand it’s good to see the big beer companies making an effort to make good, flavorful beer. On the other hand I personally don’t want to support the big beer companies at the expense of smaller craft beer companies. If I have the choice of two similar quality beers, one made by a big beer company and the other made by a small, independent craft brewer, I’ll pick the one made by the craft brewer every time.

That being said, I was pretty interested in trying Batch 19 when a PR company offered to send me a sample. While beers within the style can vary widely, I’ve enjoyed many of the “Pre-Prohibition” lagers I’ve tasted. Craftsman Brewing Company’s 1903 Lager is one of my favorite beers when I’m in the mood for something on the light and refreshing side.

Batch 19 is said to be a variation (due to changes in brewing techniques and availability of ingredients) of a recipe Coors was brewing before Prohibition. Batch 19 certainly isn’t the best beer around, but when compared to the other beers Coors produces now it certainly stands out. It has a toasty malt sweetness with a crispness that makes it easy to drink. At 26 IBU the hops don’t really stand out, but they do restrain the sweetness a bit.

That being said, I wouldn’t recommend it over any of the craft beers in the same style, and I’d urge people to support craft brewers over the big breweries when ever possible. Try it if your interest is piqued, but be mindful of who your beer purchases are supporting: a company that has been making bland beer for years and is now trying to capitalize on the popularity of craft beer; or those companies that are making craft beer because it’s their passion and are part of the reason for it’s popularity. Batch 19 isn’t bad, but there are plenty of Pre-Prohibition style lagers made by craft brewers that are better (the aforementioned 1903 Lager being one of them).

Batch 19 has been around for a little over a year in a few test markets, and Coors recently expanded distribution into a handful of new markets, San Diego being one of them where if can be found on draft at a few local watering holes (see the Batch 19 beer locator here).

While Batch 19 is far ahead of many of Coors other beers in taste, it’s a pretty good beer, not great, but not terrible, it has an off putting marketing feel to it reminiscent of big beer advertising. There’s a romantic story and a fancy website. I was surprised with the bottle the beer came in, for being a draft only release (although bottles may be available in the gift shop at the Coors brewery in Golden, CO) it was pretty fancy with a well designed label, branded cap and what appears to be a custom bottle with “1919” embossed on the neck.

Beer Release News from Alpine Beer Co.

Tags

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

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

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

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

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

Now on to the good news from Alpine.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What’s the deal with Fresh Hop Beers?

Tags

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

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

Hop Pellets

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

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

Fresh Hops

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Updated 9/22/2011 at 4:07pm

San Diego Beer News | Aug 15th, 2011

Tags

coronado brewing company tecolote canyonolote, gbbf Michael Jackson American Cask Ale award, new english brewing company sorrento valley, palate wrecker, Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA, tin can alehouse east village, tin can live music

Here are a few bits of news that I didn’t feel were worthy of full posts by themselves, but are noteworthy none the less.

Green Flash Brewing Co.’s Palate Wrecker a 9.2% ABV double IPA that uses a unique brewing process (see below) recently won the Michael Jackson American Cask Ale award at the Great British Beer Festival out of more than 100 entries. Today Green Flash announced on their Facebook page that Palate Wrecker will be their first seasonal release of 2012 which will be released on draft and in both 12 and 22oz bottles. Here’s how Green Flash describes the brew process for Palate Wrecker:

Chuck [Silva] came up with a new method to make a Double IPA by performing a double brew to make a single beer. First there is a single infusion mash and subsequent boil at 65 IBU with Columbus and Centennial hops. Then a second duplicate mash using the 65 IBU wort instead of water and a second 65 IBU boil using the same hop schedule. The result is a higher gravity beer with kettle caramelizing in place of crystal malts and an elevated hop flavor and bitterness that might not be achieved with the same amount of ingredients in a single brew. Hop Heads, this beer is for you!

New English Brewing Company recently received a brewing license for a new location in Sorrento Valley. According to New English owner Simon Lacey they will have a 3.5 barrel brewhouse at the new facility which will focus on specialty beer development and cask beer production as well as house a tasting room. New English currently brews at the Old Mission Brewery building in Middletown which is where their standard beer production will remain when the new facility opens up. No word on when the new facility located at 11545 Sorrento Valley Rd, Suites 305 & 306 will open.

Speaking of the Old Mission Brewery building, Coronado Brewing Company which has supplemented their brewing capacity at their brewpub in Coronado by contract brewing with 5 Points Brewing Co. at the Old Mission Brewery building today announced they will be opening a new facility with a 30 barrel brewhouse and 60 barrel fermenters, tasting room and retail shop at 1205 Knoxville St in the Tecolote Canyon area. Coronado expects to have the new facility open by Spring of 2012. I was talking with some folks from Coronado Brewing Company a few weeks ago and they expect that they will cease production at 5 Points Brewing Co. once their new facility comes online. According to CBC President Rick Chapman the Coronado brewpub will focus on specialty beers and one-offs once the new facility opens. In a news release sent out today Chapman noted that CBC sales were up 64% in San Diego alone last year.

Tin Can Alehouse, which while they do have an impressive amount of beer available in cans is more of a live music venue than a beer focused bar has applied for a transfer of their liquor license from their current location in Banker’s Hill to a new spot in downtown’s East Village neighborhood. An email sent to Tin Can Alehouse was not returned, but the license for the new spot at 701 16th Street is currently pending review with the ABC. One thing I noticed was that the new license lists the business as “Tin Can Live Music,” so maybe they will be dropping the “Alehouse” moniker all together. Update: Here is Tin Can’s new liquor license application. Update 2: While the status on the application still shows as “Pending”, I’ve heard that Tin Can withdrew the application and will not be moving to 701 16th St.

In other East Village news I hear that Monkey Paw, the new brewpub from Scot Blair is coming along nicely and should be opening real soon. No word on an exact date but I’ve been told the bar and restaurant portion could be open before the end of the month if things go smoothly. I’m also told the brewhouse is shaping up as well, but is a bit farther out. Expect updates on both the bar opening and brewing beginning as soon as I know more.

Last, but certainly not least, Stone Brewing Co. today released their Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA. I haven’t tried it yet, but was certainly impressed with the Stone SoCal Hop Salute Double Black IPA given to NHC attendees in June. While not the same recipe, the two beers are of the same style, it will be interesting to see how they differ.

Ballast Point Indra Kunindra India-Style Export Stout gets Label Approval

Tags

indra kunindra India-Style export stout

Update 9/23/2011: Holiday Wine Cellar posted on their Facebook page that bottles are now available at HWC. I’ve heard rumors bottles may be available at Ballast Point in the future, but have not confirmed that.

Update 9/1/2011: According to Holiday Wine Cellar’s Labor Day newsletter bottles should be released in early October.

I wrote about Ballast Point’s Indra Kunindra India-Style Export Stout, a stout brewed with curry spices, coconut, kaffir lime, cayenne and cumin, a couple months ago when it was first on draft in their tasting room. Indra Kunindra, the winner of Holiday Wine Cellar’s 2nd Annual Homebrew competition last year, seemed to have an uncertain future at the time, the folks at Ballast Point told me they weren’t sure if it would ever get bottled or not. This week Ballast Point got label approval for 22oz bottles of Indra Kunindra, which doesn’t mean they’re guaranteed to bottle it, but chances are pretty good the beer will make it into bottles at this point.

Judging by the number of pageviews my previous post on Indra Kunindra received, there seems to be high demand for this beer. Putting it in bottles should help more people try it that can’t make it to one of Ballast Point’s locations.

Details on the First Release in the Stone Quingenti Millilitre Series

Tags

Ken Schmidt / Maui / Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Coconut Porter Aged in Bourbon Barrels, Quingenti Millilitre Series, stone raffle

Stone Brewing Co. just sent out release details about sales of the very limited first release in the Quingenti Millilitre series, Ken Schmidt / Maui / Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Coconut Porter Aged in Bourbon Barrels.

Due to the limited number of bottles and expected high demand bottle purchases will only be available through a raffle. $1 raffle tickets will be sold through Brown Paper Tickets. Winners of the raffle will be able to purchase bottles in person at the Stone Company Store for $25 plus tax + crv. Raffle ticket proceeds will benefit the Escondido Creek Conservancy and Interfaith Community Services.

Details about the drawing and release can be found here.

The full press release with all the details on the release and some mentions of future releases can be seen below (click Read More if you’re on the main page)