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San Diego Brewers Bring Home Awards Aplenty at 2011 GABF

03 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by Jeff Hammett in alesmith brewing co., beer festivals, breweries, events, firestone walker brewing co., karl strauss brewing co., lost abbey, pizza port, pizza port carlsbad, pizza port ocean beach, pizza port san clemente, pizza port solana beach, port brewing co.

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gabf 2011, gabf san diego 2011, gabf san diego awards, gabf san diego medals, great american beer festival, san diego beer awards

GABFLast 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.

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San Diego Beer Events April 21st – April 27th

20 Wednesday Apr 2011

Posted by Jeff Hammett in alpine beer co., automatic brewing co., bars and restaurants, beer dinners, blind lady ale house, breweries, events, firestone walker brewing co., hamilton's tavern, home brew mart, homebrew, new english brewing co., pizza port ocean beach, QUAFF, small bar, urge gastropub

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Automatic Quartz Japan IPA, Boon Kriek, cy henley, double jack, easter beer brunch, firkin friday, Garrett Marrero, john trogner, latis imports, maui brewing co, mitch steele, pale 31, palm, Rodenbach Grand Cru, Rodenbach Vintage 08, Steenbrugge Tripel, stone Cherry Chocolate Stout, stone collaboration, troegs brewing co., Trooper's Tipple IPA, union jack, Why Not? Wheat

If you know of anything that isn’t on the events calendar, please email events@sandiegobeerblog.com to get it added.  Not all of the beer events happening in a given week make it on the list below, I pick one or two per day to avoid information overload. Make sure to check out the Events page or the calendar below this post for all the week’s events.

Thursday April 21st:

Head down to Pizza Port Ocean Beach where they’ll be featuring New English Brewing Co. for their keep the glass night. They’ll have Why Not? Wheat and Troopers Tipple IPA for $5 with $3 refills (or if you have enough glasses already you can just enjoy a pint for $3).

Friday April 22nd:

Hamilton’s Tavern will host Firestone Walker for this week’s Firkin Friday. They’ll have Double Jack and Pale 31 on cask with Pale 31, Union Jack, Double Jack and an unannounced special beer on draft.

Saturday April 23rd:

Small Bar has a delicious brunch and for this month’s Beer for Breakfast they’re featuring the beers of Latis Imports. That includes Rodenbach Grand Cru and Rodenbach Vintage 08 as well as Boon Kriek, Steenbrugge Tripel, and Palm. They’ll even give you discounts on refills and send you home with a glass.

Sunday April 24th:

If you don’t have Easter plans with the family (or can convince your family that beer is a necessary component of brunch) head on up to URGE Gastropub for their Epic Beer Brunch. $45 presale ($50 day of) gets you a four course brunch with beer pairings. Tax and gratuity are included, this looks like quite the deal.

Monday April 25th:

Blind Lady Ale House is opening their doors Monday night for a special fundraiser for Japan. $35 tickets will get you food samples and beers (donated by many local breweries). They’ll also be debuting Automatic Brewing Co.’s latest beer, Automatic Quartz Japan IPA brewed with the help of Cy Henley from Alpine Beer Co. It’s 7% ABV and made with 12% rice grist and Nelson hops with ingredients donated by Alpine and Home Brew Mart. There will also be a raffle for some wonderful prizes. All money from ticket sales and the raffle go to International Relief Committee’s fund for Japan. The event is limited to 150, so make sure to get your tickets before it sells out.

Tuesday April 26th:
The monthly QUAFF homebrew club meeting takes place at All American Grill in Mission Valley at 7pm, but if you need some homebrew goals to aspire to, head up to Stone Brewing Co. from 4-6pm for their Meet the Brewers: Collaboration Day Wrap-Up. Stone’s Mitch Steele is teaming up with Kevin Sheppard and Jason Fields, homebrewers whose Cherry Chocolate Stout won Stone’s Homebrew Competition last month and will now be brewed on Stone’s brewing system for commercial release. As with most (all?) previous Stone collaborations, they’ve also invited another commercial brewer, this time it’s John Trogner of Pennsylvania’s Tröegs Brewing Co. helping out with the brew.

Wednesday April 27th:

Maui Brewing Co. might be based in Hawaii, but founder Garrett Marrero grew up here in San Diego. He’ll be at URGE Gastropub with seven Maui beers. The first two-hundred people will also take home a Maui Brewing Co. pint glass and a festive lei.

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San Diego Beer Events April 7th – April 13th

06 Wednesday Apr 2011

Posted by Jeff Hammett in bars and restaurants, beer festivals, beer u, blind lady ale house, breweries, eleven, events, firestone walker brewing co., hamilton's tavern, iron fist brewing co., live wire, main tap tavern, pizza port ocean beach, sierra nevada brewing co., small bar, stone brewing co., stone brewing world bistro and gardens, toronado

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2008 Stone Imperial Russian Stout, beer u: stouts, big sky brewing, citybeat festival of beers, hamilton's second saturday, progressive cask, rustic saison, sam adams perfect pint glass, samuel adams perfect pint, second saturday, sierra nevada second saturday, sierra nevada stout, sierra nevada torpedo ipa, silva stout, stone sunday funday, trumer pils, union jack ipa

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

Thursday April 7th:

Pizza Port Ocean Beach will have some beers from Samuel Adams on tap, including Rustic Saison (which I haven’t tried yet, but hope it will be the subject of a Farmhouse Friday post in the near future). In addition to the beers from Sam Adams they’ll also have some Sam Adams Perfect Pint glasses available for purchase. There’s plenty of notes on what this glass does to accentuate the beer over on Sam Adams website. And they’re also pretty cool looking.

Friday April 8th:

Last week Blind Lady Ale House started opening up for lunch on Friday’s. And with their extended Friday hours came a “progressive cask” in which from the time they open at 11:30am until 2pm pints are only $2. Each hour after 2pm the price goes up a buck. So $2 until 2pm, $3 until 3pm, $4 until 4pm… you get the point. This week they’ll have a cask of Firestone Walker’s Union Jack IPA. They don’t expect it to last long, last week’s was gone before 2pm.

Saturday April 9th:

The CityBeat Festival of Beers is officially sold out, so if you don’t have a ticket already you’re not getting in. Lucky for you it just so happens to be Second Saturday at Hamilton’s Tavern. This month they’re hosting Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. They’ll have Sierra Nevada Stout and Torpedo IPA on cask as well as thirty other Sierra Nevada beers on draft. As always there will be complimentary food as well.

If you are headed to the CityBeat Festival of Beers (or just in the area) and want to drink beer before or after (or if the crowds become too much and you need to escape and grab a full pint of beer) Live Wire has you covered. Trumer Pils is hosting the after party, it might not be the beer geekiest of beers, but after four hours of unlimited beer drinking it might be just what you need to round out the evening. But if that’s just not your thing they’ll have happy hour pricing all day on all of their other taps.

Sunday April 10th:

Sunday’s tend to be one of the slower days for special craft beer events, luckily Stone Brewing Co. has been pulling out some great beers lately for their Sunday Funday growler fills. This week it’s 2008 Stone Imperial Russian Stout. Stone IRS is one of my favorite beers, especially aged a couple years.

Monday April 11th:

In addition to pint night at both Toronado and Eleven with $3 drafts in which Eleven offers all of their on-tap beers for $3 from open to close while Toronado offers locals for $3 from 6pm to close, Stone is also hosting the latest installment in their Beer U series. This month it’s Beer U: Stouts. $25 gets you a lesson in all things stout as well as tasters of eight different stouts, including the aforementioned 2008 Stone Imperial Russian Stout as well as one of my favorite beers to be released last year, Green Flash’s Silva Stout

Tuesday April 12th:

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

Wednesday April 13th:

Small Bar will have a handful or beers from Montana’s Big Sky Brewing on tap. $5 gets you a glass to take home with your first beer in it, with subsequent refills only $3.50.

If you’re out in east county, El Cajon’s Main Tap Tavern will have Iron Fist’s Velvet Glove on cask with some glasses to take home. I’ve had Velvet Fist on draft and it’s delicious, I imagine it will be equally as good if not better on cask.

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San Diego Beer Events March 17th – March 23rd

16 Wednesday Mar 2011

Posted by Jeff Hammett in alpine beer co., automatic brewing co., beer u, blind lady ale house, firestone walker brewing co., hamilton's tavern, hess brewing co., karl strauss brewing co., lost abbey, main tap tavern, o'brien's pub, pacific beach ale house, QUAFF, small bar, stone brewing co., stone brewing world bistro and gardens, toronado

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2007 Stone Imperial Russian Stout, blackball belgian ipa, coffee rain, firestone walker 14th Anniversary ale, Fortuna Hiberniae, Framboise de Amorosa, la bella pizza, Matt Bryndilson san diego, McIlhenney's Irish Red, saint patricks day san diego, san diego citybeat beer club, shipyard stout, st patrick's day san diego, stone brewing co. sunday funday, union jack ipa, velvet merlin

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

Thursday Mar 17th:

Plenty going on for St. Patrick’s Day. Blind Lady Ale House will be open for lunch and will have a ton of porters and stouts including six on nitrogen offered as a flight including Automatic Brewing Co.’s latest beer, Coffee Rain. Both Main Tap Tavern in El Cajon and O’Brien’s Pub will have casks of Alpine Beer Co.’s McIlhenney’s Irish Red. Pacific Beach Alehouse will have a cask of their Shipyard Stout. Small Bar, Hamilton’s Tavern and Toronado will all have Guinness keep the glass specials in addition to some nice sounding food specials.

Friday Mar 18th:

Matt Bryndilson, Brewmaster at  Firestone Walker will be at Hamilton’s Tavern from 5pm-6:30pm and then at Small Bar until 8pm. Hamilton’s will have Union Jack IPA on cask with a few other Firestone Walker beers on draft including their 14th Anniversary Ale and Velvet Merlin. Small Bar won’t have a cask but they’ll be doing some keep the glass specials.

Saturday Mar 19th:

Framboise de Amorosa is being released at Lost Abbey. 375ml bottles are $15 a piece with a limit of six per person. I’ve heard good things about this one, but never tried it myself. It’s not expected to make it into regular distribution so the brewery will be the only place to purchase it.

Hess Brewing Company is celebrating St Patrick’s day a bit late. They’ll have Fortuna Hiberniae, their all organic coffee stout on draft and nitrogen as well as all their other beers. They’ll have food from BBQ Republic and music from Family Wagon.

Sunday Mar 20th:

Another great Sunday Funday release at Stone Brewing Co. They’ll be filling growlers with 2007 Stone Imperial Russian Stout. Stone IRS ages well, this one should be delicious.

Monday Mar 21st:

In addition to the regular $3 beer nights at Toronado (locals only) and Eleven (all drafts) Stone is holding another beer class, Beer U: Craft Beer Around the World. Tickets are $25 and often sell out, so purchase in advance if you’re thinking about going.

Tuesday Mar 22nd:

Whether you’re a dedicated homebrewer or want to start, the monthly QUAFF meeting at Randy Jones BBQ in Mission Valley’s Hazard Center is the place to be Tuesday night.

Wednesday Mar 23rd:

San Diego Citybeat’s monthly Beer Club will be at La Bella Pizza in Chula Vista. They’ll have 8oz cask pours of Karl Strauss’s Blackball Belgian IPA for only $1 in addition to plenty of other great beers. You’ll need to be on their list to get the discounted prices, sign up here.

Ballast Point Brewing Co. 14th Anniversary Festival

18 Monday Oct 2010

Posted by Jeff Hammett in ballast point brewing co., beer festivals, firestone walker brewing co., la jolla brewhouse, the bruery, west coaster

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7 grain saison, cocao nib black marlin porter, fathom india pale lager, Fathom IPL, habanero sculpin ipa, pariah ipa, san salvador saison, schooner wet hop ale, sculpin ipa, Sour Wench, travis smith, velvet merlin


San Salvador Saison in the Ballast Point 14th Anniversary Taster Glass

The Ballast Point Brewing Company 14th Anniversary party this past Saturday was a big hit. Held at Liberty Station in Point Loma and only $20 for 10 tasters it was quite the deal. Ballast Point had at least 40 beers on tap and there were plenty of guest breweries on hand as well. The festival was pretty full but not overly crowded and the only real complaint I heard all day was the lack of water. There were no water stations as far as I could tell and not even any drinking fountains inside the festival. (Sure, some people were complaining about the lines for the bathrooms, but it’s a beer festival, a bathroom line should be expected).

Below are some notes on the beers we tasted as well as a few pictures from the event.

  • Ballast Point San Salvador Saison – Brewed using local ingredients (including pine nuts, agave, elder flower, white sage, manzanita berries, curacao and local sage honey) and described by Ballast Point as tasting like the San Diego countryside, this was the beer I was most looking forward to. It smelled and tasted of sage but wasn’t over powering. It was fairly malty and it was obvious there were more exotic ingredients than just the sage but I couldn’t identify anything else. Not much of this beer was made, but I’m hoping it will show up either at one of the Ballast Point tasting rooms or a bar or restaurant again before it’s gone.
  • Ballast Point Habanero Sculpin IPA – Ballast Point’s extremely popular Sculpin IPA with a bit of a habanero kick. This was another one I was looking forward to. I was at the Ballast Point tasting room about five years ago and tried a sample of what they were simply calling “Habanero beer” at the time. I don’t remember all the details, but it certainly wasn’t Sculpin with Habanero. Habanero Sculpin was hoppy, with hardly any habanero flavor coming through over all those hops, but it had a nice spicy aftertaste. Not too much heat came through, just enough to let you know it’s there. I probably wouldn’t take a pint of this over a pint of regular Sculpin, but it’s a nice little variation.
  • Ballast Point Sour Wench 2010 – I had never had this before so I decided to go with the 2010 instead of the 2009 which they also had on tap so I could see how it was fresh. It smelled a bit like Parmesan cheese but tasted like blackberries, sweet and tart.
  • Ballast Point Cocao Nib Black Marlin Porter – It’s been a while since I’ve had Black Marlin Porter, so I  can’t compare this to the regular version but this one both smelled and tasted strongly of chocolate. The four ounce taster was good, but I’m not sure I could drink a full pint of it.
  • The Bruery 7 Grain Saison – A fairly straight forward saison. Good earthy yeast smell and maybe even some cereal malts. A good representation of the style.

    La Jolla Brewhouse's new brewer Travis Smith

  • Ballast Point Fathom India Pale Lager on cask – Hoppy but not over the top. It’s enjoyable but I wouldn’t see myself drinking this over Sculpin if both were available.
  • Ballast Point Schooner Wet Hop Ale – I was a bit disappointed in this one. Maybe it’s because I tried it right after Fathom, but it seemed far less hoppy than I expected and I didn’t get many of the fresh hop flavors that typically stand out in wet hopped beers. I’m hoping to try this one again soon with a clean palate.
  • La Jolla Brewhouse Pariah IPA – A good standard IPA. It’s not over the top with the hops, but has plenty of flavor. This is one of the new beers from La Jolla Brewhouse’s new Brew Master Travis Smith. I’m looking forward to try more of this and his other beers soon.
  • Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin on cask – This beer is partially aged in bourbon barrels, but I didn’t get much of that in the small taster I had (I’ll be sampling more soon though!). It was rich and creamy, oatmeal and chocolate stood out.

Mike and Ryan from West Coaster were on hand volunteering, click on their names to read each of their takes on the festival, pouring two of the most popular casks there.

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Oktoberfest this weekend at O’Brien’s Pub, Hamilton’s Tavern, Small Bar, Eleven and Blind Lady Ale House

07 Thursday Oct 2010

Posted by Jeff Hammett in bars and restaurants, blind lady ale house, craftsman brewing co., eleven, events, firestone walker brewing co., hamilton's tavern, o'brien's pub, small bar

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While the original Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany might be winding down, here in San Diego it’s Oktoberfest season. You don’t have to look too hard to find an Oktoberfest celebration, but we’d like to point out a few celebrations at some of the best beer bars in town.

All happening this weekend, first up is O’Brien’s Pub. Starting Friday, October 8th, they’ll be tapping Oktoberfest beers from Craftsman Brewing Co., Mahr’s, Spaten and Kostritzer. They’ll also have beer brauts, beer cheese and beer and bratwurst soup. They’ll be celebrating all weekend long.

Hamilton’s Tavern, Small Bar and Eleven will be celebrating Saturday, October 9th. They’ll have a shuttle running between each of the bars and have different food and beer specials at each.

At Hamilton’s is dubbed SpatenHaus for the evening, for $5 you get a half liter Spaten glass with $3.50 refills. They’ll have Spaten Optimator, Pils, and Oktoberfest on draft in addition to Franziskaner Hefe and Kostritzer Oktoberfest. Sudwerk Fest Marzen will be on cask. Food will be complimentary Weisswurst, beer mustard and german cheese.

Small Bar will be WeheinstephanerHaus with $5 half liter glasses Weheinstephaner glasses and $3.50 refills. On draft will be Weheinstephan Lager, Vitus, Festbier, Hefeweizen and Hefedunkel in addition to HackerPschor Festbier. For food they’ll have Traditional Veal Schnitzel and cheesey Spaetzle plates for $6.

Eleven is HofbrauHaus for the night with Hofbrau Dunkel, Original, Hefeweizen and Oktoberfest in addition to Erdinger Oktoberfest. Same as above, $5 Hofbrau glasses with $3.50 refills. They’ll have complimentary beer brauts with apple/onion kraut.

Last but certainly not least of the Oktoberfest celebrations is Blind Lady Ale House. They’ll have those sweet shirts you see above in addition to what we’re pretty sure are the biggest beer glasses in town. $18 gets you a 1-liter (that’s big!) BLAH stein full of Fest Bier with $7 refills all weekend. If you prefer your own stein they’ll fill it for $9 up to 1 liter. They’ll have Craftsman Oktoberfest, Firestone OAKtoberfest, Kostritzer Schwarzbier Black Lager, Victory FestBier, and New Belgium HOPtoberfest on tap, and maybe a few more. Food-wise they’ll have house made German sausages, schnitzel, spaetzle and if all goes well pretzels. See more about their Steinfest here.

Beer this Week(end) in San Diego September 15-19

15 Wednesday Sep 2010

Posted by Jeff Hammett in bars and restaurants, beer dinners, blind lady ale house, dogfish head brewing co., drinkabout, firestone walker brewing co., hamilton's tavern, manzanita brewing co., mission brewery, o'brien's pub, sierra nevada brewing co., stone brewing co., the linkery, toronado

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2005 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine, 2010 Stone Imperial Russian Stout, 90 minute ipa, BLAH, blind IPA challenge, Burton Baton IPA, Festina Peche, gabf, ghidorah, great american beer festival, lee chase, Midas Touch, mission amber ale, mission blonde ale, mission hefeweizen, mission ipa, Palo Santo Marron, pints for prostates, Punkin Ale, Shipwrecked Imperial IPA, Shuffleboard for Charity, Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans, Theobrama, union jack ipa, vegetarian beer dinner, worldwide stout

The Great American Beer Festival is set to get under way in Denver tomorrow (September 16th). Beer geeks and industry folks from around the world travel to Denver for the event, including many from San Diego. But fret not if you’re stuck in San Diego this weekend with no travel plans for Denver, because even though the biggest beer event in the country is going on a few states away, there are still plenty of great beer to be drank right here in San Diego.

Tonight Wednesday, September 15th

  • Blind Lady Ale House will be tapping a keg of Sierra Nevada’s Ghidorah at 5pm (which BLAH’s Lee Chase helped brew at Beer Camp)
  • The September DrinkAbout is happening from 7pm-11pm. Click here for more details.

Thursday, September 16th

  • The Linkery is holding a Vegetarian Cask Beer Pairing Night. Each plate with half a pour of beer is $9. They have some great casks and the food sounds delicious. See the full menu here.
  • Toronado will be hosting a Dogfish Head Night. They’ll have Punkin Ale, Palo Santo Marron, Midas Touch, Theobrama and 90 Minute IPA on tap and bottles of Festina Peche, Burton Baton IPA, Worldwide Stout.

Friday, September 17th

  • Hamilton’s Tavern Firkin Friday with Mission Brewery. They’ll have Mission IPA on cask and Shipwrecked Imperial IPA, Blonde Ale, Amber Ale, and Hefeweizen at 5pm.
  • O’Brien’s Pub is hosting a night of beers from Manzanita Brewing Co. in Santee. (We stopped into Manzanita when they first opened, check out that post here)
  • Make sure your Stone Brewing Co. growlers are clean as they have three excellent growler fills this weekend. Friday they’ll have Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans

Saturday, September 18th

  • Blind Lady Ale House will have Firestone Walker’s Union Jack IPA on cask at 11:30am. Pints are only $3.50 until 3:50pm.
  • More growler fills at Stone Brewing Co. today they’re offering Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans again, and if you go after 8pm they’ll have 2010 Stone Imperial Russian Stout available as well.
  • Hamilton’s Tavern is hold a “Shuffleboard for Charity” event. We don’t have any more details, but you can’t go wrong with shuffleboard and good craft beer.

Sunday, September 19th

  • Pints for Prostates Fundraiser (DrinkAbout Part 2) Check Facebook for more info.
  • Blind Lady Ale House will hold a Blind IPA Challenge. 11.30am to Midnight. Judge six IPAs which out knowing which is which. Click here for more info.
  • If you only get one growler fill from Stone Brewing Co. this weekend this is the day to do it. Starting at 11am they’ll be filling growlers with 2005 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine

3 Year Blended Speedway Stout at Ritual Tavern and Firestone Walker Night at Toronado

11 Friday Jun 2010

Posted by Jeff Hammett in alesmith brewing co., beer reviews, firestone walker brewing co., ritual tavern, san diego beer week, toronado

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barrel aged speedway stout, double barrel ale, oak dba, oak double barrel ale, san diego beer week preview weekend, san diego beer week'nd, san diego beer weekend, speedway stout, union jack ipa


3 Year Blend of Alesmith Speedway Stout at Ritual Tavern

With plenty of bars pouring all sorts of special beers for San Diego Beer Week Preview Weekend it was  hard to decide where to go and what to drink last night. But I found myself at Toronado and Ritual Tavern, and certainly wasn’t disappointed.

Toronado was hosting a Firestone Walker showcase with seven Firestone brews on tap and one on cask including Parabola the much sought after Imperial Stout. On cask was 100% oak fermented, unfiltered DBA, which was the first beer I opted to try. While I certainly don’t have any complaints about DBA, I’m also not a huge fan of it. I enjoy it but it’s not one of my go to beers. The oak, unfiltered DBA on cask was good, and I’m glad I tried it, but I didn’t order a second pint. Instead I moved on to Firestone Walker’s Union Jack IPA, a beer which I had never tried before. With a name like Union Jack IPA I was expecting a British IPA, but was pleasantly surprised when I tasted it. It’s loaded with American hops, Warrior, Simcoe, Cascade, Centennial, Amarillo, Chinook to be exact, and had a nice citrus hop flavor and aroma. No wonder it won back to back gold medals at the GABF in 2007 and 2008. At 7.5% it’s on the fence between a standard American IPA and a Double/Imperial IPA. This is certainly a beer I’ll be drinking again.

I made my way down to Ritual Tavern to try the three year (two of those years barrel aged) blend of Alesmith Brewing Co.’s Speedway Stout. Speedway Stout is one of my favorite beers, so I had high expectations for this, and while it didn’t disappoint, I don’t think it lived up to all the hype I let build up in my head either. It felt a bit “warmer” than standard Speedway Stout. And I’m not exactly sure what I mean by the word “warmer”, it didn’t taste stronger alcohol-wise, but was a bit less sweet and the coffee didn’t come through at all. It smelled a bit like a port wine. Again a good beer I’m glad I tried, but for the price and taste I’ll stick with the standard Speedway Stout.

Last night was just the beginning of San Diego Beer Week’nd. There’s plenty more great beer on tap throughout the weekend.

San Diego Celebrates American Craft Beer Week, May 17-23

17 Monday May 2010

Posted by Jeff Hammett in beer u, blind lady ale house, coronado brewing co., dogfish head brewing co., events, firestone walker brewing co., green flash brewing co., hamilton's tavern, karl strauss brewing co., pizza port, san diego beer week, san diego brewing co., sierra nevada brewing co., stone brewing co.

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90 minute ipa, american craft beer week, anchor steam brewing co., big barrel stout, declaration of beer independence, double barrel ale, firestone walker parabola, fritz and ken's ale, idiot ipa, old scallywag, palate wrecker, pale 31, small bar san diego, union jack ipa

This week, May 17-May 23rd is American Craft Beer Week, and just as the name suggests it’s a week long celebration of craft beer across the entire country. Various breweries and bars are holding special events to celebrate and of course San Diego is no exception. Below are some highlights of events happening around San Diego County this week. Check out the American Craft Beer Week website for more events. And don’t confuse American Craft Beer Week with San Diego Beer Week happening November 5-14th (and don’t miss San Diego Beer Week’s sneak preview weekend June 10th-13th).

Week long events:

  • Stone Brewing Co. will hold Stone Southern California Storm, with all 32 of their taps featuring beer from Southern California Breweries all week long. Like many breweries around the country, they’ll also have a Declaration of Beer Independence hanging in the lobby for folks to sign.
  • Karl Strauss Brewing Co. brewed up a Belgian IPA for American Craft Beer Week that will be on tap all week at various bars and on cask at their restaurants. They’ll also have guest casks on throughout the week.
  • Coronado Brewing Co. will have their Big Barrel Stout, an Imperial Stout aged for six months in bourbon barrels as well as their Old Scallywag Barley Wine on tap.

Monday, May 17th:

  • In addition to Stone Southern California Storm, Stone Brewing Co. will also be hosting a Beer U class, Beer 101: The History of Beer from 7-9pm. Tickets are $20.

Tuesday, May 18th:

  • Small Bar will have $2.50 half pints of nine classic American IPAs both Tuesday and Wednesday. The IPAs include Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Coronado Brewing Co. Idiot IPA and more.
  • Blind Lady Ale House will tap the 2010 release of Firestone Walker Parabola, a barrel aged Russian Imperial Stout. They’ll also have other Firestone Walker brews on tap including Double Barrel Ale, Pale 31, Union Jack IPA and more.

Wednesday, May 19th:

  • If you missed Parabola Tuesday at Blind Lady Ale House, Pizza Port Carlsbad has you covered. They’ll be tapping the 2010 release of Firestone Walker Parabola as well as having plenty of other Firestone Walker beers on tap.

Thursday, May 20th:

  • San Diego Brewing Co. will toast 30 years of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. with the Sierra Nevada/Anchor Steam collaboration Fritz and Ken’s Ale, a big dark, Imperial Stout.

Friday, May 21st:

  • Hamilton’s Tavern will host a cask of Green Flash Brewing Co.‘s Palate Wrecker and 9-10% ABV Double IPA.

As for Saturday and Sunday check out some of the week long events.

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Categories

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    • sublime ale house
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    • the bruery provisions
  • breweries
    • 5 points brewing co.
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    • home brew mart
    • homebrews and gardens
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