New York Times San Diego for Beer

If you’re reading this blog it’s not news to you that San Diego is known for beer, but it’s nice to get some national recognition.

In the recent The 45 Places to Go in 2012 list in the New York Times Travel section San Diego gets a mention at spot number fourteen, but not for our near perfect weather, sunny beaches or delicious Mexican food. Instead they point out what makes San Diego really great: our brewers and beer culture.

Even in times of tight budgets, finely crafted beer remains a relatively approachable luxury, and few American regions have more brewing momentum than San Diego County. Maybe it’s time, then, to think about building a beer safari in the land of sunshine, fish tacos and hopped-up American IPAs.

On the brewery side Karl Strauss, Stone Brewing Co. and Hess Brewing get shoutouts. On the retail/bar side our friends at Bottlecraft along with the Pizza Port Bottleshop get mentiioned with Hamilton’s Tavern, O’Brien’s Pub and Local Habit.

And no talk of San Diego beer would be complete without mentioning San Diego Beer Week.

It’s worth noting that San Diego is one of only four US cities to make the worldly list. I don’t know how many people follow the recommendations of the NY Times Travel section when planning their vacations, but I’d be willing to be beer tourism is still on the upswing in this fine town of ours.

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Hess Brewing Looking at Expanded North Park Location

Tags

hess brewing north park, north park brewery, north park post office

I’ve been hearing talk for a while now that Hess Brewing is looking to expand — they’re currently brewing on a 1.6 barrel system in the Miramar area. More recently I had been hearing that they might be looking for a location in North Park. Sign On San Diego’s Peter Rowe confirmed that today with a post on his Brewery Rowe blog. He spoke to Michael Hess over the weekend who told him they’re looking to run a 30-barrel system in North Park while maintaining their current nanobrewery in Miramar.

No word on exactly where Hess is looking in North Park, but the talk I’ve heard is that someone (although maybe not Hess) has been looking at the old Post Office building at the corner of Grim Ave and North Park Way to bring a brewery to North Park.

Hess tells Rowe that if all goes as planned they hope to be open by mid 2012.

I’ll post more on Hess’s move to North Park, and anything else beer related I hear about the old post office building as soon as I get more details.

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

Hess Brewing’s First Anniversary & Hess Anno Unum Belgian-style Oaked India Pale Ale

Tags

Anno Unum, hess anniversary beer, Hess anniversary party, hess anno-series

 

UPDATE: Bottle sales of Anno Unum start at noon today (8/10/2011) on Brown Paper tickets here. Bottles are $25 each with a two bottle limit.

Hess Brewing Company will be celebrating their one year anniversary on Saturday August 13th from 12-6pm at their brewery in Miramar. The party will feature live music, food and of course beer. In addition to all the standard Hess favorites the first in what they plan to be an annual series of anniversary beers will be released. The first release, appropriately titled Anno Unum, will be a Belgian-Style Oaked India Pale Ale.

Hess recently received label approval for 750ml bottles of Anno Unum, which show that the bottles will be limited to 200 and each will be individually numbered. According to Hess’s Facebook page the bottles will be sold via Brown Paper Tickets online. With only 200 bottles available chances are they’ll go pretty fast, but hopefully they can avoid the chaos that many limited bottle releases have become recently.

The message from brewery founder Mike Hess on the label states:

Happy birthday to us! The beer you are holding, Anno Unum, represents a significant milestone – it is the first in what we expect to be a long line of Hess Brewing’s Anno-series birthday celebration beers. We opened our doors one year ago as San Diego’s first production nano-brewery and now we’ve poured everything we have into this bottle. You hold in your hand a beer that honors the tradition of craft brewing and exemplifies the reputation we’ve worked hard to garner – a reputation for delicious, well-balanced craft brews.

What is Anno Unum? Big. Belgian-Style. Hoppy. Unexpected. Uniquely Hess. It is, like everything we brew Great Beer. No exceptions. No Excuses.

Belgian-Style IPA made with Pilsner, Rye & Munich malts. Chinook and Falconer’s Flight hops. San Diego water, yeast and a whole lot of love.

Anno Unum comes in at 9.2% ABV and was brewed on July 9th, 2011. The label suggests that the beer be aged, which is unusual for an IPA most of which are recommended to be drank fresh. but with a high ABV, oak and Belgian yeast the beer will certainly change, hopefully for the better.

I believe this will be Hess’s first beer released in bottles.

Check Hess’s Facebook for more details on the Anniversary Party. I’ll be sure to update this post with more details about the bottle sales when they become available.

San Diego Beer Events July 7th – July 13th

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. As always, events are subject to change, check with the venue putting on the event before hand for more details.

Friday is the beginning of the grand opening weekend at Local Habit, a new farm to table restaurant Hillcrest. They have a heavy emphasis on craft beer and will be doing beer stuff  all weekend. To kick things off they’ll be pouring  Grazias Vienna Cream Ale on cask starting at noon, which is the first ever cask beer from Hess Brewing Company. Saturday will see Stone Brewing Co. employees on hand at noon to tap a cask of Double Dry Hopped Stone Levitation Ale and Sunday they’ll be finishing off the weekend by highlighting beers from Iron Fist Brewing Co.

There’s a whole lot going on Saturday, but two standout events are Second Saturday at Hamilton’s Tavern with Green Flash Brewing Co. and Best Damn Beer Shop’s 2 Year Anniversary tasting at The Tipsy Crow. Click on the entries on the calendar below for more details on each event.

It’s not often that one gets to dine on the roof of Pizza Port Ocean Beach, but this Sunday they’re giving people the chance with a six course rooftop beer and champagne brunch. Check out more details on Facebook.

San Diego Beer Events May 19th – May 25th

Tags

Bacon & Eggs, Cho Saiko, Falco Imperial Red Ale, judgement day party, judgment day, kelsey mcnair, Night Rider, Night Rider Imperial Stout, North Park Beer Co., Pereo Pilsner, Pizza Port OB anniversary, Pizza Port Ocean Beach anniversary, San Diego County Session Ale, San Diego History Center, San Diego Now, The State of Beer in San Diego, Trintas Belgian Pale Ale

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 May 19th:

A brand new brewery is opening up in Carlsbad. On the Tracks Brewery is holding their 3 day Grand Opening celebration and kicking it off today from 4-7pm. They’ll be doing it again tomorrow from 4-7pm and Saturday from 1-7pm. I don’t know much about them but they say they are “specializing in the darker side of beer with tasty ales, ports & stouts,” they’ll have seven beers and one mead ready to go. If you stop by On the Tracks this weekend drop me a line and let me know what you think: events@sandiegobeerblog.com

Friday May 20th:

The third installment of Hess Brewing Co.’s Friday Afternoon Club (FAC) is shaping up to be the best yet. The Barnacles will be playing some music, a wood-fired pizza truck will be serving up some pies and of course there will be beer. Three new beers to be exact. They’re introducing Trintas Belgian Pale Ale, Falco Imperial Red Ale (a 9.3% ABV, 90+ IBU red using Falconer’s hops) and Pereo Pilsner, a rye based German Pilsner 100% Nelson Sauvin hops and designed by home brewer extraordinaire Kelsey Mcnair (of North Park Beer Co. and San Diego County Session Ale).

Saturday May 21st:

Some people say it’s Judgment Day. Whether the world ends at 6pm or not, the hours leading up to it at Lost Abbey should be a fun time. They’ll have discounts on their Belgian-style Quad as well as prize giveaways and the original label art on display. Apocalypse themed costumes are encouraged.

Blind Lady Ale House says they’ll have a flight of beers from The Bruery, I don’t have many details on it but the beer is bound to be good. I haven’t heard for sure but it sounds like The Bruery flight might be postponed. I’ll update this if/when I hear one way or the other. Read about the flight from The Bruery they had last summer (no word if Patrick Rue will be around this time).

Sunday May 22nd:

Pizza Port Ocean Beach is celebrating their One Year Anniversary all weekend long (starting Friday night and ending Sunday night). They’ll have some special beers from all the Pizza Port locations as well as The Lost Abbey and Port Brewing Co. Pizza Port OB brewed Cho Saiko and Bacon & Eggs will be back on draft as well as an OB anniversary beer.

Monday May 23rd:

It’s Monday, that means $3 local pint night at Toronado.

Tuesday May 24th:

QUAFF holds their monthly homebrew club meeting at Randy Jones All American Grill in Hazard Center.

But if that’s not your thing stop by The Tipsy Crow downtown where they’ll be tapping a cask of Pizza Port Carlsbad Night Rider Imperial Stout.

It’s also Toronado San Diego’s 3 Year Anniversary. Rumor has it they’re throwing a party but details are scarce at this point. Look for a full post with details when I know them.

Wednesday May 25th:

I don’t know much about this event, heck I’m not even sure there will be beer there. But from 6-7:30pm the San Diego History Center will host a discussion on The State of Beer in San Diego featuring “local brewmasters and industry leaders”. No word on who those people might be, but it could be interesting. Grab a beer at The Prado’s happy hour before hand or head somewhere after for a pint, the event is free.

Green Flash Brewing Co.’s New Location

Tags

green flash mira mesa, green flash new location

As I blogged about last year, Green Flash Brewing Co. is moving. At the end of the month they’ll shut down operations at their current facility in Vista and then start things up at their new brewery in Mira Mesa.

Sunday May 29th will be Green Flash’s last day brewing in Vista, they’ll celebrate with a Customer Appreciation Party from 12-4pm. Just a few days later on June 1st they’ll officially open the doors at the new facility at 6550 Mira Mesa Blvd. in San Diego. This will put Green Flash in good company not too far from AleSmith, Hess Brewing Co., and Ballast Point Scripps Ranch. The grand opening celebration will happen on Saturday July 23rd from 12-4pm.

The new location will have a 4000 square foot tasting room that will be open Wednesday through Sunday. Upon opening Green Flash will be brewing 45,000 barrels of beer per year at their new facility with the ability to grow to 100,000 barrels as needed.

Read below for the full press release from Green Flash.

San Diego Beer Events March 17th – March 23rd

Tags

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.

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.

A Nano Amount of News from Hess Brewing Co.

Tags

alternating proprietorship, hess brewing expension, hess brewing kegs, hess brewing st patrick's day, hess brewing taps, michael skubic, mike hess

I haven’t been to Hess Brewing Co., the nanobrewery located just off Miramar Rd for a few months, but I ran into Mike Hess and Michael Skubic last night at The South Park Abbey for West Coaster’s launch party and got to chat with them a bit. Last night was the first time their beer had been on tap outside of their own tasting room and aside from a few minor issues with too much foam, things were tasting great.

Skubic told me that Hess is looking into knocking down a wall and expanding into some neighboring space. If I recall correctly he told me this would nearly triple their fermentation space. He also mentioned that the next big event at the brewery would be for Saint Patrick’s day and they’re thinking about brewing a coffee stout for the occasion. They’ll use all organic ingredients including coffee beans from a new roaster in town, this will be their “green” beer. They’re still working out all of the details but plan to brew it soon.

Mike Hess also mentioned that they were looking into an alternating proprietorship agreement with Bay Bridge Brewing in Chula Vista that would allow them to brew more beer. In simple terms, alternating proprietorships are a way for different brewers to share space and equipment but still retain creative control of their beer. Bay Bridge Brewing is where Mission Brewery brewed until recently (they moved into the Wonder Bread Factory building downtown) and I believe The Brew House at Eastlake’s beers are also made at Bay Bridge. This would allow Hess to pump out quite a bit more beer, I think he said Bay Bridge has a 15bbl system compared to Hess’s much smaller 1.6bbl system. If this ends up happening we may start seeing Hess tap handles around town.