San Diego Beer Week – First Weekend

San Diego Beer Week 2011 is underway and the first weekend is now coming to a close. I decided this year I needed to take things a little more slowly than I did last year (if I remember right I didn’t drink beer for about two weeks after SDBW 2010) so I missed a few things this first weekend (and surely will miss more events for the rest of SDBW) but here’s what I drank.

Golden Road Hefeweizen

I started SDBW a night early at Tiger!Tiger! for their Golden Road showcase Thursday night. Golden Road is a new brewery in LA that opened just a couple of weeks ago. From what I hear they have no plans to start distributing outside of LA at this time, but decided to bring a few kegs down to Tiger!Tiger! for San Diego Beer Week. Co-founder Meg Gill (formerly of Speakeasy Ales and Lagers and Oskar Blues) and brewmaster Jon Carpenter (formerly of Dogfish Head) were on hand but I didn’t get a chance to speak with them.

They currently have three beers and brought all of them down. Hefeweizen is a nice flavorful hefeweizen that’s easy to drink and won’t knock you down after a couple of pints at 4.6% ABV. It’s a beer I wouldn’t hesitate to order again (especially on a hot day) but I’m not sure that it stands out when compared to other craft hefeweizen’s.

Point the Way IPA stands out for being full of flavor and on the lower side of the IPA ABV spectrum at 5.2%. The aroma was fantastic and while the flavor didn’t quite stand up to what I expected from the smell it was still good.

Burning Bush is a smoked IPA that was pretty interesting. The smoke was there but not overpowering. At 8% ABV it’s stronger than Point the Way IPA and much more malty. The hops are there, but don’t jump out nearly as much with the smoke and maltiness. And while it’s a very different beer, it reminded me a bit of Rumble (oak aged IPA) from Great Divide. The smoke really is very subtle, it’s there if you look for it but doesn’t overpower the rest of the beer.

Friday night I didn’t go out, opting to spend the night with the family sharing a couple bombers with my brother. We had the recent release of Ballast Point’s Victory at Sea along with Stone Brewing Co.’s 11.11.11 Vertical Epic. This might be my favorite batch of Victory at Sea to date. I don’t have any tasting notes from previous batches, but the coffee seems much more prominent in this batch. The vanilla is still there but it has a nice roastiness to it.

11.11.11 Vertical Epic is an amber colored Belgian-style ale brewed with chiles and cinnamon. I felt like there was a bit too much going on with it. The chile flavor is delicious, it’s right up front giving plenty of flavor without a ton of heat. It’s one of the most flavorful and not overwhelming chile beer’s I’ve had. After that though it seems to drop off a bit. I get some toffee like sweetness from the malt but I didn’t taste much from the Belgian yeast. The cinnamon came out at the end and I really didn’t like it. It wasn’t overwhelming but definitely there and was the last impression with each sip.

Saturday was the San Diego Brewer’s Guild Festival at Liberty Station. There’s a lot to be said about the festival itself, but I’ll leave that for another time. I had a number of beers, one or two I didn’t like at all, quite a few I thought were good and a couple I thought were great. Barrel Aged Tourmaline Trippel from Pacific Beach Ale House really stood out. I think they get passed over quite a bit because of their location but brewer Erik Jensen know’s what he’s doing and makes good beer. This was inoculated with Brett and aged in a previously used bourbon barrel for a few months.

Mary Jane IPA from Rock Bottom La Jolla also stood out. I didn’t get the ABV but I’d guess it’s in the 6-7% range. It was easy to drink with nice pine and tropical fruit flavors.

Green Flash’s 9th Anniversary IIIPA (not sure of the official name, one handwritten sign said Green Bullet but I don’t know if that’s the actual name) was also very good. It was big and hoppy with plenty of hop flavor along with the bitterness. Brewer Chuck Silva told me they used hop extracts in addition to the regular hop pellets. If you get a chance to try this I’d highly recommend it as it might not be around too long.

Later that night I went to Assembly, the vegan beer dinner I helped plan with LoveLikeBeer and Sea Rocket Bistro. The dinner went well with great beer from Jolly Pumpkin and delicious food from Chef Chad White. Fuego del Otono, La Parcela, Bam Biere, and Bam Noire were all served.

Bison Organic Chocolate Stout and Barrel Aged Chocolate Stout

Sunday I stopped into Bottlecraft for the Bison Brewing event. They had Bison Organic Chocolate Stout and Barrel-aged Bison Chocolate Stout being served side by side. The barrel aged version was aged in Four Roses Bourbon barrels (and I was told but didn’t confirm it with the brewer) that they were second use barrels. It’s been a while since I’ve had the regular Chocolate Stout but I was reminded of how much I enjoy it.

The barrel aged version didn’t quite live up to my expectations, it was good but I think I enjoyed the regular version more. Gone was the subtle chocolate sweetness, replaced with a mellow bourbon flavor. At 6.1% ABV it’s lower in alcohol than many beers that are aged in bourbon barrels so it didn’t have the same mouthfeel that one might come to expect from barrel aged beers. Still good, but I’m plenty happy with the regular Chocolate Stout.

There’s still seven days left of San Diego Beer Week. If you’re looking for some things to do for the remainder check out these guides for my take on some of the best beer events and the best beer and food events.

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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.

Pacific Beach Ale House St. Sideburn Vintage Ale

Tags

erik jensen, pb ale house, st. sideburn vintage ale, st. sideburn winter ale

In my opinion the Pacific Beach Ale House is one of the most overlooked breweries in San Diego. They have a solid standard lineup of beers and some great seasonals. At the San Diego Brewer’s Guild Festival during San Diego Beer Week last year they were pouring St. Sideburn Vintage Ale, a whiskey barrel aged with brettanomyces of their regular winter seasonal, St. Sideburn Winter Ale. I was bummed to have missed it at the festival and thought I wouldn’t get a chance to try it. But on New Year’s Eve I ended up at a party at PB Ale House brewer Erik Jensen’s house with St. Sideburn Vintage Ale on draft. I jokingly mentioned to Jensen that I’d love to come back the next day to get a little bit to take home when I’d be in better shape to fully appreciate it, to which he responded sure, come on by. So the next day I stopped by with a growler that Jensen happily filled off his kegerator.

St. Sideburn Vintage Ale pours a dark brown with a small white head. It has an earthy brett smell and smells more of alcohol than it tastes. The taste starts sweet but not overly malty and gives way to an earthy but not overwhelming brett flavor. It’s not a leathery taste that some beers with brett can have, just a very pleasant earthiness. It finishes more bitter and dry, with what might be some oak but that could be my imagination. I don’t get any whiskey flavors which I would expect to be more present than any wood from the barrel.

St. Sideburn Vintage Ale is a great beer, but not one I could drink all night (where as I wouldn’t have a problem downing quite a few of the non-barrel aged St. Sideburn Winter Ale’s in one evening). I’m not sure how much of this beer is still around, I haven’t ever seen it on tap at the PB Ale House, but Jensen tells me that he currently has a Tripel aging in the same barrel used for this that should be ready soon. Look for the barrel-aged Tripel (the name of which I’m unsure of) on tap at the Pacific Beach Ale House sometime in the coming months.