If You Have to Drink Green Beer on St. Patrick’s Day…

Tags

1809 Berliner Style Weisse, berliner weisse, Down's Family Irish Stout, green beer, Hottenroth Berliner Weisse, waldmeister, woodruff syrup

Please skip the Bud/Miller/Coors with green food coloring added, and instead try a Berliner Weisse with Woodruff syrup added.

Honestly, with the weather being forecast for San Diego this weekend I wouldn’t recommend either of the above mentioned green beers, and would instead opt for a nice dark, roasty (and quite possibly higher ABV) stout. It might be a good time to pull an Imperial Stout you’ve been aging for a year or two out of the cellar. If you’re dead set on the Irish theme of St. Paddy’s day you could stop into Monkey Paw for a pint of their Down’s Family Irish Stout which I’ve heard great things about.

But if you really want the green beer, pick up a bottle of Berliner Weisse, The Bruery’s Hottenroth Berliner Weisse is a good locally made choice, or opt for a bottle of 1809 Berliner Style Weisse straight from Germany. Then head up to Tip Top Meats in Carlsbad and pick up a bottle of Woodruff syrup. Pour the Berliner Weisse into some nice stemware, add a bit of syrup to taste, and you’ve got authentic green beer.

For more background on Berliner Weisse check out the Wikipedia page, or this post on Beervana.

Photo: CC flickr user the__photographer

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Blind Lady Ale House Meet the Brewer Tasting Flights

Tags

guided beer tasting, meet the brewer, san diego beer week, San Diego Beer Week events, sdbw, sdbw blind lady ale house

Chuck Silva of Green Flash Leading a Flight Tasting During SDBW 2010

Yesterday I posted a roundup of what in my opinion are some of the best events happening during San Diego Beer Week. (And also posted a list of some of the best looking food and beer events as well).

But I wanted to highlight a series of events that Blind Lady Ale House did last year and will continue to do this year, Meet the Brewer Guided Flight Tastings. Throughout the week they’ll have a handful of different brewers in leading tastings through some of their beers. Last year I went to guided tastings at BLAH with Mark Jilg from Craftsman, Chuck Silva from Green Flash and Pat Mcilhenney of Alpine Beer Co. All were extremely educational, there’s no better way in my opinion to learn about a beer than to hear the brewer himself talk about it while tasting it, and affordable. Last year prices were around $25 per event. I haven’t seen prices this year, but I’d guess they will be similar. In order to keep things fun and make sure everyone can hear and ask questions BLAH limits the size of the events, which take place in the Hamm’s Room (West room at BLAH). So make sure to get there early if you’re interested in sitting through one of these guided tastings.

Blind Lady’s Meet the Brewer Guided Flight Tastings start tonight (technically SDBW Eve) and go throughout San Diego Beer Week. The full schedule (subject to change, so check with BLAH) is below.

Thursday, November 3rd 5pm with Tomme Arthur of Lost Abbey and Port Brewing Co.

Friday, November 4th 12:30-2:30pm with Jeff Bagby of Pizza Port Carlsbad

Sunday, November 6th 12:30-2:30pm with Mother Earth Brewing Co.

Wednesday, November 9th 5pm with Yiga Miyashiro of Pizza Port Ocean Beach

Thursday, November 10th with Chuck Silva of Green Flash

Friday, November 11th 12:30pm with Patrick Rue of The Bruery

San Diego Brewed: Bruery / Elysian / Stone La Citrueille Celeste de Citracado

Tags

Elysian Brewing, La Citrueille Celeste de Citracado, stone collaboration, Stone pumpkin beer, The Bruery pumpkin beer

San Diego Brewed is sponsored by Bottlecraft.

Bottlecraft is a retail shop and tasting room in Little Italy showcasing local, domestic and international craft beers. They offer hundreds of beers for your enjoyment in their onsite tasting room or to-go, as well as daily beer flights, events, glassware, merchandise, and gifts. Open Noon-10pm seven days a week. 2161 India Street, San Diego, CA 92101.

I thought I’d give pumpkin beers a second shot after last week’s SD Brewed (which one commenter called a drain pour). La Citrueille Céleste de Citracado isn’t your ordinary pumpkin beer. Sure it has pumpkin in it (grown at Stone Farms no less) but it also has yams, toasted fenugreek, lemon verbena and birch bark in it. This certainly isn’t a pumpkin pie beer.

The name roughly translates from French as The Celestial Pumpkin of Citracado. Citracado is of course the street on which Stone Brewing Co. is located (and where this collaboration beer was brewed). I say roughly because Citrueille is not a French word. The proper spelling of pumpkin is citrouille, I’m assuming the misspelling is a nod to Patrick Rue of The Bruery. La Citrueille Céleste de Citracado was brewed at Stone as a collaboration with Orange County’s The Bruery and Seattle’s Elysian Brewing.

There’s no sign of cinnamon, nutmeg or allspice here, the usual pumpkin beer ingredients, with aroma’s that waft out of the glass. La Citrueille Céleste de Citracado doesn’t smell like ordinary beers. There’s a bit of citrus, which I can only assume is the lemon verbena as well as some earthy woodiness which I assume to be the birch bark.

The taste is good, but it’s hard to pick out the distinct flavors (partially because I’m not terribly familiar with all of them). To over simplify things I’ll say overall there’s spice and herb like bitterness with just a bit of sweetness up front. I don’t think I pick up any pumpkin or yam flavors, but I imagine compared with lemon verbena, fenugreek and birch bark those are the more subtle flavors.

When cold the mouthfeel is rich, creamy and full feeling, much thicker than I expected from a 5% beer. As it warms it does become a bit sweet less pleasant. I’d recommend drinking this on the cooler side, around 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

For all the crazy ingredients (fun fact: according to Wikipedia fenugreek is a galactagogue) this beer comes together nicely.

Stone Sour Fest 2011

Tags

5th Annual Stone Sour Fest, cantillon, Cuvee des Champions, Iris, Oude Tart, Sinners Blend 2010, sour lavender, Stone Sour Fest, Tart of Darkness, The Bruery Sour Cherry Kriek, The Wanderer

Pouring Tart of Darkness

Over 100 different sour beers were available at Stone Brewing Co.’s Fifth Annual Sour Fest yesterday at Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens in Escondido. Among the 100 beers offered there was good variety of beers that were just barely sour to those that were so tart they made your mouth pucker.

Sour beers definitely aren’t for everybody, but you wouldn’t know that from how quickly Stone Sour Fest sold out this year (weeks in advance, no tickets were available at the door). Personally I love sour beers, but don’t have a lot of experience with them. Many can be pretty hard to come by and often rather expensive so there are a lot of well known and classics as well as obscure and limited release sours that I’ve never had before. Looking over the list I was excited to try plenty of new beers that I had either never heard of or just never had a chance to try before.

Cantillon, a Belgian brewery founded in 1900 is well known around the world among beer geeks for their sour beers, and they hardly ever make it to San Diego, so plenty of people were excited to sample their offerings. From what I’ve been told Cantillon Cuvee des Champions was the first beer at the fest to run out, one friend said it was gone by the time he got there at 10:10am, 10 minutes after the fest officially got under way. Another much sought after beer was The Bruery’s Sour Cherry Kriek, put on after The Wanderer ran out, word got around the through the crowd and a line quickly formed. I don’t know how long it took for the keg to kick but it didn’t take long, it was marked as empty soon after I got my sample.

A few of the standout beers I sampled are below.

• The Bruery’s Tart of Darkness. This one is around 5% ABV and has some good roastiness in addition to the sour tartness. I think it’s available in 750ml bottles as part of the Provisions series at The Bruery Provisions in Orange. I highly recommend picking some up if you get the chance.
• Cantillon Iris. One of the classics I had never had before. Quite a bit of funk in addition to the mouth puckering sourness with an extremely dry finish.
• Craftsman Sour Lavender 2010 and 2011. Both were good but I preferred the fresher 2011. I’m not a huge fan of lavender but I really enjoy this beer.
• The Lost Abbey Sinners Blend 2010. Bourbon, vanilla and a bit of caramel, this was sweeter than I expected while still being pretty acetic. One of the more heavy beers of the day.
• The Bruery’s Oude Tart. I absolutely love this beer. Dark fruit, leather, vanilla and oak, this is a beer I could sip on all day.

See below for a few pictures from the day.

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.

Beer-Con, coming to San Diego August 27th

Tags

Anat Baron, beer con, beer con discount code, beer con promo code, dr bill sysak, Drew Beechum, greg koch, patrick rue, san diego beer convention, san diego beer-con

A few weeks ago Beer-Con, a beer convention being held August 27th at the Handlery Hotel in Mission Valley was quietly announced with a few tweets and links to the website. The one day convention appears to be aimed at both the regular craft beer drinker that wants to learn more about beer as well as industry folks hoping to learn from those that have successfully proved themselves in the beer world.

The full agenda hasn’t been posted yet but speakers will include Stone Brewing Co. Co-Founder and CEO Greg Koch, “Dr.” Bill Sysak, Beverage Supervisor at Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens, Patrick Rue Founder of The Bruery and more.

This will be the first Beer-Con but the organizers have a strong track record in the San Diego beer community. Those involved in putting on Beer-Con include Tap Hunter and Awesome Beer Drinkers.

August is still a few months away but the earlier you register the less you pay. Prices range between $175 and $299 depending upon when you register. Using the discount code “sdbeerblog” will save you an additional $50 at checkout. Click here for registration.

 

 

Updated 5/26/2011 to note that the discount code above is an affiliate code which if enough people register using it I will be offered a discount or free pass to the convention.

2011 Stone Oakquinox

Tags

bill sysak, dr bill, duck duck guava, Fifty Fifty Brewing Co., Fifty Fifty Eclipse, Fifty Fifty Eclipse Four Roses, marron acidifie, no randall required, Oakquinox, Stone Imperial Russian Stout aged in Bourbon Barrels

From the better late than never file…

The second annual Oakquinox beer festival at the Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens this past weekend was probably the best beer festival I’ve ever attended. Many beer festivals are in parking lots, Oakquinox was in a garden. Many beer festivals are crowded with long lines, Oakquinox was well attended but we weren’t packed in like sardines. With the exception of the bottle line (which still wasn’t too bad) I don’t think I waited more than about 2-3 minutes in line all day. And to say the beer list was phenomenal would be an understatement (check out the full list here).

A few of the highlights for me:

Lost Abbey’s Duck Duck Guava was the first beer I tried know it would be quick to run out. It wasn’t the first gone (that would be Hair of the Dog Cherry Adam from the Wood 2009) but it was second. Sour but not overly so with a good guava taste to it. I’m not sure how much of of this was made but check it out if you get the chance. Stone’s Jacob McKean described it as: “a blend of Mellow Yellow & Devotion fermented with Duck Duck Gueze cultures in French Oak barrels (previously containing Cuvee De Tomme) with 70 lbs of pineapple guava per barrel.”

The Bruery/Cigar City’s Marrón Acidifié. Some people love it, some people hate it but I fall in the “like it quite a bit category”. I got my first taste at Oakquinox and greatly enjoyed it, I didn’t taste nearly as much vinegar as some people have complained about. Looking forward to opening the bottle I have.

2008 Stone Imperial Russian Stout aged in Bourbon Barrels, this is the first spirit barrel aged beer from Stone I’ve had and it didn’t disappoint.

Fifty Fifty Eclipse 2010 – Four Roses was the last beer I had at Oakquinox and was a great way to end. Smooth bourbon, vanilla, oak.

Click below for a few pictures from Oakquinox.

Farmhouse Friday: Lost Abbey Carnevale and The Bruery Saison de Lente

Tags

carnevale, saison de lente

This is the first post in what I hope will be a regular series highlighting various farmhouse ales. Farmhouse ales (also known as saisons) have quickly become one of my favorite types of beer. It’s a very loose category of beers as their can be great differences between many beers all with the same label of “farmhouse” or “saison”. I’ll write more about the style later, let’s get on to the beer.

This past Tuesday, Ritual Tavern had two farmhouse ales on draft, Lost Abbey’s Carnevale and The Bruery’s Saison de Lente and I tasted both side by side.

Carnevale is brewed by The Lost Abbey as a celebration of Carnival (Carnevale in Italian) as far as I can tell the recipe changes every year, according to RateBeer in 2009 it had Brettanomyces, I couldn’t find any info on this year’s release (other than the fact that it should start make the rounds in kegs and bottles soon) but I couldn’t taste any Brett in this batch. It’s 6.5% ABV.

Saison de Lente is the Bruery’s spring seasonal which does contain Brettanomyces. Bottles tend to stick around at some liquor stores throughout much of the year and it’s often on tap at beer bars in the spring. It comes in at 6.5% ABV, 35 IBU and 4 SRM.

Both beers were nearly identical in color, a pale gold or straw color with white foam. The Saison de Lente originally had quite a bit of head (more than the Carnevale) but it quickly disappeared. Carnevale had much less foam on it, but it stuck around for some time.

Carnevale had a very sweet and noticeable bubblegum or candy smell and the first tastes I took of it were similar. It was very well carbonated, which I think detracted some from the taste at first. There were some peppery spices and it finished very phenolic and clove tasting. The finish was dry for how sweet it started out. I liked it more as it warmed up, it got less sweet and the spices really came out. Lost Abbey recommends serving it between 45 – 52F, but I’m not sure what temperatures I was drinking it at.

Saison de Lente had a sweet smell but it was far more subdued and not nearly as reminiscent of bubblegum. The taste was slightly sweet and very floral up front. There was some earthy funkiness, probably the Brettanomyces but it wasn’t overpowering or detracting at all (I like Brett but those that don’t shouldn’t worry about it in this beer). The carbonation was much lower than Carnevale but it also felt thinner which did detract from it a bit. There was a good deal of lemony citrus and the finish seemed to be more hop bitterness than clove phenols.

Both were overall very good and I wouldn’t hesitate to drink either of them again.

The photos are not of the beer I had (both were on draft) but my camera phone didn’t snap a good pic.

Have a favorite Farmhouse ale? Leave a comment below and I’ll try to check it out!

Click here for more info on Carnevale

Click here for more info on Saison de Lente

Photos CC Flickr. Carnevale: ttam_elbanak, Saison de Lente: mitch_j

 

San Diego Beer Events, March 3rd – March 9th

Tags

2008 Barrel Aged Sea Monster Imperial Stout, 2009 Sea Monster Imperial Stout, Abandon Ship Smoked Lager, Abandon Ship Smoked Lager with Dried Smoked Chipotles, carnevale, Churchill's Finest Hour, churchill's renaissance, fiji yogurt, firkin friday, habanero sculpin ipa, knb bbq, miho gastrotruck, Old Tempest Ale, pliny the younger churchill's pub, saison de lente, Sea Monster Imperial Stout, sierra nevada week, Tongue Buckler

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

Thursday Mar 3rd:

Ballast Point is teaming up with MIHO Gastrotruck and Fiji Yogurt for another casual beer dinner. MIHO will be serving Drunken Wild Mexican Shrimp and Grits prepared with Abandon Ship Smoked Lager and Fiji will have a Ballast Point Tongue Buckler wort based yogurt, flavored with Peanut Butter and Honey. Ballast Point will be pouring plenty of beers including Abandon Ship Smoked Lager, Abandon Ship Smoked Lager with Dried Smoked Chipotles, Habanero Sculpin IPA, 2008 Barrel Aged Sea Monster Imperial Stout, 2009 Sea Monster Imperial Stout and this year’s version of Sea Monster Imperial Stout. They’ll have recommendations on which beers pair best with what food. This all happens from 4:30-7pm at Ballast Point/Homebrew Mart in Linda Vista.

Friday Mar 4th:

Another Friday, another Firkin Friday at Hamilton’s Tavern. This week they’ll feature Poway’s Lightning Brewery with a cask of their Old Tempest Ale, their 9.5% ABV UK style strong ale. As usual Hamilton’s should have a couple other Lightning beers on draft as well.

Saturday Mar 5th:

Churchill’s Pub and Grille in San Marcos is hosting their second annual Churchill’s Renaissance. Starting at 11am they’ll have all sorts of delicious beers that don’t see the light of day too often. Sure they’ll have Russian River Brewing Company’s much sought after Pliny the Younger, but they’ll also have a ton of other delicious and rare beers including this year’s version of Port Brewing Co.’s Churchill’s Finest Hour, an imperial stout aged in Jack Daniels whiskey barrels. Get there early for the extra rare stuff.

Sunday Mar 6th:

Sierra Nevada Beer BrunchBQ Finale is happening at KNB Wine Cellars from 11am-3pm to finish off their Sierra Nevada week. They should still have plenty of great Sierra Nevada beers and some delicious food on the BBQ.

Monday Mar 7th:

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 Mar 8th:

Ritual Tavern will be having a Fat Tuesday celebration. They’ll have The Bruery’s Saison de Lente and Lost Abbey’s Carnevale on draft. For food they’ll have fried oyster Po-boys, gumbo and beignets.

Wednesday Mar 9th:

Ballast Point and Green Flash are teaming up to take over all the taps at Rancho Bernardo’s URGE Gastropub. They’ll split URGE’s 51 taps fairly evenly and if you get there early you might even score a commemorative pint glasses to take home. No word on what each brewery will be brining but expect some great beers to be pouring.

Down at Small Bar they’ll be featuring AleSmith with some keep the glass specials and pint glasses to take home.

Societe Brewing Co. – Doug Constantiner, The Anonymous Partner

Tags

Doug Constantiner, douglas Constantiner, societe brewing company, travis smith

Last week Travis Smith left The La Jolla Brew House after only a few months on the job and announced that he would be starting a new brewery in San Diego with a partner that was currently anonymous.

Thanks to a commenter’s tip I’ve confirmed that Smith’s partner in Societe Brewing Co. is Doug Constantiner, who currently brews at The Bruery.

Look for more about Constantiner, Smith and Societe Brewing Company in the February issue of West Coaster.