Craft Brewers Conference and World Beer Cup in town Next Week

Brewers from around the world will be making their way to San Diego over the next few days to take part in the 2012 Craft Brewers Conference and World Beer Cup. The conference taking place at Mission Valley’s Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center is open to industry members only, but with so many brewers from all over the country and world in town there will be plenty of things going on at bars, restaurants and breweries that are open to the public.

I haven’t had time to make a list or guide to what’s happening, and unfortunately probably won’t have time before things get started next week. West Coaster has quite a few events listed on their Calendar. Check with your favorite craft beer spots, chances are pretty good they might have something special going on, new beers (look for the Green Flash / Founders collaboration Linchpin White IPA to make it’s debut at Green Flash on Tuesday, May 1st and elsewhere later in the week), rare beers, meet the brewer nights and more.

Karl Strauss brewed this year’s CBC Symposium beer, a 10% Double IPA named “San Diego Pale Ale” which will be given out to conference attendees. Chances are this beer will also show up at a few locations throughout town in the coming weeks.

Be sure to pick up the May issue of West Coaster which should hit the streets soon, it will have all sorts of info on the Craft Brewers Conference and World Beer Cup, including a look back at some of the 2010 WBC winners (the WBC takes place every other year) that are available locally.

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San Diego Beer News Roundup

Tags

Chez Monieux, churchill's renaissance, Exponential Hoppiness, Neighborhood bottle shop

I’ve been a bad blogger lately, with a ton going on at work and home I haven’t been blogging much. Things might be a little slow for a while longer, but here’s a quick roundup with some links to keep you up to date.

According to Amy T. Granite, the CCDC has approved Neighborhood for an off-site consumption permit. They still need to get a license (or a change to their current license depending on how they will be operating) but it looks like they’re one step closer to opening a spot to sell bottles to go near 8th and G downtown. Here’s a post with a bit of back story on their proposed bottle shop/tasting room. Check out the comments to see what folks are saying about it.

Live from the CCDC public hearing: @NeighborhoodSD has been approved a permit for off-site consumption. #bottleshop

— Amy T. Granite(@saysgranite) March 1, 2012

This Saturday is Churchill’s Renaissance at Churchill’s Pub and Grille in San Marcos. The tap list looks amazing (dare I say Pliny the Younger is the most pedestrian beer on the list?). They’ll also have a limited amount of bottles of Port/Lost Abbey brewed Churchill’s Finest Hour available for sale to go, if last year was any indication it’s a good idea to get there early if you’re looking to score a bottle.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is also the second Turista Libre TJ Craft Beer Tour, the last one was a ton of fun, it’s great to see ambitious homebrewers turning out good beer south of the border.

Pat Mcilhenney at Alpine Beer Co. sent out a newsletter earlier in the week in which he announced a few changes to the ways their beers get released. First off he says they won’t be giving much notice when a new beer is coming out, maybe they’ll announce it the day before it goes on sale, maybe once it’s already on sale, or (Mcilhenney  doesn’t explicitly say this) but maybe they won’t announce beer releases at all. Much of his email is about rewarding local and loyal customers, not out-of-towners and those looking to resell Alpine’s beers and make a quick buck. Which brings up the part that got everybody talking (just check out the comments at Beerpulse):

You have seen your very last growler of “Exponential Hoppiness” ever to be dispensed. [The link included no longer show’s the auction which was ended soon after the email went out, here’s a link to the seller’s Ebay page]

Since I previously stated if I ever saw a growler of “Exponential Hoppiness” for sale on ebay there would never be another growler sold again. Don’t blame me, but you can see who to blame on the above link. As for bottles of “Expo” on ebay, I’m seriously considering never bottling it again. This is not just a personal issue, it’s illegal.

Mike Shess at West Coaster and Peter Rowe at Brewery Rowe both followed up with Mcilhenney, and it sounds like he may change his mind somewhere down the line, but I wouldn’t expect to see Alpine filling growlers of Expo during the next release.

And not to be forgotten in the hoopla, Alpine released bottles of the always delicious Chez Monieux Kriek this week. No word on how fast it’s selling (or if it’s sold out already) but I’d hurry up there if you want some.

Speaking of West Coaster, the March issue is out now, and if you didn’t get a chance to pick up the February issue, my column about “imitation” craft beer was posted to the web a few days ago.

Neighborhood’s Proposed Bottleshop and Best Damn Beer Shop’s Response

Last Wednesday Ryan Lamb at West Coaster put up a blog post with a few details about a proposed bottle shop and tasting room that Arsalun Tafazoli, owner of downtown restaurant and craft beer bar Neighborhood is hoping to open in the same building that houses Neighborhood on the 700 block of G Street. As Lamb put it, “This move would bring the beer-for-here/beer-to-go model close to the Gaslamp Quarter where many tourists and conventioneers stay while in town.”

Tafazoli filed for a Conditional Use Permit with the Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC) on January 17th. West Coaster’s post provided a contact at the Centre City Advisory Committee that readers could contact to get more information about the project, and concluded with: “Support for this project can be sent to Lorena Cordova at the CCDC is the woman to contact. Her e-mail address is cordova@ccdc.com.”

Support was positive on Facebook and Twitter with a few people leaving comments in favor of it. One person said that it would be a great addition to East Village while another said he wrote an email to Cordova at CCDC to show support. But it turns out not everyone is looking forward to the possibility of Neighborhood opening a bottle shop downtown.

A few days later on February 13th, Neighborhood posted the following messages to Twitter:

Wow, just got call from the City only one to protest our retail license was @BestDmnBeerShop. Really??? pretty deceitful.

— Neighborhood777Gst. (@NeighborhoodSD) February 13, 2012

 

You could have came to us in person and tried having a conversation. Its not about competition but community you schmucks.

— Neighborhood777Gst. (@NeighborhoodSD) February 13, 2012

According to Tafazoli CCDC contacted him to let him know that Sadeer Mikhail (Sid at Best Damn Beer Shop (BDBS), and the son of the owner of Super Jr Market which houses BDBS) emailed to inquire about more information on Neighborhood’s plans and for information on how to petition the license application. Mikhail would not confirm nor deny that he wrote the email to CCDC which said in part, “I’m afraid if the Neighborhood Ale House opens up a bottle shop/tasting room it will dramatically effect us [Super Jr Market/Best Damn Beer Shop] directly considering we are 3 blocks away. Please let us know how we can petition this application for beer and wine off sell license.” The email also listed three other businesses that would be effected if Neighborhood were to open a bottle shop, though Mikhail later declined to provide me with any contact info for other business that would be effected.

Mikhail provided a statement (which he asked that I post in full, see below) in which he said “I was told by a few people in the community that The Neighborhood has plans to open up a bottle shop beer & wine. So I inquired about what their plans are. I was told to email CCDC to find out more information about the license they are applying for. I’m not the only business that is concerned about this application. Super Jr. Market (Best Damn Beer Shop) never filed anything. My family has owned the store since 1978, and many employees and family members live off of Super Jr. Market. We have nothing against The Neighborhood Ale House, I actually enjoy that they do not supply ketchup with their fries. However, any business person would try to protect his/her livelihood and their employees from someone opening a similar type of business 3 blocks away.”

One can’t fault Mikhail for wanting to protect his family’s business, but some don’t like the way he’s possibly going about it, with one person responding to Neighborhood’s tweet: “WEAK!” another person commented on Facebook, “It really sucks. I love the Best Damn Beer Shop, but such animosity for fellow beer lovers makes me not want to patronize them anymore.” Tafazoli added in an email, “the city official was even surprised she said it was the first time she had seen a protest from another business on the grounds of competition.”

Tafazoli doesn’t seem deterred, “As you know this town has been flooded with establishments focusing on Craft Beer which has been a good thing for all, and something we’ve taken an enormous amount of pride in. We’re not competing against each other, our interests are aligned, and for those guys to actually file a protest is really disappointing. But the community will prevail. Ever since I sent out that tweet, the feedback has been awesome, Jack [White] from Ballast Point, Greg [Koch] from Stone, even Rob Tod [from Allagash] who is in Maine offered to help me out if needed. Greg said he would come out and speak in support if there was a hearing.”

Below is Mikhail’s full statement

Beer Notes, Early February 2012

Tags

airdale brewing company, stone brewing co. winter storm

Things have been rather slow around here for the past month or two, though it should pick up rather quickly with the upcoming release of Russian River Brewing Company’s Pliny the Younger later this month (like last year I plan on updating a list of bars serving PtY, please send me an email if you hear what  bars are putting it on and when).

On a sad note West Coaster has a blog post about Airdale shutting down. Technically Airdale wasn’t a San Diego brewery, they contract brewed at Bayhawk, but they were a San Diego company. I always enjoyed their Dark and Stormy Imperial Stout, it’s sad to see them go.

Speaking of West Coaster, the February 2012 issue is out now, I have a column about the big beer companies trying to move in on the craft beer space. You can read it online here or better yet, pick it up at your favorite watering hole.

This Sunday is the Super Bowl which also mean’t it’s Stone Brewing Co.’s Winter Storm. Ton’s of great Stone beers on tap and in bottles including plenty of vintage releases. The Calm Before the Storm breakfast is sold out, so show up at 11am. Check the link for more details and the full tap/bottle list.

West Coaster Travel Issue | May, 2011

Tags

port to port to port

The May issue of West Coaster is out now, it’s all about travel and mostly beer from places other than San Diego. There are stories about beer in LA and the Central Coast as well as snippets about tons of other cities and countries throughout the world.

I wrote articles about the breweries of the Front Range in Colorado (Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins) and wrote about cycling down the coast here in San Diego with stops at the three San Diego County Pizza Port locations. It’s a great ride, one I’ll be doing again soon.

Pick up a copy at at breweries and better beer bars and bottle shops (distribution list here) or read it online.

San Diego Beer Events March 24th – March 30th

Tags

awesome beer drinkers, brewdog, brewdog bashah, brewdog keep the glass, brewdog tokyo, Bruton Brewery, cantillon, cantillon Classic Gueuze, Firestone Walker 14th Anniversary, Iacopo Lenci, Jean Van Roy, Mango Mongo DIPA, march madness beer tasting, mission valley craft beer festival, Paradox Imperial Stout, suds for surgeries, The Handlery Hotel & Resort, 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 Mar 24th:

Pizza Port Ocean Beach is doing a Pizza Port Keep the Glass night. They’ll have a tun of Pizza Port OB beers as well as a few favorites from the other PP locations. They’ll also have some treats from Lost Abbey as well including Red Poppy.

Friday Mar 25th:

More Pizza Port fun, Downtown Johnny Brown’s is doing a Pizza Port/Port Brewing Co. night with 17 different beers on draft. They’ll also have a cask of Mango Mongo DIPA.

Live Wire might not be the first place you think of when you think craft beer, but some say they’re the original San Diego beer bar. They’re featuring a Firestone Walker showcase with four draft beers, including Firestone Walker 14th Anniversary as well as a cask of Union Jack IPA.

Saturday Mar 26th:

My friends over at West Coaster, Awesome Beer Drinkers and Best Damn Beer Shop have teamed up to host a charity beer tasting at The Beer Company downtown. They have an insane VIP bottle list lined up as well as a more standard regular session with a chance to try five beers from The Beer Company, including three never seen before.

Sunday Mar 27th:

Jean Van Roy, owner and brewer at Cantillon, producer of some of the world’s most sought after sour beers will be at Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens Sunday afternoon. They’ll have Classic Gueuze on draft and six other Cantillon beers available in bottles. All Cantillon beers will only be available at the outside bar in 4oz pours only.

The Handlery Hotel & Resort is hosting the Second Annual Mission Valley Craft Beer Festival, Suds for Surgeries to benefit Fresh Start Surgical Gifts. They’ll have unlimited tasters as well as food and live music, all for a good cause.

Monday Mar 28th:

Another European brewer will be in town, this time it’s Iacopo Lenci from Italy’s Bruton Brewery. He’ll be at Hamilton’s Tavern with five of his beers.

Tuesday Mar 29th:

I haven’t heard of anything special going on. If you know of something please email events@sandiegobeerblog.comto get it added.

Wednesday Mar 30th:

There’s a lot going on for a Wednesday night, but BrewDog night at URGE Gastropub looks the most promising. They’ll have two different kegs of BrewDog’s Paradox Imperial Stout aged in different Scotch Whiskey barrels and have it on cask as well. They’ll have kegs of the 18.2% ABV Tokyo as well as the  BrewDog/Stone Brewing Co. collaboration Bashah. They’ll even send you home with your own BrewDog glass.

San Diego Beer Events, March 10th – March 16th

Tags

2010 Double Bastard Ale with Chipotle Peppers, aha rally, aison du BUFF, american homebrewers association, brewbies, crime, Double Dry Hopped Lukcy Basartd Ale, Duet, Exponential Hoppiness, karl strauss 22nd anniversary vanilla imperial stout, laura ulrich, Mchilhenny Red, oak barrel aged Double Bastard Ale, punishment, stone brewing co march madness homebrew competition, Stone Imperial Russian Stout GK's Mad Man Mix, token imperial porter, while the wife's away ipa

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

Thursday Mar 10th:

I don’t have many of the details on tonight’s “mini-Brewbies” Fest at Toronado, but they say they’ll have a few pink beers on tap and will be donating a significant portion of the money they make tonight to the Keep-a-Breast Foundation. There’s sure to be some great beer, and you’ll be supporting a great cause.

For those of you in the East County (of even if you’re not, it’s not that far of a drive) The Press Box Bar and Sports Lounge in Rancho San Diego/El Cajon is hosting Lightning Brewery. Head Brewer Jim Crute will be on hand with Lightning’s full lineup of beers. The $25 tickets include beer and food samples. If you’re set on going call ahead to reserve your spot. 619-713-6990

Friday Mar 11th:

Seems like it’s a slow Friday night beer-wise this week. Of course there’s always plenty of great beer around town, but Pizza Port Ocean Beach will be tapping a cask of While the Wife’s Away IPA at 5pm.

Saturday Mar 12th:

The American Homebrewers Association (AHA) is holding one of their homebrew get togethers (called the AHA Rally) at Stone Brewing Co. I attended an AHA Rally a few years back in Colorado and had a great time, I’m sure this one will be much larger with a lot more homebrew. The Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens sounds like the perfect setting. It’s free for AHA members or you can sign up at the door. Space is limited so RSVP (or get on the waiting list if it’s already full)

No Firkin Friday last night (at Hamilton’s Tavern anyway) means it must be Second Saturday. This month they’re hosting the Alpine Beer Co. They’ll have Duet and Token Imperial Porter with Oak and Vanilla Beans on cask and a whole slew of other Alpine beers on draft, including what is one of the last kegs of Exponential Hoppiness around. As with all Second Saturday’s, they’ll have complimentary food, this month an Irish feast with Mchilhenny Red Corned Beef and Cabbage, Token Porter Bread Pudding and more.

Sunday Mar 13th:

Know of a great beer event happening? Email events@sandiegobeerblog.com

Monday Mar 14th:

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 15th:

Tipsy Crow is tapping a cask of Karl Strauss’s 22nd Anniversary Imperial Stout with Vanilla Beans. This is one of my favorite beers I’ve had on cask recently. There probably aren’t a whole lot of chances to get this on cask again. It’s good on draft, but great on cask.

This month’s installment of Chicks for Beer at The High Dive will feature Stone Brewing Co.’s Laura Ulrich (I wrote about Laura in the March issue of West Coaster). Ulrich, along with two other female brewers, brewed the first ever all female commercial collaboration beer earlier this year. Buy your tickets in advance and remember, this one is ladies only.

Wednesday Mar 16th:

The monthly DrinkAbout is happening at some of the Uptown bars. A free shuttle runs from 7pm-11pm between Hamilton’s Tavern, Station Tavern, Sea Rocket Bistro, Ritual Tavern, Blind Lady Ale House, Small Bar, Livewire and Toronado. There are sure to be plenty of specials but I’ve only heard of two so far. Sea Rocket will have flights from Manzanita Brewing Co. and Hamilton’s and Small Bar will have Brekle’s Brown, a new brown ale from Anchor Steam. This is the first time it will be on tap in San Diego and they’re doing a keep the glass special.

Up at Stone Brewing Co. they’re featuring Crime and Punishment keep the glass specials. Crime is Double Dry Hopped Lukcy Basartd Ale with chili peppers and Punishment is oak barrel aged Double
Bastard Ale with chili peppers. They glasses will be small (I can’t imagine wanting more than a taster of each) but you’ll get to take them home with you. They’ll also be filling growlers of Saison du BUFF, 2010 Double Bastard Ale with Chipotle Peppers, and Stone Imperial Russian Stout GK’s Mad Man Mix in the company store.

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.

San Diego Beer Events, January 20th- January 26th

Tags

awesome beer drinkers, awesome beer tasting, barrel-aged wee heavy scotch ale 2009, barrel-aged wee heavy scotch ale 2009 release, bear republic brewery, lost abbey expansion, lost abbey open house, miho gastrotruck, nickel bag dipa, racer 5 ipa, rob todd hamilton's, rob todd san diego, rob todd small bar, west coaster ipa

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

Thursday, Jan 20:

Stop into Eleven for a Bear Republic Brewery Racer 5 IPA and keep the glass. The first one, including glass will cost ya $4, after that it’s only $3 refills for the rest of the night.

Friday, Jan 21:

Two parties, one celebrating the old and one celebrating the new are happening tonight. West Coaster is holding their launch party at The South Park Abbey. They’ll have special West Coaster beer glasses, beers from Hess Brewing Co., including a specially brewed West Coaster IPA and some never before seen beers from Coronado Brewing Co. including a Black IPA, a Belgian IPA and more. Yes I do write a monthly column for West Coaster, sure I’m probably a bit biased, but there will be some great beer and this will be a fun time.

Up the road a little ways O’Brien’s Pub is celebrating their 17th Anniversary. They’ll have plenty of great beers from the various Pizza Port locations as well as some special bottles from Lost Abbey. Owner Tom Nickel recently helped brew Nickel Bag at Pizza Port Ocean Beach. This Double IPA was the last beer he brewed before leaving Pizza Port Carlsbad in 2005.

Saturday, Jan 22:

The Lost Abbey is hosting an open house from 12-6pm to show off their new space from their recent expansion. They’ll be doing tours of the new space and just might have something special on tap.

Saturday afternoon the website Awesome Beer Drinkers are teaming up with Best Damn Beer Shop to host an Awesome Beer Tasting. $35 gets you ten three or four ounce pours from their impressive list of beers. The tasting is happening at The Beer Company downtown and they recommend purchasing tickets in advance through their website.

Sunday, Jan 23:

Know of a great beer event happening? Email events@sandiegobeerblog.com

Monday, Jan 24:

If you don’t have tickets to Stone Brewing Co.’s Beer U: Strong Ales it looks like you’re out of luck as they’re sold out according to the website. But fret not, head down to North Park for some $3 beers. As always Toronado is doing their local night, all local beers are $3. This week Eleven is also doing $3 beers but there’s isn’t limited to locals. Any beer on tap, all night long, $3. I’m not sure if this will become a regular thing but I hope so.

Tuesday, Jan 25:

Are you a homebrewer? Thinking about homebrewing? The local homebrew club QUAFF holds their monthly meeting the fourth Tuesday of the month at the All American Grill in Hazard Center. Check out their website for more info.

Wednesday, Jan 26:

Alesmith is releasing their Barrel-Aged Wee Heavy Scotch Ale 2009 and bottle sales start at 2pm. But don’t think you can just waltz down there and pick up a few bottles. Sales will be limited to four per person and will sold based on numbers handed out at 10am. MIHO Gastrotruck will be around starting at 1:30pm serving lunch. From what I’ve heard this beer is worth taking a good portion of your day off work, if past barrel-aged bottle releases at Alesmith are indication this one will go quickly.

A bit later Hamilton’s Tavern and Small Bar will be hosting Rob Todd from Allagash Brewing Co. They’ll have plenty of his beers on tap at each bar. Todd will be at Hamilton’s from about 4-6:15pm and Small Bar from about 6:3o-8:30pm.

Know of anything going on Tuesday or Wednesday? Email events@sandiegobeerblog.com

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.