San Diego Beer Events 12/09-12/15

Tags

2nd saturday, Affligem Noel, Avery Old Jubilation, ballast point barmy ale, Barmy Ale, Delerium Noel, Epic Beer Tasting, fiji yogurt, food truck beer pairing, hamilton's second saturday, hamilton's tavern second saturday, holiday night on adams, Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza, miho gastrotruck, o'brien's belgian holiday weekend, patrick rue, san diego Christmas beer, san diego holiday beer, Santa's Little Helper, Scaldis Noel, second saturday, tabe bbq, tap hunter, taphunter

Plenty of great beer related stuff going on this week. If you know of anything that isn’t on our events calendar, email events@sandiegobeerblog.com to get it added.

Thursday, Dec 9:

Stop by Ballast Point in Linda Vista where MIHO Gastrotruck will be parked and serving food for a special pairing dinner with some of Ballast Point’s beers. They’ll also have the delicious Barmy Ale on tap for samples and growler fills. Fiji Yogurt next door to Ballast Point will also have a Black Marlin Porter based yogurt. Click on over to Westcoaster for the pairing menu.

Friday, Dec 10:

TapHunter recently held an online poll to determine their users favorite brewery. The votes are in and they’re throwing a party with the first and second place winners which are conveniently located just down the road from one another. The party starts at 4pm at Alesmith Brewing Co.’s tasting room and then heads over to Hess Brewing Co. from 6-8pm. After a few hours of drinking at two of San Diego’s best breweries you might need some food, so it’s a good thing that Tabe BBQ will be parked at Hess Brewing Co. And mention “Taphunter” to get a 15% discount on all merchandise – growlers, shirts, hats, and glassware at Alesmith. More details on Facebook.

Saturday, Dec 11:

It’s the second saturday of the month, which means 2nd Saturday at Hamilton’s Tavern! This month they’ll be hosting Alesmith Brewing Co. They’ll have dueling casks of Winter Yulesmith and Wee Heavy conditioned with Islay Scotch soaked oak chips. They’ll of course have plenty of other Alesmith brews on draft and some delicious sounding food.

Ready for Holiday Beers? Blind Lady Ale House sure is. Saturday night is the Holiday Night on Adams, where many shops on Adams Ave have Holiday themed specials. BLAH is tapping some great beers and is offering a flight so you can taste more. They’ll have Port Brewing Co.’s Santa’s Little Helper, Affligem Noel, Delerium Noel, Scaldis Noel, Avery Old Jubilation, Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza and maybe more.

Sunday, Dec 12:

Didn’t get enough Holiday Beers at Blind Lady? O’Brien’s Pub is having plenty of Belgian Holiday Beers all weekend including Sunday. They’ll have at least seven on tap and more in the bottle.

Monday, Dec 13:

As always, Toronado does local pint night on Monday’s. Stop in for some of the best beers around from all over San Diego for only $3 each.

Tuesday, Dec 14:

Chicks for Beer at The High Dive is a ladies only beer group that meets once a month. This month they’ll be hosting The Bruery and Patrick Rue will be on hand to chat about beer. $20 gets you six tasters, a food pairing and a pint of your choice. But don’t fret guys, while the Chicks for Beer meeting will be women only, you’re still welcome to hang out at the bar and drink the awesome beers from the Bruery.

Wednesday, Dec 15:

The third Wednesday of the month means it’s time for the DrinkAbout. Free shuttles will be running between some of the best uptown bars. No word on what will be on tap yet, but we expect plenty of great Holiday beers.

Best Damn Beer Shop and South Bay Drugs have teamed up for what they’re calling an Epic Beer Tasting with 100% of the proceeds going to charity. Downtown Johnny Brown’s will host the tasting where $35 will get you ten 3-4oz tasters. The list of beer is seriously epic and DTJB’s will have more great beer on tap. Check out the Facebook Event page for all the beers and more info.

This post updated 12/12/2010.

Ballast Point Barmy Ale

Tags

apricot beer, ballast point barmy ale, Barmy Ale, honey beer, miho gastrotruck

Last Thursday Ballast Point was offering growlers of their Barmy Ale at their Scripps Ranch location. Never having tasted Barmy Ale before, but intrigued by the description I decided to stop in and give it a shot. Here’s how Ballast Point describes it:

Barmy is a 10.5% ABV golden ale brewed with South African Apricots, Caramelized Orange Blossom Honey, 2 Row and dusting of Palisade Hops. A slight tartness from the Apricot is followed by an effervescent mead like quality.  A truly unique and tasty beverage.

Barmy pours a golden yellow color, clear and not too light or dark, the exact color you would expect a “golden ale” to be. There was a tiny bit of white head but not much, even with a vigorous pour, and what was there disappeared pretty quickly.

Barmy Ale smells sweet, and when first poured after being taken out of the refrigerator it was a fairly bland sweetness. As the beer warmed the fruity apricot smell became more apparent. The first taste like the smell was very fruity and apricot like. Never having an apricot beer, and being far more familiar with apples and apple cider than apricots I was reminded of a good apple cider. There is a bittersweet aftertaste but it isn’t hoppy at all. As the beer warms and I keep drinking the apricot flavor seems fade to more of a sweet honey flavor. The mouthfeel is mead like, somehow both thick and thin (but not too thin) at the same time. There isn’t much alcohol heat, the 10.5% ABV doesn’t come through much at all when cold and only slightly more as it warms.

It’s an interesting beer, pretty different than anything I’ve had before. I think the apricot and honey compliment each other well balancing different types of sweetness. A 64oz growler of Barmy Ale is a bit much for one person, having a couple friends to share it with will help out.

If you missed Barmy Ale last week at the Scripps Ranch location you can try it tomorrow (Thursday, Dec 9th, 2010) at Ballast Point’s Linda Vista location for their pairing dinner with MIHO Gastrotruck. Barmy Ale will be available for growler fills and paired with MIHO’s Barmy Ale braised pork loin BBQ sandwich. Check out the full menu for the other food and beer pairings at WestCoaster.

Hamilton’s Second Saturday and Toronado 23rd Anniversary, Saturday August 14th, 2010

Tags

'twerp, Abandon Ship, Bad Boy, Barmy Ale, Barrel Aged Black Marlin, Barrel Aged Piper Down, Barrel Aged Sea Monster (nitro), Barrel Aged Three Sheets, Big Daddy IPA, Big Eye, Black Marlin, Brother Levonian Saison, cable car 2010, Calico, Cocoa nib Black Marlin, devotion, Duet, Exponential Hoppiness, Fathom IPL, Gift of the Magi, Great American Brown, hamilton's second saturday, hop 15, lost abbey cable car, Mongo IPA, Night Rider Imperial Stout, Oktoberfest, port brewing co. 547 haight, Road to Helles, russian river toronado 20th anniversary, san salvador saison, sculpin cask, sculpin ipa, Sea Monster Stout, Sour Wench, speakeasy ales and lagers, Three Sheets Barley wine, toronado 20th anniversary, toronado 23rd anniversary, Tuatara, Tuatara Session, Victory at Sea, wahoo, White Knuckle IPA, Yellowtail

There are plenty of great beer events going on this weekend (click on over to our events calendar to see them all) but two of them look to be extra special so we thought we should highlight them.

Tomorrow being the second Saturday of the month means it’s Second Saturday time at Hamilton’s Tavern. This month they’re featuring San Diego’s own Ballast Point Brewing Co. They’ll have Sculpin IPA and Brother Levonian Saison on cask, as well as the following Ballast Point beers on draft: Victory at Sea, Barrel Aged Sea Monster (nitro), Barrel Aged Black Marlin, Cocoa nib Black Marlin, Sea Monster Stout, Abandon Ship, Fathom IPL, Sculpin IPA, Barrel Aged Piper Down, Sour Wench, Brother Levonian Saison, San Salvador Saison, Barmy Ale, Oktoberfest, Three Sheets Barley wine, Barrel Aged Three Sheets, Yellowtail, Calico, Big Eye, Black Marlin and Wahoo.

As with most (all?) Second Saturday’s there will also be food: San Diego Back County Buffalo Burgers (gardenburger for veggies), housemade sour wench brined pickle chips, Sea Monster BBQ Sauce and Sculpin Beer Mustard, Black Marlin Porter Texas Beans with Chorizo Hop Sausage, Yellowtail Potato Grautin, Housemade Salt –n-Vinegar Chips, and Summer Fruit Cups.

We’re looking forward to trying San Salvador Saison, the San Diego inspired Saison, Ballast Point recently brewered with the help of The Linkery.

Tomorrow also happens to be Toronado’s (the original in San Francisco) 23rd anniversary. They’re having a big party up in San Francisco, but lucky for us Toronado SD is also celebrating. Starting at 11:30 am they’ll have Lost Abbey 2010 Cable Car and Port Brewing Co.’s 547 Haight on draft. They’ll have plenty of other great beers including: Night Rider Imperial Stout, Great American Brown, and ‘Twerp from Pizza Port Carlsbad. Mongo IPA, Devotion, Gift of the Magi, Road to Helles, and  Hop 15 from Port Brewing/The Lost Abbey. As well as Alpine Exponential Hoppiness, Duet, Bad Boy, and Tuatara Session and more White Knuckle IPA from Marin Brewing and Speakeasy’s Big Daddy IPA.

If all that wasn’t enough, they’ll have some bottles of Russian River’s Toronado 20th Anniversary in the cooler.