Eleven: A New Bar from the Owners of Hamilton’s Tavern and Small Bar

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dennis borlek, eleven lager, eleven san diego, liars club, Louis Mello, radio room, scot blair, zombie lounge

Eleven, the new bar from Scot Blair and Dennis Borlek, the guys behind Hamilton’s Tavern and Small Bar is now open. The space where Eleven is was previously Radio Room, and before that The Zombie Lounge, but Blair, Borlek, and Co.  have done an impressive job of transforming the place. Located at 3519 El Cajon Blvd., the bar is dark inside, with few windows, a small stage in the back, this is a rock n’ roll bar with some nice touches. The bar top is all new, red velvet hangs from parts of the ceiling, record covers line some of the walls. Eleven has a full bar, and 16 taps of quality on what they’re calling their tap tower. They’ll also be doing beer events and pouring cask ale from time to time as well.

Eleven will have live music, but we’re told they won’t have live music every night. We’ve known for a while now that a new bar from Blair and Borlek was coming, but one pleasant surprise was to see Louis Mello behind the bar. Louis will be the general manager of Eleven, and if you don’t know Louis’s name, you might recognize him. He was the owner of the Liar’s Club and knows a thing or two about beer. And speaking of beer, one of the taps you’ll find at Eleven is “Eleven Lager” brewed locally by Gordon Biersch. At $3.25 a pint it might be one of the best deals around, the board lists it as an American Pale Lager, but we’re told it’s actually a Helles lager.

And why the name? Straight from the Hamilton’s newsletter: “Lastly, why Eleven?  Well, it’s “one more” isn’t it? If you don’t get the reference go to Netflix now and rent Spinal Tap. Nuff Said..”

Click below for a few more (dark and blurry pictures) as well as the tap list as of last night (which is sure to change,  but will give you an idea of the types of beer to expect).

Russian River’s Pliny the Younger at Hamilton’s Tavern… In June?

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dennis borlek, pliny the younger, pliny the younger san diego, scot blair

If you stopped into Hamilton’s Tavern recently you may have done a double take, or even stopped to check the date when you looked at the tap list and saw Russian River Brewing Co.’s Pliny The Younger being poured. Release annually early in the year (this year February 5th), Pliny the Younger is a much sought after Triple/Imperial IPA. Beer geeks line up for hours in advance and kegs run dry as fast as they can be emptied into pint glasses. Like most IPAs, it is recommended Pliny the Younger be drunken as fresh as possible, so why was it on tap at Hamilton’s four months after it was release? The answer is pretty simple.

“It wasn’t held onto by design but by misfortune as the keg was mislabeled”, explains Scot Blair of Hamilton’s Tavern. “There was an Imperial Stout keg collar on the keg we were aging… When it was tapped, low and behold it wasn’t Imp Stout, it was a high gravity hoppy beer, under the keg collar was the true entity RR Pty.” Beer drinkers come out in droves when Pliny the Younger is released, so it’s not hard to imagine how a full keg could get misplaced, even of such a sought after beer. I wasn’t at Hamilton’s when they originally tapped it earlier this year, but I imagine it was nothing short of a zoo.

Dennis Borlek, the General Manager at Hamilton’s, who found the keg, did what any curious beer geek would do: he tasted it. And it was still good. Scott explained that there was a slight softening of the hops, but otherwise it was still a phenomenal beer. So they left it on tap, and it didn’t disappoint. The keg was empty less than 24 hours later.

And while I didn’t speak to anyone at Russian River Brewing Co., all is well according to Dennis, “Vinnie [Cilurzo, co-owner of Russian River Brewing Co.] is my old room mate and we started home brewing together back in ’89. He totally understood.”

Anyone out there get to try it? Leave a comment below, especially if you tasted it fresh this past year.

Photo: Creative Commons flickr user D.B. Blas