San Diego Beer News Roundup

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All Day IPA, Dogfish Head / Victory / Stone Saison Du BUFF, Founders Brewing San Diego, Green Flash bottled on dates, Green Flash date codes, Ken Schmidt, Ken Schmidt / Iron Fist / Stone Mint Chocolate Imperial Stout, Ken Schmidt / Maui / Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Coconut Porter, Stone Company Store Pasadena, Stone Ruination Tenth Anniversary IPA, Stone Smoked Porter with Chipotle Peppers, Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean

Apologies for the lack of posts lately. Things have been busy outside of beer blogging.

The 2012 Craft Brewers Conference and World Beer Cup have come and gone. San Diego brewers didn’t do as well as two years ago at the WBC, but our local brewers still brought home a handful of awards. The full winners list can be seen here.

Earlier this week Green Flash Brewing Company posted a picture to their Facebook page of a bottle of West Coast IPA with a bottled on date. Until now it’s been hard to know for sure just how long that bottle of Green Flash beer had been sitting on a shelf, but once these new bottles with dates start getting out into stores it should be easy enough to tell exactly when the beer was bottled. I have to admit, the lack of bottle dates has kept me from buying Green Flash beers on more than one occasion (usually at larger stores, places like Trader Joes, where I don’t know how long the beer has been sitting around). I see more four packs of fresh West Coast IPA in my future.

For the last few weeks beers from Michigan’s Founders Brewing Company have been turning up at various bars, restaurants and even a few bottle shops around town. Founders hasn’t distributed in California in the past, and unfortunately this looks like it is only temporary. The beers started showing up around town during the CBC in early May, according to The Full Pint, Founders has a temporary 60 day license for distribution here, which will end next month after the Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival. Some people have speculated that Founders could be using this time as a way to test the market, but so far there is no indication that Founders is looking to distribute here on a regular basis. So if you see anything from Founders on tap at your favorite bar in the next few weeks it might be a good idea to order a pint. The stand out for me has been the All Day IPA, a 42 IBU, 4.7% ABV session IPA that tastes much hoppier than the IBU’s let on.

A thread on the BeerAdvocate Forums last week pointed out that Stone Brewing Co. is looking into opening some sort of tasting room and retail store in Pasadena. The post links to a PDF at the City of Pasadena website regarding a public hearing for a conditional use permit. The notice describes the space as being 2,071 square feet including a 363 square foot outdoor patio which would have on-site tasting of beer and off-site (to go) sales. No word on exactly what this will be, but it sounds a lot like the Stone Company Store South Park and the in progress Stone Company Store Oceanside. The public hearing was held last week and it looks like the recommendation was to approve the permit.

Speaking of Stone Brewing Co., they have a number of special releases coming out in the next few months:

Stone Ruination Tenth Anniversary IPA will make it’s debut Sunday, June 10th with a special release party at Henry’s Pub downtown. It’s described as an amped up version of Stone Ruination IPA which clocks in at 10.8% ABV with extra dosings of Columbus and Centennial hops as well as Citra and Centennial for dry hoping. 22oz bottles should start hitting store shelves the next day.

Stone’s version of the second release of Dogfish Head / Victory / Stone Saison du BUFF was rebrewed in early May when Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione and Victory Brewing Company’s Bill Covaleski were in town and is set to be released Monday June 18th on draft and in 12oz bottles. I was a big fan of the original Stone brewed version released about two years ago, but recently picked up a bottle of the new release of the Dogfish Head version and was pretty disappointed. The herbs (the beer is brewed with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme) were way too over the top for my tastes. I typically like herb-y beers, but couldn’t finish a 12oz of this one. Here’s to hoping that I find the Stone version more palatable.

Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean and Stone Smoked Porter with Chipotle Peppers are also being released in 12oz bottles on Monday June 18th. Stone has been brewing both of these as occasional draft only beers for a few years now, so it’s nice to see them make it into bottles. Stone says “It’s a one-time only bottled release, unless we decide to change our minds later.”

Last but not least, Ken Schmidt / Iron Fist / Stone Mint Chocolate Imperial Stout was brewed a few weeks ago and is expected to be released on draft and in 12oz bottles sometime in early July. Ken Schmidt was the top prize at the Stone March Madness Homebrew Competition which earned him the right to brew his beer at Stone as a collaboration with them and another brewer of his choice. If the name Ken Schmidt sounds familiar it’s because he was also the winner of the original Stone March Madness Homebrew Competition a few years ago, which brought us Ken Schmidt / Maui / Stone Kona Coffee, Macadamia, Coconut Porter

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Beer Books: The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.- Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance

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2010 Old Guardian Barley Wine Aged in Bourbon Barrels, 2010 Old Guardian BELGO Barley Wine Aged in Bourbon Barrels, 2010 Old Guardian BELGO Barley Wine Aged in Wine Barrels, Arrogant Bastard Ale Onion Rings, Dogfish Head / Victory / Stone Saison Du BUFF, dr bill, dr bill sysak, Garlic Cheddar and Ruination IPA Soup, greg koch, Heat Seeking Wheat, Jolly Pumpkin / Nogne-O / Stone Special Holiday Ale, Lee's Mild, Quingenti Millilitre, randy clemens, steve wagner, Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, Stone Ruination IPA, The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.- Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and Unabashed Arrogance

After fifteen years in the beer business the founders of Stone Brewing Co. have written a book. Greg Koch and Steve Wagner teamed up with published author and Stone Brewing Co. PR Coordinator Randy Clemens to co-author The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.- Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance.

The Craft of Stone Brewing Co. comes out September 27th and retails for $25. If you pre-order a copy through La Jolla’s Warwick’s bookstore before September 9th you’ll be able to purchase one of the beers in the next Quingenti Millilitre series release, 2010 Old Guardian Barley Wine Aged in Bourbon Barrels, 2010 Old Guardian BELGO Barley Wine Aged in Bourbon Barrels or 2010 Old Guardian BELGO Barley Wine Aged in Wine Barrels. This offer will also be available at The Great American Beer Festival later this month in Denver, and at the book release event on Sept 27th at Stone Brewing Co. See Stone’s blog for more details.

The two-hundred page book is broken down into three parts: Part 1 explains the basics of beer and gives a brief history of beer in addition to telling the story of Stone Brewing Co. Part 2 is a comprehensive list of most of the beers Stone has ever released with facts about each beer and often the stories behind the beer. Part 3 includes scaled down homebrew recipes for 18 different Stone beers, recipes food recipes from Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens (with pairing recommendations) and a few short “Beer How-Tos” from “Dr” Bill Sysak.

Before I received my review copy of the book I knew it would include a history of Stone as well as food and homebrew recipes, but I wasn’t sure if one section would dominate. They’ve done a good job of balancing things so the book doesn’t feel one sided towards any one of the parts. There’s enough content in each section to satisfy anyone that cooks, homebrews or is just a Stone fan that wants to know more about their history.

I’ve only been drinking Stone’s beer for about half of the fifteen years they’ve been around, so much of their early history was news to me. Well written and entertaining, it and kept me turning page after page, reading it in one sitting. There were one or two preachy moments when I briefly felt like I was reading a Stone brochure (a $25 brochure at that) but those times are very few and far between. There was even once when I nearly spit out the beer in my mouth because I started to laugh (I won’t spoil it for you, just be sure to look for Wagner’s story of a friend transporting some yeast for them).

There were a couple beers from Stone’s past that they no longer brew that I had never heard of, anyone out there get to try Heat Seeking Wheat? While the beer is very un-Stone, the label art was what really shocked me. Look for it on page 40, it reminds me of Stone’s gargoyle meets the Toxic Avenger, something I can’t imagine the brand conscious Stone Brewing Co. even thinking about releasing now.

I haven’t tried any of the homebrew or food recipes yet there are a couple I’m anxiously awaiting testing out. Some of my favorite Stone beers got the homebrew recipe treatment here including Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, Jolly Pumpkin / Nogne-O / Stone Special Holiday Ale, and Dogfish Head / Victory / Stone Saison Du BUFF as well as others that I never got to try including Lee’s Mild and some of the earlier Anniversary Beers. Other favorite’s are notably missing, including Stone Ruination IPA. I’m hoping some of the IPA recipes that aren’t here will make an appearance in the forthcoming IPA book being written by Wagner and Stone’s Brewmaster Mitch Steele.

The food recipes are equally tantalizing. I was pretty excited to find the recipe for my favorite Bistro item, the Garlic, Cheddar, and Stone Ruination IPA Soup included. There are plenty of other great looking recipes including the popular BBQ Duck Tacos and those infamous Arrogant Bastard Ale Onion Rings.

The sections on the basics of beer, the general history of beer and “Dr” Bill’s Beer How-Tos might be repetitive to those that really know their beer. But for those that don’t obsess about beer like some of us, they have the potential to be hugely educational.

Overall The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.- Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance is a pretty interesting read that can come in handy in the kitchen or the brewhouse instead of just being relegated to the bookshelf or coffee table when you’re done with it. Scoring the next Quingenti Millilitre series release if you pre-order just sweetens the deal.

Note: Ten Speed Press provided me with a pre-release copy of The Craft of Stone Brewing Co. for review purposes.