3 Year Blended Speedway Stout at Ritual Tavern and Firestone Walker Night at Toronado

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barrel aged speedway stout, double barrel ale, oak dba, oak double barrel ale, san diego beer week preview weekend, san diego beer week'nd, san diego beer weekend, speedway stout, union jack ipa

3 Year Blend of Alesmith Speedway Stout at Ritual Tavern

With plenty of bars pouring all sorts of special beers for San Diego Beer Week Preview Weekend it was  hard to decide where to go and what to drink last night. But I found myself at Toronado and Ritual Tavern, and certainly wasn’t disappointed.

Toronado was hosting a Firestone Walker showcase with seven Firestone brews on tap and one on cask including Parabola the much sought after Imperial Stout. On cask was 100% oak fermented, unfiltered DBA, which was the first beer I opted to try. While I certainly don’t have any complaints about DBA, I’m also not a huge fan of it. I enjoy it but it’s not one of my go to beers. The oak, unfiltered DBA on cask was good, and I’m glad I tried it, but I didn’t order a second pint. Instead I moved on to Firestone Walker’s Union Jack IPA, a beer which I had never tried before. With a name like Union Jack IPA I was expecting a British IPA, but was pleasantly surprised when I tasted it. It’s loaded with American hops, Warrior, Simcoe, Cascade, Centennial, Amarillo, Chinook to be exact, and had a nice citrus hop flavor and aroma. No wonder it won back to back gold medals at the GABF in 2007 and 2008. At 7.5% it’s on the fence between a standard American IPA and a Double/Imperial IPA. This is certainly a beer I’ll be drinking again.

I made my way down to Ritual Tavern to try the three year (two of those years barrel aged) blend of Alesmith Brewing Co.’s Speedway Stout. Speedway Stout is one of my favorite beers, so I had high expectations for this, and while it didn’t disappoint, I don’t think it lived up to all the hype I let build up in my head either. It felt a bit “warmer” than standard Speedway Stout. And I’m not exactly sure what I mean by the word “warmer”, it didn’t taste stronger alcohol-wise, but was a bit less sweet and the coffee didn’t come through at all. It smelled a bit like a port wine. Again a good beer I’m glad I tried, but for the price and taste I’ll stick with the standard Speedway Stout.

Last night was just the beginning of San Diego Beer Week’nd. There’s plenty more great beer on tap throughout the weekend.

San Diego Celebrates American Craft Beer Week, May 17-23

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90 minute ipa, american craft beer week, anchor steam brewing co., big barrel stout, declaration of beer independence, double barrel ale, firestone walker parabola, fritz and ken's ale, idiot ipa, old scallywag, palate wrecker, pale 31, small bar san diego, union jack ipa

This week, May 17-May 23rd is American Craft Beer Week, and just as the name suggests it’s a week long celebration of craft beer across the entire country. Various breweries and bars are holding special events to celebrate and of course San Diego is no exception. Below are some highlights of events happening around San Diego County this week. Check out the American Craft Beer Week website for more events. And don’t confuse American Craft Beer Week with San Diego Beer Week happening November 5-14th (and don’t miss San Diego Beer Week’s sneak preview weekend June 10th-13th).

Week long events:

• Stone Brewing Co. will hold Stone Southern California Storm, with all 32 of their taps featuring beer from Southern California Breweries all week long. Like many breweries around the country, they’ll also have a Declaration of Beer Independence hanging in the lobby for folks to sign.
• Karl Strauss Brewing Co. brewed up a Belgian IPA for American Craft Beer Week that will be on tap all week at various bars and on cask at their restaurants. They’ll also have guest casks on throughout the week.
• Coronado Brewing Co. will have their Big Barrel Stout, an Imperial Stout aged for six months in bourbon barrels as well as their Old Scallywag Barley Wine on tap.

Monday, May 17th:

• In addition to Stone Southern California Storm, Stone Brewing Co. will also be hosting a Beer U class, Beer 101: The History of Beer from 7-9pm. Tickets are $20.

Tuesday, May 18th:

• Small Bar will have $2.50 half pints of nine classic American IPAs both Tuesday and Wednesday. The IPAs include Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Coronado Brewing Co. Idiot IPA and more.

• Blind Lady Ale House will tap the 2010 release of Firestone Walker Parabola, a barrel aged Russian Imperial Stout. They’ll also have other Firestone Walker brews on tap including Double Barrel Ale, Pale 31, Union Jack IPA and more.

Wednesday, May 19th:

• If you missed Parabola Tuesday at Blind Lady Ale House, Pizza Port Carlsbad has you covered. They’ll be tapping the 2010 release of Firestone Walker Parabola as well as having plenty of other Firestone Walker beers on tap.

Thursday, May 20th:

• San Diego Brewing Co. will toast 30 years of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. with the Sierra Nevada/Anchor Steam collaboration Fritz and Ken’s Ale, a big dark, Imperial Stout.

Friday, May 21st:

• Hamilton’s Tavern will host a cask of Green Flash Brewing Co.‘s Palate Wrecker and 9-10% ABV Double IPA.

As for Saturday and Sunday check out some of the week long events.