San Diego Beer Events, January 27th- February 2nd

Tags

22nd Anniversary Vanilla Imperial Stout, automatic coffee imperial brown ale, Belgica Belgian Ale, Bloody Larry, Chipotle-Cocoa Nib version of Black Marlin, Claymore Scotch Ale, Compunction, Consecration, Damnation, Dried Guajillo Calico, Espresso Yeti Imperial Stout, firkin friday, Fresh Hop Pale Ale, Habanero Sculpin, Hades Belgian Pale Ale, Hercules IIPA, Hibernation Old Ale, jolly pumpkin, jolly pumpkin flights, karl strauss 22nd anniversary vanilla imperial stout, karl strauss changing of the barrels, miho gastrotruck, Mortification, o'brien's russian river consumpTION, Oaked Yeti Imperial Stout, Old Ruffian Barleywine, Perdition, redemption, Rejection, Roasted Pasilla Yellowtail, salvation, samuel smith brewery, Sanctification, smoked baltic porter, Supplication, Temptation, titan ipa, toronado pint night, toronado san diego pint night, yeti imperial stout

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

Thursday, Jan 27:

Homebrew Mart (Ballast Point’s Linda Vista operation) is teaming up with MIHO Gastrotruck for a casual beer pairing dinner with a focus on chili beers. Ballast Point has infused five of their beers with chili peppers: Chipotle-Cocoa Nib version of Black Marlin, Roasted Pasilla Yellowtail, Dried Guajillo Calico, Habanero Sculpin and Bloody Larry (BP Bloody Mary Mix and Abandon Ship Smoked Lager) and they’ll make recommendations for food to pair with it. Fiji Yogurt next door will have a Mango Lime Thai Chili yogurt with Ballast Point beer. Tasters will be $1 and food prices will vary.

Friday, Jan 28:

Iron Fist Brewing Company (I’m not sure, do they still hold the distinction of being San Diego County’s  newest brewery?) has come a long way in a few short months. They’ll be at Hamilton’s Tavern for Firkin Friday with a special cask of an IPA/Belgian-style brew aged in white wine barrels with Brett. They’ll also have plenty of their other beers on draft.

Saturday, Jan 29:

It’s Russian River ConsumpTION weekend at O’Brien’s. They’ll have 17 Russian River beers on tap including 11 Belgian-style “TION” beers. They’ll have: Damnation, Salvation, Supplication, Temptation, Consecration, Perdition, Sanctification, Mortification, Compunction, Redemption and Rejection along with all the hoppy beers Russian River is also known for. They have full kegs of all the beers so they expect them to last throughout the weekend.

KNB Wine Cellars is featuring Great Divide Brewing Co. Saturday night. They’ll have Yeti Imperial Stout, Oaked Yeti Imperial Stout, Espresso Yeti Imperial Stout, Old Ruffian Barleywine, Hades Belgian Pale Ale, Hibernation Old Ale, Smoked Baltic Porter, Titan IPA, Hercules IIPA, Fresh Hop Pale Ale, Claymore Scotch Ale and Belgica Belgian Ale all on tap.

Sunday, Jan 30:

Automatic Brewing Co. (the brewery housed at Blind Lady Ale House) will be unveiling their latest beer Sunday morning for BLAH’s 2nd Anniversary. This Coffee Imperial Brown Ale comes in around 8.3% and is damn good (I got a sneak peak last weekend). For the first time they will be offering a limited amount of growlers, which are being pre-sold through Brown Paper Tickets. They’ll also be doing Jolly Pumpkin tasting flights that afternoon. (BLAH is having special events throughout the weekend, click here for more info on the rest of the events).

Monday, Jan 31:

Monday again which means local pint night at Toronado. $3 pours on all local beers.

Tuesday, Feb 1:

Throughout the month of February Eleven, Hamilton’s Tavern and Small Bar will be showcasing the beers of Samuel Smith Brewery. And they’re kicking things off with some glass giveaways to the first 25 people to buy a bottle. They’ll have different bottles at each of the bars throughout the month for $5 for 18oz.

Wednesday, Feb 2:

Karl Strauss is celebrating their 22nd Anniversary with a party to show off their 22nd Anniversary Vanilla Imperial Stout in it’s full barrel-aged form. Tickets are $50 which gets you tasters of 100% barrel aged 22nd Anniversary (the regular release will be blended with fresh beer) as well as a taste of the 23rd Anniversary beer before it goes into barrels. They’ll have food, live music and send you home with a bottle of the 22nd Anniversary Vanilla Imperial Stout and a commemorative snifter. Buy tickets in advance at the Karl Strauss website. They’re only selling sixty so this will probably sell out.

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Blind Lady Ale House Second Anniversary Weekend

Tags

automatic brewing co imperial coffee brown ale, Bam Biere, Bam Noire, BLAH, blind lady ale house 2nd anniversary, blind lady ale house anniversary, blind lady ale house koozie's, Blind Pig, Consecration, craft beer cans, craft beer koozie, Damnation, DRAFT magazine top 100 beer bars in america, Hanger 24 Alt, Hanger 24 Brewery, hanger 24 orange wit, jolly pumpkin artisan ales, La Parcela- Pumpkin Ale, Maracaibo Especial Oro de Calabaza, Noel de Calabaza, redemption, russian river ipa, Temptation

It’s hard to believe that Blind Lady Ale House is only two years old. They recently got named one of the top 100 beer bars in America by DRAFT Magazine for the second year in a row (in San Diego O’Brien’s Pub and Hamilton’s Tavern also made the list) making the list every year they’ve been open. This weekend they’re celebrating their anniversary with plenty of great beer.

They’ll start things off Wednesday night by putting their 2nd Anniversary T-shirts (with the tandem bicycle rider design) on sale and pouring flights from Russian River Brewing Co. They’ll have Temptation, Consecration, Redemption, Damnation, Blind Pig and Russian River IPA.

Thursday BLAH will have commemorative Blind Lady Ale House/Hanger 24 glasses for the first 155 people (over 21) through the door. They’ll get $2 fills of Hanger 24 Alt and Orange Wit for those with glasses until the kegs run dry. They’ll also have some Hanger 24 flights throughout the night.

Friday they’ll open for lunch with special 2nd Anniversary glasses for the first 155 people (again, only those over 21 will get glasses). Friday night they’ll probably have something else going on, but haven’t announced it yet.

Saturday the folks from Hanger 24 will be coming down to hang out at BLAH and they’ll have a special H24 cask. Later, at 3pm, they’ll have BLAH 2nd Anniversary koozie’s for the first 200 people to order craft beer in a can. They’ll have cans from Avery Brewing Co, Maui Brewing Co, Oskar Blues Brewery and possibly more.

Sunday will be the release of Automatic Brewing Co.’s latest beer an Imperial Coffee Brown Ale. I got a chance to taste this beer last week and it’s good. The coffee is apparent, yet restrained. The 8.3% ABV is hard to believe as this drinks smooth. They’ll have fifty 1 liter growler’s available which can be pre-purchased at Brown Paper Tickets and must be picked up between 11:30am and 12:30pm Sunday. There’s a good chance these will sell out, so get on it if you’re interested. They’ll also be live screen printing t-shirts as well. Later that afternoon at 3pm they’ll put on some beers from Jolly Pumpkin for a tasting flight, Bam Biere,  Bam Noire, La Parcela- Pumpkin Ale, Maracaibo Especial Oro de Calabaza, and Noel de Calabaza.

Check out the BLAH website for all the details and their Facebook page for additional info.

Big thanks to @RedTheTrucker on Twitter for tipping me off that the Automatic growler pre-sale was posted this afternoon.

Russian River Brewing Co. Redemption

Tags

belgian single, redemption, russian river redemption

Redemption from Russian River Brewing Co. isn’t brewed often, one or twice a year as far as I can tell, but Batch 8 which is on liquor store shelves now is the first batch that has been distributed outside of Northern California. I picked up this bottle at Beverages 4 Less in Santee for about $7.99 for the 12.68oz bottle that comes in at 5.15%.

Here’s what the label has to say:

Redemption is the sister beer to our award winning ale, Damnation. Fashioned after a Belgian-style “single”, this ale is rarely brewed in America, let alone Belgium. Typically, “singles” are brewed only at the Trappist Monasteries for the monks to enjoy with meals. They often drink only half of a bottle with lunch and the rest with supper.

Robed in a warm golden hue, Redemption is soft on the apalate while finishing smooth and dry.

Redemption is refermented in this bottle to create its fine carbonation. The spent yeast form a thin layer of sediment in the bottom of the bottle, adding more complexity and falvor. Pour slowly, allowing the natural yeast sediment to remain in the bottle.

I had a small amount of Redemption from a previous batch a few months ago, I had been drinking some hoppier beers before hand when a friend brought out a bottle, so I didn’t have the best grasp on it’s flavor at the time, but I remember it being much sweeter than this batch. With less earthy yeast flavors and not nearly as dry of a finish. According to the bottle log on Russian River’s website that bottle had to have been at least 15 months old when I had it, maybe more. And if it was from Batch 6 or before it would have used a different yeast strain, which could explain the startling difference.

Redemption smelled like earthy Belgian yeast, a bit of a barnyard or hay smell with hints of citrus. The smell was very subtle.

The taste was much the same. It started a bit sweet and bready, with a hint of citrus and earthiness but then finished extremely dry. It feels like my mouth has been stripped of all moisture after I swallow.

The dry finish causes me to drink faster than I normally would. The finish is so dry I find it unpleasant and it takes away from the rest of the beer.

If you can find a bottle (it hit store shelves a few weeks ago) I say give it a try, but I won’t be picking any more up until the next batch.