A Great Weekend of Beer

Tags

black market brewing company, black market rye ipa, deschutes, deschutes the abyss 2009, infected abyss, jolly pumpkin, Madrugada Obscura, nickel bag ipa, Red Poppy, san salvador saison, stone belgo old guardian barleywine, victory, victory golden monkey, Vrienden

San Salvador Saison

I usually make it a point to have a couple good beers every weekend, but for some reason this weekend seemed to  be all about beer. Maybe it was the rain on Saturday, what else is there to do when it rains? Regardless of the reason, I drank some great beer this weekend.

Friday night I had dinner at KNB Wine Cellars and somehow managed to only have one beer. Their tap list is so good it was hard to decide on what to drink but I had Vrienden, the slightly sour and a little sweet (thanks to hibiscus flowers) New Belgium/Allagash collaboration. This wasn’t the first time I had Vrienden and I’m still undecided on it. The first time I had it out of a bottle I thought it was good but not great. I had it on draft about a month ago and really enjoyed it. This time it seemed sweeter than I remember, the fruity hibiscus flowers were very apparent. A good beer but I didn’t like it as much as I remembered.

Saturday I started the day off watching the SDSU/BYU game and opened my last bottle of Deschutes 2009 The Abyss. It’s been reported that many of The Abyss bottles from 2009 were infected and had off smells and flavors which was the case with this bottle. (The last bottle I opened before this one was last summer and the off smell/flavor wasn’t nearly as prominent.) There was a strong Brett smell and some off flavors, it wasn’t terrible but didn’t taste right. I’ve heard some people say they really like these infected bottles, and others say they can’t stomach it at all and have to pour it out. I was able to drink about half the bottle but am glad I don’t have any more of these bottles sitting around.

A bit later in the day I went to The Linkery for their 6th anniversary where they had some nice beers on tap. I started off with Ballast Point’s San Salvador Saison, which now is about five or six months old. I had a small taster of San Salvador at the Ballast Point 14th Anniversary Festival when it was fresh and it was one of my favorite beers of the day. If memory serves me it has changed a bit, but it still a great beer. It has a much stronger yeast characteristic that gives it a bit of a sweet flavor up front. There is still plenty of spice in there but the yeast is what stands out. I also had Black Market’s Rye IPA on cask dry hopped with Cascade and Amarillo hops. This was only my second time having this GABF gold medal winning beer, plenty of citrus hops and a nice mouthfeel from the cask.

Later that night I ended up at Counterpoint where they had a keg of Lost Abbey’s Red Poppy on. This is one of my favorite sours but sadly it’s pretty rare. I heard they weren’t doing too many kegs of it this year, so far I’ve seen it at Eleven, Ritual Tavern and now Counterpoint. If you see this on tap I highly suggest it. Bottles have started showing up at some of the better liquor stores in town, but they surely won’t last long. I also tried a Victory Golden Monkey, a strong Belgian-style golden ale, it was slightly sweet and fruity and had some serious alcohol heat to the first few sips but was overall a good beer.

Sunday I had to go for a bike ride to burn off all these beer calories, but that ride took me right past Pizza Port Ocean Beach where I stopped in for a few beers. Jolly Pumpkin’s Madrugada Obscura is a nice slightly tart and sour but still good and roasted stout. If only this is what the infected 2009 The Abyss had tasted like. I haven’t seen this on draft before, but I know some bottles showed up recently at some local liquor stores, I highly recommend it. It’s sour, but not too sour, so give it a chance if you like stouts and are on the fence about sours. And being a Pizza Port, I just had to try Nickel Bag, the double IPA brewed with help from O’Brien’s Pub’s Tom Nickel. This was so smooth and easy to drink (for being 10% ABV) it could be dangerous. There are a ton of hops in there, but it’s not overpoweringly bitter, it has some citrus and pine flavors from the hops and a nice malt backbone to balance things out.

And for the final beer of the weekend I cracked open a 2011 Stone Belgo Old Guardian Barleywine while watching the Oscar’s. I would have loved to do a side-by-side comparision for the Belgo and the regular, but wasn’t able to do that last night (I’m sure I’ll get another opportunity in the future). I really enjoyed the Belgo OG. The Belgian yeast made it fairly sweet, but not in an overpowering or cloying and syrupy kind of way, which took a lot of the alcohol heat off. At about $6/22oz this is a solid beer. I can’t wait to try it along side the original OG and probably put some of both versions away to age for a while.

San Diego Beer Events, February 24th – March 2nd

Tags

2005 imperial russian stout, 2007 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine., black market rye ipa, eleven pint night, knb wine cellars pint night, le merle, lost abbey carnevale, north coast brewing company, old rasputin, san diego pint night, san salvador saison, scrimshaw pils, Tongue Buckler, toronado pint night

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

Thursday Feb 24th:

Pizza Port Ocean Beach is doing a North Coast Brewing Company keep the glass night. Old Rasputin has been one of my stand by beers for sometime while Le Merle and Scrimshaw Pils are recent favorites. They’ll have regular and Belgian-style glasses to take home as well as some other North Coast beers on tap.

Friday Feb 25th:

This Friday is the first ever Friday Afternoon Club (FAC) at Hess Brewing Company. They’ll have live music, catered food and $3 pints in your Hess Brewing Company glass. If you don’t have a glass yet you can buy one for $8 including your first beer.

Hamilton’s Tavern will have a cask of Ballast Point Brewing Company’s Tongue Buckler an Imperial Red for Firkin Friday this week. I haven’t had this years batch yet but I hear it’s good.

Saturday Feb 26th:

The Tap Room in Pacific Beach is celebrating their 4th Anniversary this weekend with a beer festival on Saturday. $20 gets you eight 6oz tasters. They’ll have a ton of limited and rare beers available for sampling.

Lost Abbey is hosting their fourth annual Carnevale, a Venetian-style Carnevale masquerade party from 7-11pm. Beers are all regular price but if you attend in costume food and entertainment are free. Check out their website for pictures from past years, it looks like a good time.

Sunday Feb 27th:

The Linkery is celebrating their Sixth Anniversary all weekend long (starting Friday) with their Festival of Sausages and Beer. They’ll have some great stuff on cask and draft all weekend in addition to their solid bottle lineup. They’ll have the declicious and locally sourced Ballast Point San Salvador Saison (which The Linkery helped source ingredients for and brew) as well as 2007 Stone Old Guardian Barleywine and a cask of Black Market Brewing Company Rye IPA in addition to some other great beers. Some stuff may run out, so if there’s a particular beer you’re especially interested in you may want to head down there earlier in the weekend.

Up in Escondido Stone Brewing Co. will be filling growlers of 2005 Imperial Russian Stout. This is a great beer with a few years on it, and in Stone’s cellar I’m sure this is holding up just fine. Sunday growler fills can be extremely limited. I’d suggest stopping by in the morning.

Monday Feb 28th:

Pint night at both Toronado and Eleven with $3 drafts. Eleven offers all of their on-tap beers for $3 from open to close while Toronado offers locals for $3 from 6pm to close.

Tuesday March 1st:

I haven’t heard of anything special going on. If you know of something please email events@sandiegobeerblog.com to get it added.

Wednesday March 2nd:

If you didn’t get enough $3 pints on Monday night stop by KNB Wine Cellars anytime Wednesday when they’re doing $3 beers.

Ballast Point Brewing Co. 14th Anniversary Festival

Tags

7 grain saison, cocao nib black marlin porter, fathom india pale lager, Fathom IPL, habanero sculpin ipa, pariah ipa, san salvador saison, schooner wet hop ale, sculpin ipa, Sour Wench, travis smith, velvet merlin

San Salvador Saison in the Ballast Point 14th Anniversary Taster Glass

The Ballast Point Brewing Company 14th Anniversary party this past Saturday was a big hit. Held at Liberty Station in Point Loma and only $20 for 10 tasters it was quite the deal. Ballast Point had at least 40 beers on tap and there were plenty of guest breweries on hand as well. The festival was pretty full but not overly crowded and the only real complaint I heard all day was the lack of water. There were no water stations as far as I could tell and not even any drinking fountains inside the festival. (Sure, some people were complaining about the lines for the bathrooms, but it’s a beer festival, a bathroom line should be expected).

Below are some notes on the beers we tasted as well as a few pictures from the event.

• Ballast Point San Salvador Saison – Brewed using local ingredients (including pine nuts, agave, elder flower, white sage, manzanita berries, curacao and local sage honey) and described by Ballast Point as tasting like the San Diego countryside, this was the beer I was most looking forward to. It smelled and tasted of sage but wasn’t over powering. It was fairly malty and it was obvious there were more exotic ingredients than just the sage but I couldn’t identify anything else. Not much of this beer was made, but I’m hoping it will show up either at one of the Ballast Point tasting rooms or a bar or restaurant again before it’s gone.
• Ballast Point Habanero Sculpin IPA – Ballast Point’s extremely popular Sculpin IPA with a bit of a habanero kick. This was another one I was looking forward to. I was at the Ballast Point tasting room about five years ago and tried a sample of what they were simply calling “Habanero beer” at the time. I don’t remember all the details, but it certainly wasn’t Sculpin with Habanero. Habanero Sculpin was hoppy, with hardly any habanero flavor coming through over all those hops, but it had a nice spicy aftertaste. Not too much heat came through, just enough to let you know it’s there. I probably wouldn’t take a pint of this over a pint of regular Sculpin, but it’s a nice little variation.
• Ballast Point Sour Wench 2010 – I had never had this before so I decided to go with the 2010 instead of the 2009 which they also had on tap so I could see how it was fresh. It smelled a bit like Parmesan cheese but tasted like blackberries, sweet and tart.
• Ballast Point Cocao Nib Black Marlin Porter – It’s been a while since I’ve had Black Marlin Porter, so I  can’t compare this to the regular version but this one both smelled and tasted strongly of chocolate. The four ounce taster was good, but I’m not sure I could drink a full pint of it.
• The Bruery 7 Grain Saison – A fairly straight forward saison. Good earthy yeast smell and maybe even some cereal malts. A good representation of the style.
  

  La Jolla Brewhouse's new brewer Travis Smith

• Ballast Point Fathom India Pale Lager on cask – Hoppy but not over the top. It’s enjoyable but I wouldn’t see myself drinking this over Sculpin if both were available.
• Ballast Point Schooner Wet Hop Ale – I was a bit disappointed in this one. Maybe it’s because I tried it right after Fathom, but it seemed far less hoppy than I expected and I didn’t get many of the fresh hop flavors that typically stand out in wet hopped beers. I’m hoping to try this one again soon with a clean palate.
• La Jolla Brewhouse Pariah IPA – A good standard IPA. It’s not over the top with the hops, but has plenty of flavor. This is one of the new beers from La Jolla Brewhouse’s new Brew Master Travis Smith. I’m looking forward to try more of this and his other beers soon.
• Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin on cask – This beer is partially aged in bourbon barrels, but I didn’t get much of that in the small taster I had (I’ll be sampling more soon though!). It was rich and creamy, oatmeal and chocolate stood out.

Mike and Ryan from West Coaster were on hand volunteering, click on their names to read each of their takes on the festival, pouring two of the most popular casks there.

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.

Ballast Point Brewing Co.’s San Salvador Saison

Tags

miho gastrotruck, san diego farmhouse ale, san diego local beer, san diego saison, san salvador saison

Wow, two posts in a row about Ballast Point Brewing Co., but the beer news just keeps flowing.

Tomorrow, Thursday July 29th, Ballast Point will be debuting their newest beer, San Salvador Saison at their Scripps Ranch tasting room (10051 Old Grove Rd., San Diego, CA). I’ve been on a big saison kick recently and am really excited to try this. The always tasty MIHO Gastrotruck will be outside Ballast Point starting at 4:30pm with some food to pair with the beer. And if you can’t make it up to Ballast Point don’t worry, The Linkery (which helped secure some of the ingredients and brew the beer) will have a keg of San Salvador Saison tapped Thursday evening as well.

Here’s Ballast Point’s description of the beer:

The idea started as a San Diego Farmhouse Ale using local ingredients. We wondered what the Kumeyaay Indian’s were eating when Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo climbed out of his flagship boat, the San Salvador, and onto the shore of Ballast Point in 1542. Also, what might have Cabrillo stocked on his boat before he left Acapulco (then called Navidad) 3 1/2 months earlier?  So with some research we tracked down a fun mix of ingredients for a Belgian inspired San Diego indigenous Ale.

With some help from our friends at The Linkery, North Park Native Plants and Wingshadow’s Farm we were able to track down ingredients like corn, pine nuts, agave, elder flower, white sage, manzanita berries, curacao and local sage honey.  The malt bill consisted of Belgian pale malt, caramunich, biscuit, wheat and corn. The result is a 7.5% ABV, brown beer that really has to be tasted to be understood.  It tastes like the San Diego countryside.

MIHO Gastrotruck uses fresh, local, thoughtfully sourced ingredients to create hand crafted steet food that is affordable, convienient and delicious.  We could think of no one better to come up with the perfect food pairing for this special brew.  You can check them out at www.mihogastrotruck.com.  Juan and his pals have come up with a Vande Rose pork belly braised in San Salvador Saison and served with an agave glaze and corn fritters.  They will be here starting at 4:30pm tomorrow serving this dish along with some of the other specialties that have made them the talk of the town.  Stop by for food and beer done with real LOCAL flavor.  See you here!