LOVELIKEBEER and Vegan Beer Dinners

Tags

Le Freak, Le Freak Belgian IPA, LOVELIKEBEER, Red Barn Saison, ruination ipa, speedway stout, Stone Ruination IPA: Double Dry Hopped with Citra Hops, Stone/Green Flash/Pizza Port Carlsbad Highway 78 Scotch Ale, vegan beer dinner, vegetarian beer dinner

As a vegetarian beer dinners don’t often hold much sway for me. Sure, pairing awesome beer with some of the best chefs in town is great, but when you can’t eat half the food on the menu there’s no point in going. I don’t think I’m the only vegetarian/vegan that feels left out when it comes to beer dinners, Stone Brewing Co.’s Master Pairings Vegan Beer Dinner happening tonight sold out well in advance.

Thankfully for us vegetarians there’s a new group in town, LOVELIKEBEER, with a focus on vegan food and craft beer. They’re putting on their first vegan beer dinner at Sea Rocket Bistro this Thursday (May 12, 6-10pm) and the beer list, along with the food each beer is paired with looks fantastic. Each pairing is $10 for the food and 6oz beer, which means you can have a full five course meal or you can just have a few of the pairings. While all of the food and beers sound good,  I can’t wait to try the cask of Ruination IPA dry hopped with Citra hops.

If you’re not a vegan or vegetarian, don’t let the lack of meat scare you away. Check out the menu below including beer pairings.

Click on over to LOVELIKEBEER‘s website for more info.

San Diego Beer Events, February 18th – February 23

Tags

2007 Decadence, 2007 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine., 2008 Imperial Russian Stout, 2011 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine, AleSmith My Bloody Valentine, Barrel Aged Wee Heavy, beer u: abbey ales, green flash double stout, My Bloody Valentine, speedway stout, Stone Old Guardian BELGO Barley Wine, Vanilla Bean Smoked Porter, Will Powered IPA

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

I got caught up with some other things this week and am putting this post up a day later than usual. Luckily, as far as I can tell, it doesn’t look like a whole lot was going on yesterday.

Friday Feb 18th:

This week’s cask at Hamilton’s Firkin Friday is AleSmith’s My Bloody Valentine. I haven’t had it yet this year but I hear it’s good.

Both Friday and Saturday Stone Brewing Co. is doing growler fills of the recently released 2011 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine and Stone Old Guardian BELGO Barley Wine.

Saturday Feb 19th:

Blind Lady Ale House will be tapping the last kegs of their latest beer, Will Powered IPA. This was the beer brewed for the Will Farrel related charity event they had a few weeks ago where they raised a ton of money for Cancer for College.

The Saturday Night Special growler fill at Stone is 2008 Imperial Russian Stout. IRS is one of my favorite beers, and IRS with a few years on it is even better in my opinion. As with all the Saturday Night Specials,  they’re only filling growlers from 8-10pm.

Sunday Feb 20th:

One more Stone growler fill. They’ll be filling a limited amount of growlers with 2007 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine. Another one that’s great with some age on it.

At O’Brien’s Pub they’re doing a tasting with AleSmith. Owner/Brewer Peter Zien will be on hand to lead the tasting of about 10 beers. Barrel Aged Wee Heavy, 2007 Decadence and some vintage of Speedway Stout should make appearances as well as many other AleSmith beers. Some of Zien’s cheeses will also be available for tasting. Cost is $40, check with O’Brien’s for tickets. You’ll want to get them ahead of time.

Monday Feb 21st:

In addition to the $3 pint nights at Toronado and Eleven, this Monday is another Beer U at Stone Brewing Co. This month is Beer U: Abbey Ales and they have quite the tasting list. Be sure to buy tickets in advance as they often sell out.

Tuesday Feb 22nd:

The monthly QUAFF homebrew club meeting happens on the fourth Tuesday of every month. Even if you’re not a homebrewer (yet) check it out, you’ll certainly learn something new.

Wednesday Feb 23rd:

There’s a lot going on Wednesday night and surely more than I’m listing here. Main Tap Tavern is featuring a cask of Green Flash Brewing Co.’s Double Stout. URGE Gastropub will have a handful of Stone Brewing Co. beers on (many “Double Dry Hopped) as well as the delicious Vanilla Bean Smoked Porter. The Pizza Port Carlsbad Bottle Shop will be hosting a “Sweet Beer” tasting. And as with every Wednesday, KNB Wine Cellars has $3 pints.

San Diego Beer Week: Day One

Tags

American ESB, avery rumpkin, Citra Session Ale, coconut speedway stout, Fire Roasted Pumpkin Al, Fizzy Yellow Beer, green flash fizzy yellow beer, kopi luwak, kopi luwak speedway stout, rumpkin, silva stout, speedway stout, Traditional Porter, vanilla speedway stout, west coast ipa

The burlesque of Brews and Burlesque at The Ruby Room

And San Diego Beer Week 2010 is here! I will (hopefully) be blogging everyday about the various beers I drink and SDBW events I attend. If you see me out and about say hi (my picture is on the About page). I wasn’t good about taking picture of beer last night, and felt like a total perv taking pictures of burlesque, so thats the only picture today, but there will be more going forward.

The SDBW festivities were supposed to start at O’Brien’s Pub for Night of a Million Zillion Speedways, where they had nine different versions of Alesmith’s Speedway Stout on draft and cask. I got stuck at work a bit longer than I had expected and by the time I got to O’Brien’s there were at least 50 people in a line snaking around the building. I decided to pass and kept driving, but I heard things went smoothly and everyone got in after a short wait and all waiting got to try all of the different version of Speedway. One friend I talked to later said that her top three were Coconut Speedway, Vanilla Speedway and Kopi Luwak in that order.

My night ended up starting at The Ruby Room for the Green Flash Brewing Co. Brews and Burlesque night. They had six Green Flash beers on tap: American ESB, Traditional Porter, Citra Session Ale, Fizzy Yellow Beer, Fire Roasted Pumpkin Ale, and West Coast IPA, the last of which was already gone by the time I got there around 9pm.

I started with a Yellow Fizzy Beer, the only one I could imagine drinking right after I arrived at The Ruby Room by bicycle. It was crisp and refreshing, with a bit of hop bitterness and spiciness, this is what Budweiser should taste like. If I had a lawn to mow this would be my go to lawn mower beer were Green Flash to bottle it. I tried the Traditional Porter next, the first sip was full of intense chocolate flavors but it seemed to die down after that first sip.

I made my way down to Downtown Johnny Brown’s next where they had over 20 barrel aged beers on tap for their 2nd Annual Barrel Aged Night. I started out with Avery Brewing Co.’s Rumpkin, an imperial pumpkin ale aged in rum barrels. At 13.2% ABV this was an intense beer with a boozy pumpkin pie spice smell. The flavors from the rum barrel aging came through immediately upon first sip. It wasn’t overpowering in the least, but tasted very strongly of rum. This beer is definetly a sipper, I think it had the 8oz glass in front of me for about 2 hours before I finished it. Rumpkin will be on tap at Hamilton’s Tavern on Monday night for their Avery Barrel Run Experience

I finished the night off with another Green Flash beer, Silva Stout. I wanted to try it on draft to see how it differed from the bottled version but the comparison was difficult since I didn’t have both in front of me at the same time. I think I actually prefer the bottled version of Silva Stout over the draft, but either way their both amazing beers.

The Beer Company, San Diego CA

Tags

alesmith speedway stout, downtown san diego beer, downtown san diego craft beer, huntington beach beer company, newport beach brewing company, san diego beer company, san diego brewing company, san diego brewpub, speedway stout, the beer company san diego

It’s been a few months since we’ve written about the opening of a new brewery in San Diego so it seems like we’re overdue. The Beer Company, a brewpub located on the corner of Broadway and 6th St downtown had their soft opening last week and while they’re still working out a few of the kinks that come along with opening a new brewpub they’re definitely a welcome addition to the downtown beer scene.

When we stopped in they only had two house brewed beers on tap, a Blonde and a Hefeweizen but I was told by Jordan, an assistant brewer (whose last name I didn’t catch) that once the brewing process gets dialed in they plan on having a rotating selection of four house beers on at all times. In addition to the blonde and hefe they’ll be brewing a Pale Ale, IPA, Brown Ale and probably more. They also plan do some barrel aged and cask beers down the line.

I opted for samplers of both house beers so I only got a small amount of each, but plan on stopping in again in a few weeks when they bring more taps online. The Hefeweizen was the favorite of the two. It was hazy with a strong banana smell. The taste was sweet, the banana from the yeast stood out foremost. The Blonde was heavy on the malts with very little hop presence. There was a grassy or almost hay like taste to it. It finished very crisp and clean. As I said, with such small samplers it’s impossible to give a real, thorough review of the beers, but when they bring more beers on line we’ll be back to check them out.

In addition to the house brews they had a handful of guest taps, with plenty more to come. They had about ten or fifteen beers on last night, with room for plenty more. If I counted right they have around 56 taps that they plan to fill up. The guest selection was good with plenty of locals, some non-San Diego craft beers and a few imports. Prices were reasonable, I had an Alesmith Speedway Stout, served in a tulip glass (I’d estimate it was around 1ooz) for $6, which seems to be the going rate for Speedway Stout.

The food was mostly typical pub grub, burgers and fries, fried appetizers and sandwiches and again the prices were pretty reasonable. They also had wood fired pizza’s which looked good, but I didn’t try any.

I’m told that the owner of The Beer Company is involved with Huntington Beach Beer Company (The Beer Company was originally going to be called San Diego Beer Company, but changed their name quickly, maybe San Diego Brewing Company objected?) and that the headbrewer came from Newport Beach Brewing Company of which I’ve heard good things about their beers.

While The Beer Company has a few things to overcome (getting more of their house made beers brewed and on tap, filling the rest of their guest taps, having a printed tap list or a board listing beers on tap to name a few) but I’m certain they’ll work out the kinks. With so few craft beer options downtown The Beer Company  has the potential to be one of the go to beer spots in the downtown area.

Photos by Kinsee Morlan

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

Tags

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 Beer Week 2010 Preview Weekend, June 10-13

Tags

bear republic brewing co., beer hall, black lightning porter, fairweather pale ale, firkin friday, hamilton's padres day, mission valley craft beer festival, san diego beer week preview, san diego beer week preview weekend, san diego beer week'nd, san diego beer weekend, speedway stout, speedway stout ice cream, suds for surgeries, the lodge at torrey pines, world cup san diego

Sure, it’s only Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean it’s too soon to start thinking about the upcoming weekend. Especially when that weekend just so happens to be the preview weekend for the 2010 San Diego Beer Week (sometimes cleverly referred to as San Diego Beer Week’nd). The first ever San Diego Beer Week took place last November, and the second year of the event will be taking place this year from November 5-14, but there’s just so much great beer around that they have decided to hold a special preview weekend.

San Diego Beer Week Preview Weekend events starts Thursday evening with a beginner brewing class at Home Brew Mart taught by Ballast Point Brewing Co. brewer Doug Duffield. Homebrewing is a great way to learn about beer and is fun and delicious. This class will go over the basics of brewing and will brew a 5 gallon batch. The class is limited to 30 people and costs $10. Call (619) 295-2337 to reserve a spot. And if a beginner brewing class would be too basic for you, stop by Home Brew Mart on Friday for a 10% discount on all products.

If you would rather drink beer than learn how to make it Thursday night both Ritual Tavern and Hamilton’s Tavern have you covered. Ritual Tavern will host a very special blend of Alesmith Brewing Co.’s Speedway Stout. Starting at 8pm they’ll have a 3 year blend of Speedway, 2008 and 2009 were barrel aged and blended with fresh 2010 Speedway Stout and Ritual Tavern will be pairing this with homemade Speedway Stout ice cream. This will be a unique beer, one you probably won’t ever get to taste again. Speedway Stout is in my top 10 all time favorite beers. I’m excited to try this.

Over at Hamilton’s Tavern they’re doing their Firkin Friday a night early on Thursday hosting Lightning Brewing Co. They’ll have Fairweather Pale Ale on cask and Elemental and Black Lightning Porter on draught.

Friday is Allagash Night at Downtown Johnny Brown’s (in case you missed the Allagash flights at Blind Lady Ale House this past weekend, or just want more). They’ll have Curieux, Victor, Victoria, Confluence, Wit, Interlude, Odyssey, Fluxus 09′, Four and Dubbel as well as BBQ brisket in a Curieux sauce. Also Friday night is Beer Hall at The Lodge at Torrey Pines. Seven chefs will join seven brewers to pair beer and food. It’s $60 per person and 10% of the proceeds will go to the San Diego Brewer’s Guild. Click here for the menu and beer pairings.

Saturday Ballast Point Brewing Co. will be hosting a tasting of their three beers that won the World Beer Cup Champion Small Brewery. That’s Sculpin IPA, barrel aged Piper Down Scottish Ale and Fathom India Pale Lager. Also on tap will be 3 Sheets Barleywine aged on 3 Sheets rum soaked oak chips. That all happens at Ballast Point Brewing Co. in Linda Vista from 1oam-5pm Saturday. After that head on over to Hamilton’s for 2nd Saturday with Bear Republic. There will be casks of Racer X Imperial IPA and Big Bear Black Stout and 18 Bear Republic beers on draught as well as complimentary BBQ from the kitchen.

Sunday wraps up San Diego Beer Week Preview Weekend with the 4th Annual Hamilton’s Padres Day (which as of this writing it appears as if there are still tickets available) for $45 you get field level tickets at Petco Park, a Hamilton’s baseball jersey, transportation from Hamilton’s to Petco and back, two drinks at the pre-game party at Downtown Johnny Brown’s as well as craft beer on the bus.

Sunday is also Suds for Surgeries, the first ever Mission Valley Craft Beer Festival at The Handlery Hotel. $30 gets you unlimited beer and food tastings.  Participating Breweries on hand will be: Airdale, Ballast Point, Coronado, Firehouse, Green Flash, Karl Strauss, Mission and Stone Brewing Co.

And if all that weren’t good enough, the 2010 FIFA World Cup gets started Friday June 11th. Plenty of bars around San Diego will be showing the games and offering drink and food specials. One game which ought to be pretty good and draw a crowd is USA vs. England on Saturday. If you know of any other beer events this weekend, or have a favorite bar (with a great beer selection) to watch the World Cup leave a comment below.

Ten Beer Related Reasons I’m Excited to Return to San Diego

Tags

BLAH, dog friendly bars, grand cru, keg n bottle, la jolla brew house, old viscosity, pizza port real ale festival, quaff, quality ale and fermentation fraternity, san diego beer week'nd, san diego beer weekend, san diego festival of beer, san diego international beer festival, speedway stout, stone anniversary and international beer festival, stone bistro and world gardens, stone late night movies, stone sourfest, tap hunter, taphunter

Durango, Colorado, where I’ve lived for the past year and half, isn’t a bad place to be a beer geek (check out my old beer blog from Durango). But it’s not San Diego. It’s also in the middle of nowhere. Durango has four breweries and but it’s also about 300 miles from Denver, which means the many beers brewed in the Front Range, and those from out of state breweries that get distributed in Colorado often don’t make it down here. I don’t mean this as a complaint about Durango but rather a way to show how excited I am about returning to San Diego. Below are ten (of the many) beer related reasons I’m glad to be back.

Hanging out on the patio at the La Jolla Brew House with my dog. The patio at La Jolla Brew House isn’t a bad place to drink a beer, and it’s made all the better because I can bring my dog. Firehouse Brewing Co.’s beer garden is also dog friendly so I’m sure we’ll be enjoying some pints there too. Before I left San Diego Hamilton’s allowed dogs, if anyone knows if they still do please leave a comment below.

Festivals and Events: Summer typically means beer festival season no matter where you are, and because of the number of breweries and beer lovin’ folks in San Diego, there are plenty of festivals. Pizza Port’s Real Ale Festival, Stone SourFest, San Diego International Beer Festival, San Diego Festival of Beer, San Diego Beer Week’nd and Stone’s Anniversary and Invitational Beer Festival. I’ve probably left a few out, but those are the first that come to mind.

QUAFF: Quality Ale and Fermentation Fraternity is a San Diego based home brew club. Their member’s beers have won numerous American Homebrewer Championships over the years. I’m excited to check out and join the club and hope I can learn some skills to further my home brewing.

Beer Box Tijuana. Sure Tijuana isn’t San Diego, but to me they’re inseparable. I came across Beer Box Tijuana while visiting friends and was amazed at their beer selection. In Tijuana terms (where Tecate pretty much rules to the city) they have an impressive beer selection. They have a good selection of San Diego craft beers, but of more interest to San Diegans they have plenty of Mexican craft beers that don’t get distributed in the US and many beers from Europe. In addition to all that the folks at Beer Box Tijuana are homebrewers and often host homebrew club meetings and tastings.

Beers: Regardless of everything else, beer blogging is about the beer. And there are plenty of beers I haven’t been able to easily get out here in Durango that will be much more accessible in San Diego. Here’s a short list of some I’m most looking forward to: Alesmith’s Speedway Stout and Grand Cru, Port Brewing’s Old Viscosity, and so many Lost Abbey beers I’ve never tried.

Stone Bistro and World Gardens: This is one of my favorite places to have a beer and eat dinner. And since it’s all the way up in Escondido I don’t make it up to often, which keeps is special and ensures it will never become ordinary. I’m hoping to make it up for a few movie nights this summer as well.

The beer bars that have opened in the last year or two: Blind Lady Ale House, Small Bar, The Station, Ritual Tavern, Toronado just to name a few. I’ve been to BLAH, Small Bar, and Toronado but I’m looking forward to spend far more time at each.

The Liquor Stores: South Bay Drugs, The Best Damn Beer Shop and Keg N Bottle just to name a few. The beer selection at these stores is phenomenal. I’m like a kid in a candy store every time I walk in.

The Newer Breweries: I’ve never had any beers from Airdale Brewing Co., New English Brewing Co., or Mother Earth Brew Co. There are plenty of other small breweries that have opened tasting rooms or expanded their lineups recently. I’m excited to try them all.

Tap Hunter: Tap Hunter is one of the coolest ideas and websites around. I’m sure every San Diego beer geek already knows and uses it (if you don’t click the link above to check it out) and now I’m happy that I’ll be able to also. Tap Hunter launched shortly after I left San Diego last year. What Tap Hunter does (in a nutshell) is crowd source a list of what beers are on tap at various bars and restaurants. You can check the website before you go out to see what is most likely on tap and use your smartphone to report corrections if a new beer has gone on tap or a keg is empty.

10306 San Diego Mission Road