San Diego Beer Events March 31th – April 6th

Tags

hamilton's firkin friday, knb beerbq, mad river brewing company, shipyard brewing company, steelhead dipa, Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans, toronado tart tuesday

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

Thursday Mar 31st:

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

Friday April 1st:

Mad River Brewing Company makes some seriously good beers. At last year’s Great American Beer Festival they won the Small Brewing Company of the year category and took home a gold, silver and bronze medal. Hamilton’s Tavern will have their Steelhead Double IPA on cask for this week’s Firkin Friday. Chances are good they’ll have a few other Mad River treats as well.

Saturday April 2nd:

Now that it’s spring it’s time for KNB Wine Cellars to start up their BeerBQ’s again. This time it’s with Portland Maine’s Shipyard Brewing Company. They’ll have around 15 beers from Shipyard on draft paired with traditional New England food. Check out more details on Facebook.

Sunday April 3rd:

Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans seems to be showing on draft at more bars and restaurants recently, but the only way to get some to enjoy at home is to get a growler filled at the brewery in Escondido. They don’t do fills all the time, so if you’re a fan head on up Sunday to get a growler full.

Monday April 4th:

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 April 5th:

Toronado hasn’t announced many details on this one yet, but they’re calling this “Tart Tuesday” and say it’s a night sour lovers won’t want to miss. I expect Toronado will post more details here as the date nears.

Wednesday April 6th:

Small Bar will have some beers from Poway’s Lightning Brewery on tap with a keep the glass special. $5.50 gets your glass and first beer and refills are only $3.50 after that. No word on exactly what they’ll have on draft but Lightning is a nice change of pace from some of the overly hoppy beers around town.

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Stone Brewing Co. Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans

Tags

stone smoked porter, stone smoked porter w/ vanilla, stone smoked porter w/ vanilla beans, stone smoked porter with vanilla, Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans

Stone Brewing Co.’s Stone Smoker Porter with Vanilla Beans is a beer I’ve wanted to try ever since hearing about it over a year ago. But being a limited release brewery only beer I didn’t get a chance to try it until recently. When I noticed it on the tap list while dining at the Stone Bistro a few days ago it was the first beer I tried to order, sadly I was told the keg had run dry. Lucky for me they had it available for growler fills in the store, so I picked one up on the way out. And since I came home with 2 liters, rather than just enjoying a pint at the restaurant, I’m happy to say it’s damn good.

Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans is the creation of Stone brewer Laura Ulrich. It pours a dark brown, it looks opaque until you hold it up to the light and can see that it’s more of a ruby-tinged brown as it lets the light through. The thick tan head dissipated fairly quickly as I let the beer sit in the glass and warm up a bit. From the smell alone I was a little worried, I don’t have a regular Stone Smoked Porter here to compare it to, but the smell tells nothing of the vanilla beans. There might be a hint of something sweet in the aroma, but I wouldn’t guess vanilla, and it could easily be the power of suggestion, it’s that mellow.

The lack of vanilla changes immediately with the first sip. A rich taste of vanilla is the first thing I tasted. A slight smoky bitterness comes in, followed by more vanilla and a slightly bitter aftertaste. There isn’t much hop flavor or bitterness, which is perfect in a beer like this as it allows the vanilla to stand out.

The regular Stone Smoked Porter is 5.9% ABV and I don’t expect this would differ too much. It’s easy to drink and the rich vanilla isn’t overpowering although I stopped after drinking one pint. It seems like an excellent beer to pair with dessert.

Stone blogged about the origins of this beer a while back on their blog, click here to read that post.

Beer this Week(end) in San Diego September 15-19

Tags

2005 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine, 2010 Stone Imperial Russian Stout, 90 minute ipa, BLAH, blind IPA challenge, Burton Baton IPA, Festina Peche, gabf, ghidorah, great american beer festival, lee chase, Midas Touch, mission amber ale, mission blonde ale, mission hefeweizen, mission ipa, Palo Santo Marron, pints for prostates, Punkin Ale, Shipwrecked Imperial IPA, Shuffleboard for Charity, Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans, Theobrama, union jack ipa, vegetarian beer dinner, worldwide stout

The Great American Beer Festival is set to get under way in Denver tomorrow (September 16th). Beer geeks and industry folks from around the world travel to Denver for the event, including many from San Diego. But fret not if you’re stuck in San Diego this weekend with no travel plans for Denver, because even though the biggest beer event in the country is going on a few states away, there are still plenty of great beer to be drank right here in San Diego.

Tonight Wednesday, September 15th

• Blind Lady Ale House will be tapping a keg of Sierra Nevada’s Ghidorah at 5pm (which BLAH’s Lee Chase helped brew at Beer Camp)
• The September DrinkAbout is happening from 7pm-11pm. Click here for more details.

Thursday, September 16th

• The Linkery is holding a Vegetarian Cask Beer Pairing Night. Each plate with half a pour of beer is $9. They have some great casks and the food sounds delicious. See the full menu here.
• Toronado will be hosting a Dogfish Head Night. They’ll have Punkin Ale, Palo Santo Marron, Midas Touch, Theobrama and 90 Minute IPA on tap and bottles of Festina Peche, Burton Baton IPA, Worldwide Stout.

Friday, September 17th

• Hamilton’s Tavern Firkin Friday with Mission Brewery. They’ll have Mission IPA on cask and Shipwrecked Imperial IPA, Blonde Ale, Amber Ale, and Hefeweizen at 5pm.
• O’Brien’s Pub is hosting a night of beers from Manzanita Brewing Co. in Santee. (We stopped into Manzanita when they first opened, check out that post here)
• Make sure your Stone Brewing Co. growlers are clean as they have three excellent growler fills this weekend. Friday they’ll have Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans

Saturday, September 18th

• Blind Lady Ale House will have Firestone Walker’s Union Jack IPA on cask at 11:30am. Pints are only $3.50 until 3:50pm.
• More growler fills at Stone Brewing Co. today they’re offering Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans again, and if you go after 8pm they’ll have 2010 Stone Imperial Russian Stout available as well.
• Hamilton’s Tavern is hold a “Shuffleboard for Charity” event. We don’t have any more details, but you can’t go wrong with shuffleboard and good craft beer.

Sunday, September 19th

• Pints for Prostates Fundraiser (DrinkAbout Part 2) Check Facebook for more info.
• Blind Lady Ale House will hold a Blind IPA Challenge. 11.30am to Midnight. Judge six IPAs which out knowing which is which. Click here for more info.
• If you only get one growler fill from Stone Brewing Co. this weekend this is the day to do it. Starting at 11am they’ll be filling growlers with 2005 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine