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.

Alpine Beer Company Pub

Tags

alpine beer co pub, alpine brewing co., ned flanders red, Tuatara

The 'Open' Sign at the Alpine Beer Co. Pub is Finally Lit Up

With the Alpine Beer Company Pub now open, my brother and I decided that Saturday would be the perfect time to stop in for lunch and a beer. Thinking it would be far too easy to just hop in the car and drive out to Alpine, we decided to hop on our bikes and earn those beers. Leaving San Diego around 10am it was overcast and a bit chilly, but as we rode east, the sun came out, the weather got warmer and the road got steeper, we arrived about two hours and 25 miles later in Alpine ready for some food and a beer.

Being vegetarians we’re not the proper people to give a full review of the BBQ themed food, both of us had the Vegetarian Portobello Sandwich which was delicious. Most of the sandwiches were between $5-$6. Appetizers, salads and sides were in the $4-$8 range. While the food was good, that’s not the real reason we were there. On tap were plenty of Alpine Beer Company beers, all for very reasonable prices. Hoppy Birthday, Duet, Nelson, Tuatara, Pure Hoppiness, Willy, Willy Vanilly, Captain Stout, Mandarin Nectar, McIlhenney’s Irish Red, Ned Flanders Red, 2005 Great and 2009 Great Barleywines. Beers were available in 5 oz tasters, 10 oz tulips, 16 oz pints or full pitchers, all for very reasonable prices (pints were $4.50 for beers less than 8% ABV and $5 for beers over 8%)

The restaurant was smaller than I expected, but not too small. All the seats were taken most of the time we were there (lunch time on a Saturday) but no one seemed to be waiting for a seat), if I had to guess I’d say the restaurant seats about 4o people.

The service was great, everyone working was friendly and very receptive to feedback. The pub has much more extensive hours than the tasting room next door (11AM to 10PM Tuesday through Thursday, 11AM to 12AM Friday and Saturday, 10AM to 9PM Sunday, CLOSED Mondays). They don’t do growler fills at the pub, but do sell many Alpine Beers in 22oz bombers for take away. I expect having the restaurant open later will help many people get out to Alpine and get some fresh beer. And the food isn’t bad either.

Click below for a few more pictures.

The Alpine Beer Company Pub Opens

Tags

2005 Great, 2009 Great, alpine beer co pub, alpine brewery pub, alpine brewing company, alpine brewing company pub, alpine brewpub, Captain Stout, Duet, Hoppy Birthday, Mandarin Nectar, McIlhenney's Irish Red, Ned, Nelson, Pure Hoppiness, Tuatara, Willy, Willy Vanilly

If you’re a fan of Alpine Beer Company (and who isn’t?) you probably know that the pub has been a long time coming, after a false start or two, word is that it opened on Tuesday. We haven’t been there ourselves yet, but we’ll be checking it out soon.

The pub will be open 6 days a week, closed Mondays (Tue-Thu 11am-10pm, Fri-Sat 11am-12am, Sun 10am-9pm). The Pub will serve beer and food (see below for the tap list) while growler fills will only be available at the brewery (open Tuesday-Saturday 12pm-6pm). The food at the pub is described as BBQ themed and the list of beers on tap looks pretty nice: Willy, Willy Vanilly, Mandarin Nectar, McIlhenney’s Irish Red, Captain Stout, Tuatara, Hoppy Birthday, Duet, Nelson, Pure Hoppiness, Ned, 2005 Great, and 2009 Great. They also plan to release vintage beers in the future as well.

We hope to stop by the pub soon and will have more info and full report afterwards. Have you been? If so let us know what you think in the comments below.

Alpine Beer Co. is located at 2351 Alpine Blvd, Alpine CA 91901