San Diego Beer Events March 17th – March 23rd

Tags

2007 Stone Imperial Russian Stout, blackball belgian ipa, coffee rain, firestone walker 14th Anniversary ale, Fortuna Hiberniae, Framboise de Amorosa, la bella pizza, Matt Bryndilson san diego, McIlhenney's Irish Red, saint patricks day san diego, san diego citybeat beer club, shipyard stout, st patrick's day san diego, stone brewing co. sunday funday, union jack ipa, velvet merlin

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

Thursday Mar 17th:

Plenty going on for St. Patrick’s Day. Blind Lady Ale House will be open for lunch and will have a ton of porters and stouts including six on nitrogen offered as a flight including Automatic Brewing Co.’s latest beer, Coffee Rain. Both Main Tap Tavern in El Cajon and O’Brien’s Pub will have casks of Alpine Beer Co.’s McIlhenney’s Irish Red. Pacific Beach Alehouse will have a cask of their Shipyard Stout. Small Bar, Hamilton’s Tavern and Toronado will all have Guinness keep the glass specials in addition to some nice sounding food specials.

Friday Mar 18th:

Matt Bryndilson, Brewmaster at  Firestone Walker will be at Hamilton’s Tavern from 5pm-6:30pm and then at Small Bar until 8pm. Hamilton’s will have Union Jack IPA on cask with a few other Firestone Walker beers on draft including their 14th Anniversary Ale and Velvet Merlin. Small Bar won’t have a cask but they’ll be doing some keep the glass specials.

Saturday Mar 19th:

Framboise de Amorosa is being released at Lost Abbey. 375ml bottles are $15 a piece with a limit of six per person. I’ve heard good things about this one, but never tried it myself. It’s not expected to make it into regular distribution so the brewery will be the only place to purchase it.

Hess Brewing Company is celebrating St Patrick’s day a bit late. They’ll have Fortuna Hiberniae, their all organic coffee stout on draft and nitrogen as well as all their other beers. They’ll have food from BBQ Republic and music from Family Wagon.

Sunday Mar 20th:

Another great Sunday Funday release at Stone Brewing Co. They’ll be filling growlers with 2007 Stone Imperial Russian Stout. Stone IRS ages well, this one should be delicious.

Monday Mar 21st:

In addition to the regular $3 beer nights at Toronado (locals only) and Eleven (all drafts) Stone is holding another beer class, Beer U: Craft Beer Around the World. Tickets are $25 and often sell out, so purchase in advance if you’re thinking about going.

Tuesday Mar 22nd:

Whether you’re a dedicated homebrewer or want to start, the monthly QUAFF meeting at Randy Jones BBQ in Mission Valley’s Hazard Center is the place to be Tuesday night.

Wednesday Mar 23rd:

San Diego Citybeat’s monthly Beer Club will be at La Bella Pizza in Chula Vista. They’ll have 8oz cask pours of Karl Strauss’s Blackball Belgian IPA for only $1 in addition to plenty of other great beers. You’ll need to be on their list to get the discounted prices, sign up here.

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.