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, January 6th – January 12th

Tags

10.10.10 Vertical Epic Ale, beer 101: intro to beer, big sky brewing co., Delirium Tremens, hamilton's second saturday, toronado local pint night, Vrienden

Looks to be a bit of a slow week. But just because their aren’t a ton of out-of-the-ordinary special events listed here, doesn’t mean there isn’t great craft beer on tap at local bars and on the shelves of local liquor stores. If you know of anything that isn’t on our events calendar, email events@sandiegobeerblog.com to get it added.

Thursday, Jan 6:

New Belgium Brewing Co. and Allagash Brewing Co. recently teamed up to brew a new sour beer, the 8.5% ABV Vrienden. According to O’Brien’s Pub, Vrienden is Flemish for Friends and was brewed with endive and hibiscus and then soured with lacto bacillus and brettanomyces. And O’Brien’s Pub just so happens to be tapping a keg of Vrienden on Thursday. They’ll have a few other New Belgium Brewing Co. beers on tap and some New Belgium globe glasses for sale.

Friday, Jan 7:

While I couldn’t find any special beer events going on this Friday. That doesn’t mean they’re not happening. If you know of something email events@sandiegobeerblog.com. Otherwise, I’d bet that your local bar has some delicious on tap.

Saturday, Jan 8:

For their Second Saturday this month, Hamilton’s Tavern is hosting Montana’s Big Sky Brewing Co. The draft list is mouthwatering – here are more than a few of the 20+ beers on tap that stand out: Cherry Bourbon Cowboy Coffee, Belgian Sour Brown Ale, All Souls Imperial Saison, 2008 Ivan The Terrible Imperial Stout, 2010 Ivan The Terrible Imperial Stout, 2009 Barrel Aged Slow Elk Oatmeal Stout, and 2008 Buckin’ Monk Cherry Tripel. They’ll also have Slow Elk Oatmeal Stout and Powder Hound Winter Ale on cask and some bottles as well.

UPDATE: According to the Missoula, Montana based beer blog Grizzly Growler, this will be the largest selection of Big Sky beers ever in one place.

Sunday, Jan 9:

Some people say that Stone Brewing Co.’s 10.10.10 Vertical Epic Ale tastes better on draft than it does in the bottle. I haven’t made my mind up for sure, but Stone will be doing growler fills of 10.10.10 VE this Sunday which makes it easy to do a comparison between draft and bottle at home — just be aware that this will leave you with 86oz of 10.10.10 VE. Come to think of it, that’s not a bad problem to have.

Monday, Jan 10:

Monday might be the busiest night of the week. I’ve noticed that Eleven seems to be doing fairly regular keep the glass nights on Monday’s. This week is Delirium Tremens, the glass and beer will set you back $6.50 (and don’t forget to throw an extra buck to your bartender) and and after that refills will run $4.50.

Or head on up to Escondido where  Stone Brewing Co. is teaching about beer, Beer 101: Intro to Beer will teach you the basics of beer. And the beer list for the class looks might fine. Tickets are $25.

And as always, Toronado does $3 local pints from 6pm-Close on Monday nights.

As always Toronado has $3 local pints all night.

Tuesday, Jan 11 and Wednesday, Jan 12:

Know of anything going on Tuesday or Wednesday? Email events@sandiegobeerblog.com