Hello Beer Fans,
There is a lot to cover this week – as always it seems there is just too much good beer. But first I am happy to announce that we will be doing a bus up to the Stone Anniversary Party for the first session. The cost of the bus will be $25 per person (cash only) – it does not include a ticket into the festival, you must buy that from Stone. We’ll have beer and water on the bus as well. The bus will leave at 10 am and return around 3 pm. I’ll have the sign up sheet out tonight at the pub after 5 pm. I expect it to sell out quickly, so if you want to go, get in before the weekend. I will not be posting up the info on the website until tomorrow, so everyone on the email list gets a head start.
While we are on the subject of Stone, tomorrow night on Thursday the 23rd we have a cask of Stone IPA dry hopped with Amarillo hops at 5 pm. Tonight, the 22nd, we have a special 5 gallon cask of Alpine Pure Hoppiness at 5:30 pm. Friday the 24th is Avery Night with Piglet Purgatory (hoppy session ale), Maharaja Double IPA and 14 Anniversary ale which is described by the brewery as dark, dry hopped and different. It is also quite good.
And there are lots of great new beers on tap at the pub. We have tapped a keg of the new Karl Strauss Double IPA – you read that right, Karl Strauss is on tap at O’Brien’s. The double IPA is very good and stands up to the tough competition for hoppy beers in San Diego. I wouldn’t put it on tap if it weren’t good. We also have the Val Dieu Grand Cru from Belgium along with some very nice Val Dieu goblet glasses for sale. Port Brewing released a new beer, Girabaldi, which is a lighter version of the Sharkbite Red and we have the new Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale which is a strong, hoppy pale ale. Ballast Point has continued with their incessant need to change the name of their beers – Hot Rail Helles is now Longifn Lager and it is on tap as well.
There are also some new bottles and some old favorites are back. We finally have a gluten-free beer at the pub – Green’s Quest Tripel. It is from Belgium and is 8% alcohol and light colored, with a crisp finish. I have tasted a lot of gluten free beers and this one really tastes like beer. We have the Thomas Hardy’s barleywine back in two vintages – the new (to us anyway) 2006 vintage and the well aged 2005 vintage. Lost Abbey’s 10 Commandments, which was formerly the Pizza Port SPF 8 dark saison is available and we still have bottles of the new AleSmith Summer YuleSmith and Stone 07-07-07 Veritcal Epic. Right now we are also having a special on Koningshoeven Dubbel and Tripel, the trappist beers from Holland, for just $12 each for a 750 ml bottle.
Looking ahead to next week we have a 5 gallon cask of AleSmith Decadence on Wednesday the 29th at 5:30 pm. And Thursday the 30th we tap a cask of Pizza Port Solana Beach Yiga’s Revenge IPA at 5 pm. We will be open over the weekend on September 1st and 2nd, but we will close down on Monday the 3rd for Labor Day. Further off, you can look forward to casks of Green Flash IPA and Le Freak, Coronado Idiot IPA, AleSmith X and more Alpine Pure Hoppiness. Friday the 7th we will have a Stone Brewing night just before the Anniversary Party. And later in the month the San Diego Festival of Beer will be on Friday, September 21st. Visit www.sdbeerfest.org for more info.
For soccer fans, all of the big European leagues will be in action this weekend. I have posted the game schedule up at the pub and will have it on the website tomorrow. And we will be showing the Liverpool Champions League qualifying match next week on the 28th at 11 am Live. If you would like to be on our soccer-specific email, just reply to this email and let me know.
That is as short as I could keep it. I’ll have more great beer news next week. We’ll see you soon over a great beer. Cheers, Tom