Hello Beer Fans!
We have a special treat this week for cask ale fans. We simply had too much beer for the Real Ale Festival this past weekend at Pizza Port Carlsbad and some of the best left overs are making their way to O’Brien’s this week. We have a massive Alpine night on Friday featuring 9 beers – all in full size kegs so that they will last all night. And the World Cup starts on Friday for a month of Soccer madness with games nearly every day at 11:30 am until July 11th. June 10th-13th there is a mini San Diego Beer Weekend happening all over the county. At the end of the month we get the San Diego International Beer Festival at the San Diego County Fair on June 25th, 26th and 27th featuring more than 350 beers from 22 different countries! It is a great month to be drinking beer in San Diego.
Casks at the Pub
The fun starts tonight, Tuesday the 8th, with a very rare cask of Lost Abbey Bourbon Barrel Serpent’s Stout and Alpine Hoppy Birthday, both tapped at 6 pm. The Real Ale Festival is the only time that Lost Abbey has released the Bourbon barrel version of this massive dark stout, and probably the only time it will as the rest is planned to be used in various blending projects. The Hoppy Birthday is fast becoming one of our favorite beers at the pub and the cask was one of my personal favorites at the fest.
Wednesday night we tap into a cask of Moylan’s awesome Hopsickle Imperial IPA. This is one we don’t often see cask conditioned, so this is a real treat. Look for some great Mexican inspired food specials from Chef Cesar on Wednesday nights. The Carnitas Tacos last week were amazgin. Thursday the 10th we will have a cask of the widely popular Coronado Idiot IPA (very appropriate for an election week) at 5 pm. Friday the 11th we will have a cask of the Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA, which is a strong, English-style IPA that is 8.7% and hoppy.
Friday is Alpine Night at the pub featuring 9 full size kegs from this little mountain brewery. We have two very special kegs – Good, the non-barrel aged version of the Great Barleywine that is 14.1% alcohol. We will be doing 10 ounce pours only of this massive beer unless you are 6 foot nine or taller. The other special keg is much anticipated Ned, which is a Flanders Red that is ooh so drinkable. The sour cherry notes blend well with the barrel flavors making you feel like you are in Belgium. The other 7 beers will all pretty much be hoppy – Duet IPA, Nelson Rye-IPA, O’Brien’s IPA, Hoppy Birthday, Alpine Ale, Pure Hoppiness and we will have the release of my latest collaboration with Alpine, Red Card Ale, made just for the World Cup. Unlike the Alpine Irish Red, this 6.2% beer has a high bitterness at 50 IBUs and plenty of aroma hops. Most of the Alpine beer will be on tap all day, certainly all kegs by 5 pm. I expect most of the kegs to last past Saturday.
Saturday the 12th we will feature some great new hard to find bottles that we just got in today. We will have beers from De Molen in the Netherlands, Struise, Haandbryggeriet, Fantome, Amager, De Ranke and more. All of the bottles will be 10% off all weekend as well and all of these new bottles will be available for purchase to-go. Sunday we will be open from 11 am to 6 pm.
For info on the mini San Diego Beer Week’end that is happening the 10th through the 13th visit www.sdbw.org. The San Diego Visitors and Convention Bureau is hosting a weekend for out of town media and convention planners and the Brewers Guild is doing its part to show what a great place San Diego is to come visit. Long live Beer Tourism!
World Cup Fever
Whether or not you are a soccer fan, it is hard not to be caught up in a bit of World Cup fever. The quadrennial tournament features 32 of the best national teams on the planet all battling for the title of number one team on Earth. The USA is in a group with England, Algeria and Slovenia and is expected to make it to the knock out round. The games start on Friday the 11th. We will have Mexico v. South Africa on tape and we will show France v. Uruguay live at 11:30 am. We will be busy every day from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm for the lunch-time games pretty much until July 12th. If you want to avoid the soccer crowds, just come in at or after 2 pm and you will be fine. We will be taping every game on two tvs and reshowing games at lunch, after work and all throughout the day. We will be open at 11 am every Saturday and Sunday during the tournament.
Saturday the 12th is the mammoth first game between the USA and England at 11:30 am. The pub will be opening at 9:30 am and reshowing the morning games until the USA game starts. We will serve breakfast from 9:30 am to 10:30 am that will include breakfast burritos and some scrambles as well as coffee, OJ and mimosas. We will start serving our regular menu and lunch specials at 11 am. I expect the pub to be VERY CROWDED for the game. There will be no darts until 2 pm and if you are not coming specifically to watch the game, I would advise you to not show up until 2 pm.
There will be games every single day until the end of the month. For a complete schedule you can check out the Soccer page of the News section at our website – obrienspub.net. At the end of this email, I have included a list of the 11:30 am games that we will be showing during normal business hours. We will be opening early for all USA matches and all of the knock out round games which start on June 26th. The next two USA matches are at 7 am on Friday, June 18th and Wednesday, June 23rd.
Looking Ahead
Next week we will tap our cask of Stone Ruination IPA on Wednesday the 16th at 6 pm. Thursday the 17th we will tap a cask of Alpine Red Card Ale at 5 pm. Friday the 18th we will re-show the USA v. Slovenia game at 11:30 am and 6 pm. The 18th we will also host an evening of beers from Six Rivers in McKinleyville in Northern California. We will be open 11 am to 6 pm on Father’s Day, June 20th. The following week we host an AleSmith Night on Thursday the 25th that will feature a cask of AleSmith Decadence 2010, which revisits the award winning Old Ale recipe from 2005. For information on the San Diego Festival of Beers June 25th, 26th and 27th, visit www.sdfair.com/beer. You can save money by buying your ticket in advance. We will be closed, Sunday, July 4th.
Stay up to date on the latest O’Brien’s news by becoming fan on at our Facebook page – http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Diego-CA/OBriens-Pub/56730476319?ref=mf. I posted up information on the upcoming casks there including the Ballast Point Sculpin cask we had Monday night. For World Cup and soccer updates, you can follow the San Diego Chapter of the American Outlaws, U.S. Soccer supporters club at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Diego-CA/OBriens-Pub/56730476319?ref=mf#!/pages/American-Outlaws-San-Diego-Chapter/292661370983.
That is your good beer and World Cup news for now. For more World Cup info, join our soccer specific email list – just reply to this email and let me know you want to be added. We will see you soon for some great cask beer and World Cup action. Cheers, Tom
Live World Cup Games – All Games on Tape
Friday, 6/11: World Cup Finals Begin!!!
11:30 am – Uruguay v. France
Saturday, 6/12:Â Â Â Â Pub open at 9:30 am
On tape – South Korea v. Greece
9:30 am – Argentina v. Nigeria – on delay from 7 am
11:30 am – USA v. England – ABC – pub open at 9:30 am
Sunday, 6/13:
11:30 am – Germany v. Australia
Monday, 6/14:
11:30 am - Italy v. Paraguay
Tuesday, 6/15:
11:30 am – Brazil v. North Korea
Wednesday, 6/16:
11:30 am – South Africa v. Uruguay
Thursday, 6/17:
11:30 am – France v. Mexico
Friday, 6/18:Â Â Â Â Pub open at 6:30 and serving breakfast
7 am – USA v. Slovenia – ESPN – pub open at 6:30 am
9:15 am – Germany v. Serbia – on delay from 4:30 am
11:30 am – England v. Algeria
Saturday, 6/19:
11:30 am – Cameroon v. Denmark
Sunday, 6/20:
11:30 am – Brazil v. Ivory Coast
Monday, 6/21:
11:30 am – Spain v. Honduras
Tuesday, 6/22:
11:30 am – Nigeria v. South Korea
11:30 am – Greece v. Argentina
Wednesday, 6/23:Â Â Â Â Pub open at 6:30 and serving breakfast
7 am – USA v. Algeria – ESPN – pub open at 6:30 am
7 am – Slovenia v. England
11:30 am – Ghana v. Germany
11:30 am – Australia v. Serbia
Thursday, 6/24:
11:30 am – Denmark v. Japan
11:30 am – Cameroon v. Netherlands
Friday, 6/25:
11:30 am – Switzerland v. Honduras
11:30 am – Chile v. Spain
Saturday, 6/26 – knock out rounds start, teams TBA