Hello Beer Fans!
We have a number of great new beers coming up this week along with some fantastic cask beers over next few weeks. The tap line up has been particularly good the past week with tons of incredible IPAs – Duet, Nelson, O’Brien’s, Racer 5, West Coast and we will be getting more of the Kern River Just Outstanding IPA on tap before the week is over. We also have the Widmer Braggot – a combination mead/beer that is 50% honey, 50% malt. The NFL is in full pre-season mode with games on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday – though I am not sure yet if we will get to see the Chargers take on Dallas on Saturday at 6 pm. The next two pre-season games are on the road on August 27th (Saints at 5pm) and September 2nd (49′ers at 7 pm). The regular season opener is Monday, September 13th at 7:15 pm vs. the Chiefs. Â
Tonight, Wednesday the 18th, we will have Wintercoat Double Hop IPA from Denmark on special along with Cuvee des Jacobins, which is a Flanders Red Ale (sour, barrel aged beer). Thursday the 19th we get to try the new Pizza Port Carlsbad IPA Que Onda on cask at 5 pm. I have had it on tap at the brewery and it is delicious. A big, hoppy IPA that is over 7.5% alcohol. We will also have St. Peter’s Organic English Ale on tap for the first time. We carry the brewery’s Sorghum Ale as our gluten-free beer. We’ll also have some new bottles from French craft brewers. Yes, they are some French who make good beer (mostly in the areas that border Belgium!). We will have Gavroche Bier de Garde and Tres Monts Golden and Amber. The Golden reminds me of Duvel – hoppy and very dry. The amber is stronger with a rich, malty finish. All three will be available in 750 ml bottles. The NFL game will be Patriots v. Falcons.
Friday the 20th is Lagunitas night with IPA, Little Sumpin Sumpin Ale and Fusion II. The Little Sumpin Sumpin Ale is a hoppy wheat ale that is just over 7% and designed for warm weather – which we finally have. The Fusion II is part of a new series of limited release kegs from Lagunitas. They are sending each batch of Fusion to only 10 distributors in the US (Lagunitas has nearly 80 distributors around the country). San Diego got only 8 kegs of this limited release beer that is termed a “West Coast Mild”. I know it is 6% alcohol and that is about it. Not even our Lagunitas rep has tried it yet. So this will be a nice treat to try something brand new from the brewery that few others will get to enjoy. The Friday NFL game will be Philadelphia at Cincinnati.
On the food front you can check out the double meat Rueben. Everyone liked the Double Dip so much, we decided to try it with our Reuben and it is delicious. Friday is Torta day with Chicken or Roast Beef Tortas. Over the weekend you can try a 1/4 pound hot dog. Beer Chili will be ready for Saturday. Lindsey has some great Beer Cheese available to go. The Malheur 10 beer cheese with mustard was fantastic. Next week you can find the Turkey-Bacon-Havartia on Fococcia bread on Tuesday (and on every Tuesday).
Stone Anniversary Bus
The Stone 14th Anniversary Party is this weekend on Saturday the 21st. We still have a few seats available for our annual bus trip (we have 6 seats as I write this). We are leaving the pub at 8:15 am to go to Port Brewing for some breakfast food and then on to the first session at Stone from 11 to 2. Buy your own ticket to the fest online and the bus with beer included is just $25. The pub will open around 7:45 am if you need to get a beer before you get on the bus. Please be at the pub by 8 am so we can leave by 8:15. We should be back by 3 pm. If you are going on the bus, please park on the street on Convoy, Opportunity or Ruffner as we will need the parking spaces in the lot for our regular business.
Next Week
It is hard to believe that there will actually be football on Monday night next week. Arizona will take on Tennessee at 5 pm on the 23rd. We will have our great pitcher special in effect all season long – $10 pitchers of all craft/local beers and $14 pitchers of rare/strong ales from 4:30 pm until close. So stop by and watch the games with some friends and enjoy some of the best craft beer in town for less than $2.75 a pint!
We will also get the other kind of football (the one actually played with feet) on Tuesday and Wednesday as the UEFA Champions League is in its final play-off round before the group stage. We will have multiple live games at 11:30 am on both Tuesday and Wednesday with replays all day. For the complete schedule check out the soccer page on our website or sign up for our soccer specific email to keep up to date on all of the games (just reply to this email and let me know you want to be on the soccer list). You can keep up to date with the San Diego American Outlaws, our US Soccer Supporters group, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AOSanDiego.
Next Thursday’s cask night will be a good one. We have two casks from Alpine Beer Company – Bad Boy IPA and O’Brien’s IPA. The keg of Bad Boy didn’t even make it through Friday night last week, so I am expecting the cask to go quickly. And if you have not heard, the pub at Alpine Beer Company is now open every Tuesday through Sunday at 11 am, closed Mondays. They have a menu of great BBQ and more than a dozen Alpine beers on tap. Just please be careful driving on the way home. And speaking of new things, if you like Bloody Marys, you have to try Ballast Point’s new Bloody Mary mix. I just tried it this past week for the first time and it is very good – nice pepper and spice notes. You can buy it at the brewery, or you could call them to find out who else might have it around town.
Friday the 27th we will tap a couple of specialty kegs from Dogfish Head including Satea, which is a stein beer brewed with hot rocks and black tea; Theobroma, a beer based on Aztec records of a chocolate alcohol beverage with hot chilis; and the very popular 90 Minute IPA. We may have a few more beers on tap, but at the very least we will also have Palo Santo Marron in the bottle. The Chargers will take on Drew Brees (for a quarter anyway) and the Saints at 5 pm on Friday.
Looking Ahead
We will have the founder of the Chouffe brewrey in Belgium, Chiris Bauweraerts, at the pub from 3-5 pm on Saturday, September 4th. We will have lots of Chouffe beers on tap and some great Chouffe-inspired food specials including Houblon IPA Mac n’ Cheese. It is not too often that we get brewers over from Belgium, so please come help us welcome Chris to San Diego. The pub will be open Saturday and Sunday during Labor weekend, but CLOSED on Monday, September 6th. Starting September 12th, the pub will open at 11:30 am on Sundays to match our Saturday opening hours.
Tyson and I are planning our next Sunday night tasting and it is going to be a good one. We are going to feature the beers of Wetten Importers (www.wettenimporters.com). The company brings in some of the best beers in Belgium – Gouden Carolous, Delirium, Kasteel, De Halve Maan and Lucifer. We are going to use a wide range of beers paired with cheeses and small food plates. Tyson and I have come up with the cheese pairings and now we are working on the food pairings which will include a dessert. The tasting will be Sunday, September 26th at 6:30 pm at the pub and the cost will be $35. I will have a sign up sheet at the pub as of tomorrow, Thursday the 19th. I do expect it to sell out, but not until a week or two before the event.
Tyson is doing a great job of posting all of the latest pub news on the Facebook page – www.facebook.com/obrienspubsd. Keep up to date between the emails and see what has just been tapped. Tickets for the San Diego Strong Ale VIP session will be on sale the first week of September. The festival will be December 3rd and 4th at Pizza Port Carlsbad. Thank you to everyone who helped celebrate my birthday last week – I had a great time and a number of wonderful beers. That is your good beer news for now. We’ll see you soon for a great beer. Cheers, Tom