Hello Soggy Beer Fans,
Just a web update this week. Tonight, Wednesday the 22nd is our annual caroling night at the pub. We’ll do a cookie exchange at 7 pm with singing at 8 pm. Anyone is welcome to join in, or just sit and enjoy the songs. Tyson will be making Wassail with Affligem Noel. It has cooked fruit, sugar and spices in it and it tastes like a glass of christmas cheer. We also have some great holiday ales on tap including Coronado Winter Brew, San Diego Brewing Whobilation (chocolate mint porter), Kern Holiday Rye IPA, Craftsman Holiday Ale and Sierra Nevada Celebration. Hopefully the rain will subside for tonight…
The pub will be open normal hours on Thursday the 23rd – 11 am until at least 11:30 pm. All of our local beers will be on special from 4-8 pm. There will be no cask Thursday, but still plenty of good beer. We will have the Poinsettia bowl on tv at 5pm with the Aztecs taking on Navy from the Q.
The pub will be CLOSED Friday, Saturday and Sunday, December 24th, 25th and 26th for Christmas so that ourselves and the employees may spend time with family and friends. The pub will resume normal hours at 11 am on Monday.
Next Week
You can look forward to our New Year’s Eve-Eve party on Thursday, December 30th. We are closed every year on December 31st so we celebrate New Year’s at the pub on the 30th with lots of great beer and plenty of champagne. It is always a fun farewell to the year that was and warm welcome of the things to come in 2011. We’ll be able to watch the Holiday bowl at 7 pm from Qualcomm. If you are looking for somewhere to spend New Year’s Eve, try the Toronado for its massive 50 beer Pizza Port bonanza, or Churchill’s in San Marcos which celebrates New Year’s twice – once at 4 pm for English New Year’s and then again at Midnight for the local toast.
So the pub will again be CLOSED on December 31st and January 1st for New Year’s. We will be open normal hours on Sunday, January 2nd – 11:30 am until 6 pm. Hopefully we will be able to watch a meaningful Chargers v. Broncos game at 1:15 pm.
We have lots of great O’Brien’s Merchandise in stock right now for both men and women including Polo shirts, hooded sweatshirts, Dickies work shirts, long sleeve shirts, hats, beanies and pint glasses. We also offer gift certificates in any amount.
GBBT
Our seventh annual tour of pubs and breweries of Belgium is happening in March, 2011 with our friends at Ciao! Travel. The week long (or more) trip will tour lots of great breweries for the first time this year including Orval and Chouffe. The trip always centers around the Zythos 24 Hour Beer Festival which features more than 150 Belgian beers. Ciao! Travel owner Bill Snider is an amazing guide on this laid back beer tour. There are only about 15 seats left, so if you are interested, please visit www.ciaotravel.com or email Ciao! Travel at: bsnider@ciaotravel.com. I have been to 5 of the previous 6 trips and everyone has been a wonderful adventure.
Looking Ahead
January will be the pub’s 17th anniversary and mine and Lindsey’s 8th of owning O’Brien’s. Already we have some great things lined up. I am going to brew with Yiga Miyashiro, the head brewer at Pizza Port Ocean Beach and re-make the last beer I ever brewed at Pizza Port Carlsbad in 2005 – Nickel Bag Double IPA. I have to give Tomme Arthur credit for the name. We should have it ready in mid-late January. I am working on a Russian River ConsumpTION Night featuring lots of brewer Vinnie Cilurzo’s great TION beers (all of his Belgian inspired beers end with -tion). Tyson and I are also working on a Sunday night tasting schedule for next year and we should have one in January.
That is your good beer news for now. We’ll see you soon for a great holiday beer, or else we’ll catch you in 2011. Cheers, Tom