What’s Happening

Hello San Diego Beer Fans!
 
I am glad to back in sunny San Diego and the land of hoppy beers!  Our European beer tour was fantastic with many great stops including Malheur, Rodenbach, Westvleteren, La Trappe/Konigshoeven and the tiny De Molen brewery in Holland.  I even managed to carry back two new 3 liter glasses for the pub from Malheur and La Trappe.  Everyone from the trip will be back in town tonight, some even coming straight to the pub from the airport this afternoon.
 
Double Trouble
 
And to greet them this evening will be our double double IPA cask night with Green Flash featuring Imperial IPA and Palate Wrecker both tapped at 5 pm.  We will also be debuting the new Green Flash/Elysian collaboration Red Queen Saison on tap and we will have Double Stout and West Coast IPA also on tap.  Head brewer Chuck Silva will be joining us to have a few beers and tell us about his latest collaboration with St. Feuillien that he brewed earlier this week in Belgium.
 
Also on the draft board you can find two Karl Strauss beers – To the 9’s double IPA and the 21st Anniversary Ale, which is a barrel aged, Belgian-styled beer made with old vine Zinfandel grapes.  Blind Pig IPA is back on tap, Alpine’s delicious Duet IPA is still flowing and for big beer fans, we have the Alaskan Barleywine and Full Sail Slip Knot Imperial IPA.
 
Stouts and St. Paddy’s
 
Friday the 12th we start a week long celebration of the stout style of beer.  We have the Green Flash Double Stout and Port Brewing Santa’s Little Helper Imperial Stout on tap right now.  I also have kegs of Bear Republic Big Bear Black Stout, Avery Out Of Bounds Stout, Victory Storm King Stout, AleSmith Speedway Stout, Lost Abbey Serpent Stout, Guinness, O’Hara Irish Stout, Murphy’s Irish Stout, Carlsbad’s Port Truck Stout, North Coast Old Rasputin, Ballast Point Sextant Stout, Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast and Alpine Captain Stout coming between now and St. Patrick’s Day on the 17th.  Don’t expect them all to be on at once, but we should have 4-5 on tap every day for the next week.  So any day this weekend – Friday – Saturday or Sunday – look for great stouts on tap.
 
Next week is of course St. Patrick’s day on Wednesday the 17th.  We will have the obligatory Guinness and Harp on tap along with Alpine McIlhenney’s Irish Red and lots of great stouts!  We will have casks of Alpine Duet IPA and Captain Stout on tap at 5 pm.  The kitchen will be cranking out Corned Beef and Cabbage, corned beef sandwiches, Guinness Bacon burgers and Irish stew all day long.  If you want to avoid the big crowds, late afternoon (3-5 pm) and after 9 pm are your best bets for coming by.  The pub is always a fun place to have a beer on St. Patrick’s and everyone is in a festive mood.  The pub will be open late – expect last call just after midnight.
 
The following day, Thursday the 18th, we get back to normal with a cask of Alpine Pure Hoppiness at 5 pm.  Friday the 19th we will host an evening of beers from St. Peter’s Brewery in Suffolk, England.  These beers are packaged in distinctive green 500 ml bottles.  We will have the IPA, Golden Ale, Cream Stout, Porter and our new gluten-free beer, the Sorghum Ale.  The friendly sales rep, Xavier, will be on hand to answer questions and sample us on the beers.  The entire line-up is great, especially the two dark beers.
 
Saturday the 20th we will have a night of triple IPAs starting at 5 pm – very hoppy beers over 10% alcohol.  We will have at least five on tap, hopefully even a few more.  We will have beers named for the number of hops used, a mathematical function, an Indian King, an ancient philosopher and a hop dessert.  Check the events board at the pub next week for the latest additions to the line-up.
 
Beer and Cheese Please
 
Our Spring Beer and Cheese pairing classes with Taste Artisan Cheese shop will be Sunday, April 18th at O’Brien’s and Wednesday, April 21st at Taste in Hillcrest.  Both classes will start at 6:30 pm and last a little over 90 minutes.  Class cost is $40 and you can sign up at the pub (cash only please) or at Taste – you can find them on our Friends page on the website – www.obrienspub.net.  We have not yet set the pairings for these classes and we are holding a drawing to invite a lucky attendee and a guest to help us through the grueling work of pairing beer and cheese for the class.  If you sign up for either class before March 15th, you will be entered in the drawing to spend hours eating and sampling with us to determine the final line-up for the class.  It is dirty work, but someone has to do it.
 
Belgian Fest and Malheur
 
The Belgian Beer Party will be held Saturday, March 27th at Pizza Port Carlsbad in two sessions – 10 am to 4 pm and 5 pm to 11 pm with both sessions having identical beer lists and quantities.  There will be more than 100 Belgian and Belgian-style beers available across many styles and from several different countries.  Tickets are $40 and can be bought at www.ticketderby.com – first session can be found at: http://ticketderby.com/innerindex.php?eventid=2265 and the second session can be found at: http://ticketderby.com/innerindex.php?eventid=2266.  Only a limited number of tickets are available for each session and last year both sessions sold out in advance, so don’t delay.
 
We have tentatively set Thursday, March 25th as the date for our Malheur Draft night.  We are hosting the national draft launch party at O’Brien’s for Malheur 10 and Malheur 12.  I will have our new giant Malheur glass there and this will be a great evening of celebrating two of my favorite Belgian beers.  We will also have the Brut and Dark Brut in the bottle and I am working on a cheese plate to serve that night that will pair with the beers.  The date is subject to change since the kegs have not cleared customs yet in the USA.  I will keep you posted, but for now, look for the beers to be on tap at 5 pm on Thursday the 25th.  I plan to keep both of the beers on tap for at least a full week, so if you can’t make it by on the launch night, we will have it on tap all weekend.  And we will be tapping several other Belgian beers in honor of the Belgian Beer Party.
 
That is your good beer news for now.  We’ll see you soon for a great dark beer.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Great Beer Fans!
 
We have some great specials on Alpine beer this week along with some fantastic new bottles and up coming Beer and Cheese tastings in April.  Tonight, Wednesday the 24th we will tap two different 5 gallon casks of Alpine’s tasty Token Imperial Porter – one with vanilla bean and one with Bourbon soaked oak chips.  In addition, we have the Token on tap so you can try three different versions.  We will tap the casks around 5 pm – during halftime of the USA v. El Salvador soccer game which starts just after 4 pm today.  Also on tap you will find the new Bootleggers Knuckle Sandwich double IPA from Fullerton, CA, Avery Dugana double IPA, Ballast Point Abandon Ship smoked lager, 3 great beers from New Belgium – Ranger IPA, La Folie sour brown and the new Dark Heather Saison and there is still just a little bit left of the Aecht Schlenkerla Oak Smoked Marzen from Bamberg.
 
More Alpine…
 
Tomorrow, Thursday the 25th we continue the Alpine cask theme with the delicious Bad Boy double IPA at 5 pm.  We should have a draft keg after the cask blows and if there is any of the Token left from Wednesday, I will re-tap it.  Ballast Point Victory at Sea will return in the bottle on Thursday as well.  Friday the 26th is Alaskan Brewing night with Smoked Porter, IPA and Barleywine all on tap.  Lindsey has promised to make her epic Smoked Porter, bacon and green onion beer cheese and even have enough to sell some to-go.  This beer cheese is one of the best she makes (duh, it has bacon in it) but it only comes out when the Smoked Porter is on tap, so get it while it is here.  If you need a second opinion of how good it is, just ask Tiff.
 
Over the weekend we continue with even more Alpine as we will tap a keg of Exponential Hoppiness at 6 pm Saturday the 27th.  We will also be featuring Scandinavian craft beers all weekend: Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast and Imperial Pilsner, Norrebro La Granja Espresso Stout, Nogne O Pale Ale, Porter and Stone Collaboration Holiday Beer, and Nils Oscar Fest Bier and Barleywine from Sweden.  I may well have other Nordic bottles out.  All of the bottles will be 10% off all weekend for both in house and to go purchases.  Alpine Great Barleywine – a 14.1% Bourbon barrel beast of a beer is available in bottles and we have new Gluten-free beer from St. Peter’s in England.
 
Next Week
 
Next Wednesday, March 3rd the USA plays the Netherlands in Amsterdam at 11:45 am.  We will also re-show the game at 6 pm.  Who knows, maybe you will see me, Shawn, Stephen, Too Tall, Clark or Spanky in the crowd!  Thursday the 4th, look for a cask of Firestone’s Walker’s Reserve Porter at 5 pm and the Firestone Velvet Merkin Oatmeal Stout on tap.  Friday the 5th is our first ever Karl Strauss night at O’Brien’s.  The brewery has been making great strides towards great beer in the last few years.  We will have two great specialty beers on tap – To the 9’s, a double IPA and the new 21st Anniversary Ale made with Zinfandel grape juice.
 
The weekend will see a Russian River and Lost Abbey bottle night on Saturday the 6th.  We will have Supplication, Consecration, Temptation, Salvation and Damnation in 750 ml bottles and some rare 3 liter bottles of Supplication, Consecration and Temptation from Russian River.  On the Lost Abbey front look for 2008 Angel’s Share, 2009 Cuvee de Tomme and Duck Duck Geuze.  If you find yourself in north county over the weekend, stop by Churchill’s in San Marcos for the pub’s grand re-opening party.  The draft tower has been redesigned to add more taps and Ivan has an incredible line-up to celebrate finally being done with the construction.
 
Beer and Cheese Please
 
Our Spring Beer and Cheese pairing classes with Taste Artisan Cheese shop will be Sunday, April 18th at O’Brien’s and Wednesday, April 21st at Taste in Hillcrest.  Both classes will start at 6:30 pm and last a little over 90 minutes.  Class cost is $40 and you can sign up at the pub (cash only please) or at Taste – you can find them on our Friends page on the website – www.obrienspub.net.  We have not yet set the pairings for these classes and we are holding a drawing to invite a lucky attendee and a guest to help us through the grueling work of pairing beer and cheese for the class.  If you sign up for either class before March 15th, you will be entered in the drawing to spend hours eating and sampling with us to determine the final line-up for the class.  It is dirty work, but someone has to do it.
 
Looking Ahead
 
Thursday the 11th we will tap a cask of Green Flash West Coast IPA. Friday the 12th we start Stout week in honor of St. Patrick’s Day on Wednesday the 17th.  We will feature a cask of Alpine Captain Stout among many others on the 17th.  We will also have a special “green” Belgian beer on tap for St. Patrick’s Day.  Full Sail Slip Knot Imperial IPA and Bear Republic Apex IPA will both be on tap soon.  And in non-beer news, one of our favorite Italian restaurants, Antica Trattoria in La Mesa, has re-done its menu and it is fantastic.  If you have never been, it is really worth going to.  It is nice to have such a high quality restaurant away from downtown and the crowds of tourists.
 
That is your good beer news for now.  Check out our new shirts above the bar.  All of the Beer Newspapers are in and available for free at the pub.  Look for the next email after I return from the Great Belgian Beer Tour on March 9th.  Enjoy the great beer while I am gone and I’ll see you when I get back.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Soccer Fans!
 
The USA has two very different upcoming games the next two Wednesdays.  First, this Wednesday afternoon, a nearly all MLS based roster plays El Salvador in Tampa.  It is believed that there are 6-7 roster spots for the World Cup up for grabs and a good number of them could go to these players.  So while it is just a friendly, it could mean the difference between being in South Africa and watching it from home for these guys.  The game kicks off at 4 pm and we will have our American Outlaws viewing party.  At half time, I will tap two five gallon casks of Alpine’s Token Imperial Porter – one with vanilla bean and one with Bourbon soaked oak chips.
 
The next USA game is Wednesday, March 3rd at 11:30 am against the Netherlands in Amsterdam.  This time a nearly full strength US squad will face off with one of the best teams on the planet.  This game could decide the fate of some Euro-based players like Eddie Johnson, Freddy Adu and Damarcus Beasley  This will be the last game before coach Bob Bradley’s 23 man roster for the World Cup is announced.  I will tape and replay the game at 6 pm for those unable to watch at lunch time.
 
Champions League and Europa League are both in the knock out stage.  The Carling Cup final is coming up and the MLS season starts at the end of March.  The USA women will play Mexico at USD on March 28th.  And the USA has two final World Cup warm up games at the end of May against the Czech Republic and Turkey.
 
Still no word yet on the Fox Soccer Plus/Setanta front.  Fox Soccer Plus is supposed to launch March 1st and Direct TV expects to have the channel lined up before that, but nothing is certain yet.  Right now, the schedules for FSC and FSP are up int he air after March 1st, so not a lot of games are listed.  Hopefully Fox Soccer in HD will also be coming on line soon.  The best way to ensure that these channels are available is to request them from your provider – www.cox.net, www.directtv.com, www.timewarnercable.com, www.dishnetwork.com, www.att.com/uverse.  Please visit these sites and request the channels and have any of your friends who enjoy watching soccer on TV do the same.

So here are the upcoming games, with things a little up in the air after the 1st:

Tuesday, 2/23:
11:30 am – Stuttgart v. Barcelona – FSW – return leg on 3/17
11:30 am – Olympiacos v. Bordeaux – also at 8:30 pm – FSC – return leg on 3/17
Noon – Manchester United v. West Ham – also at 3:45 pm and 8 pm - Setanta
2 pm – Stuttgart v. Barcelona – also at 5 pm – FSC
2 pm – Olympiacos v. Bordeaux – also at 5:30 pm - Setanta

Wednesday, 2/24:
On Tape - CSKA Moscow v. Sevilla – return leg on 3/16
11:30 am – Inter Milan v. Chelsea – also at 8:30 pm – FSC – return leg on 3/16
2 pm – CSKA Moscow v. Sevilla – also at 5 pm – FSC
2 pm – Inter Milan v. Chelsea – also at 5:30 pm – Setanta
3:45 pm – CSKA Moscow v. Sevilla – also at 8 pm – Setanta
4 pm – USA v. El Salvador – ESPN Classic – WEAR YOUR USA COLORS!!!
 
Thursday, 2/25:
Noon – Juventus v. Ajax – Gol TV
5 pm – Roma v. Panathinaikos – Gol TV
 
Saturday, 2/27:
On Tape – Hull City v. Aston Villa, Chelsea v. Manchester City, Stoke v. Arsenal, Bolton v. Wolverhampton
11 am – Tenerife v. Real Madrid – Gol TV
Noon – Montpellier v. Rennes – Setanta
3:45 pm – Bolton v. Wolverhampton – Setanta
4 pm – Burnley v. Portsmouth
 
Sunday, 2/28:
On Tape – Liverpool v. Blackburn, Tottenham v. Everton, Sunderland v. Fulham
On Tape – Carling Cup Final – Aston Villa v. Manchester United

Wednesday, 3/3:
11:30 am – Netherlands v. USA – ESPN2 – will tape and reshow at 6 pm – WEAR YOUR USA COLORS!!!
11:45 am – Germany v. Argentina - Gol TV
1:45 pm – Italy v. Cameroon – Gol TV
 
Saturday, 3/6:
On Tape – Manchester City v. Tottenham
 
Sunday, 3/7:
On Tape – Everton v. Hull City, AC Milan v. Roma
 
Monday, 3/8:
Noon – Wigan v. Liverpool – ESPN2
 
Tuesday, 3/9:
11:30 am – Arsenal v. FC Porto 
11:30 am – Fiorentina v. Bayern Munich
 
Wednesday, 3/10:
11:30 am – Real Madrid v. Lyon
11:30 am – Manchester United v. AC Milan
 
Monday, 3/15:
Noon – Liverpool v. Portsmouth – ESPN2
 
Tuesday, 3/16:
11:30 am – CSKA Moscow v. Sevilla
11:30 am – Inter Milan v. Chelsea
 
Wednesday, 3/17: St. Patrick’s Day
11:30 am – Stuttgart v. Barcelona
11:30 am – Olympiacos v. Bordeaux
 
Thursday, 3/25: MLS First Kick
6:30 pm – Philadelphia Union v. Seattle Sounders – ESPN2
 
Saturday, 3/27:
4 pm – Chicago Fire v. NY Red Bulls – ESPN
6 pm – Real Salt Lake v. San Jose Earthquakes – FSC
8 pm – New England Revolution v. La Galaxy – FSC
 
Sunday, 3/28:
2 pm – USA Women v. Mexico Women – USD Torero Stadium! – FSC
 
Tuesday, 3/31:
6 pm – USA Women v. Mexico Women – ESPN2
 
Monday, 5/25:
USA v. Czech Republic, time TBD
 
Friday, 5/29:
11 am – USA v. Turkey – ESPN2

That is your soccer update for now.  Look for another email around the second leg games of the Champions League and before the start of the MLS season.  I’ll also have info on the USA v. Mexico women’s game including our pre-party at the pub.  If you are interested in joining our local chapter of the American Outlaws US Soccer supporters club, please visit www.theamericanoutlaws.com.  We’ll see you soon for some great soccer action.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Big Beer Fans!

We have some fantastic big beers on tap and coming soon for this weekend.  It starts tonight, Thursday the 11th, with a cask of Ballast Point Sea Monster Stout at 5 pm.  This delicious, 10% alcohol Imperial Stout is already too easy to drink and cask conditioning can only make it better.  It is not too often that we have really big stouts through the beer engine so this is a rare treat.  And on tap you can find Deschutes Mirror Mirror, an 11% barrel aged barleywine, the new 2010 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (which means we are pouring the Big P – 1/2 Pale, 1/2 Bigfoot), Avery Dugana Double IPA and Bear Republic Apex IPA, which is 7.5% abv.  Russian River Pliny the Elder will be back on tap for Thursday night.  And we still have some of the Russian River bottles from the World Tour including several 3 liter bottles of Temptation, Consecration and Supplication.

North Coast Night

This Friday, February 12th, we will feature a North Coast night that will include two of my favorite domestic beers. First, we will have a very limited draft supply of Old Rasputin XII, which is the barrel aged version of this incredible stout.  We do have plenty of the bottles though.  Second, we will have a three year draft vertical tasting of Old Stock Ale.  I think this is one of the finest, and best aging barleywine-style beers in the world.  We will have kegs of 2007, 2009 and 2010 all on tap for you to try side by side.  I have already sneaked a taste of the 2009 and I can tell you that it is wonderful and it makes me very excited to taste the 2007.  We will also have the Acme IPA, La Merle Saison and Brother Thelonius (named for Thelonius Monk) which is a strong, abbey-style ale.

We will be open normal hours over Presiden’ts day weekend – 11:30 am to Midnight on Saturday the 13th, Noon to 6 pm on Sunday the 14th and 11 am to 10:30 pm on Monday the 15th.  In honor of the Toronado Barleywine festival in San Francisco which happens this weekend, we will have specials on all of our draft barleywines Saturday night – Bigfoot, Mirror Mirror and our 3 vintages of Old Stock Ale along with three great barleywines in the bottle – Lost Abbey Angel’s Share, Nils Oscar Barleywine from Sweden and the Alpine Great Barleywine, which is a 14.1% alcohol Bourbon barrel aged beast.  Also on Saturday the 13th at 6:30 pm we will tap our first keg of Russian River Pliny the Younger.  I don’t expect it to last too long, so we will have a keg of Alpine Bad Boy double IPA to tap as soon as it blows.  We should also have the AleSmith My Bloody Valentine

Next Week

Next week we have three great nights of beer in a row.  Wednesday the 17th we have a double treat of smoked beers – Ballast Point Abandon Ship Smoked Lager and the Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier made with oak smoked malt instead of the normal beech wood used in this Bamberg beer.  The oak smoked malt is supposed to give it a less intense smokey flavor than the regular version.  This special oak smoked malt is only used once a year, so this is a real treat for smoked beer fans.  And just because we can, there will be a five gallon cask of Ballast Point Victory at Sea tapped at 6 pm on Wednesday night as well.

Thursday the 18th we tap our annual cask of AleSmith’s My Bloody Valentine at 5 pm.  This is a dark red ale with a nice hop/malt balance.  If you like the brewery’s Evil Dead Red, you will love this beer too.  And as we do every Thursday, we will have all of our local beers on special.  Also on the 18th I will be on 91X’s Beer 4 Breakfast drinking some of the Trappist beers from Konigshoeven in the Netherlands.  Starting Friday the 19th and running all weekend we will have the new Ranger IPA from New Belgium Brewing along with La Folie (Flemish sour brown) and the Dark Heather Saison all on tap.

Looking Ahead

We have two USA soccer matches coming up on tv.  The first is Wednesday, February 24th at 4 pm against El Salvador.  This is another pre-World Cup friendly to help determine our final roster.  We will have two different five gallon casks of Alpine’s Token Imperial Porter on tap at half time of the game – around 5 pm.  One is conditioning with a vanilla bean, the other with Bourbon-soaked oak chips.  Both should be delicious.  The next USA soccer match will be Wednesday, March 3rd at 11:45 am against the Netherlands.  I won’t be at the pub, since I will be in Amsterdam at the game.  We will re-show the game at 6 pm as well. 

The UEFA Champions League resumes play on the 16th, 17th, 23rd and 24th of February – all lunch time kick offs.  And USA Women’s team will be in San Diego to play Mexico at USD Torero Stadium on Sunday, March 28th at 2 pm.  Our local chapter of the American Outlaws will be buying a group of tickets – cost $23 each.  Please email me and let me know if you are interested in joining us for the game.  We will of course, have some pre-game festivities at the pub that day.  That weekend is also the first of the MLS season and we will have the Direct Kick soccer package this year.  If you would like to be on our soccer-specific email list, just reply to this email and tell me.

In sticking with the Alpine cask theme from the 24th, we will tap a cask of the superb Alpine Bad Boy double IPA at 5 pm on Thursday the 25th.  I should have a keg of the Bad Boy on tap as well once the cask blows.  Friday the 26th we will host an evening of beers from Alaskan Brewing which will include the Smoked Porter, Barleywine and IPA.  Thursday, March 4th we will have the Alpine O’Brien’s IPA on cask.  The draft kegs should be at the pub soon.  A new batch of Exponential Hoppiness is also expected to hit the taps before the end of February.

Last Call for Europe!

There are just a few spaces left for our annual pub crawl to Amsterdam and Belgium through Ciao! Travel.  However, you only have two more days to sign up!  Grab one of our discout flyers at the pub or find the information at www.ciaotravel.com.  Our good friend Bill Snider, owner of Ciao! Travel, has put together an amazing tour package that includes the Zythos 24 Hour beer festival, two pre-Zythos festivals (including a lambic fest), and stops at countless breweries like La Trappe/Konigshoeven, Malheur, Wesvleteren and St. Bernardus.  And the dollar is making steady gains against the Euro and looks like it will continue to do so as credit worries deepen across Europe.  Join us for this great beer adventure.
 
Our new merchandise is in at the pub.  We have a few new slogans – “I’m not bitter, I just drink San Diego beer” and “Alcohol is the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life – GB Shaw”.  We have restocked the popular yoga pants and we still have some of our “Don’t Tread on Me” US Soccer shirts.  All of the new beer newspapers are in at the pub – Ale Street News, Celebrator and Brewing News.  You can also now find the Brewing News papers online at www.brewingnews.com and find information on breweries across the country through all of the regional newspapers.
 
That is your good beer news for now.  We’ll see you soon for a great strong ale!  Cheers, Tom

Hello Soccer Fans!

There are some great games coming up in the next few weeks starting tomorrow with some fantastic EPL matches on Wednesday the 10th.  The Champions League knockout stage begins next Tuesday and Wednesday and every game will be shown live.  We get to see David Beckham versus his old team Manchester United, and Jose Mourinho take on Chelsea with Inter Milan.  The USA plays El Salvador on the 24th and then the Netherlands with a full strength European-based squad at lunch time on Wednesday, March 3rd.

There is a lot of change coming on the TV soccer front.  Setanta is pulling out of the US market and has sold its broadcast rights to Fox, which is launching a new channel, Fox Soccer Plus, starting March 1st.  My guess is that Direct TV, which will be losing Setanta, will pick up the new Fox Soccer Plus so that we will have it at the pub.  However, nothing is certain yet.  Fox Soccer is also starting to broadcast in HD, but as of now, the HD channel is not available.  The best way to ensure that these channels are available is to request them from your provider – www.cox.net, www.directtv.com, www.timewarnercable.com, www.dishnetwork.com, www.att.com/uverse.  Please visit these sites and request the channels and have any of your friends who enjoy watching soccer on TV do the same.

Our local chapter of American Outlaws will be hosting viewing parties for both of the upcoming USA games at the pub.  If you would like to join the Outlaws, please visit www.theamericanoutlaws.com.  We will have a short and informal meeting after the USA v. El Salvador game on the 24th.  I will tape the Netherlands v. USA game at lunchtime and re-show it at 6 pm on Wednesday, March 3rd.  Rumor has it that the USA will play two warm up matches on the east coast prior to the World Cup.

Landon Donovan is playing well and starting at Everton, Jozy Altidore scored his first premier league goal for Hull City over the weekend and Carlos Bocanegra is back in the starting line up for Rennes.  It is a great time to be watching American players abroad.  We will be getting the MLS Direct Kick TV package this year so that we will be able to show more than 100 MLS games during the regular and post season.  And the USA Women will be playing right here in San Diego on Sunday, March 28th versus Mexico at USD Torero stadium.  We will likely be buying a group of tickets (in the $22-$30 range) to the game, if you are interested, please email me and let me know.

So here are the upcoming games, with more games TBA after Feb. 21st:

Wednesday, 2/10:
11:30 am – Aston Villa v. Manchester United – also at 5 pm – FSC
11:30 am – Arsenal v. Liverpool – also at 5:30 pm – Setanta
2 pm – Everton v. Chelsea – also at 7:15 pm – Setanta
2 pm – Wolverhampton v. Tottenham – FSC
3:45 pm – West Ham v. Birmingham – Setanta

Friday, 2/12:
11:30 am – AC Milan v. Udinese – FSC

Saturday, 2/13: FA Cup Weekend
On Tape – Chelsea v. Cardiff City, Reading v. West Brom, Manchester City v. Stoke City, Southhampton v. Portsmouth, Derby v. Birmingham, Roma v. Palermo
11:30 am – Sampdoria v. Fiorentine – also at 8 pm – FSC
2 pm – Chelsea v. Cardiff City – Setanta
3:45 pm – Manchester City v. Stoke City – Setanta

Sunday, 2/14:
On Tape – Fulham v. Notts County, Bolton v. Tottenham, Crystal Palace v. Aston Villa
11:30 am – Napoli v. Inter Milan – FSC
2 pm – Juventus v. Genoa – FSC

Tuesday, 2/16:
11:30 am – Lyon v. Real Madrid – also at 8:30 pm – FSC – return leg on 3/10
11:30 am – AC Milan v. Manchester United – FSN – return leg on 3/10
11:40 am -Stoke v. Manchester City – Setanta
2 pm – AC Milan v. Manchester United – also at 5 pm – FSC
2 pm – Lyon v. Real Madrid – also at 5:30 pm – Setanta

Wednesday, 2/17:
11:30 am – FC Porto v. Arsenal – also at 8:30 pm – FSC – return leg on 3/9
11:30 am – Bayern Munich v. Fiorentina – also at 3:45 pm – Setanta – return leg on 3/9
Noon – Wigan v. Bolton – ESPN2
2 pm – Bayern Munich v. Fiorentina – also at 5 pm - FSC
2 pm – Arsenal v. FC Porto – also at 5:30 pm – Setanta

Thursday, 2/18: Europa League
Noon – Athletic Madrid v. Galatasaray – Gol TV
5 pm – Panathinaikos v. Roma – Gol TV

Saturday, 2/20:
On Tape – Everton v. Manchester United, Wolverhampton v. Chelsea, Portsmouth v. Stoke City, Arsenal v. Sunderland
2 pm – West Ham v. Hull City
3:45 pm – Arsenal v. Sunderland – Setanta
4 pm – Wolverhampton v. Chelsea – FSC
8 pm – Portsmouth v. Stoke City – FSC
 
Sunday, 2/21:
On Tape – Manchester City v. Liverpool, Fulham v. Birmingham, Aston Villa v. Burnley, Wigan v. Tottenham
Noon – Rennes v. Lille – Setanta
 
Monday, 2/22:
Noon – Blackburn v. Bolton – ESPN2

Tuesday, 2/23:
11:30 am – Stuttgart v. Barcelona – return leg on 3/17
11:30 am – Olympiacos v. Bordeaux – also at 8:30 pm – FSC – return leg on 3/17

2 pm – Stuttgart v. Barcelona – also at 5 pm – FSC

Wednesday, 2/24:
11:30 am – CSKA Moscow v. Sevilla – return leg on 3/16
11:30 am – Inter Milan v. Chelsea – also at 8:30 pm – FSC – return leg on 3/16

2 pm – CSKA Moscow v. Sevilla – also at 5 pm – FSC
4 pm – USA v. El Salvador – ESPN Classic – WEAR YOUR USA COLORS!!!
 
Saturday, 2/27:
On Tape – Hull City v. Aston Villa, Chelsea v. Manchester City, Stoke v. Arsenal
4 pm – Burnley v. Portsmouth
 
Sunday, 2/28:
On Tape – Liverpool v. Blackburn, Sunderland v. Fulham

Wednesday, 3/3:
11:30 am – Netherlands v. USA – ESPN2 – will tape and reshow at 6 pm – WEAR YOUR USA COLORS!!!
 
Saturday, 3/6:
On Tape – Manchester City v. Tottenham
 
Sunday, 3/7:
On Tape – Everton v. Hull City, AC Milan v. Roma
 
Monday, 3/8:
Noon – Wigan v. Liverpool – ESPN2

Tuesday, 3/9:

11:30 am – Arsenal v. FC Porto 

11:30 am – Fiorentina v. Bayern Munich

Wednesday, 3/10:

11:30 am – Real Madrid v. Lyon

11:30 am – Manchester United v. AC Milan

Monday, 3/15:
Noon – Liverpool v. Portsmouth – ESPN2

Tuesday, 3/16:

11:30 am – CSKA Moscow v. Sevilla

11:30 am – Inter Milan v. Chelsea

Wednesday, 3/17: St. Patrick’s Day

11:30 am – Stuttgart v. Barcelona

11:30 am – Olympiacos v. Bordeaux
 
Thursday, 3/25: MLS First Kick
6:30 pm – Philadelphia Union v. Seattle Sounders – ESPN2
 
Saturday, 3/27:
4 pm – Chicago Fire v. NY Red Bulls – ESPN
6 pm – Real Salt Lake v. San Jose Earthquakes – FSC
8 pm – New England Revolution v. La Galaxy – FSC
 
Sunday, 3/28:
2 pm – USA Women v. Mexico Women – USD Torero Stadium!

That is your soccer news for now.  We will have two different 5 gallon casks of Alpine Token Imperial Porter tapped during halftime (about 5 pm) of the USA v. El Salvador game on Wednesday the 24th.  We’ll see you soon for some great football action.  Cheers, Tom

Hello All!

Just a short web-only update this week.  Tonight, Friday the 5th, we feature beers from Deschutes Brewing Company in Bend, Oregon including Hop Henge double IPA, Abyss Imperial Stout, Mirror Mirror barrel aged barleywine and Inversion IPA.  We also still have some of the great Russian River beers on tap from our World Tour Weekend.

Saturday the 6th we will tap a keg of Avery Dugana double IPA around 6 pm and we will have it on tap for our superbowl party on Sunday the 7th.  Lindsey will have a fresh batch of Gumbo for the game as well.  I also expect to have all of the Deschutes beers still on tap as well.  Every weekend, all bottles are 10% off including import bottles purchased to-go.

Next week you can look forward to a cask of Ballast Point Sea Monster Stout on Thursday the 11th (I will also be on 91X Beer for Breakfast on the 11th pouring some beers from Koningshoeven).  Friday the 12th is North Coast night with mulitple vintages of Old Stock Ale – one of the best American Strong Ales – and Old Rasputin XII on tap along with some other great North Coast beers.  There are rumors of Pliny the Younger on the 13th – I will let you know.  We will be open normal hours on Sunday the 14th and Monday the 15th over President’s Day weekend.

Our new shirts are in.  We have two new slogans – I am not bitter, I just drink San Diego beer and a great G.B. Shaw quote – Alcohol is the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life.  We also restocked our popular yoga pants and we have a few of our Don’t Tread On Me US Soccer shirts still available.

There is still about one week to book your place on our annual European Pub Crawl to Belgium and Holland.  Check the Ciao! Travel website – www.ciaotravel.com – for the latest info or grab a flyer at the pub.  That is your good beer news for now.  We’ll see you soon for a great beer.  Cheers, Tom

As of opening today, Sunday the 31st, all 14 Russian River beers were still on tap – Supplication, Consecration, Temptation, Redemption, Benediction, Rejection, Damnation, Perdition, Porter, IPA, Blind Pig, Aud Blonde, Dead Leaf Green and Pliny the Elder!  We also still have many of the vintage bottles still available including Beatification and Batch 23 Damnation.  So stop by and enjoy a great Russian River beer without the crowds.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Good Beer Fans!

It has been a very fun month celebrating 16 years of great beer at O’Brien’s.  And there is still plenty more great beer to come.  Right now we have some great hoppy beers on tap including Coronado Idiot IPA, Green Flash Imperial IPA, the new Port Brewing Mongo double IPA, Alpine Duet IPA and the just released 2010 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine.  Wednesday night the 27th we will add the Stone and Brew Dog collaboration Bashah (Black As S**t, Hoppy As Hell – kind of like the Wgasa Tram line at the Wild Animal Park).  I haven’t tried it yet, but I hear that it is quite dark and rather hoppy. 

And speaking of Stone collaborations, we have bottles of the Nogne/Jolly Pumpkin/Stone Holiday ale with chestnuts, juniper berries and sage.  The beer uses the same recipe each year, but is brewed at a different one of the three breweries each year.  This year is Nogne O in Norway, so it counts as import bottle for to-go purposes.  We also have the De La Senne Stouterik Belgian Stout, Brasserie Lefebvre Saison 1900 and Alpine Exponential Hoppiness all in bottles.  On the honey wine front, we have 4 Redstone meads available – Traditional Honey Wine, Black Raspberry Nectar, Boysenberry Nectar and Vanilla Bean and Cinnamon Stick which is the annual winter seasonal.

Thursday the 28th we tap a cask of Green Flash West Coast IPA at 5 pm.  This has become one of the most popular IPAs in town and for very good reason.  As always, all of our local beers will be on special Thursday night.

Russian River World Tour

The big news is this weekend’s Russian River World Tour featuring 14 draft beers, 3 more in the bottle and some vintage and large format bottles too on Saturday and Sunday, January 30th and 31st!  Since the line-up is nearly half non-TION beers, Vinnie and I decided to call it a World Tour instead of TION night.  On tap you can look for – Redemption, Rejection, Perdition, Benediction, Damnation, Temptation, Consecration, Aud Blonde, Dead Leaf Green, Porter, IPA, Blind Pig IPA and Pliny the Elder.  No Pliny the Younger as it will not be released until the first week of February. 

In the bottle we will have two different batches of Beatification along with Salvation, Batch 23 Damnation, Damnation, Consecration, and vintage versions of Supplication and Temptation.  We will have a very limited number of 3 liter bottles.  I will have a sheet with all of the styles, abvs and TION definitions for the event.  A few of the beers are already and I expect to get the IPA on before Thursday night.  All of the beers will be available in 5 oz tasters with larger pours or 8.5 oz, 10 oz, 14 oz and 16 oz depending on the beer and its style.  For the sake of the bartenders, please do not order more than 4 five tasters at a time – they will all appreciate it.

Next Week

Our first cask of Febrewary will be Alpine Duet IPA on Thursday the 4th.  Friday the 5th we will be featuring beers from Deschutes brewery in Bend, Oregon.  We’ll have Hop Henge, Abyss and Mirror Mirror on tap for sure and I will likely add some more styles next week.  Over the weekend we have the not-so Super Bowl.  At least we get to root for Drew Brees.  Lindsey will have something cajun themed for a food special and I will find something to tap to make the game more enjoyable.  We will stay open until about 30 minutes after the end of the game.

Looking Ahead

Other fun beers and events you can look forward: Ballast Point Sea Monster cask on Thursday the 11th; North Coast Night on Friday the 12th featuring kegs of Old Rasputin XII and a draft vertical tasting of Old Stock Ale; Ballast Point Abandon Ship Smoked Lager on tap with a Victory at Sea 5 gallon cask and Aecht Schlenkerla Oak Smoked Marzen on tap and New Belgium Brewing Night on Friday the 19th.  We will be open normal hours on Sunday the 14th and Monday the 15th (President’s Day).  Wednesday the 24th we will host a viewing party for the USA v. El Salvador soccer friendly starting at 4 pm.  To help encourage the crowd we will tap two different five gallon casks of the new Alpine Token Imperial Porter – one with vanilla bean and one with bourbon-soaked oak chips.  Both casks will be tapped at halftime of the game – around 5 pm.

Pub Trip

Our annual pub crawl to Belgium with Ciao! Travel is nearly full.  There are only a few spaces left for the Grand Tour which includes Amsterdam, Ghent, Bamberg and Munich.  About a half dozen spaces are still open for the Amsterdam-Mechelin-Ghent tour.  A group of us will be attending the Netherlands v. USA soccer match on Wednesday, March 3rd as part of the trip.  The ticket window for ordering closes this Friday, so if you are interested in going to the game, I need to know by Thursday the 28th.  Every year this trip has been great fun (and a great deal) and I am really looking forward to going this year.  Find a flyer at the pub, or visit Ciao! Travel’s website at www.ciaotravel.com for more information.

One final note, O’Brien’s now has an official dentist, Dr. Craig Kubina.  Craig and his wife Rachel have been O’Brien’s patrons for several years.  Lindsey and I started going to his office soon after we met him.  He is an excellent dentist, and though I don’t really enjoy going to his office to see him – it is always nice to see a friendly face there.  We have started to use Craig’s practice for our dental coverage for our senior employees.  So since you have to go to the dentist, you might as well go to one that homebrews and likes good beer.  His office is in La Mesa near Grossmont Center.  You can find all of the contact information at his website: www.drkubina.com.  And no, I am not getting a discount for writing this – Craig won’t even know I did this until he reads the email.

That is your good beer news for now.  We’ll see you soon for a great pint of beer!  Thanks for celebrating 16 years of great beer with us – we truly appreciate it.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Soccer Fans!

It is my first soccer email of the new year and we have plenty of upcoming games.  The USA takes on Honduras this Saturday in a friendly at the Home Depot Center at 6 pm.  Our bus still has one more seat on it if you want to join us.  Though you will need your own ticket for the game.  We’ll have the sound on for the game at the pub and you can look for our San Diego American Outlaws banner on the FSC broadcast.  Our group will be just south of midfield (to the right as you look at the tv).  There will be 42 of us in 4 rows of 10 of 11 starting 7 rows off the field and nearly all of us will be in red – so look for the San Diego crew during the game!  If you are interested in joining our local chapters of the American Outlaws, please visit www.theamericanoutlaws.com.

The US team will also have games on Wednesday, February 24th against El Salvador and Wednesday, March 3rd at the Netherlands.  Through our annual pub trip to Belgium, we actually have a group of us going to the game in Amsterdam.  You can find info on the trip at www.ciaotravel.com.  This is now the sixth year that we have been doing our European pub crawl.  Every year it has been a great trip, but this is the first time we have been able to include the US national team in our plans.

The English Premier League and FA Cup competitions are at full tilt with a very heavy upcoming fixture list.  Clint Dempsey is injured at Fulham, but Landon Donovan is now starting at Everton.  All three American keepers continue to impress in the league as well.

The UEFA Champions League starts back up on the 16th and 17th of February.  And the games will be spread out over 8 match days for the home and away matches.  So every single game in the round of 16 should be televised live.  The Europe league resumes the week after.

Here are the upcoming games:

Wednesday, 1/20:

11:30 am – Arsenal v. Bolton – FSC – also at 5 pm

11:35 am – Aston Villa v. Blackburn – Setanta – also at 3:30 pm – 2nd leg Carling Cup semi-final

1:45 pm – Liverpool v. Tottenham – Setanta – also at 7 pm

Thursday, 1/21:

Noon – Everton v. Manchester City – FSC – replay from the weekend with Landon Donovan starting – also at 5 pm Friday

Saturday, 1/23:

On Tape – Everton v. Birmingham, Preston North End v. Chelsea, Tottenham v. Leeds

11:30 am – Juventus v. Roma – FSC

Noon – Manchester United v. Hull City

5:15 pm – Reading v. Burnley – Setanta

6 pm – USA v. Honduras – FSC

Sunday, 1/24:

11:30 am – Inter Milan v. AC Milan – FSC

1:30 pm – Scuthorpe v. Manchester City – Setanta

Tuesday, 1/26:

11:40 am – Wolverhampton v. Liverpool – Setanta – also at 3:45 pm and 7:15 pm

Noon – Tottenham v. Fulham – FSC

2 pm – Portsmouth v. West Ham – Setanta – also at 5:30 pm

Wednesday, 1/27:

11:30 am – Chelsea v. Birmingham – FSC – also at 6 pm

11:55 am – Manchester United v. Manchester City – 2nd leg semi-final Carling Cup

2 pm – Aston Villa v. Arsenal – Setanta – also at 7:15 pm

2 pm – Blackburn v. Wigan – FSC

3:45 pm – Everton v. Sundrland – Setanta

4 pm – Fiorentina v. AC Milan – FSC – also at 9 pm

Saturday, 1/30:

On Tape – Burnely v. Chelsea, Liverpool v. Bolton, Fulham v. Aston Villa, Birmingham v. Tottenham

11:30 am – Napoli v. Genoa – FSC

2 pm -West Ham v. Blackburn – Setanta

4 pm – Wigan v. Everton – FSC

5:30 pm – Hull City v. Wolverhampton – Setanta

8 pm – Burnley v. Chelsea – FSC

Sunday, 1/31:

On Tape – Arsenal v. Manchester United, Manchester City v. Portsmouth, AC Milan v. Livorno

11:30 am – Juventus v. Lazio – FSC

11:55 am – Lyon v. PSG – Setanta

Here is a partial list of other future games.  FSC now has 6 weeks of TV schedules posted on its website.

Saturday, 2/6:

On Tape – Hull City v. Manchester City, Tottenham v. Aston Villa

Sunday, 2/7:

On Tape – Chelsea v. Arsenal

Tuesday, 2/9:

Noon – Fulham v. Burnley – FSC

Wednesday, 2/10:

Aston Villa v. Manchester United – FSC

Tuesday, 2/16:

11:30 am – Lyon v. Real Madrid – return leg on 3/9

11:30 am – AC Milan v. Manchester United – return leg on 3/9

Wednesday, 2/17:

11:30 am – FC Porto v. Arsenal – return leg on 3/10

11:30 am – Bayern Munich v. Fiorentina – return leg on 3/10

Tuesday, 2/23:

11:30 am – Stuttgart v. Barcelona – return leg on 3/17

11:30 am – Olympiacos v. Bordeaux – return leg on 3/17

Wednesday, 2/24:

11:30 am – CSKA Moscow v. Sevilla – return leg on 3/16

11:30 am – Inter Milan v. Chelsea – return leg on 3/16

4 pm – USA v. El Salvador – ESPN Classic

Wednesday, March 3:

11:30 am – Netherlands v. USA – ESPN2

That is your soccer news for now.  Ballast Point Big Eye IPA and Sculpin IPA this Thursday at 5 pm.  Sierra Nevada night on Friday the 22nd at the pub.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Good Beer Drinkers!

This promises to be a great weekend in San Diego and at the pub.  It starts Thursday the 14th with a cask of Coronado Idiot IPA at 5 pm.  Then on Friday we have our massive 15 beer Alpine night.  Saturday the divisional playoffs happen and we all get to be Ravens fans for a day against the Colts - we will feature meads from Redstone all day.  Sunday is the big game with the Chargers facing the Jets at 1:40 pm – we’ll have Ballast Point’s Victory at Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter on cask just before kick off.  If anyone would like to go to the game, one of our resident Patriots fans is looking to sell his tickets – View 45, row 9 – for what he paid for them, $165 each.  Call Erik at 858-254-8438.

15 Alpine Beers

That is quite a lot in the first paragraph I have to admit.  The Alpine night on Friday the 15th is going to feature a tremendous line up of beer.  We’ll have lots of hoppy beers – Alpine Ale, O’Brien’s IPA, Duet IPA, Nelson Rye-IPA, Pure Hoppiness and Exponential Hoppiness.  The new Imperial Porter will be on tap, which brewer Shawn McIllhenney says has a great chocolate flavor to it.  There will be casks of Good, the non-barrel aged barleywine and Duet IPA.  The Great, which is the Bourbon barrel aged barleywine will be on tap.  We will also have Captain Stout, Mandarin Nectar, Willy (Wheat Ale), Willy Vanilly (Willy with vanilla bean), McIllhenney’s Irish Red and Captain and Vanil (Captain Stout with vanilla bean). It is 15 different beers and 16 total Alpine handles (Duet draft and cask counting as the same beer, but two handles).  The Alpine crew will be there to share some beers with us and help celebrate O’Brien’s 16th Anniversary.

Playoff Weekend

Saturday the 16th we will feature mead from Redstone Meadery in Boulder, Colorado.  We will have four different honey wines in bottles – Traditional, Black Raspberry Nectar, Boysenberry Nectar and the Winter seasonal with Vanilla Bean and Cinnamon.  In addition to Redstone, we also will have Mountain Meadows Spice Nectar mead, Dogfish Head World Wide Stout, Hair of the Dog Blue Dot Double IPA, Saison 1900 and the Nogne O/Stone/Jolly Pumpkin collaboration Holiday ale made with juniper berries, sage and chestnuts all for sale.  Nogne O Porter and Nogne O Pale Ale are on the bottle list right now.  And we have six Lost Abbey beers in the bottle and some Jolly Pumpkin beers as well.
 
The first playoff game will be Arizona v. New Orleans at 1:30 pm and who knows, it might be another 90 point game like last week.  The second game features the new Baltimore vs. the old Baltimore as the Colts host the Ravens.  I know it may seem painful to cheer for the Ravens, but hey, hosting the AFC Championship game sure would nice.  No matter where it is played the AFC Championship game will be at Noon on the 24th followed by the NFC Championship game at 3:30 pm.
 
Sunday the 17th is the Chargers v. Jets game at 1:40 pm.  We will tap the cask of Victory at Sea around 1:15 pm so that you can all get one before kick off.  The cask is conditioning with a vanilla bean inside it.  I also expect to have the Green Flash Imperial IPA on tap for the game and still have plenty of Alpine beer on tap all weekend.  I can not wait for Sunday, it seems like an eternity since the last Chargers game.  We can only hope that the offense comes out and takes over the game and doesn’t make us wait until the final play.

Next Week

Though there is no more Monday night football, our great pitcher special is still happening every Monday night from 4:30 pm until close.  We have $10 pitchers of all craft and local beers and $14 pitchers of strong ales.  It is hard to find a better deal on good beer anywhere in town.  And every Sunday and Monday we offer our beer battered fish and chips and fish tacos.

Wednesday the 20th we will tap a keg of 2008 N’ice Chouffe.  Every year I age a keg of this delicious Christmas ale and it just gets better with age.  Thursday the 21st is our double cask night from Ballast Point featuring the brewery’s two IPAs – Big Eye IPA and Sculpin IPA, both tapped at 5 pm.  All of our local beers are on special every Thursday from 4-8 pm.

Friday the 22nd was going to be my random keg night and it has morphed into more of a random Sierra Nevada keg night.  We have got some very rare kegs from the brewery including a now nearly one year old keg of The Empire Strikes Black Imperial Stout.  We’ll also the two collaboration beers done with Dogfish Head – Life and Limb and Limb and Life. The first is a 10.2% alcohol strong ale and the next beer is made from the second runnings from the mash tun and is a 5% alcohol session ale.  I also have kegs of Sierra Nevada Porter and Stout, both of which I love, and a keg of the new golden bock, Glissade, which replaces the old Pale Bock.  And if all goes well, we will have the new 2010 Bigfoot on tap and that means we’ll also have the Big P – half Pale and half Bigfoot.

Saturday the 23rd the USA will play Honduras in friendly match at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA.  Our American Outlaws bus up to the game has one seat available on it, but unfortunately all of our group tickets for the game have been sold.  So if you have a ticket (or you just go buy one) and you want to ride up with our rolling tailgate, please email me.  The game will be on at the pub at 6 pm on Fox Soccer.  As mentioned, both NFL playoff games will be on Sunday the 24th.

We will have some new merchandise in next week as well including some Tie-Dye shirts, more yoga pants and some shirts with new slogans.  Everything should be out for sale by Friday the 22nd.

Great Belgian Beer/US Soccer Tour

I have the latest updates on our annual beer tour to Belgium from Ciao! Travel owner Bill Snider.  Here they are:

1.       There are only 14 spaces left on the 2010 Great Belgian Beer Tour.

Hurry! The O’Brien’s Pub $200 off published web rates expire January 21, 2010 or when the 14 spaces are filled.

2.       The US Soccer Friendly Game in Amsterdam on March 03

Bill has set up a way for us to enjoy lunch at Westvleteren, take the hi-speed Thalys train from Brussels to Amsterdam, enjoy the game, stay overnight in Amsterdam at a central four star hotel with breakfast, then train back to Brussels to connect with the tour coach the next day. With an $88 game ticket, a $121 round trip second class Thalys Hi-Speed train ticket and 1 night in Amsterdam’s four star hotel NH Carlton (crediting the Gent hotel night) the total is a quite reasonable $239 per person. (Prices are per person, based on two persons in one room)

3.       GBBT 2a Special Offer!

When booking GBBT 2a and purchasing an extra Amsterdam hotel night (from $69 per person 3 star hotel), you’ll receive one extra night and breakfast free! Come early and enjoy 3 nights in A’dam instead of one for just $69

If you are interested in going to the USA Soccer match on March 3rd against the Netherlands, please contact me or Bill as soon as possible as we have a very limited number of seats purchased for the game.  I can’t wait to cheer on the US team on foreign soil for the first time.  The USA will be using all of its Euorpeam based players so we should see both teams at their absolute best.  And spending one extra night in Amsterdam is really not going to upset me.  If you have questions about the trip, feel free to email me or visit the Ciao! Travel website at www.ciaotravel.com.

Final Musings

Our favorite gypsy jazz guitarist, John Jorgenson, is playing a second area show this Sunday the 17th at 7:00 pm in Del Mar.  You can find info and tickets at: http://delmarfoundation.org/Pages/jjQuintet.html.  The Pizza Port Brewbies benefitting the Keep A Breast Foundation will be at the Carlsbad location on Saturday, February 13th from Noon to 5 pm.  For more info, visit the Pizza Port website – www.pizzaport.com.  You can also now follow Pizza Port on Twitter for updates on beer tappings, casks and guest beers.  I am also happy to report that San Diego made the cut as one of the 18 final cities for the USA World Cup Bid.  Thank you to everyone who showed support for our bid!  We will find out if the USA will host the World Cup in December.

Finally, our Russian River World Tour is starting to take shape for Saturday the 30th and Sunday the 31st.  I am expecting to have 14 beers on tap including Temptation, Consecration, Perdition, Salvation, Damnation, Benediction, Redemption, Pliny the Elder, Blind Pig, Aud Blonde, Russian River IPA, Happy Hops, Porter and Dead Leaf Green.  We will also have some Beatification bottles and possibly some 3 liter bottles.  As the details get finalized next week, I will let you know.

That is your good beer news for now.  GO CHARGERS!  We’ll see you soon for a great beer.  Cheers, Tom