What’s Happening

Hello Good Beer Fans!

Here is your quick (I swear) update on what is happening at O’Brien’s and in the world of good beer this weekend. There are going to be lots of great beers on tap this week. Our distributor found one more keg of the Sierra Nevada Torpedo and it is on tap along with the epic Port Carlsbad Hop Suey Double IPA. And there is even a little bit of the 2005 Stone Double Bastard left that is tasting great (more balanced than the 2006).

The big news this week is the pre party for the Strong Ale Festival. It happens Thrusday night (Nov. 30th) and will feature a cask of Ballast Point Sculpin IPA at 5 pm. We will also have Alpine Duet IPA, Alpine double barrel aged Great Barleywine, Pizza Port Lou P. Lin Double IPA and Avery Sameal’s strong ale – all on tap! Not that a beer festival needs a pre-party, but we do it anyway because beer is always worth celebrating.

All of those bottles that I have been promising finally came in. We have the De Glazen Toren Saison along with the brewery’s strong Wit beer and Triple. And after years (literally) of ordering I have finally gotten the JW Lees Harvest Ale aged in Lagavulin Whiskey Casks. And there is the Cantillon Fou Fonne Apricot Lambic, Geants Saison Voison, Saison de Pipaix 1995 and Vapeur Cochonne 1996 among others. There are so many new bottles that I had start a second list to fit all of the new ones on it – though some of the new ones are on the regular list.

The Strong Ale Festival is this weekend – Friday and Saturday, December 1st and 2nd at Pizza Port Carlsbad from 4-11 pm on Firday and 11 am to 11 pm on Saturday. We have tried to get full kegs of almost all of the beers so that the tap list will be the same both days. Cost is $25 and includes eight 4 ounce samples. Additional samples are just $1. And of course the annual festival smoked bratwurst pizza will be available. There will be more than 65 beers on tap for your consumption pleasure. Motel 6 is stumbling distance (I know from personal stumbling experience) and the Coaster train is just blocks away and runs till 11 pm on Friday and 6 pm on Saturday. Hope to see you there.

Sunday the 3rd we will open early and Cesar will be cooking up something for breakfast so that we can all watch our 9-2 Chargers take on the Buffalo Bills at 10 am. So our Sunday hours for the 3rd will be 10 am – 5 pm.

Next week look for a cask of YuleSmith from AleSmtih on Thursday the 7th. And I am hoping to tap into several Belgian ales for Tuesday the 5th including N’ice Chouffe, the christmas beer from La Chouffe. Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout will on tap Friday the 8th. We will be closing the 24th-25th and 26th for Christmas. And the Coke machine will be up and running again soon.

Have a great rest of the week and we’ll see you soon over a great beer and some holiday cheer.

A Very Happy almost Thanksgiving to everyone!

It is short week and I am going to attempt to keep the email likewise.  We will be closing down on Thursday and Friday this week – the 23rd and 24th.  However, we will be open all day Saturday from Noon to 8 pm on the 25th and from Noon to 5 pm on the 26th.  And on Sunday hopefully we can all watch the Chargers destroy the Raiders again at 1:15 pm.

In the meantime, there is plenty of great beer to enjoy before hitting the turkey.  The new batch of Sierra Celebration is on tap along with the Lagunitas Imperial Red and the Ballast Point Sea Monseter Stout on nitrogen.  The Bear Republic Apex turned out to be the wrong keg, it is instead the brewery’s very drinkable ESB.  We should get the problem fixed next month.  And the Stone Oaked Bastard and 2005 and 2006 Double Bastards are still on as well.  We also still have bottles of the 2003 and 2004 Double Bastard that are tasting great.  Look for the AleSmith YuleSmith and anchor X-Mas to be on tap soon.

Wednesday the 22nd we have a very special and very rare keg of Dogfish Head’s 90 Minute IPA (a double IPA really) to tap at 5 pm.  This may be the only keg of Dogfish Head beer we get until next fall.  We also have several of the brewery’s beers in the bottle – Midas Touch, a honey ale with saffron, Raison D’Etre, a Belgian-inspired double with raisins and 90 Minute IPA.  We are on our second case of all of these bottles, so enjoy them while you can, once they are gone, it will be almost a year before we can restock them.

In addition to the 90 Minute IPA keg, we will have a 5 gallon cask of Alpine Duet IPA and a cask of Stone’s Double Bastard ale both at 5 pm.  So kiss work goodbye for four days and come celebrate at O’Brien’s.

Tuesday and Wednesday at Lunch we will have live UEFA Champions League matches.  Tuesday is Manchester United vs. Celtic and Arsenal vs. Hamburg.  Wednesday we have Liverpool vs. PSV Eindhoven.

Our new merchandise continues to come in.  This week, our flex fit hats finally came in.  We have lots of new men’s shirts too.  Women’s gear is on order and should be here by the middle of December.

I am expecting a bunch of new bottles in the next two weeks – I will keep you posted when new stuff comes in.  I am also hoping that Rochefort 10 will be back in stock by Wednesday.  We also still have the 60th Anniversary edition of St. Bernardus abt 12 as well as Fuller’s 2006 Vintage Ale.  And we have some vintage bottles of AleSmith’s YuleSmith that are almost gone.

Next week will be a busy one as I get ready for the Strong Ale Festival at Pizza Port Carlsbad on the 1st and 2nd of December.  We will have a pre-party at the pub on Thursday the 30th with a cask of Ballast Point Sculpin IPA and kegs of Pizza Port Hop Suey and Lou P. Lin along with Apine’s double barrel aged Great and Avery Sameal’s.  Though probably one of the most unnecessary things – a strong beer fest pre-party – these are always fun nights with tons of great beer.

That is all for now.  Have a great Thanksgiving and we will see you soon over a great beer.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Good Beer Fans!

As always, there is much to write about, but I will try to contain myself. First off, I want to thank everyone who came by for the Wet Hop Festival this past weekend. There were a number of great beers – many of which are still on tap. In all we had 28 wet hopped ales over the 3 days, making it the country’s largest wet hop gathering.

Today/Tonight (Wednesday the 8th) we have a couple of treats. First off we have New Belgium’s new winter beer, 2 Below. It is a well hopped (by Colorado standards) strong pale ale – 6.5%. It is very tasty. We’ll also have Fat Tire on tap and the very popular New Belgium Globe glasses for just $3 each. Both beers will be on special all night long.

In addition, we finally received the first of our Dogfish Head bottles. We now have three in stock, cold and ready to drink. First is the 90 Minute IPA, one of the East Coast’s hoppiest beers and quite tasty in the bottle (you didn’t think I would write about it without tasting it did you?). Second is Midas Touch – a 9% golden ale with honey, Muscat white wine grapes and saffron based on an ancient Sumerian recipe for beer. And finally, the very drinkable Raison D’Etre, a Belgian inspired Dubbel made with raisons that is 8% alcohol. These bottles are very reasonable – only $3 – $4 each. O’Brien’s is the only spot in Southern California to have Dogfish Head beers and we won’t be able to restock these until sometime next year, so enjoy them while you can. We will have a draft keg of the 90 Minute IPA on Wednesday, November 22nd.

This Thursday, the 9th, I am going to have a very special wet hop surprise for you – I have another cask of the Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale to tap at 5 pm. We are the first pub in the world to tap cask beer from Sierra, and I can assure you that the cask is delicious. In addition to the cask, I am also going to set up the jockey box so that we can tap additional wet hop beers from the fest. I know last week I had mentioned doing a cask of Alpine Duet IPA on the 9th and that Alpine’s email even mentioned it, but that cask will now be tapped on Thursday the 16th along with the pin of Irish Red. Sorry for the confusion – I wasn’t sure if there would be a second cask or not.

This weekend is the San Diego Brewers Guild Beer Festival at the World Beat Center in Balboa Park (it is the big round building on Park blvd. with murals painted on it). It is Friday and Saturday from 6-10 pm both nights. Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door. I do have a limited number of tickets available at the pub – email me if you are interested. You can also buy tickets at Home Brew Mart in Linda Vista and online at the Guild website – www.sandiegobrewersguild.org. Every San Diego brewery will be there and I have seen what most of them are bringing and it will be a great festival – Sculpin IPA, Lou P. Lin, Double Bastard, Lost and Found, Cask of Espresso Stout, AleSmith Grand Cru and many many more. This should become one of the best festivals of the year. Come support your local brewers and try a bunch of really great beer.

After the Guild Fest on Sunday the 12th we have another special exclusive for you lucky beer drinkers (it seems that there are a lot of them this email). For the Chargers vs. Bengals game at 10 am we will tap a keg of the new Bear Republic Apex IPA. This new IPA won the silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival and is even hoppier than the Racer 5. There is only one keg south of San Francisco and we have it. So stop by to watch the game and try out this fantastic new IPA. We’ll also have some breakfast items on the specials board in addition to our regular menu.

See all of that great beer just in the next 5 days. We truly are America’s Finest (Beer) City.

Next week we’ll have our much anticipated dueling Duet cask night with Alpine Duet IPA on cask (look for it on tap in the next few days) and Alpine McIllhenney’s Irish Red on cask which Pat just couldn’t help but dry hop. So we will have a very hoppy IPA and a likely to be hoppy Irish Red both at 5 pm on Thursday the 16th. Also on that Thursday you can look for us in the Night and Day section of the Union Tribune as the featured Happy Hour of the Week.

Friday the 17th is our big Stone Double Double Bastard Night. We’ll have the new 2006 Double Bastard on tap along with a vintage keg of the 2005 Double Bastard AND bottles of the 2003 and 2004 Double Bastard – 4 years of Double Bastard all in one night. The draft beers will tap at 5 pm and the bottles will be available all day.

That weekend, the Chargers game has been moved to a night game at 5:15 against Denver on the 19th. Like it won’t be cold enough in Denver during the day, we need to play them at night. Great. We’ll be open to cheer them on regardless, with the kitchen open until halftime. So on Sunday the 19th our hours will be Noon to 9 pm so that the TV gods can further conspire against a Charger victory.

On the horizon, we will be closing down Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving on the 23rd and 24th. But we will be open Saturday and Sunday so you shouldn’t have to go more than 48 hours without Pure Hoppiness or Pliny. And I am already saving up beers for the Strong Ale Festival Pre-Party on Thursday, November 30th. The VIP tickets for the Strong Ale Festival are now available at the Port website – www.pizzaport.com. I forgot to mention that our new merchandise is in – we have men’s long and short sleeve shirts and beanies. Hats are on the way and we will be ordering new women’s wear this week. Christmas beers continue to roll in and the first kegs will be coming on tap next week.

That is all for now. We’ll see you soon over a great San Diego beer. Cheers, Tom

Hello Again Good Beer Fans!

Our 3rd Annual Wet Hop Festival is coming up this weekend, November 3rd, 4th and 5th. I am expecting to tap 29 different wet hopped ales over the three days from five states. All of the beers will be made with fresh hops right off the vine – many less than 24 hours old. We can’t have everything on tap on all at once, and I don’t want to pull off all of the regular beers anyway. We’ll still have Pliny, Racer, Pure Hoppiness and more on tap all weekend. I am getting a jockey box set up to help add to our tap total for the weekend. So here is the breakdown of what will be on tap when:

Friday the 3rd – All Sierra Nevada wet hop ales will be on tap including the first ever CASK of Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale to be served outside of the brewery. We will tap this wet hop gem at 6 pm. The draft line up includes 2005 and 2006 Harvest Ale, 20th Street Harvest Ale (made with estate grown hops) and the ESP – Extra Special Pale which is a stronger, hoppier and wet hopped version of the regular draft pale (more like the bottled version).

I also have a very special wet hopped CASK of the Stone 10th Anniversary IPA. We will tap this cask at 5 pm and if it is anything like the first cask we had, it won’t last through the night.

In addition I will have a number of other California wet hop beers on tap including Port Carlsbad, Port Brewing, Oggi’s, and Drake’s. All of these are coming in full kegs so they will last through the weekend. Pints will be available for all beers along with 5 and 10 ounce samples. We ask that you please order no more than 4 five ounce samples at a time though.

Saturday the 4th, I will have all of the rest of the California wet hop beers on tap including Russian River, 2 from Moonlight, Magnolia, Blue Frog, Rock Bottom, San Diego Brewing and more. In all there are 21 California wet hopped ales (including the casks). We will likely be open later than usual on Saturday as well.

Lindsey is also going to have an all-star food line up including Beer Chili, Chili Verde, Chicken Cambazola Melt, Chimay Cheese Burgers, Fish and Chips, Fish Tacos and her incredible Strawberry Framboise Sauce over Cheesecake. We’ll also have our new Carnivore sandwich – it has corned beef, roast beer, swiss and cheddar cheese all piled high on a kaiser roll – it is unbelievably good (I had one for dinner tonight). So bring your appetite along with both livers.

Sunday the 5th I will have all of the out of state beers on tap including Mountain Sun, Rogue, Deschutes, Nodding Head, Left Hand and others. I am expecting 8, maybe 9 out of state beers and many of the California beers will still be on tap. We will open at Noon on Sunday and stay open until 6 pm.

Also, the Chargers play the Cleveland Browns at 1:15 pm and we will show the game assuming the blackout is lifted. Next week on the 12th the Chargers have a 10 am game against Cincinnati and we’ll be open for it and serving food. Keep an eye out for the new Bear Republic Apex IPA on tap for the game on the 12th – it is awesome and O’Brien’s is the only place to get it.

So that is the rundown on the festival. There is no admission charge, just pay as you go. Saturday night will be one of the best times to go and enjoy the beers. If the casks make it past Friday night, we will sreve them on Saturday as well. If you have other specific questions, feel free to email me.

As for other news:

There are more new bottles coming in including Val Dieu Winter, 2006 Stone Double Bastard and the new 2006 Winter YuleSmith from AleSmith (draft will be released later). We’ll be getting more great Winter beers all month, just keep checking the list. And I restocked the 60th Anniversary St. Bernardus Abt 12 so there is plenty of it now. All of the import Winter ales we can sell to go (limit one per day).

If you missed Wednesday’s Union-Tribune there was a great article about Pizza Port Carlsbad brewer Jeff Bagby in the Food Section. You can also check it out online at SignOnSanDiego.com And speaking of Port Carlsbad, the San Diego Strong Ale Festival is coming up on December 1st and 2nd. There will be a special VIP Session from 1 to 4 pm on Friday. Tickets will be limited and they will be presale only. When they are available, I will let you know.

In the meantime, the San Diego Brewers Guild Festival is coming up next weekend, November 10th and 11th. The festival features only San Diego brewed beers and will run from 6 to 10 pm on both Friday and Saturday. Tickets are available at the Guild website – www.sandiegobrewersguild.org. They are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. The festival is at the World Beat Center in Balboa Park – it is the big round building with the murals on it on Park Blvd. The tickets are limited each night as the space is limited, so if you want to go, I suggest you buy them in advance. Every San Diego brewery will be there pouring their best. This should become one of the best local festivals of the year.

For those wondering about the new merchandise, it has been delayed, but should be in Thursday the 2nd – or so I am told.

And for those curious about why there hasn’t been a soccer email recently – I have been busy with the wet hop fest and haven’t had time. But rest assured, we are still showing just as many games. The Champions League will be up again in three weeks, right before Thanksgiving. In the meantime, there is plenty of EPL action.

As for new draft beers coming up after the Wet Hop Festival, we will have Sierra Celebration, Alpine Duet, and Oak Aged Arrogant Bastard all on tap soon. Next Thursday, Nov. 9th is a dual Alpine Duet cask night – a full cask of Duet IPA and a five gallon cask of McIllhenny’s Irish Red. The night before on Wednesday the 8th we will have a release party for New Belgium’s 2 Below Winter Pale Ale. And later on Friday the 17th, we will have a Double – Double Bastard night with 2003 and 2004 Double Bastard in bottles and 2005 and 2006 Double Bastard on draft. At some point we will get the Dogfish Head beers in – they are drowning in red tap at the moment.

Hope to see many of you this weekend at the Wet Hop Festival. Have a great weekend. Cheers, Tom