What’s Happening

Hello Thirsty Beer Lovers,

It is time for another update on the wonderful world of craft beer.  I am sad to say that the Alpine Exponential Hoppiness is all gone.  Thankfully though, there will be more on the way in the next couple of months and Alpine is making a batch of its Bad Boy Double IPA that will be out in the next few weeks.  And I still have one keg of Duet IPA hidden away for another day.

As for what is new on tap – we have this year’s Sierra Nevada Torpedo on tap.  It is a dry, red colored ale with a nice hop kick to it.  I also just tapped the Trumer Pils.  The original Trumer Pils is made in Austria.  The Austrian’s built a new brewery in Berkeley, CA to make the beer for the US market.  It is an excellent European-style Pils with a nice malt smoothness.  The beer will be on special all day Friday for $3 a pint ($10 pitchers at lunch) and we will have some glassware for sale Friday night as well.  Look for Affligem Blond on tap soon.

We have several new bottles in this week inlcuding the 07-07-07 Stone Vertical Epic which was released early this year.  It is a saison-inspired beer, a little dry and a little spicy.  We’ll also have some more new bottles on the list Friday including Urthel Hop It – another Belgian-IPA style beer and a Flemish-style ale from Pierre Celis.  The popular Saison Dupont and Petrus Aged Pale are also back in stock.

Warning Soccer News – The USA v. Canada game today is actually at 4 pm on Fox Soccer.  I had previously thought it was at three due to the times all being listed in EST, and the game is in Chicago in central time.  That also means that the final on Sunday is at Noon – which hopefully the USA will be playing in.  The Copa America featuring the USA and Mexico starts June 26th – the complete schedule is posted on the website at www.obrienspub.net.

Back to Beer News…

Speaking of Thursday (today, the 21st), we have a cask from San Diego Brewing Company – the Hopnotic Isolator IPA.  This is a special iced version of brewer Dean Rouleau’s great Hopnotic IPA.  It gives the beer a little more oomph both in flavor and alcohol.  We’ll tap it at 5 pm.

This Saturday the 23rd we have a very special treat – Gouden Carolous Grand Cru of the Emporer 2007 ON DRAFT!  This is the first time that this beer has been kegged for distribution in the USA.
We’ll also have a keg of the Ambrio Strong Ale on tap from Gouden Carolous.  Both of these beers will be on tap Saturday night – probably all day, but I don’t want to gaurantee it.  The Grand Cru is an oak barrel aged Belgian dark strong ale that is one of our most popular bottles.  It is only brewed once a year to commemorate the birthday of Charles the Fifth.  This is also the first release of the 2007 vintage.

Next week I will be taking off for few days to go visit some friends and see the new Hollister Brewing Company in Santa Barbara.  Eric Rose, the former head brewer at Santa Barbara Brewing Company has opened up his own brewery and is making some great beer – he had his Hip Hop Double IPA at the San Diego Real Ale Festival.  If all goes well, I should be coming back with a keg or two of his beer. 

So no email next week, so I will just tell you what will be going on:

Monday the 25th is the usaul $8 pitchers (all local and craft beers) and $12 Strong Ale Pitchers (No Belgians) all night from 4:30 to Close.  Tuesday is our Roll It night, where you can roll for a chance at a $2 pint on all local and craft beers from 4 to 8 pm.  Wednesday the 27th you lucky dogs get a keg of Ballast Point Sculpin IPA on tap.  And don’t think it is our last one, because I would never let you drink it all while I was out of town.

Next Thursday, June 27th is a cask of Alpine Pure Hoppiness at 5 pm.  And on Friday the 29th we will have Unibroue Trois Pistoles on tap – and I have several kegs so it will be on tap all weekend.  We’ll also have some Unibroue glassware for sale and specials on all Unibroue bottles.  Saturday and Sundays we offer 10% off all bottles – both for purchase in house and for any Import bottle bought to-go.

Looking further ahead, we will be closed for the July 4th Holiday, but we will be open normal hours on Tuesday the 3rd and Thursday the 5th when we tap a cask of AleSmith Summer YuleSmith.

That is your good beer news for now.  Have a great weekend and we’ll see you soon for a great beer!  Cheers, Tom

Hello All,

Just a short note to let you know that we will be closed on Sunday, June 17th for Father’s Day so that we and the employees may spend time with our families.  We will be open normail hours on Friday (11 am to 11 pm) and Saturday (Noon to 11 pm) and we will be back to normal hours on Monday, June 18th at 11 am.  We are normally open on Sundays from Noon to 6 pm with the kitchen open until 5 pm.  The next day off you will have to take from the pub will be Wednesday, July 4th – but you already have plans anyway most likely.  After that, you won’t have to worry about it until Labor Day Monday in September.

As for tonight at the pub we are having an Alpine Beer Company night with Alpine Ale, Pure Hoppiness and Exponential Hoppiness on tap and a cask of Duet IPA at 5 pm.  This is the last of this batch of Exponential Hoppiness, so enjoy it while it is on.  We do have one more keg of Duet after this cask – look for it in a week or so.  In the meantime there will be more Ballast Point Sculpin IPA soon.

(Warning Soccer News) The US Men’s national team plays its Gold Cup Quarterfinal match against Panama at 1 pm on Saturday the 16th.  If the US wins, the semi-final match will be Thursday, June 21st at 3 pm.

Ok, back to beer news.  Next week on Tuesday the 19th we are tapping a keg of Sierra Nevada Barrel Aged Celebration.  I have tasted it and can say that it is delicious – the barrel flavor is noticable, but not overwhelming.  We have only one keg of Celebration left – look for it to be on tap in July.  The good news is that the new batch of Torpedo will be in next week!  I am really looking forward to this year’s batch.  It is a very hoppy red ale that is not as dark or as strong as Celebration – like a nice summer version of the beer, with a bit more hop kick.

On Thursday the 21st we should have our first cask from San Diego Brewing Company with brewer Dean Rouleau’s Hopnotic IPA at 5 pm.  Dean has done some really good things to the beer line up at the Brew Co. and if you haven’t been there in a while, it is worth going back.  Dean was among the many local brewers who won medals at the San Diego County Fair last weekend.  I have the complete winner’s list posted on the website in the news category.  The Festival was a huge success and there was a lot of good beer – Alpine Duet, Chimay, Alaskan Smoked Porter, Ballast Point Big Eye, Pizza Port Good Grief Brown, Lost Abbey Judgment Day and many more.  It will definitely be one to put on the calendar for next year.

Next Friday will be a glassware night with the new Trumer Pils.  It is an Austrian lager that is being made in Berkely, CA and it is quite good.  The glasses are quite unique – tall cylinders rather than stout looking pints.  That is the news for now.  Have a great Father’s Day weekend and we’ll see you soon over a great beer.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Everyone!

Here is the complete winners list from the 2007 San Diego County Fair Craft Brewers Competition.  San Diego breweries did very well.  Breweries from 10 states and 3 countries won medals.

The Fair will be serving beers from the competition every Saturday from 12-5 pm in the Paddock Area near the Race Track.  Look for local favorites like Alpine, Pizza Port, Lightning, Stone, Oggi’s, Lost Abbey and many others the remaining three Saturdays of the Fair – June 16th, 23rd and 30th.  The Fair will also be serving select gold medal winning beers throughout the entire Fair run.  So when you go to the Fair, you can now have a great beer with that fried Snickers.  Enjoy!  Tom 

 

 

2007

San Diego County Fair – Craft Brewers Competition Winners

Best of Show: Ordinary Bitter – Shipyard Brewing Co., Shipyard Export Ale

**Special thanks to Colby Chandler, Ballast Point Brewer and President of the San Diego Brewers Guild, and Jeff’s Stainless Solutions for providing the Best of Show trophy.

1. Light Lager – 9 (number of entries in class)

Gold: Munich Helles – Ballast Point Brewing Co., Hot Rail Helles

Silver: Munich Helles – Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Firestone Lager

Bronze: no award.

2. Pilsner – 7

Gold: German Pilsner – Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Sierra Nevada Summer Fest

Silver: German Pilsner – Lightning Brewery Co., Elemental Pilsner

Bronze: Bohemian Pilsner – Boston Beer Co., Sam Adams Boston Lager

3. European Amber Lager – 3

Gold: Vienna Lager – Huntington Beach Beer Co., Vienna Lager

Silver: Vienna Lager – Boston Beer Co., Sam Adams Light

Bronze: Vienna Lager – Coronado Brew Co., Vienna

4. Dark Lager – 6

Gold: Dark American Lager – Lakefront Brewery Inc., Eastside Dark

Silver:  Munich Dunkel – Consorcio Cervecero de B.C., Tijuana Brewing TJ Brown

Bronze: Schwarzbier – Karl Strauss Brewing Co., Black’s Beach

5. Bock – 8

Gold: Doppelbock – Boston Beer Co., Sam Adams Double Bock

Silver: Dopplebock – Maui Brewing Co., Red Cock Dopplebock

Bronze: Maibock – Karl Strauss Brewing Co., Maibock

Honorable Mention: Maibock – Full Sail Brewing Co., Full Sail Ltd. 2

6. Light Hybrid Beer – 21

Gold: American Wheat – Widmer Brothers Brewing, Widmer Hefeweizen

Silver: American Wheat – Pyramid Brewing, Hefe Weizen

Bronze: Kolsch – San Diego Brewing Co., Aztec Gold

7. Amber Hybrid Beer – 6

Gold: California Common – Lakefront Brewery Inc., Riverwest Stein

Silver: Northern German Altbier – Alaskan Brewing Co., Alaskan Amber

Bronze: California Common – Skyscraper Brewing Co., Lug Nut Lager

8. English Pale Ale – 17

Gold: Ordinary Bitter – Shipyard Brewing Co., Shipyard Export Ale

Silver: Best Bitter – Shipyard Brewing Co., Chamberlain Pale Ale

Bronze: Extra Special Bitter – Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Double Barrel Ale

9. Scottish & Irish Ale – 8

Gold: Strong Scotch Ale – AleSmith Brewing Co., AleSmith Wee Heavy

Silver: Scottish Export 80 Schilling – Left

Coast Brewing Co.,

Left

Coast Scottish

Bronze: Scottish Heavy 70 Schilling – Oggi’s Pizza & Brewing Co., McGarvey’s

10. American Ale – 34

Gold: American Pale Ale – Maui Brewing Co., Maui Pale Ale

Silver: American Pale Ale – Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Firestone Pale Ale

Bronze: American Amber Ale – Oggi’s Pizza & Brewing Co., Sunset Amber Ale

11. English Brown Ale – 9

Gold: Northern English Brown – Pizza

Port, Good Grief Brown

Silver: Northern English Brown Ale – Green Flash Brewing Co., Nut Brown Ale

Bronze: Northern English Brown Ale – San Diego Brewing Co., Old

Town Brown

12. Porter – 7

Gold: Baltic Porter – Lightning Brewery, Black Lightning Porter

Silver: Brown Porter – Pugsley Brewing Co., Sea Dog Hazelnut Porter

Bronze: Robust Porter – Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Walker’s Reserve

13. Stout – 18

Gold: Russian Imperial Stout – Deschutes Brewery, Abyss Imperial Stout

Silver: American Stout –Left

Coast Brewing Co.,

Left

Coast Black Magic Stout

Bronze: Sweet Stout – Boston Beer Co., Sam Adams Cream Stout

Honorable Mention: Foreign Extra Stout – Deschutes Brewery, Obsidian Stout

14.

India Pale Ale – 35

Gold: American IPA – Pizza

Port, Wipeout

Silver: American IPA – Green Flash Brewing Co., West Coast IPA

Bronze: English IPA – Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Nector IPA

15. German Wheat & Rye Beer – 14

Gold: Weissbier – San Pedro Brewing Co., Harbor Hefeweissen

Silver: Weisenbock – Pizza

Port, None the Weisser

Bronze: Weissbier – Pizza

Port, Warm Waters Wheat

16. Belgian & French Ale – 9

Gold: Witbier – Allagash Brewing, Allagash White

Silver: Witbier – New Belgium Brewing Co., Mothership Wit

Bronze: Saison – Brewery Ommegang, Hennepin Saison

17. Sour Ale – 3

Gold: no award.

Silver: Flanders Brown Ale – New Belgium Brewing Co., La Folie

Bronze: Straight Lambic – Ballast Point Brewing Co., Hout Sour Ale

18. Belgian Strong Ale – 13

Gold: Belgian Dark Strong Ale – Port Brewing Co., Lost Abbey Judgment Day

Silver: Belgian Golden Strong Ale – AleSmith Brewing Co., Horny Devil Ale

Bronze: Belgian Tripel – New Belgium Brewing Co., Tripel Belgian Style Ale

Honorable Mention: Belgian Tripel – Allagash Brewing Co., Allagash Tripel

19. Strong Ale – 8

Gold: American Barleywine – AleSmith Brewing Co., Old Numbskull

Silver: American Barleywine – Stone Brewing Co., Stone Old Guardian Barleywine

Bronze: American Barleywine – Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Big Foot

20. Fruit Beer – 8

Gold: Belgian Ale with Raisins – Port Brewing Co., Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme

Silver: American Wheat Ale – Pugsley Brewing LLC., Sea Dog Blueberry Wheat Ale.

Bronze: Brown Ale with Raspberry – Lost Coast Brewery, Raspberry Brown

21. Spice/Herb/Vegitable Beer – 7

Gold: Porter with Coconut – Maui Brewing Co., Coconut Porter

Silver: Spiced Belgian Blond Ale – Port Brewing Co., Lost Abbey Red Barn Ale

Bronze: Porter with Chocolate – San Diego Brewing Co., ChocoLatte Porter

Honorable Mention: Ale with Vanilla – Alpine Brewing Co., Willy Vanilly

22. Smoke-Flavored & Wood-Aged Beer – 5

Gold: Other Smoked Beer – Alaskan Brewing Co., Alaskan Smoked Porter

Silver: Wood-Aged Beer – Alpine Beer Co., Barrel Aged Captain Stout

Bronze: Wood-Aged Beer – Port Brewing Co., Lost Abbey The Angels Share

23. Specialty Beer – 9

Gold: Organic Imperial Weissen – Schneider Weissbierbrauerei, Schneider Edelweisse

Silver: Imperial Porter with Coffee – Ballast Point Brewing Co., Victory at Sea

Bronze: Imperial Porter – Port Brewing Co., Port Brewing Old Viscosity

Mead:

Gold: Open Category Mead – Redstone Meadery, Sunshine Nectar

Silver: Semi-sweet Mead – Redstone Meadery, Traditional Mountain Honey Wine

Bronze: Other Fruit Melomel – Redstone Meadery, Black Raspberry Nectar

Cider:

Gold: Fruit Cider – Fox Barrel Cider Co., Fox Barrel Pear Cider

Silver: Common Cider – Wyder’s Cider, Wyder’s Apple Cider

Bronze: Common Cider – Fox Barrel Cider Co., Fox Barrel Hard Cider

Hello Football Fans!

The USA narrowly missed a Gold Cup Quarterfinal with Mexico as Panama handed El Tri all they could handle.  Had the match ended in a tie, the US would have played Mexico on Saturday, June 16th at 1 pm.  Instead, the USA faces Panama who has two players serving red card suspensions.  Mexico will play on Sunday against Costa Rica.  If (when) the USA beats Panama on Saturday, they will play a semi-final match-up on Thursday, June 21st in Chicago at 3 pm against the winner of the Canada-Gautemala match.  The Gold Cup Final, which will now be the only place the USA can face Mexico, will be on Sunday, June 24th at 11 am.  Assuming that the USA is in the game, we will open early to show the game.

The other big news on the USA front is the Copa America in Venezuela.  The tournament starts June 26th and runs through July 15th.  All games will be broadcast LIVE on Gol TV in English – most games featuring an afternoon or evening start.  The USA opens group play against Argentina on the 28th at 5:50 pm and then faces Paraguay on July 2nd and Colombia on July 5th.  Mexico opens against Brazil on June 27th also at 5:50 pm.  The USA is not in an easy group, but like the Gold Cup, 8 of the 12 teams advance to the quarterfinals, so there is hope of moving on.  Gol TV is also replaying earlier Copa America finals every night next week at 6 pm culminating in a Brazil v. Argentina match from 2004.

So here is the expected TV schedule for the Gold Cup (all on Fox Soccer unless noted) followed by the Copa America schedule (all on Gol TV)…

Saturday, June 16:

1 pm – USA v. Panama

Closed Sunday for Father’s Day

Thursday, June 21:

4 pm – USA v. Canada

7 pm – Mexico v. Guadalupe (hopefully we will show this, but I am not sure what channel it is on)

Sunday, June 24:

Noon - Gold Cup Final on Fox Soccer

Copa America Schedule…

Tuesday, June 26:

3:05 pm – Uruguay v. Peru

5:50 pm – Venezuela v. Bolivia

Wednesday, June 27:

3:35 pm – Ecuador v. Chile

5:50 pm – Brazil v. Mexico

Thrusday, June 28:

3:35 pm – Parguay v. Colombia

5:50 pm – Argentina v. USA

Saturday, June 30:

1:05 pm – Bolivia v. Uruguay

3:20 pm – Venezuela v. Peru

Sunday, July 1:

1:05 pm – Braxil v. Chile

3:20 pm – Mexico v. Ecuador

Monday, July 2:

3:35 pm – USA v. Paraguay

5:50 pm – Argentina v. Colombia

Tuesday, July 3:

3:35 pm – Peru v. Bolivia

5:50 pm – Venezuala v. Urugauy

Wednesday, July 4 (Pub Closed for July 4th):

3:35 pm – Mexico v. Chile

5:50 pm – Braxil v. Ecuador

Thursday, July 5:

3:35 pm – Colombia v. USA

5:50 pm – Argentina v. Paraguay

Quarterfinals Saturday and Sunday, July 7th and 8th

Semi-Finals Tuesday and Wednesday, July 10th and 11th

3rd Place game Saturday, July 14th

Final on Sunday, July 15th at 3:05 pm

That is the soccer news for now.  Tonight – Thursday the 14th we have a cask of Coronado Idiot IPA and tomorrow, Friday the 15th we have a keg of Alpine’s Exponential Hoppiness and a cask of Duet IPA.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Soccer Fans,

The USA is now 1-0 in the Gold Cup after a hard fought win over Gautemala yesterday in LA.  We will have the remaining two first round USA games on Live on Fox Soccer Channel this Saturday and Tuesday.  And we always show the USA games with the sound on.  Univision is showing all three Mexico first round games live and we get Univision thanks to our old fashioned antenna on the roof.  Many of the other games are being shown on Galavision or Telefutura, neither one fo which I believe we get at the pub.  Fox will also be showing all USA games in the final rounds live as well.  Assuming that the USA advances, the Quarterfinal match will either be 1 pm on Saturday the 16th or Noon on Sunday the 17th.

The Spanish La Liga could be decided this weekend.  Gol TV has the three top teams in action on Saturday.  If Real Madrid win the next two, they are champions.  Barcelona has a tough home derby against Espanyol who beat them earlier in the season – and they will be missing Ronaldihno due to suspension.

With nothing much happening in Europe for the next two months, Setanta basically turns into a “best of” network showing replays from the various leagues and classic clashes.  They will be replaying EURO 2008 qualifying games for the next two weeks as well, including the very controversial Denamrk v. Sweden match that ended with the ref getting punched by a fan on Friday.

So here is the upcoming schedule:

Friday, June 8th:

4:45 pm – Denmark v. Sweden – Setanta

6 pm – Mexico v. Cuba – Univision

6 pm – Real Salt Lake v. China – Gol TV

Saturday, June 9th:

Noon – Real Zaragoza v. Real Madrid – Gol Tv – also on at 6 pm replay

1:15 pm – Estonia v. England – Setanta (EURO 2008 Qualifying game from Wednesday)

2 pm – Trinidad and Tobago v. USA – FSC – also on at 9 pm replay

2 pm – Barcelona v. Espanyol – Gol TV – also on at 8 pm replay

4 pm – Mallorca v. Sevilla – Gol TV

Sunday, June 10th:

1 pm – Mexico v. Honduras – Univision

2 pm – Lithuania v. Italy – Setanta

On Tape – Atalanta v. Inter

Tuesday, June 12th:

4 pm – USA v. El Salvador – FSC – also on at 8 pm replay

Wednesday, June 13th:

7 pm – Mexico v. Panama – Univision

Quarterfinals of the Gold Cup will be the 16th and 17th with the Semi-Finals on Thursday, June 21st and the Final on Sunday, June 24th at Noon.  To find out more about the competition and the schedule, visit: http://www.concacaf.com/competitions/goldcup/. 

Tonight (Friday, June 8th) is Lost Abbey Brewing night at the pub with 7 beers on tap and two more in the bottle including Cuvee de Tomme.  We’ll also have a cask of Wipeout IPA and Marin ESB – each for only $3 a pint from 5 – 10 pm!  If you are going to the San Diego County Fair tomorrow, be sure and check out the big beer fest in the Paddock area from 12-5 pm.

That is all for now.  Go USA!  We’ll see you soon for some great football!  Cheers, Tom

Hello Beer Lovers!

As many of you probably already suspected, the next ten days at the pub will be filled with some great beer events.  All this week we are tapping fresh casks of beers poured at the Real Ale Festival this past weekend.  The festival was a great time and for once there was some room to just stand around and drink.  The bottle conditioned real ales were a welcome addition and very popular – and as usual the really strong bottles ran out first.  If you haven’t been to Pizza Port Carlsbad recently, you need to get up there.  They have completely re-done the bar area and expanded the tap selection in the newly built cold box.  They now have 40 beers on tap making it one of the largest multi-tap bars in the county.  Because of the construction, brewer Jeff Bagby is a little behind in the house beer line up, but who cares when the Poor Man’s IPA is flowing?

So back to those casks I mentioned.  We are tapping a different cask every night for the rest of the week.  Tonight (Weds., 6/6) we have a cask of Sierra Nevada Brown ale – this is only the second time we have ever gotten a cask from Sierra Nevada, and their brown ale does not make it down to San Diego much.  We’ll also have a little bit left from last night’s Drake’s 1500 Pale Ale.  I haven’t even mentioned that we will be selling all cask pints for just $3 every night – Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Thursday we will tap a cask of Marin ESB.  I know I told you that there would be a Sculpin cask, but instead there will be Sculpin IPA draft.  The cask has been moved to next Wednesday, June 13th – more on that later.  Marin’s long-time brewer Arne Johnson is a San Diego native and comes down for nearly all of the Pizza Port festivals.  It is always nice to showcase his beer.  And again, that is just $3 a pint all night long.  The US Men’s Soccer team plays Gautemala at 6 pm in their opening game of the Gold Cup.

Friday the 8th is our big Lost Abbey Brewing Company night with brewer Tomme Arthur.  Tomme makes the Wipeout IPA we drink all of the time at the pub.  And when we put the promo together he suggested a cask of Wipeout IPA for the night.  So we will have a cask of Wipeout IPA at 5 pm on Friday.

In addition to that we have 7 great draft beers from Lost Abbey – Red Barn Saison (already on tap), Judgment Day (formerly known as the Mother of All Beers and it is the base beer for the Cuvee de Tomme), Ten Commandments (formerly SPF 8 and one of my all time favorite Pizza Port Beers), Devotion (a new blond ale based on Malhuer 6 and Westvleteren 6 that is 6.25% and very hoppy – available right now in bottles at the pub), Lost and Found (a Belgian-style dubbel), En Garde (a barrel aged version of the Avant Garde which is in the Biere de Garde style) and Amazing Grace (a barrel aged version of the Lost and Found Dubbel). 

In addition to the 7 great draft beers we will have a few bottles of Angel’s Share Barleywine and Cuvee de Tomme for sale.  All of the beers will be on tap by 5 pm.  We will have 8 oz and 14 oz pours available as well as 5 oz tasters for the draft beers.  Most are 5 gallon kegs, but because we have so many of them, I expect them to last all night.

Over the weekend is the San Diego County Fair Beer Festival on Saturday from Noon to 5 pm.  If you are thinking about heading to the Fair, you should stop by the festival.  There will be more than 100 beers on tap including some of the medal winners from the Fair’s Craft Beer Competition.  The complete results will be read at 2:30 pm (most likely by me if I am sober at that point).  15 local breweries will be pouring beer including Alpine, Pizza Port, AleSmith and Stone.  If you are around the pub, the US Men’s Soccer team has its second Gold Cup game against Trinidad and Tobago at 2 pm.  You can look for Alpine Duet IPA to be on tap this weekend as well.

On Sundays we are now open an extra hour from Noon to 6 pm with the kitchen open until 5 pm.  Now that the shopping center is nearly done with the construction, the expanded patio is an excellent spot to spend a lazy afternoon with a beer or three.

Today we got our new shirts in.  We have lots of new Men’s shirts with some cool new colors.  The names always sound funny – Dusk Blue, Pine, etc… but they look great.  The popular rust (actually Texas Orange) shirts are back in.  We have a bunch of new women’s tank tops for the summer.  We got a great deal on them and we are selling them for $10 each or 2 for $18 through the summer.  We also have a new red and white cap sleeve shirt.  We didn’t restock any of the sweatshirts or long sleeve shirts right now, but we will get more in around September.

On the food front the popular Bacon Stilton burger is back.  And for those that like dessert, we have New York Cheesecask covered in our Lindeman’s Framboise Berry Reduction sauce.  It is delicious.  Lindsey has some fantastic soups right now including a killer batch of Minestrone.

So what is so great about next week’s events?  Read on and find out…

Monday is the norm – $8 pitchers from 4:30 to close, an unbeatable deal.  Every Monday we also serve our Beer Battered Fish and Chips and Fish Tacos.

Tuesday is the usual Roll It Night – roll the dice against the house for a chance at a $2 pint from 4 – 8 pm.  US Men’s Soccer at 4 pm against El Salvador in the final game of the first round of the Gold Cup.  The US is 18-0-1 in the first round of the tournament all time.

Wednesday the 13th is when things pick up with a cask of Ballast Point Sculpin IPA (really) at 5 pm.  This is always one of our most popular casks and with good reason.  It was definitely one of the best hoppy beers at the Real Ale Festival last weekend.

Thursday the 14th we stick with the theme of big hops with a cask of Coronado Idiot IPA at 5 pm.  This beer is a very pleasant surprise.  Coronado has been making some great strides with their beers.  Idiot IPA is further proof that Coronado is serious about making great beer.

Friday the 15th is where it gets interesting – Alpine Ale, Alpine Pure Hoppiness, Alpine Exponential Hoppiness all on draft with a cask of Alpine Duet IPA at 5 pm.  Just 3 days of big hoppy casks punctuated with a pint of Exponential Hoppiness at the end of it all.  The Alpine Beer Company crew will be there to share it all with us – and I promised Pat that this time I wouldn’t take any pictures.

A final decision on whether or not we will be open on Father’s Day is pending.  We were closed last year and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if we were closed again this year.  I’ll let you know next week once I have had a chance to talk to the staff with Lindsey.  Either way, we will be open normal hours, Noon to 11 pm on Saturday the 16th.

There are some new bottles on the list.  I am also extending the Malhuer Brut Reserve Special and just added the Firestone Walker’s Reserve Porter on special – 22 oz bottle for just $5.  The Koningshoeven bottles are all in stock and the Dubbel and Tripel are now on the regular bottle list.  The Quadrupel is available in the bottle, but it is also on tap right now (I think it is our third keg already).

That should be enough to make you thirsty for now.  Lindsey and I are off to celebrate my dad’s birthday – he was born on the actual D-Day, June 6th, 1944 (as an unimportat side note I crossed the English channel by ferry in a much less aggressive fashion on June 6th, 1994, on the fiftieth anniversary of D-Day).  See you soon over a great beer. Cheers, Tom