What’s Happening

Greetings Beer Lovers!

The big news this week is the return of the Belgian Beer Party at Pizza Port Carlsbad on Saturday, March 29th.  This year’s festival is split into 2 six hour sessions – one from 10 am to 4 pm and the second from 5 pm to 11 pm.  Pre-sale tickets are sold out, but TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR.  Pizza Port only sold about half of the tickets for each session in the pre-sale, so there will be plenty of tickets available.  The beer lists will be the same at both sessions and there is plenty of beer (more than they can even fit in the cold box right now).  I am expecting more than 80 different beers to be served.  Admission is $45 and includes a Belgian beer glass and 10 taster tickets, additional taster tickets are just $1.  The festival is expected to sell out, so if you would like to go, be sure to show up near the start time for whichever session you wish to attend.  Pizza Port Carlsbad is just west of I-5 off the Carlsbad Village Drive exit.  For more information, check out Port’s website at www.pizzaport.com.  Look for a bunch of the O’Brien’s staff to be at the second session!

Back on the home front at the pub, there is plenty of great beer on tap.  If all goes well, we will have Russian River IPA back on Thursday night, March 27th.  In the meantime, Port’s Wipeout IPA is back and we have a keg of Pizza Port San Clemente El Camino IPA along with the Firestone Union Jack IPA and Lagunitas IPA.  Sierra Nevada Harvest is back on too – and here is some good news for Harvest fans: Sierra Nevada is going to make a southern hemisphere Harvest ale when the hops are picked down there next month.  Hopefully we will have it on tap by May.  Sierra Nevada Torpedo and the new Chico IPA will also be on tap early next month.  And for dark beer fans, there is still a little bit left of our Belgian-style stouts, Allagash Black from Maine and the Buffalo Stout from Belgium.

Tonight, Wednesday the 26th we will tap a 5 gallon cask of Alpine Captain Stout at 5:30 pm.  During the day the USA men’s soccer team plays Poland in a friendly match at 12:30 pm.  Thursday the 27th we will tap a cask of AleSmith IPA at 5 pm.  These casks are always great, and always very popular, so do not expect it to last very long.  Friday the 28th we will feature a few Belgian ales to help get in the mood for Saturday’s festival.  We will tap our first keg from De Glazen Toren – Ondineke Tripel and a keg of Van Hounsebrouck’s Flanders Red Ale Bachus.  I will also have a few new bottle treats including Gulden Draak and Nogne O Saison from Norway.  We also have some new bottles from Eisenbahn in Brazil – the Lust Champagne-style beer and a smoked Lager that is really good.  We’ll also be showing the NCAA basketball games on Thursday and Friday on channel 8.

Over the weekend we will feature our usual 10% off all bottles on Saturday and Sunday with our Saturday daytime happy hour with local and craft pints just $3.25.  Saturday night on the 29th for those not enjoying the Belgian festival we will have a huge dose of hops in the form of Avery Maharaja double IPA.  We will have it on tap all day Saturday – and maybe even Sunday if you don’t drink it all in one day.  We’ll also have a keg of the Green Flash West Coast IPA on tap for those that want hops in a less than 10% alcohol beer.  And on Monday the 31st we will feature our regular pitcher special – $9 pitchers of local and craft beers and $13 pitchers of strong ales from 4:30 pm until close.  The basketball final four will be Friday, April 4th and Sunday, April 6th.

There is now more time to enjoy your favorite beers at night.  Lindsey and I have expanded our nighttime hours at O’Brien’s.  The pub will now be open until Midnight on Friday and Saturday and 11:30 pm Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Monday is unchanged at 10:30 pm and Sunday is unchanged at Noon to 6 pm.  This will give you more time to sit back in the big comfy chairs and enjoy your beer.  Happy hour is almost always our busiest time, so that after 9 pm the pub is much more relaxed and less crowded.  As a courtesy to the bartenders, last call may be up to 45 minutes before closing time.

It is time for another round of great Beer and Cheese pairings with our friends from Taste Artisan Cheese and Gourmet Shop in Hillcrest.  This time we are featuring some of our favorite pairings from past classes along with some great new pairings.  We did the hard work of making the new pairings this past Monday and we only needed two.  However, we ended up with three great pairs and decided to use them all.  So this will be our biggest tasting class yet.  Mary from Taste broke down the class like this:

Ø       8 different beers…7 different brewers…from 4 different countries

Ø       8 different cheeses…8 different producers…from 6 different countries

Ø       10 pairings overall, including 3 brand new favorites (seriously, we would have had a tough time omitting these had they been in the previous four classes)

And here are the details on the classes…

BEER AND CHEESE CLASSES WITH TASTE! 

·          Wednesday, April 23rd – 7pm
at TASTE

·         Sunday, April 27^th – 6pm
at O’BRIEN’S PUB

This marks the fifth round of Beer & Cheese pairings we’ve hosted with Taste.  The previous four rounds have yielded more than 25 unique pairings making it a fine time to revisit a few of our all-time (so far) favorites.  Just so you don’t think we’re getting lazy, we’ll also introduce a couple brand new pairings sure to contend for the next favorites round.  Join Tom Nickel from O’Brien’s Pub & our favorite cheese monger George Palmer, as they wax nostalgic about the amazing pairings they’ve discovered over the past couple years and discuss the characteristics that make these beer and cheese pairings work so well.  As always, we’re offering the class twice, first at Taste on Wednesday April 23^rd, and again on Sunday April 27^th at O’Briens.

You can sign up for either class at the pub (cash only please) or you can use a credit card and call Taste at (619) 683-2306 or email Taste at cheese101@TasteCheese.com with the class name in the subject line.

If you are thinking about traveling around the country and want to know where to find good beer, check out this new site brought to you by the folks at the Brewing News papers:  www.goodbeermaps.com.  It has state by state maps of everywhere the papers cover with listings for breweries, brewpubs, beer bars and good liquor stores.

There are a lot of big events coming up in April.  April 7th is the anniversary of the repeal of the prohibition on Beer.  And the one week later, we start our week long celebration of the Craft Brewers Conference being in town.  The events are still in the planning stages, but it looks like we will be featuring beers from Ballast Point, all 3 Pizza Port brewpubs, Lost Abbey, Urthel, Koningshoeven, New Belgium, Maui Brewing, Russian River, Alpine, Green Flash, Unibroue, Allagash and many more.  We will be staying open late all during the week as well with expanded kitchen hours.  Next week I should have some of the dates and times set up to pass along to you.

That is it for now.  We’ll see you soon over a great (Belgian) beer!  Cheers, Tom

O’Brien’s Pub will be closed on Easter Sunday.  We will be back open normal hours on Monday the 24th.  We have also extended our nighttime hours – we are now open until 11:30 pm Tuesday through Thursday and  Midnight on Friday and Saturday.  Now you have even more time to drink your favorite beers.

Later in the week you can look forward to a cask of AleSmith IPA on Thursday the 27th.

And tickets for the upcoming Belgian Beer Party ARE NOT SOLD OUT.  Only the pre-sale tickets are gone.  Pizza Port only sold half of the festival tickets on pre-sale, so that the other half will be availalbe at the door.  I would advise that you get there right as the sessions open to ensure easy entry.

More news later in the week.  Cheers, Tom

Alas, the Russian River Pliny the Younger did not even last 90 minutes.  However, we do have a keg of Bear Republic Racer X on now in its place.  We’ve got one last keg stashed away for April and then that is it until next January – but next year’s batch will be bigger.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Football Fans,
There are a ton of great games coming up as we close in on the end of the season.  The Champions League’s last knockout game is Tuesday the 11th between Inter Milan and Liverpool at 12:30 pm.  The European games are all an hour later due to daylight savings time.  There are also a few UEFA Cup games on and there are some great match-ups coming up in the domestic leagues.
The USA starts Olympic qualifying on Tuesday as well with the Under-23 team.  There are a lot of great stars and hopefully future stars on the roster.  The USA plays Cuba, Panama and Honduras in the group phase this week with the semi-finals on Thursday the 20th and the finals on Sunday the 23rd – all on Fox Soccer.  FSC is also showing the CONCACAF Champions Cup games over the next two weeks which involve the Houston Dynamo and DC United.
So here is what is coming up in the next two weeks:
 
Tues. 3/11:
12:30 pm – Inter Milan v. Liverpool – ESPN2
5 pm – USA v. Cuba – U-23 – FSC
 
Weds. 3/12:
12:30 pm  – Everton v. Fiorentina – FSC
12:45 pm – Bayern Munich v. Anderlecht – Gol TV
1 pm – Chelsea v. Derby County – Setanta – also at 5:15 pm
3:30 pm – Portsmouth v. Birmingham City – Setanta
 
Thur. 3/13:
5 pm – USA v. Panama – U-23 – FSC
 
Sat. 3/15:
On Tape – Liverpool v. Reading, Arsenal v. Middlesbrough, Sunderland v. Chelsea, Derby County v. Manchester United
Noon – West Ham v. Blackburn – Setanta
12:30 pm – Roma v. AC Milan – FSC
4 pm – USA v. Honduras – U-23 – FSC
8 pm – Portsmouth v. Aston Villa – FSC
 
Sun. 3/16:
On Tape – Inter Milan v. Palermo, Manchester City v. Tottenham, Fulham v. Everton
12:30 pm – Juventus v. Napoli
 
Weds. 3/19:
1 pm – Manchester Uniter v. Bolton – FSC
1 pm – Tottenham v. Chelsea – Setanta
 
Thurs. 3/20:
Olympic Qualifying Semi- Finals at 3 pm and 6 pm – Teams TBA
 
Sat. 3/22:
12:30 pm – Inter Milan v. Juventus – FSC
 
Sun. 3/23:
On Tape – Chelsea v. Arsenal
Noon – Olympic Qualifying 3rd Place Match – FSC
2 pm – Olympic Qualifying Final – FSC
 
That is it for now.  We will be serving Corned Beef and Cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day on the 17th and we will be serving beer until Midnight!  Cheers, Tom

Hello Beer Fans!

St. Patrick’s Day is almost upon us and we will be celebrating all weekend with great beer. We will have Irish themed casks on Thursday, a Stout night on Friday, Pliny the Younger on Saturday and a huge party on Monday for the actual St. Patrick’s Day (with no green beer, I swear). We already have our first Irish Stout on tap right now – Murphy’s. It is not as bitter as Guinness, with a little more malt flavor in the finish. We also just tapped a keg of Ballast Point’s excellent coffee Imperial Porter, Victory at Sea. Also new on tap is Avery Collaboration. It is a deep golden Belgian-style ale that is about 9% alcohol. The recipe is a collaboration with Russian River. Both breweries make a beer named Salvation. One is dark, one is golden. Rather than argue over the name, the two breweries decided to make a beer and name it Collaboration not Litigation that blended the flavors of the two beers.

Tomorrow, Thursday the 13th, we have our first St. Patty’s Pre-Party when we will tap not one but TWO casks from Alpine Beer Company. The first is Captain Stout and the second is McIllhenney’s Irish Red. Both beers are great and we don’t often get them on cask. Both will be tapped at 5 pm. Because there are two casks, I expect both to last through the night. Look for Irish Nachos as an appetizer special and Chimay cheese burgers.

Friday the 14th we have our second St. Patty’s Pre-Party when we feature Stout night. I am not sure exactly how many stouts there will be, but I will put on as many as I can. I know for sure that we will have Murphy’s, Beamish (also Irish), Ballast Point Sextant Oatmeal Stout, Pizza Port San Clemente Oatmeal Stout and two very special Belgian-style stouts: Buffalo Belgian Stout and Allagash Black (from Maine). We have not had either of these beers on tap before, but we have had the Buffalo Stout in the bottle and the Allagash Black is brand new in bottles right now. I also will have a keg of AleSmith Speedway Stout, Alpine Captain Stout and Guinness which will all be tapped if room allows. If not on Friday, look for them on Saturday. The kitchen will have several types of corned beef sandwiches on special all day as well.

Saturday the 15th we have a very special treat as we tap our third keg of Russian River’s epic Pliny the Younger triple IPA at 4:30 pm. Don’t expect it to last until Sunday, because it might not make it. Also, don’t expect us to start serving it before 4:30 pm. The idea is that it will last Saturday night – we hope. Sunday we will be serving Fish and Chips and Fish Tacos – but the Tacos will only be served on Sunday and not Monday because of St. Patrick’s Day.

For St. Patrick’s Day on Monday the 17th we will be serving beer until Midnight – so we will be open much later than usual. We will have Guinness and Harp along with locals like Alpine Irish Red, Alpine Captain Stout, Ballast Point Sextant Stout and others all on tap. We will be serving up half and halfs and Poor Man’s Black and Tan (Stout and Cider) and Black and Tan’s (made with Alpine Irish Red not the English made Bass as is commonly seen). We will also have two Alpine casks for Monday. Again there will be Irish Red and Captain Stout both on tap at 5 pm. The kitchen will serving up Corned Beef and Cabbage, Guinness Stew, Fish and Chips, Corned Beef sandwiches and lots of other specials including the Cambazola Filet Mignon Meltall day long. The kitchen will be open until at least 10 pm and maybe later depending on how busy we are. The pub is always a lot of fun on St. Patrick’s Day, even if it is on a Monday.

Our new merchandise just came in. We have several new girls T’s and hats and some new guy’s T’s including a new slogan – “Fine beer may be judged with a single sip, but it is best to be thoroughly sure – Czech Proverb” and some cool new canvas shopping bags. We also restocked our annual “I (Shamrock) Hops” for St. Patty’s in Men’s and Women’s styles.

Later on next week, look for a cask of Ballast Point Calico Amber on Thursday the 20th. Later in the month, the Pizza Port Belgian Beer Party will be on Saturday, March 29th in two sessions from 10 am to 4 pm and 5 pm to 11 pm. Limited pre-sale tickets are available now at the Pizza Port website – www.pizzaport.com. And expect a lot of great beer during the industry-only Craft Brewers Conference the week of April 14th including the launch of a little brewery from Delaware.

That should do it for now. Hope to see you soon for a bit of St. Patrick’s revelry! Cheers, Tom

PS – We will be closed, Sunday, March 23rd for Easter.