What’s Happening

The Blind Pig IPA is still on tap at the pub and I have two more kegs coming in this week.  This might be the first time that we get to keep it on for an entire week!  We should be getting at least 2-3 kegs a week from here on out.  And Russian River IPA will be back on tap this week as well.  Monday night we will feature our regular Pitcher night specials – $9 pitchers of local and craft beer and $13 pitchers of strong ales.

Tuesday night the 1st we tap a pre-holiday cask of AleSmith ESB at 6:00 pm.  Assuming all of the QUAFF guys don’t drink it up that night we will serve it out again on Wednesday.  I’ve got some new bottles out including Fantome Brise Bons Bons, which translates to Ball Breaker – the beer is fruity with a good load of hops and an light amber hue.  I also found a case of Thomas Hardy’s 2005 Barleywine.

This week we will CLOSED on Friday, July 4th.  We will be open late on Thursday, July 3rd to help kick off the long weekend.  We will also be open normal hours on Saturday the 5th and Sunday the 6th.  I’ll have some specials for this weekend as well later on when I write a full email.  You can look forward to a cask of Green Flash West Coast IPA on Thursday the 10th with brewer Chuck Silva and the Best of Show trophy that the beer just won at the San Diego County Fair!  Congrats Chuck!

That updates you for now.  We’ll see you soon for a great beer.  Cheers, Tom

Greetings Beer Fans!

This week we tap a a cask of Firestone Pale 31 at 5 pm on Thursday the 26th.  Friday night we continue with our month-long celebration of Colorado beers with Oskar Blues night.  This brewery from Lyons, CO is brand new in the San Diego market and we will feature 3 of its beers on tap – Gordon, a strong IPA; Old Chubb, a Scottish-style ale; and Dale’s Pale Ale.  You can also find the beers around town available in cans!

This Saturday, the 28th we will have Blind Pig IPA on tap all day!  I’ve got two kegs just for the day so come on down and enjoy it.  Sunday the 29th is the Euro 2008 Final between Germany and either Spain or Russia at 11:45 am.

Next week we will CLOSED on Friday, July 4th.  We will be open late on Thursday, July 3rd to help kick off the long weekend.  We will also be open normal hours on Saturday the 5th and Sunday the 6th.  I’ll have some specials for next weekend as well.

That updates you for now.  We’ll see you soon for a great beer.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Beer Lovers!
 
This weekend the San Diego County Fair hosts its Craft Beer Festival featuring more than 200 different beers on Saturday, June 21st!  It will be one of the largest collections of beer in the country and certainly the biggest this side of the Great American Beer Festival.  Nearly every local brewery will be represented.  There will also be beers from nearly a dozen countries at the festival.  The fest runs from Noon to 8 pm in the Chevrolet Arena near the front entrance of the Fair.  In addition to the great beer, there will be a bluegrass music competition and a bratwurst tasting.  This was a great event last year and promises to be even better this year.  Some of the breweries you will be able to sample beer from include: Alpine, Green Flash, Lost Abbey, AleSmith, Chimay, Malheur, Redstone Meadery and many, many more.  Taster wristbands are $15 and can be purchased at the main gate of the Fair or at the festival site.  You must pay to enter the Fair in order to go to the festival.  Be sure to look for Micaela who will be working one of the beer booths!
 
On the pub front, we host a New Belgium Sour Ale night on Friday the 20th.  We will have La Folie, a sour barrel aged brown ale, and Eric’s Ale, a sour peach beer, both on tap.  These are two great beers that we can only get once in a while, so enjoy them while they are here.  Saturday night, the 21st, we will have a special release of some vintage Samichlaus and Thomas Hardy’s ale bottles.  We’ll have 2003 and 2004 Samichlaus and 2004, 2005 and 2006 Thomas Hardy’s ale available.  Sunday we will be back to our normal hours of Noon to 6 pm.

New on tap right now we have the Full Sail Prodigal Son IPA and Port Brewing’s Shark Attack double Red.  There are still a few of the Avery beers on tap including the funky farmhouse styled 15th Anniversary Ale.  If you like dark beers, you should try Papago Brewing’s Milk Stout while it is still around. 
 
Next week we start off with a very special guest on Tuesday, June 24th – David Myers, Chairman of the Mead from Redstone Meadery.  We will have Redstone Sunshine Nectar and Black-Raspberry Nectar on tap along with the Traditional Mead, Juniper Berry Mead and for the first time at O’Brien’s Boysenberry Nectar all in the bottle.  David will be at the pub from around 6 to 8 pm to talk mead and answer questions.
 
Next Thursday the 26th we tap into a cask of Firestone Pale 31 at 5 pm.  This is the brewery’s flagship pale ale.  It has been nice that we have been able to get more cask and specialty beer from Firestone in recent months.  It is a great brewery that always makes high quality beer.   We’ll also have the new Lil’ Opal beer on tap which is a wheat beer/saison hybrid that should be perfect for our summer weather.  Friday the 27th we will feature beers from Oskar Blues in Colorado.  The beers are new in the market and you can find them in cans, yes cans, around town at better liquor stores.  We will have Dale’s Pale Ale, Old Chubb and Gordon, a strong IPA all on tap next Friday night.
 
For soccer fans, the Euro 2008 tournament is in the Quarter-final stage.  Today’s game (the 20th) is Croatia v. Turkey, Saturday the 21st its Netherlands v. Russia and Sunday’s game is Spain v. Italy.  All games kick off at 11:45 am.  The Semi-Finals will be on the 25th and 26th and the Final will be Sunday the 29th.  The USA also plays a World Cup Qualifier this weekend at Noon on Sunday.
 
Looking further ahead, we will be closed Friday, July 4th, but open on the 3rd, the 5th and the 6th that weekend.  I am working with AleSmith owner Peter Zien to pick a date in July for our AleSmith Barrel Aged Beer Tasting – I should have some details by the end of the month.  And looking way ahead to August, I will be hosting my birthday week celebrations starting Monday the 11th – we have already set our second Pizza Night for Tuesday, August 12th.  The Stone Anniversary Party is that Saturday, August 16th and I am not yet sure if we will be doing a bus up there or not.  Look for a decision next month.

That is all for now.  It was great to see so many of you up at the Real Ale Festival last weekend.  I am sure I will see many of you this weekend up at the San Diego County Fair Craft Beer Festival for a great beer.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Happy Football Fans!

The Euro 2008 Championship has already included some great group stage games.  Today, Thursday the 19th, the Quarterfinal round begins with the Portugal v. Germany match live at 11:45 am on ESPN.  For those that can’t make it in for the game, we will be taping it to show later tonight – or you can always follow it on ESPN gamecast or UEFA.com.  In addition to the Euro quarterfinals, the USA will pummel Barbados again this weekend in its World Cup Qualifier at noon.  The USA will resume qualifying on September 10th.  On July 16th the USA women play Brazil at USD!  Tickets are available now through USsoccer.com.

So here is the schedule of games for the next 10 days:

Thursday, 6/19:

11:45 am – Portugal v. Germany

7 pm – Chicago Fire v. CD Chivas USA

Friday, 6/20:

11:45 am – Croatia v. Turkey

Saturday, 6/21:

11:45 am – Netherlands v. Russia

4:30 pm – NY Red Bulls v. FC Dallas – FSC – one of our last chances to see Jozy Altidore in MLS on TV

Sunday, 6/22:

11:45 am – Spain v. Italy

Noon – Barbados v. USA – ESPN Classic

Wednesday, 6/25:

11:45 am – 1st Semi-Final – Thursday winner v. Friday winner

Thursday, 6/26:

11:45 am – 2nd Semi-Final – Saturday winner v. Sunday winner

6 pm – FC Dallas v. Houston Dynamo

Sunday, 6/29:

11:45 am – Euro 2008 Final

On the beer front, we have a cask of Pizza Port Carlsbad Wipeout IPA on at 5 pm on Thursday the 19th.  Friday the 20th is New Belgium Night with two sour ales – La Folie and Eric’s Ale, a sour peach beer.  And Saturday is the big Craft Beer Festival at the San Diego County Fair from Noon to 8 pm with more than 200 different beers!  Cheers, Tom

Hello Beer Fans!

This week we have two blockbuster events planned.  First is our annual Real Ale Festival Pre-Party tonight – Thursday the 12th.  We are kicking it off right with the release of Blind Pig IPA on tap.  And I am not talking just one keg.  I mean, this is it, for real, we now have Blind Pig IPA available.  Granted, you folks will likely drink it faster than Vinnie can send it down here, but we should be able to get several kegs a week from now on.  I have 4 kegs stashed away for tonight and this weekend, but I have no idea how long it will last.  We will also be tapping a cask of Green Flash’s Imperial IPA at 5 pm – the same time that the Blind Pig will go on tap.  I can also assure you that there will be some fantastic food specials for tonight as well.

The second event is Friday the 13th – Avery Night.  We will have a great selection of beers from this Colorado brewery including Collaboration, Salvation, 15th Anniversary, IPA and Karma.  This is our first chance to taste the new 15th Anniversary which I have heard great things about.  On Saturday we will feature some vintage bottle specials from Thomas Hardy’s and Samichlaus! 

Please not that on Sunday, June 15th we will be CLOSED, as we are every year, for Father Day’s.  Please enjoy the day with family.

New on tap at the pub this week we have Left Coast Hop Juice Double IPA and North Coast Old Rasputin Imperial Stout.  We also still have all of the Dupont beers from our Friday night promo.  We had two kegs of most of the beers, but we are nearing the end of the keg on a few of them.  As of last night, we had Saison Dupont, Avec les bon Voeux, Biere de Miel (honey), Foret Organic Saison and Moinette Blond and Brune.  Malheur 12 is back in the 750 ml bottles.  I am going to update the bottle lists tonight as well, so there should be a few new ones popping up.

This weekend is the San Diego Real Ale Festival at Pizza Port Carlsbad.  The festival will run from 4-11 pm Friday (late night Coaster runs until about 9:30 pm) and from 11 am to 11 pm on Saturday the 14th (again, late night Coaster, but only until about 7:30 pm).  The festival is $25 and will feature more than 45 cask conditioned beers.  This is the best line up of cask beers that we have had in years.  There are casks from Washington (Elysian, Big Time, Pike), Oregon (Rogue, Deschutes), Nevada (Big Dog, White Pine), Arizona (Papago, Four Peaks) and Colorado (Avery).  We have tons of great local and California beers as well including Hollister, Craftsman, Firestone, Marin, Moylan’s, Speakeasy, Lagunitas and many more.  Nearly every local brewery will be represented.  We have two casks of many of the beers and back up casks to tap when others are gone, so there should be nearly identical tap lists both days.  Don’t miss this great festival and its truly great line up of cask ale.  And I wouldn’t worry too much about traffic on Saturday – The US Open starts at 8 am and the Fair starts at 10 am, so as long as you are not driving up to Carlsbad for breakfast, you should miss most of the morning rush.  That said, I still think that the Coaster is a bargain – especially with gas prices – and a much safer way to get up to the fest.

The European Championship has started and our TV schedule is now on the Soccer page.  We will be taping all of the 9:00 am games during the tournament so that we can show them while we are open.  All of the other games start at 11:45 am.  The tournament will have two games a day, every day from the 7th until the 22nd I believe.  The final will be on the 29th at 11:30 am.  You can sign up for our soccer-specific email list at the pub, or by shooting me an email.

Next week you can look forward to a cask of Wipeout IPA form Pizza Port Carlsbad on Thursday the 19th and New Belgium Night on Friday on the 20th with kegs of Eric’s Ale and La Folie on tap.  We will also have some new Imperial Pint glassware from New Belgium.  And don’t forget that next weekend is the San Diego County Fair Craft Beer Festival – Saturday, June 21st from Noon to 8 pm with more than 200 different beers!

Further ahead, we will be hosting David Myers from Redstone Meadery on Tuesday, June 24th.  We will have several Redstone bottles along with both the Sunshine Nectar and Black Raspberry Nectar on tap!  And we will have some great draft blends with the meads and other beers on tap that David has set up.  David is a great guy and loves to talk about mead.  So if you have any questions, this is the guy to ask.  He’ll be around the pub from about 6 pm to 9 pm.  And he always brings goodies to taste and raffle off.  Looking ahead to next month, I am working with Peter Zien of AleSmith to host a night of Vintage and Barrel Aged AleSmith Beers.

Hope to see you up at the Real Ale Festival this weekend!  Cheers, Tom

This week we have to say goodbye to Cecilia as she prepares to move to the East Coast to pursue her teaching career.  She has worked for us for the last two years and we are sad to see her leave.  We will be having a going away party for her tonight, Thursday the 5th, at the pub.  She will also be working on Friday night and Saturday day, which will be her final shift at the pub.

On tap tonight, Russian River Pliny the Elder returns.  This will be the first time in nearly a month that we wil have both Pliny and the Russian River IPA on tap at the same time.  Also new on tap is the Craftsman Heavenly Hefeweizen and the Rodenbach Grand Cru.  There is also some of the Harviestouns Old Dubh left on tap, but not much, so get it while you can.  The Thursday night cask this week is Ballast Point’s Piper Down Scottish Ale.  It is a malty beer that should be extra creamy on cask. 

Tomorrow night, Friday the 6th we celebrate a night of beers from Brasserie Dupont, makers of Saison Dupont.  We will have six beers on tap including Saison Dupont, Avec les bon Vouex, Biere de Miel (honey), Foret Organic Saison, Moinette Blond and Moinette Bruin.  All will be on tap by 5 pm.  This is the first time that we have had many of these beers on tap and I am very excited about it.

Saturday the 7th the European Championship starts.  We will be taping all of the 9:30 am games during the tournament so that we can show them while we are open.  All of the other games start at 11:30 am.  The tournament will have two games a day, every day from the 7th until the 22nd I believe.  The final will be on the 29th at 11:30 am.  I will have the full schedule posted on the soccer part of the website very soon.  You can sign up for our soccer-specific email list at the pub, or by shooting me an email.

For next week, we have two blockbuster events planned.  First is our annual Real Ale Festival Pre-Party.  We are kicking it off right with the release of Blind Pig IPA on tap.  And I am not talking just one keg.  I mean, this is it, for real, we now have Blind Pig IPA available.  Granted, you folks will likely drink it faster than Vinnie can send it down here, but we should be able to get several kegs a week from now on.  We will also be tapping a cask of Green Flash’s Imperial IPA at 5 pm – the same time that the Blind Pig will go on tap.

The second event is Friday the 13th – Avery Night.  We will have a great selection of beers from this Colorado brewery including Collaboration, Salvation, 15th Anniversary, IPA and more.  Also on Friday th 13th will be the San Diego Real Ale Festival at Pizza Port Carlsbad.  The festival will run from 4-11 pm Friday (late night Coaster runs until about 9:30 pm) and from 11 am to 11 pm on Saturday the 14th (again, late night Coaster, but only until about 7:30 pm).  The festival is $25 and will feature more than 50 cask conditioned beers.  There are still a few VIP tickets available for Friday afternoon from 1-4 pm – buy them at www.pizzaport.com.

That updates you for now.  Cheers, Tom