What’s Happening

O’Brien’s Pub will be closed on Monday, September 1st for Labor Day.  Enjoy the holiday with friends, family and good beer.  We’ll be back open on Tuesday, September 2nd at 11 am.  Cheers, Tom

Greetings Beer Lovers!
 
The end of summer for most, Labor Day, is almost upon us.  However, for those of us who live here, Labor Day signifies the time that we get our city back from the tourists while the weather is still nice.  And given how warm September and October usually are, it is hardly the end of summer (unless you are going back to school, in which case you are screwed, it really is the end of summer).  No matter the season, we will have good beer on tap for you.
 
We have several new beers on tap right now from our Bruery Night on Friday.  The Bruery is a new micro in Orange County specializing in Belgian-inspired beers owned by Patrick Rue (hence the clever B-Rue-Ry name).  We have four on tap – the White Orchard Wit and the Dark Orchard which is a dark Wit, Humulus Bruin which is a hoppy brown ale and the Hottenroth Berliner Weiss which is a slightly sour hefeweizen (lactic acid sour, not wild yeast sour) that is an amazingly light 3.2% alcohol and very drinkable.  We also have four more in the bottle – Tradewinds Tripel which is spiced with Thai Basil and uses rice in place of sugar to create a light body and color, Saison Rue which is bottled with brettanomyces, Luved’s Batch #1 which was an award winning homebrew recipe inspired by Duvel and a Bourbon barrel aged version of the Luved’s Batch #1 which I can say from first hand experience is delicious.
 
Also new on tap is the Ettaler Curator Double Bock from Germany, Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest and Pizza Port San Clemente El Camino IPA.  Look for Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA, Rogue Imperial Stout, Green Flash West Coast IPA and Rubicon IPA to be on tap soon.
 
We have some other great new bottles to tell you about.  The Unibroue Quatre Centieme which was made for the 400th anniversary of Quebec – it is a 7.5% golden ale with some very nice spicy notes.  Thiriez Blond Biere de Garde, Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron, Afligem Blond and Green Flash 2007 Le Freak are all new on the list.  And right now we have six meads (honey wines) available – 3 from Redstone: Traditional, Juniper Berry and Boysenberry Nectar; and 3 from Dansk: Viking Blod, Klapojster and GI Dansk.  We can sell any import bottle on our menu to-go (sorry, no domestic beers) with a limit of one per person per day.  All bottles are 10% off every Saturday and Sunday.
 
Tonight, Monday the 25th, we have a Chargers pre-season game that should be much more fun to watch than the game against the Rams.  The Bolts play the Seattle Seahawks at 5 pm and our starters are projected to play the first three quarters.  We will also have our regular Monday night pitcher special all during the game – just $9 for pitchers of locals and domestics and $13 for strong/rare ales.  Clearly the best deal on Russian River IPA or Pure Hoppiness anywhere in town.
 
Later in the week we will host a Bear Republic night on Friday the 29th featuring four beers on tap – Racer 5 IPA, Rebellion – a strong hoppy pale with Amarillo hops, Crazy Ivan – a blend of the Racer 5 and Red Rocket worts (unfermented beer) fermented with a Belgian yeast, and Black Raven Porter on Nitrogen.  This will be the first time that we have had three of these beers on tap so be sure to check them out while they are around.  As an added Friday night bonus we get the last Chargers preseason game on Friday vs. the 49′ers at 7 pm.  Thursday night’s cask will be Port Brewing Wipeout IPA at 5 pm.
 
Over the weekend we will be open normal hours on Saturday the 30th (Noon to Midnight) and Sunday the 31st (Noon to 6 pm).  We will have some glassware specials over the weekend with the following glassware for sale – Urthel, Koningshoeven, Delrium Tremens (the one with the pink elephants), Unibroue, Stella Artois, St. Feuillien, Celis Grotten, Kwak, New Belgium, two styles from Lost Abbey and of course both styles of our O’Brien’s pint glasses.  We’ll also be featuring all our merchandise including our new shirts for 10% off all weekend.  On the food front, the kitchen will be serving Fish and Chips, our Chipotle Fish Sandwich and Fish Tacos both days.
 
Now that you have a weekend full of good stuff, here is the bad news – O’Brien’s Pub will be CLOSED on Monday, September 1st for Labor Day.  It is a holiday for our employees as well.  So be sure to get in all of your Pliny and Pure Hoppiness over the weekend or just come back on Tuesday the 2nd when we resume normal hours.  Rest easy knowing that we won’t close again until Thanksgiving – only banks take Columbus day off.
 
Football is back – both the American and European varieties.  We will be opening early for all 10 am Chargers games and staying open late on Sundays for all of the Charger night games.  We cook breakfast for all of the 10 am Charger games.  The first real game will be Sunday, September 7th at 1:15 pm against the Carolina Panthers. 
 
Right before that we will be featuring beers from the Boulevard Brewing Company Smokestack series on Friday the 5th and Saturday the 6th.  These beers are brand new in San Diego.  Boulevard, which is in Kansas, makes a high end line of 750 ml bottles they call the Smokestack Series.  We will have the brewery’s Saison, Double IPA, Tripel and Quadrupel – all of which are very good.  We will also have some Ommegang beers on tap – Rare Vos and the new Grand Cru Rouge which is a Flanders Red Ale/sour brown along with some great Ommegang glassware.  The cask for next Thursday is yet to be determined – check the website after Labor Day to find out what we will have.
 
For soccer fans, I have posted up the latest schedule of games on our website in the news section under the heading “soccer”.  I have a soccer-specific email that goes out twice a month that lists all of the upcoming games – if you would like to get on it, just reply to this email and mention that you want to be on the soccer list.  With our DVR box, we can also tape any of the games.
 
In other upcoming events, we still have a few seats left for our AleSmith Vintage and Barrel Aged tasting on Saturday, September 13th at 6 pm (which will also feature Lindsey’s famous Pear Tart).  The San Diego Festival of Beer downtown will be held on Friday, September 19th from 6 to 11 pm featuring more than 50 breweries.  All of the proceeds go to benefit local cancer research programs.  For more info visit www.sdbeerfest.org.  And our Elysian launch party will be Tuesday, September 23rd with 6-8 Elysian beers on tap.
 
Finally, some of you may have experienced some difficulty with our Wi-Fi recently.  We have upgraded our system and we are in the process of working out some of the kinks.  The network is still there, but it does not broadcast and it is password protected.  As changes occur, I will keep everyone posted.  For now, the password is posted by the Coke machine up front and there are step by step directions on how to connect behind the bar – just ask for them.

That is your pub news for now.  Have a great Labor Day weekend filled with much good beer.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Soccer Fans!
 
The European leagues are starting back up and World Cup Qualifying takes place for Concacaf starting tomorrow.  There are also several European friendlies on Wednesday including England v. Czech Republic.  The MLS is moving toward the end of its season and the new Concacaf Champions League starts next week.  The Olympic gold medal match is set for this Friday night/Saturday morning live on CNBC with Argentina v. Nigeria.
 
We send out 1-2 soccer emails each month to keep folks up to date on the games.  If you would like to be added to the list, just leave your email at the pub with a note that you want to be on the soccer list.  As always, we can tape any game on our DVR box for you to watch later.  As a rule, I generally tape all morning EPL games to show later in the day.
 
So here is the big list of what is coming up in the next 10 days or so at the pub:
 
Tuesday, 8/19:
3 pm – U21 England v. U21 Slovenia – Setanta
 
Wednesday, 8/20:
Noon – England v. Czech Republic – also at 5 pm – FSC
Noon – Germany v. Belgium (battle of the brewing countries) – Gol TV
2 pm – Italy v. Austria – Gol TV
7 pm – Guatemala v. USA – ESPN2
Also on Mexican TV – Mexico v. Honduras
 
Thursday, 8/21:
7 pm – Chicago Fire at LA Galaxy – ESPN2 (Brian McBride might play for the Fire)
 
Saturday, 8/23:
On Tape – Tottenham v. Sunderland, Fulham v. Arsenal, Liverpool v. Middlesbrough
11:30 am – Stoke City v. Aston Villa – FSC
2 pm – Newcastle United v. Bolton – Setanta
3:45 – West Brom v. Everton – Setanta
4:30 pm – Toronto FC v. New England Revolution – FSC
5:30 pm – Liverpool v. Middlesbrough – Setanta

Sunday, 8/24:
On Tape – Manchester City v. West Ham, Wigan v. Chelsea
1 pm – Real Madrid v. Valencia – Gol TV – Spanish Super Cop 2nd Leg
 
Monday, 8/25:
Noon – Portsmouth v. Manchester United – also at 4:45 pm – Setanta

Tuesday, 8/26:
11:30 am – Live Carling Cup, Teams TBA – Setanta
5 pm – Joe Public (Tri) v. New England Revolution – FSC – Concacaf Champions League
7 pm – Tauro FC (Pan) v. Chivas USA – FSC – Concacaf Champions League
 
Wednesday, 8/27:
11 am – Live Carling Cup, Teams TBA – Setanta
5 pm – Montreal Impact (Can) v. Real Esteli (Nca) – FSC – Concacaf Champions League
7 pm – Alajuelense (Crc) v. Puerto Rico Islanders – FSC – Concacaf Champions League
There might be a UEFA Champions League Qualifier on this day, but right now, it does not look like it.
 
Thursday, 8/28:
3 pm – FC Midtylland v. Manchester City – Setanta – UEFA Cup Qualifying
5 pm – Harbour View (Jam) v. Pumas UNAM (Mex) – FSC – Concacaf Champions League
 
Friday, 8/29:
11:30 am – Manchester United v. Zenit St. Petersburg – FSC – UEFA Super Cup – also at 10 pm
 
Saturday, 8/30:
On Tape – West Ham v. Blackburn, Arsenal v. Newcastle United
11:15 am – Bolton v. West Brom – Setanta
11:30 am – Sampdoria v. Inter Milan – FSC
1 pm – Middlesbrough v. Stoke City – Setanta
1:30 pm – Udinese v. Palermo – FSC
2:45 pm – Everton v. Portsmouth – Setanta
4:30 pm – DC United v. New York Red Bull – FSC
 
Sunday, 8/31: -
On Tape – Chelsea v. Tottenham, Aston Villa v. Liverpool, Roma v. Napoli
11:30 am – Fiorentina v. Juventus – FSC
1:30 pm – Sunderland v. Manchester City – FSC
 
The USA resumes World Cup Qualifying on Saturday, September 6th against Cuba most likely around 1 pm.  After that they play Trinidad and Tobago at 5 pm on September 10th.  WCQ then resumes again in October.  That is the soccer news for now.  We’ll see you soon for a great game and a fine beer.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Beer Lovers!
 
It has already been a great week of beer at the pub and the best is yet to come.  We tapped Alpine Exponential Hoppiness on Monday, Lost Abbey Witches Wit, Port Brewing 2nd Anniversary and a cask of Poor Man’s IPA on Tuesday along with releasing Cuvee de Tomme and Isabella Proximus in bottles, we had nearly two dozen vintage and one-off bottles for last night on special and now we get serious about our hops.  It starts tonight at 5 pm with casks of both Alpine Duet IPA and Alpine Exponential Hoppiness at 5 pm.  It is probably more good cask than should be put on at once, but this is a week for excess, so why not?  The new batch of Expo is insane – lighter in color, with a great oak flavor and a massive hop tidal wave of goodness.  For those who fear its 10% plus alcohol, we will be serving 10 oz glasses of the cask tonight.  And if you need something to stick to your ribs while you are drinking good beer tonight, try the chicken and sausage gumbo – it is delicious.
 
The big event starts tomorrow night (Friday 8/15) and goes all weekend (Sat-Sun 8/16-8/17) – our Weekend of a Million Zillion Hops!  We will have no fewer than 15 IPAs and Double IPAs on tap all weekend for your hop infused pleasure.  The line-up will include many of our regular full time favorites – Pure Hoppiness, Blind Pig, Racer 5, Russian River IPA and Pliny the Elder.  On tap for the weekend starting at 5 pm Friday will be Racer X, Avery Ale to the Chief, Pizza Port Swami’s IPA, AleSmith IPA, Ballast Point Dorado, Moylan’s Moylander and Stone Ruination.  I also have lots of other hoppy kegs to add when beers run out – Green Flash West Coast IPA and Imperial IPA, Moylan’s Hopsickle (on tap Saturday night at 5 pm for the Chargers game), Pizza Port Poor Man’s IPA and El Camino IPA, Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA and Rubicon IPA and Hop Sauce.  We will be serving the beers in pints and 10 oz glasses on Friday night.  If you would like to come try and taste them all, stop by on Saturday or Sunday when we will be serving 5 oz samples of all of the beers on tap.  We will be doing individual 5 oz samples on Friday, but we will be busy, so I do not want to make the bartenders pour too many 5 oz samples on a very busy night – thanks for your understanding.  If there is anything left from our Thursday casks, we will serve them out on Friday night.  Check out our Chicken Parm and Eggplant Parm sandwiches on Friday from the kitchen.  If you don’t like hoppy beers you will still have 5 draft options – Sierra Pale, Boddingtons, Lost Abbey Witches Wit, Alaskan Summer Ale and the incredible Boon Oude Lambic Marriage Parfait – and a ton of bottles from which to choose
 
As I just mentioned, the Chargers have a pre-season game on Saturday the 16th at 5 pm vs. the St. Louis Rams.  We will be offering $10 pitchers of all local and craft beers (not strong or rare) on tap from 5 pm until close Saturday night.  We’ll also be serving up Fish and Chips for the game.  And we will have our 10% off all bottles special going as well.  Look for Green Flash 2007 Le Freak Belgian IPA in bottles as well.
 
And while I am on the subject of Saturday the 16th, the Stone Anniversary Party is that day.  We have had some late cancellations on the Stone Bus and as I write this, there are now 3 seats available.  The cost is $25 and it includes beer and water on the bus.  You must have a ticket to the festival (not included) and your ID with you.  These are first come first served, to be safe, you probably should call to see if the seats are still available – 858-715-1745.  The pub will open at 10 am for a pre bus beer and the bus will leave at 10:20 am.  The pub will then be open for regular business at the normal time of 12 noon.  Just FYI – the second session is sold out, but there are still tickets for the first session.
 
Next week we will host The Bruery and head brewer Patrick Rue from Orange County.  The Bruery is a new micro that is specializing in Belgian themed beers.  We will have four on tap including White Orchard Wit, Black Orchard Wit (a dark wheat beer), Humulus Bruin and a new Berliner Weiss.  We will also have four beers in the bottle – Luved (inspired by Duvel), a barrel aged version of Luved, Trade Winds Tripel and Saison Rue.  Patrick will be on hand to answer questions about the beers.  I have tasted most of what we will have and I can tell you that it will be a night of great beer.  Next week’s Thrusday cask will be Alpine Pure Hoppiness.
 
Our second vintage and barrel aged AleSmith Tasting will be Saturday, September 13th at 6 pm at the pub.  I have some bottles left over from our Vintage and Barrel Aged tasting in July including Decdence 2005, Speedway Stout 2005, Grand Cru 2006, and Barrel Aged Old Numbskull and Wee Heavy.  However, because I only have one bottle of some of the beers, I am limiting this tasting to only 10 people.  Cost will be $30 per person.  There is a sign up sheet at the pub right now and there are still a few seats left.

Also looking ahead, we will have a cask of Port Brewing Wipeout IPA on Thursday, August 28th.  We will be open normal hours on Saturday the 30th and Sunday the 31st, but CLOSED on Monday, September 1st for Labor Day.

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

I went digging around the cold box last night to find some rare bottles for tonight.  In addition to that, we now have a good supply of Cuvee de Tomme and Isabella Proximus from Lost Abbey – both of which will be available tonight.  And we have some of the excellent Poor Man’s IPA cask left from last night.  The new Lost Abbey Witches Wit is also on tap.

So here are the bottles for tonight – Simpatico Barleywine (great beer from Argentina), Stone 10th and 11th Anniversary, Stone 07 Vertical Epic, Stone 2007 Double Bastard, Samichlaus 2003 and 2004, Goose Island Matilda, Lost Abbbey Gift of the Magi, 2007 Alaskan Smoked Porter, 2005 Baladin Nora Sour Edition, New Belgium Le Fleur Misseur?, Westvletern 8 and 12, Yo-Ho Brewing 2002 and 2003 Barleywine (from Japan), 1995 Saison de Pipaix, Panil Bariquee (a flemish red from Italy), and Jolly Pumpkin Bam Noire.  Supplies are limited and bottles will be for sale around 5 pm.

We will be offering up all of the above bottles and all of the bottles on our special release list for 10% off tonight (so it will be any bottle on the pink or orange bottle lists).  That will include any imports to-go.

Tomorrow is our double Alpine cask night with Duet IPA and Exponential Hoppiness both on cask at 5 pm.  And Friday begins our three-day, 15 beer, IPA and double IPA extravaganza.

Stone Bus News – we have 3 seats that have opened up on the Stone Bus this weekend for the first session of the Anniversary Party.  They are first come, first served.  Cost is $25 per person (cash only please).  It includes beer and water on the bus.  The pub will open at 10 am if you need a pre-bus beer and the bus will leave at 10:20 am so that we can be there by 11 am.  If you want to get one of the seats, just sign up and pay at the pub.

That is the news for now.  Cheers, Tom

I have confirmation that the Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme and Isabella Proximus will be on sale tonight for our Pizza Port Pizza Party night – Tuesday, August 12th.  We will have those two bottles along with Inferno, Signature, Older Viscosity and Angel’s Share all on sale.  On tap we will have the Port Brewing 2nd Anniversary double IPA, Lost Abbey Witches Wit and a cask of Pizza Port Carlsbad’s Poor Man’s IPA.

Not to mention that the Boon Oude Lambic and Alpine Exponential Hoppiness will both be on tap.  We have almost 180 pizza doughs for tonight as well.  See you there.  Cheers, Tom

Normally, I do not post up stuff just for one beer.  But tonight I had to make an exception for this – Boon Oude Lambic Marriage Parfait.  It is a nearly still, 8% alcohol lambic that has been aged for three years.  This is the base lambic that Frank Boon uses to make the Boon Marriage Parfait Geuze in its raw, unblended form. This keg was filled straight from a single oak cask.  For more information on the beer, check out the thread on BeerAdvocate.com.  If you like sour beers, this is one not to miss.  Believe me, I will be doing my best this week to drink it all up!

I will have more updates on events this week on Monday or Tuesday.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Beer Fans!

There are a ton of great events coming up at the pub to tell you about – Alpine Exponential on cask, the return of pizza night, our mega hoppy beer weekend and more.  First though, I will start with tonight for those reading this right after it is sent.  Thursday the 7th we will tap a cask of Pizza Port San Clemente’s El Camino IPA at 5 pm.  We’ll also have the new Stone 08-08-08 Vertical Epic in the bottle which is a Belgian-style IPA (like Green Flash’s Le Freak).  We also have some other new bottles in right now including the Brooklyn/Schneider collaboration Hopfen Weiss which is a dry hopped 8.2% alcohol German wheat beer that is quite good.  We also have some bottles of Alpine Irish Red on the list now.  Also new on the list are Eisenbahn Lust, a champagne style beer from Brazil; Alvinne Balthazar – a beer spiced with coriander and cardamom and we got more bottles of the Allagash Hugh Malone in.
 
Coming up this weekend we have the return of the San Diego Super Chargers.  The first preseason game is at 7 pm against Dallas.  We’ll be showing it with the sound on and we’ll have a late-night happy hour during the game with $10 pitchers of any local or craft beer!  The Chargers also play next Saturday against the Rams at 5 pm and we will have the same pitcher special in effect during that game as well.  Even though most of the starting jobs are lined up, it should be good to watch the new guys battle it out for a spot on the team.
 
Next week is my birthday week (actual birthday is 8/13).  And as always, I have a full week’s worth of beer events to help punish your liver and please your taste buds.  Here is the line-up:
Monday, 8/11 – Alpine Exponential Hoppiness released on draft all day Monday
Tuesday, 8/12 – Pizza Night with Pizza Port owner Vince Marsaglia with Lost Abbey Witches Wit and Port Brewing 2nd Anniversary on tap, a cask of Pizza Port Carlsbad’s Poor Man’s IPA and bottles of Angel’s Share, Older Viscosity, Inferno, Signature and if all goes well Isabella Proximus and Cuvee de Tomme.  Vince is bringing 4 times as much dough as last time and is bringing down some Pizza Port staff to help make the pizzas.
Wednesday, 8/13 – Vintage and one-off bottle night.  I am compiling a list this weekend of some odd bottles to sell for this night.  There will be only one of most bottles and I do not have the list done yet, but I will post it on the web when I do.  I do know that I will have some vintage Stone bottles including Epic and other strong ales and some odd ball Belgian beers.
Thursday, 8/14 – a duo of cask beers from Alpine – Duet IPA and Exponential Hoppiness both on cask at 5 pm.
Friday, 815 – The Night of a Million Zillion Hops!  We will have 15 IPAs and double IPAs on tap for your beer drinking pleasure including Racer X, Ballast Point Dorado, Ruination, Green Flash West Coast IPA, Pizza Port Poor Man’s IPA, Mission IPA, Moylan’s Moylander, Swami’s IPA and many many more.  I’ll have a few non-IPA beers still on the list, but if you don’t like hops, this is not the night to come to the pub.
Saturday and Sunday, 8/16 and 8/17 – IPA and Double IPA Tasting all weekend.  Since all of the beers for Friday night will be in full kegs, they will be on tap all weekend – and if anything blows, I have extra hoppy beers lying in wait to back them up.  We are going to be busy Friday night so I do not want to torture the bartenders with pouring 5 oz samples.  But if you would like to come by on the weekend, you can order all the 5 oz samples you want and attempt to try all 15 beers!  So Friday is for pints and pitchers and the weekend is for sampling and 5 ounce pours.
 
As if you need anything else, I will still tell what is coming up after that.  On Thursday the 21st we tap a cask of Alpine Pure Hoppiness.  Friday the 22nd we feature beers from The Bruery, a new micro in Orange county that is specializing in Belgian themed beers.  We’ll have several on tap including a Berliner Weiss.  The Chargers play a Monday night game against Seattle on the 25th.  We have a cask of Wipeout IPA on the 28th.  We’ll be open Labor Day weekend, but we will be closed Monday, September 1st for Labor Day.
 
I know it is far away, but I have two September events to tell you about.  First, is another AleSmith tasting on Saturday, September 13th at 6 pm.  I have some bottles left over from our Vintage and Barrel Aged tasting including Decdence 2005, Speedway Stout 2005, Grand Cru 2006, and Barrel Aged Old Numbskull and Wee Heavy.  However, because I only have one bottle of some of the beers, I am limiting this tasting to only 10 people.  Cost will be $30 per person and I will start a sign up sheet tonight at the pub.  The other September event is our Elysian Launch party with brewer Dave Buhler on Tuesday, Sept. 23rd.  Elysian is a great and creative brewery out of Seattle and we will have 6-8 of their beers on tap including some nice rarities just for the launch party.  The Elysian beers should be available in early September.
 
And finally, our Stone Bus is full, but if you still need a ride to the Stone Anniversary Party next weekend, try Brewery Tours of San Diego which will be providing rides to both sessions.  That is the beer news for now.  We’ll see you soon for a great beer.  Cheers, Tom