What’s Happening

Hello Great Beer Fans!

June is looking like a great month – Real Ale Festival, San Diego International Beer Festival and the start of the World Cup on the 11th.  In the meantime, we have some great beer coming up for your enjoyment.  We just tapped kegs of Lagunitas IPA and Full Sail Hop Pursuit.  We’ll also have several new kegs on tap tonight (Wednesday), but I won’t know exactly what until I get there this afternoon.  Though I do know we will have another keg of Idiot IPA to tap.

Thursday the 27th we will tap a cask of Ballast Point Big Eye IPA at 5 pm.  It has been a while since we last had this beer cask conditioned and I am looking forward to it.  Friday the 28th we will have three beers from Lagunitas – IPA, Undercover Shutdown Ale which is 9.7% and supposed to be very bitter and Gnarleywine, which is one of the brewery’s barleywines.

Over the weekend we will be opening early on Saturday, May 29th for the USA v. Turkey soccer match.  This is the last game on US soil before the team leaves for South Africa and should feature a full strength line-up, or at least very close to it.  The game is at 11 am and we will be opening at 10:30 am so that everyone can get it and get comfortable.  We will be open until midnight on Saturday and normal hours on Sunday from Noon to 6 pm.  We will be CLOSED on Monday the 31st for Memorial Day.

Next Week

Thursday June 3rd we will have a pre-party for the Real Ale Festival with full size casks of Alpine Bad Boy IPA and Ballast Point Sculpin IPA both tapped at 5 pm.  Friday the 4th we will have a night of beers from Alaskan Brewing including Summer, IPA and some 2009 Smoked Porter bottles.  Saturday the 5th we will be showing the USA v. Australia game on delay at 11:45 am.  The game is live at 5 am and that seems a bit early to be at the pub for a friendly match.

Real Ale Festival

Next weekend is also the 13th San Diego Real Ale Festival at Pizza Port Carlsbad.  The festival will run from 4-11 pm on Friday the 4th and 11 am to 11 pm on Saturday the 5th.  I am working on the beer list right now and it looks like we will have 50 different cask conditioned beers at the festival each served through a beer engine.  Admission is $30 and includes an Imperial pint glass and 8 taster tickets each good for a 4 ounce pour.  Additional taster tickets will be just $1.  Tickets for the festival will be available at the door.  You can pay by cash or credit card, but if you use a credit card, you just need to buy your ticket at the bottle shop or inside Pizza Port where the credit card machines are.  For directions check out the Port website at www.pizzaport.com.

As usual, we will have a special VIP session on Friday afternoon from 1-4 pm  with some rare casks and limited ticket sales.  The VIP session will include casks from Ballast Point, Green Flash, Lost Abbey, Triple Rock, Automatic Brewing, Alpine and more! You will also get first crack at the regular festival beers.  Tickets are $40 and you can buy them at www.ticketderby.com – just search “real ale” or you can find the link to it on the festivals page of the Pizza Port website.  The $40 ticket includes admission into the regular Friday night session as well, allowing you to drink from 1 pm to 11 pm if you so desire.  Tickets for the VIP session are about 50% sold out as of yesterday, so if you want to go to this session, buy your tickets soon.

Looking Ahead

The World Cup starts Friday, June 11th.  We will be taping every single game during the tournament.  There will be games every day from June 11th until June 30th at 11:30 am, so if you wonder why we are busier than normal at lunch those days, the World Cup is the reason why.  We will be opening up early for all of the USA matches.  On Saturday, June 12th we will open at 9:30 am for the 11:30 am USA v. England game.  Friday, June 18th we will open at 6:30 am for the 7 am USA v. Slovenia game and Wednesday, June 23rd we will again open at 6:30 am for the Algeria game.  We will be serving breakfast all three games as well, though just 9:30 am – 10:30 am for the England game.  All of the USA games will be replayed at lunch and again after work around 6 pm or so.  If you would like to join our U.S. Soccer supporters group, the San Diego American Outlaws, just sign up at www.theamericanoutlaws.com.  For a complete listing of our World Cup activities, visit the soccer section of the News page on our website.  You can also sign up for our soccer specific emails – just reply to this email and let me know.

Some casks you can look forward to: Stone Ruination IPA on the 10th of June, Alpine Red Card Ale on the 17th and 23rd of June and a cask of Coronado Idiot IPA towards the end of the month.  June 11th we will be hosting an Alpine night for the San Diego Beer Weekend event happening around town. 

The San Diego International Beer Festival will be June 25th, 26th and 27th and will feature more than 350 beers.  There will be four 4 hour sessions over the three days, each one featuring unlimited 1 oz sampling of the beers.  For more information visit: http://www.sdfair.com/fair/index.php?fuseaction=events.wine_beer.  You can buy tickets in advance and save a few bucks.  The fest will have beers from 22 countries including many from Belgium.  This is a truly amazing opportunity to sample beers from around the world.  If you went to all 4 sessions, you would only need to sample 88 beers per session to try them all!

That is your good beer news for now.  We’ll see you soon for some great cask ale.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Soccer Fans!

The biggest club final of the year is coming this weekend as Inter Milan take on Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League Final.  The game will kick off at 11:45 am on Fox – the network’s first ever soccer broadcast.  The pub will open at 11 am and show the pre-game talk.  Both teams have won their domestic league and cup competitions, so one of these will win a rare treble.  We’ll have the game on inside and on the patio with the sound on and we’ll have some extra chairs inside to accomodate the crowd.

Next week the U.S. Men’s team will start its warm-up games for South Africa.  The team will play the Czech Republic on Tuesday, May 25th at 5 pm and then Turkey at 11 am on Saturday the 29th – the pub will open at 10:30 am for the Turkey game.  The Australia game will be live at 5:30 am the following Saturday, June 5th and we will be showing that game on delay when we open at 11:30 am.

We will be taping every game of the World Cup on two different tvs so that we can replay the games at any time.  I have included a list of the 11:30 am games which will all be shown live.  If you have a group of people that would like to watch an early game live, please email me and we will do our best to accomodate you.  Our World Cup coasters are being printed and will be here soon.  Alpine Red Card Ale is fermenting away and will be ready to tap on June 11th.  I will have more World Cup updates in the next email.

If you would like to join the San Diego Chapter of the American Outlaws, there is still time to sign up and get your Outlaws shirt and bandana before the World Cup.  Sign up at www.theamericanoutlaws.com.  The national group will atuomatically assign you to the San Diego chapter based on your address, so there is no need to specify a chapter designation.  O’Brien’s will be the Official Headquarters for Team USA in San Diego!  We are already more than 70 members strong – join us!

The MLS has a full set of matches right up until the eve of the World Cup.  The league will take a two week break during the group stages and then resume play on June 25th.

The San Diego Flash is playing charity matches at Balboa stadium while it prepares to enter the 2011 season in the USL or NASL.  The team will play SD Fusion at 6 pm on Saturday the 22nd at Balboa Stadium.  Tickets are just $5 and all of the proceeds from the matches benefit a different local charity, this week it is the local chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.  The full schedule for these matches can be found at www.sandiegoflashsoccer.com.  The team was kind enough to give us a Flash jersey to display in the pub.  Also, the San Diego Sockers are running Summer Skills Camps in June, July and August.  For more information goto www.sdsockers.com. 

So here are the upcoming games – all World Cup games on ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC:

Thursday, 5/20:
5 pm – Crew v. NYRB – ESPN2
5:30 pm – LA Galaxy v. FC Dallas – Direct Kick

Saturday, 5/22:
11:45 am – Inter Milan v. Bayern Munich – UEFA Champions League Final – Fox – Pub open at 11 am
3 pm – USA Women v. Germany – ESPN2

6 pm – San Diego Flash v. SD Fusion – Balboa Stadium – just $5

7:30 pm – Real Salt Lake v. Chivas USA – Direct Kick

Sunday, 5/23:

1 pm – Columbus Crew v. Kansas City Wizards – Direct Kick

Tuesday, 5/25:
5 pm – USA v. Czech Republic – ESPN

Thursday, 5/27:

5 pm – FC Dallas v. Chicago Fire – ESPN2

Saturday, 5/29:
11 am – USA v. Turkey – ESPN2 – pub open at 10:30 am

4:30 pm – Chivas USA v. DC United – Direct Kick

4:30 pm – LA Galaxy v. Crew – Direct Kick

5:30 pm – Philadelphia Union v. Houston Dynamo – FSC

6 pm – Seattle Sounders v. Colorado Rapids – Direct Kick

6 pm – Wizards v. RSL – Direct Kick

7 pm – Toronto FC v. San Jose Earthquakes – Direct Kick

Wednesday, 6/2:

4:30 pm – Dynamo v. New York Red Bull – Direct Kick

7 pm – Crew v. Earthquakes – Direct Kick

Saturday, 6/5:
USA v. Australia - Live at 5:30 am, will show on delay at 11:30 am

1 pm – Wizards v. Toronto FC – Direct Kick

4:30 pm – Chivas USA v. NYRB – FSC

4:30 pm – RSL v. DC United – Direct Kick

5:30 pm – Earthquakes v. FC Dallas – Direct Kick

5:30 pm – Union v. Fire – Direct Kick

6 pm – Crew v. Rapids – Direct Kick

7:30 pm – New England Revolution v. Sounders – Direct Kick

Wednesday, 6/9:

5:30 pm – Rapids v. Fire – Direct Kick

6 pm – LA Galaxy v. RSL – Direct Kick – rematch of the 2009 MLS Cup Final

Thursday, 6/10:

5 pm – Union v. Wizards – Direct Kick

7 pm – DC United v. Sounders – ESPN2

Friday, 6/11: World Cup Finals Begin!!!
11:30 am – Uruguay v. France

Saturday, 6/12:

On tape – South Korea v. Greece
9:30 am – Argentina v. Nigeria – on delay from 7 am

11:30 am – USA v. England – ABC – pub open at 9:30 am

Sunday, 6/13:
11:30 am – Germany v. Australia

Monday, 6/14:
11:30 am - Italy v. Paraguay

Tuesday, 6/15:
11:30 am – Brazil v. North Korea

Wednesday, 6/16:
11:30 am – South Africa v. Uruguay

Thursday, 6/17:
11:30 am – France v. Mexico

Friday, 6/18:
7 am – USA v. Slovenia – ESPN – pub open at 6:30 am
9:15 am – Germany v. Serbia – on delay from 4:30 am
11:30 am – England v. Algeria

Saturday, 6/19:
11:30 am – Cameroon v. Denmark

Sunday, 6/20:
11:30 am – Brazil v. Ivory Coast

Monday, 6/21:
11:30 am – Spain v. Honduras

Tuesday, 6/22:
11:30 am – Nigeria v. South Korea
11:30 am – Greece v. Argentina

Wednesday, 6/23:
7 am – USA v. Algeria – ESPN – pub open at 6:30 am
7 am – Slovenia v. England
11:30 am – Ghana v. Germany
11:30 am – Australia v. Serbia

Thursday, 6/24:
11:30 am – Denmark v. Japan
11:30 am – Cameroon v. Netherlands

Friday, 6/25:
11:30 am – Switzerland v. Honduras
11:30 am – Chile v. Spain

Saturday, 6/26:
Knock out round begins – games at 7 am and 11:30 am

For a complete listing of the World Cup games, visit www.soccernet.com.  We’ll see you soon for some great soccer action.  Cheers, Tom

Hello US Craft Beer Fans!

Although we celebrate great craft beer every day of the year, May 17-23, 2010 is officially American Craft Beer Week.  To commemorate the week, we will be serving up some of the best craft beers around.  We will be tapping something new each night from a great American (in most cases San Diegan) brewery.  Here is the line up of events we have planned:

Monday, 5/17 – Russian River Night with Blind Pig IPA, Russain River IPA and Pliny the Elder all on tap at the same time.  We also have bottles of Consecration, Supplication and Temptation and even a 3 liter of Consecration.

Tuesaday, 5/18 – Sierra Nevada Night - We will have Southern Hemisphere Harvest (made with fresh New Zealand hops), Bigfoot, Pale, the Big P (1/2 Pale, 1/2 Bigfoot) and Dark Forces Imperial Porter which was made with the brewers from Pizza Port.

Wednesday, 5/19 – Coronado Idiot IPA is back on tap

Thursday, 5/20 – Cask of AleSmith Nut Brown at 5 pm and all local beers on special

Friday, 5/21 – Green Flash Night with Palate Wrecker, Coffee Stout, American ESB and West Coast IPA

Saturday, 5/22 – Alpine Night with Bad Boy, Duet IPA, O’Brien’s IPA and Pure Hoppiness

Sunday, 5/23 – enjoy what is left from a week’s worth of great beer.

You can find even more events at www.americancraftbeerweek.org and while there you can also find the Declaration of Beer Independence.  So join us in raising a glass (or three) to the great craft beer we produce here in America.

Our Alaskan night on the 21st has been pushed back until June 4th to accommodate our ACBW celebrations.  We will still host a Lagunitas night on Friday, May 28th with Gnarleywine and IPA for sure.

New Bottles

We have a bunch of new bottles in at the pub including Allagash Hugh Malone (Belgian-IPA), Allagash Victor (Golden Ale with red grapes), Het Anker Lucifer (from the makers of Gouden Carolous), Gouden Carolous Classic, Nogne Tiger Tripel (from Norway), Mikkeller 1000 IBUs (Danish Double IPA – not really 1000 IBUs but very hoppy) and two of the Danish meads are back in stock – Viking Blod and Klapojster (made with caraway seed).  New on tap we have the Flying Dog Coffee Stout.

This coming Saturday, May 22nd, we will be opening early at 11 am for the UEFA Champions League Final between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.  Both teams have already won their domestic leagues and domestic cup competitions making this a true clash of champions.  For those unfamiliar with the competition, it is the most prestigious club competition in Europe and the final is watched by more people than the superbowl (although there are no good ads like the superbowl).  I am expecting a full house for the game, so if you want to miss the crowds, just show up after 2 pm.  There will be no darts during the game.

Real Ale Festival

The San Diego Real Ale Festival is happening June 4th and 5th at Pizza Port Carlsbad.  Tickets for the VIP session from 1-4 pm on Friday the 3rd are on sale now at www.ticketderby.com - just search “real ale”.  VIP tickets are $40 and are only available on-line.  The regular festival will run from 4 pm – 11 pm on Friday and 11 am to 11 pm on Saturday.  Tickets will be available at the door and will cost $30 each and include 8 taster tickets and a festival glass.  Additional tastes will be just $1 each.  More than 45 cask conditioned beers are expected at the festival each served out through an authentic British beer engine.

Looking Ahead

We will be CLOSED Monday, May 31st for Memorial Day.  We will be open normal hours on Sunday the 30th from Noon to 6 pm for your beer drinking pleasure and resume normal hours on Tuesday the 1st of June.  Thursday, June 3rd we will host a pre-party for the Real Ale festival featuring a cask of Alpine Bad Boy at 5 pm and another cask, yet to be determined.

The World Cup starts Friday, June 11th.  We will be taping every single game during the tournament.  We will be opening up early for all of the USA matches.  On Saturday, June 12th we will open at 9:30 am for the 11:30 am USA v. England game.  Friday, June 18th we will open at 6:30 am for the 7 am USA v. Slovenia game and Wednesday, June 23rd we will again open at 6:30 am for the Algeria game.  We will be serving breakfast all three games as well, though just 9:30 am – 10:30 am for the England game.  All of the USA games will be replayed at lunch and again after work around 6 pm or so.  If you would like to join our U.S. Soccer supporters group, the American Outlaws, just sign up at www.theamericanoutlaws.com. 

The USA will also have warm-up matches against the Czech Republic at 5 pm on Tuesday, May 25th and Turkey at 11 am on Saturday, May 29th (pub open at 10:30 am). If you have a group that would like to watch other early games, please email me and let me know and we will do our best to accommodate you.  For all of the latest soccer info from the pub, you can sign up for our soccer email newsletter – just reply to this email and tell me that you want to be on the list.

Look for a short San Diego Beer Weekend June 11th and 12th.  We will be hosting an Alpine night that will include the release of the brewery’s newest beer, Red Card Ale.  It was an idea that Shawn McIlhenney and I came up with to make a beer for the World Cup.  It is going to be a hoppy, deep red ale that should come in at just over 6% alcohol.  We’ll have a cask of it sometime around mid-late June as well as having it on tap during all four weeks of the World Cup.

New Face

You may have noticed a new face behind the bar over the last week.  It is Tyson Blake, our new manager.  Tyson worked for a long time at San Diego Brewing Company before coming to O’Brien’s.  He knows his beer and he is a great guy.  Starting this week, he will be full time with us.  So please make him feel welcome at the pub when you see him.  Among his many duties, Tyson will be in charge of updating our Facebook page and keeping the online tap list up to date.  If you want to follow Tyson’s updates on Facebook, just search O’Brien’s Pub or find us at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Diego-CA/OBriens-Pub/56730476319?ref=mf.

Those are your beer updates for now.  We’ll see you soon for a great American-made craft beer.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Hoppy Beer Fans!

Next week we celebrate American Craft Beer Week with a great line up of events.  Tonight, Friday the 14th we have Firestone Double Barrel Ale and Union Jack IPA on tap along with a fresh cask of Alpine O’Brien’s IPA.  Here is the line-up for next week:

Monday – Russian River IPA and Blind Pig IPA on tap

Tuesday – Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Bigfoot, Big P, Dark Forces and Southern Hemisphere Harvest

Wednesday – Coronado Idiot IPA on tap

Thursday – AleSmith Nut Brown Cask at 5 pm

Friday – Green Flash Coffee Stout, American ESB, Palate Wrecker and West Coast IPA on tap

Saturday – Alpine Bad Boy, Duet IPA, Hoppy Birthday and Pure Hoppiness on tap

Sunday – Day of rest, enjoy what’s left from a great week of beer!

Look for a full email soon.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Soccer Fans!

The Europa League Final is today, Wednesday, May 12th at 11:45 am.  The game will be shown on Direct TV’s UEFA channel 461.  It will be an historic day as Clint Dempsey of Fulham will become the first American to play in a European Club Final.  It will be the London club’s 16th European game in a season that has seen them take down Juventus, Hamburg, Wolfsburg and the holders Shakhtar Donetsk.  Fulham face Atletico Madrid and the deadly strike force of Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan.  I will tape the game and it will also be shown on Thursday evening on Gol TV.
 
The FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Portsmouth will be on tape for Saturday, May 15th with a replay at 2 pm.  The 15th will also have a full slate of MLS games including the still unbeaten LA Galaxy.  The 15th will be the last game for the World Cup bound players in the MLS.
 
The UEFA Champions League final will be Saturday, May 22nd on Fox Sports.  It is the network’s first ever soccer broadcast.  The game will kick off at 11:45 am and we will open at 11 am with the kitchen ready to go so that everyone can get in and get settled before the game.
 
The USA Men start their World Cup tune up matches on May 25 against the Czech Repulic.  And though no games have been announced yet, U.S. Soccer is planning on lining up some post-cup friendly matches.  For the World Cup, the group stage runs through June 25th.  We will open at 9:30 am for the USA v. England game, and then at 6:30 am for the games against Slovenia on the 18th and Slovakia on the 23rd.  We will also be opening no later than 11 am, and possibly earlier, every Saturday and Sunday during the World Cup.  As of right now, the only other group stage day we are likely to open up at 7 am for is Friday, June 25th when Portugal faces Brazil.  But if the group is already decided by then, we may just watch it on replay at lunch.  We will have a new schedule for the morning games when we get to the knockout stages.  There will be no cover charge for any of the World Cup games, though we do ask that for the Friday lunch games you have a minimum charge of $8 as we are already very busy on those days.

Yesterday U.S. Soccer coach Bob Bradley announced his 30 man roster for training camp ahead of the World Cup.  The squad needs to be cut to 23 by June 1st.  Charlie Davies did not make the cut.  Hopefully he can feature for the team in the future.  Here is the 30 man roster by position:

Goalkeepers (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton)
 
Defenders (9): Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
 
Midfielders (12): DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers), Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), José Torres (Pachuca)
 
Forwards (6): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Puebla), Eddie Johnson (Aris Thessaloniki)

Hopefully Bradley can pull together the right 23 to make an impact in South Africa.

If you would like to join the San Diego Chapter of the American Outlaws, there is still time to sign up and get your Outlaws shirt and bandana before the World Cup.  Sign up at www.theamericanoutlaws.com.  The national group will atuomatically assign you to the San Diego chapter based on your address, so there is no need to specify a chapter designation.  O’Brien’s will be the Official Headquarters for Team USA in San Diego!

The San Diego Flash is playing charity matches at Balboa stadium while it prepares to enter the 2011 season in the USL or NASL.  The full schedule for these matches can be found at www.sandiegoflashsoccer.com.  Tickets are just $5 and all of the proceeds from the matches benefit a different local charity.  The team was kind enough to give us a Flash jersey to display in the pub.  Also, the San Diego Sockers are running Summer Skills Camps in June, July and August.  For more information goto www.sdsockers.com.

Finally, next week I will be going up to Alpine Beer Company to brew our World Cup beer for the pub.  It will be a hoppy, red-colored ale that we are naming Red Card Ale.  It will be on tap at the pub during the entire tournament.  We will also have a special cask conditioned version sometime during the World Cup on a Thursday night.

So here are the upcoming games:
 
Wednesday, 5/12:
11:45 am – Europa League Final from Hamburg – Fulham v. Atletico Madrid – Direct TV 461 – will tape game as well
 
Thursday, 5/13:
5 pm – Europa League Final from Wednesday – Gol TV
6 pm – Dynamo v. Real Salt Lake – ESPN2
 
Saturday, 5/15:
On Tape – FA Cup Final – Chelsea v. Portsmouth
2 pm – FA Cup Final – Chelsea v. Portsmouth – FSC
3 pm – Earthquakes v. Revolution – Direct Kick
4:30 pm – Rapids v. DC – Direct Kick
4:30 pm – Chivas USA v. Crew – Direct Kick
4:30 pm – Sounders v. NYRB – Direct Kick
5:30 pm – Toronto FC v. LA Galaxy – Direct Kick
 
Thursday, 5/20:
5 pm – Crew v. NYRB – ESPN2
5:30 pm – LA Galaxy v. FC Dallas – Direct Kick
 
Saturday, 5/22:
11:30 am – UEFA Champions League Final – Fox – Pub open at 11 am
3 pm – USA Women v. Germany – ESPN2
 
Tuesday, 5/25:
5 pm – USA v. Czech Republic – ESPN
 
Saturday, 5/29:
11 am – USA v. Turkey – ESPN2
 
Saturday, 6/5:
USA v. Australia - Live at 5:30 am, will likely show on delay
 
Friday, 6/11:
World Cup Finals Begin!!!
 
Saturday, 6/12:
11:30 am – USA v. England – ABC
 
Friday, 6/18:
7 am – USA v. Slovenia – ESPN – pub open at 6:30 am
 
Wednesday, 6/23:
7 am – USA v. Algeria – ESPN – pub open at 6:30 am

For a complete listing of the World Cup games, visit www.soccernet.com.  We’ll see you soon for some great soccer action.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Thirsty Beer Fans!

Great beer just keeps coming our way!  We’ve got some great new beers from Triple Rock, Green Flash and Sierra Nevada to tap this week.  And on tap right now you can find Alpine Nelson Rye-IPA, Alpine Duet IPA, Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yellow Pils, Port Wipeout IPA, three beers from New English Brewing (which is now made in San Diego at Mission Brewery Plaza) and of course, Russian River Pliny the Elder.

This Week

Wednesday the 5th we will tap a keg of Sierra Nevada 30th Series Imperial Stout at 6 pm.  The brewery is doing a series of beers to celebrate its 30th Anniversary.  This one is a 9.2% Imperial Stout brewed by Sierra owner Ken Grossman and former Anchor Brewing owner, Fritz Maytag.  I think three more beers are planned for release throughout the year.  Since it is Cinco de Mayo, the kitchen will be serving up some special Mexican food.  For fans of English football, the battle for fourth place between Manchester City and Tottenham will be on TV at Noon on Wednesday.

Thursday the 6th we tap a cask of Green Flash Imperial IPA at 5 pm.  Friday the 7th we have two kegs from the Triple Rock brewpub in Berkeley.  The first beer is Demolition, a super hoppy session ale that is only 4.2% alcohol – but it drinks like a much bigger beer.  Second will be a collaboration between head brewer Rodger Davis and Ballast Point’s Yuseff Cherney called Triple Point.  It is an 8.1% Belgian-inspired IPA.  Both beers will be on tap by 5 pm.  Saturday the 8th we will tap a keg of the new Green Flash Imperial Red which head brewer Chuck Silva says tastes awesome.  Space allowing, we will also have a keg of Green Flash Palate Wrecker on Saturday.

Sunday the 9th O’Brien’s Pub will be CLOSED as we are every year for Mother’s Day.  The pub will also be closed on Memorial Day, May 31st at the end of the month.  Despite these closings, you can take heart that we will be open this year for Father’s Day due to the World Cup.

Gold Medal Party

Next week we will celebrate the World Beer Cup gold medal for O’Brien’s IPA with a release party featuring two casks and draft kegs on Thursday, May 13th.  The first cask will tap at 5 pm and we will tap the second one after the first blows.  O’Brien’s IPA was a collaboration beer I made with Alpine several years ago and they have been kind enough to continue to brew it for us.  Shawn McIlhenney and I are also working on another collaboration beer for the World Cup named Red Card.  It will be a hoppy, American-style red that will be very different from the brewery’s eponymous Irish Red.  Look for it to be on tap from June 10th until mid-July for the World Cup.

There will also be a historic moment for American soccer next week on Wednesday, May 12th in the Europa League Final.  The Europa League is the little brother to the UEFA Champions League for European club teams.  No American has ever played in the final of a European club competition.  However, that will change when Clint Dempsey takes the field with upstart Fulham as the first US soccer player to play in a final.  Fulham faces Atletico Madird at 11:45 am on the 12th.  Fulham playing in the final of a European competition is like a number 16 seed making it to the NCAA Basketball final.  They are the ultimate Cinderella team.  So even if you are not Fulham fan, come out and cheer on Clint Dempsey.  For a more local soccer fix, check out the San Diego Flash at www.sandiegoflashsoccer.com.

Looking Ahead

Friday the 14th we will host a Firestone night featuring the brewery’s new summer release, Solace.  It is a hybrid between a German-style Hefeweizen and a Belgian Saison.  We will have it on tap along with the brewery’s great Union Jack IPA and most likely some Double Barrel Ale.  The following Friday, May 21st it will be Alaskan Night with Summer, IPA and possibly the White Ale all on tap and some 2009 Alaskan Smoked Porter in 22 oz bottles.  Friday the 28th will be Lagunitas night with Gnarleywine and some other great beers from the Petaluma brewery.  Saturday, May 22nd, we will open at 11 am for the UEFA Champions League Final between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.  The game will kick off at 11:45 am.

Real Ale Fest

The San Diego Real Ale Festival will be happening June 4th and 5th at Pizza Port Carlsbad.  The festival will run from 4 pm to 11 pm on Friday and 11 am to 11 pm on Saturday.  More than 45 different cask conditioned beers will be on tap all served through a British beer engine.  Tickets will be available at the door and will cost $30 which will include an Imperial pint glass for tasting and 8 taster tickets.  Additional tastes will be just $1 each.  There will be a VIP session on Friday from 1-4 pm that will feature additional casks and some bottled real ales along with limited ticket sales.  Those tickets are $40 and include admission into the regular session Friday night.  VIP tickets are only sold online in advance at Ticket Derby.  You can purchase them by going to: http://www.ticketderby.com/innerindex.php?eventid=2434.  You should also be able to find the link on the Pizza Port website.

For hard rock fans, my favorite indie-metal band Valient Thorr is playing Wednesday the 5th at House of Blues with Mastadon in what promises to be a great show.  The Karl Strauss Beach to Brewery fest will be this Saturday, May 8th from 2 to 7 pm at the Rose Canyon brewery.  Mark your calendars now for the three day, 350 beer extravaganza that will be the San Diego International Beer Festival on June 25th, 26th and 27th. Stop by for our weekly specials – pitcher night on Mondays – $10 craft and local beers and $14 Strong Ale pitchers, Roll It Night on Tuesdays from 4-8 pm, all local beers on special Thursday from 4:30 – 8 pm and 10% off all bottles all day Saturday and Sunday including import bottles to-go.

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