What’s Happening

Hello Beer Fans!

The craziness of the World Cup has subsided for a day or two as we get our first break with no games since June 11th.  The madness will resume on Friday, July 2nd and Saturday July 3rd with games at 7 am and 11:30 am each day.  Friday we get Netherlands v. Brazil at 7 am and Uruguay v. Ghana at 11:30 am.  Saturday its Germany v. Argentina at 7 am and Spain v. Paraguay at 11:30 am.  The pub will be open at 6:45 am both days with coffee, OJ and light breakfast fare.  Beer, Champagne and Mimosas start at halftime – 8 am.  Look for the regular food menu to start up shortly after the morning games.

At the Pub

Thursday the 1st we tap a cask of Hanger 24 Double IPA.  This was one of my favorite beers at the Real Ale Festival and I am really looking forward to having a pint of it.  We’ll tap it at 5 pm and all of our local beers will be on special.  Russian River Pliny the Elder is expecte to be back on tap sometime Thursday night, hopefully by 7 pm.  We just tapped a fresh keg of Port Brewing Mongo IPA and the massive 4th Anniversary IPA will be back on tap soon.  Ale Smith Wee Heavy is also new on the tap list.

We will be open until Midnight on both Friday the 2nd and Saturday the 3rd.  The pub will be CLOSED Sunday July 4th for Independence Day.  We will have normal hours on Monday the 5th from 11 am until 10:30 pm with our great pitcher special ($10 crafts/locals) in effect from 4:30 pm until closing time.  Between now and Thanksgiving, Labor Day is the only day we will be closed.  So enjoy the holiday and make sure to buy some great San Diego beer for your holiday weekend.

More World Cup

Next week we get the two semi-final match ups on Tuesday the 6th and Wednesday the 7th, both games at 11:30 am.  No matter who gets through, these will be great match ups.  It certainly seems to be a great World Cup for South America so far.  It will be interesting to see if those teams can keep up the momentum.  The thrid place mathc will be Saturday the 10th at 11:30 am and the final will be on Sunday the 11th at 11:30 am.  We will be opening up early for the final, just not sure when yet.

The USA is bidding to host either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup and San Diego is one of the 18 final cities in the bid.  It is likely that only 12-14 cities will end up hosting games.  Each host city would have 4-6 games – it is estimated that each World Cup match would have the local economic impact as a Superbowl.  Please support San Diego’s efforts to become a host city by signing the bid petition.  Most of the other 17 cities are way ahead of us.  You can sign on the O’Brien’s home page – www.obrienspub.net, the Go USA Bid page – http://www.gousabid.com/city/local/san-diego-ca/ or the San Diego Flash homepage – http://sandiegoflashsoccer.com/SDSoccer/default.cfm.  Please support San Diego and help get the word out!

Looking Ahead

Next week we will have a cask of Coronado Idiot IPA on Thursday the 8th at 5 pm.  Friday the 9th will be New Belgium Brewing Night with a new Belgian-IPA along with Ranger IPA and Eric’s Ale (sour peach).  Thursday the 15th we get a double shot of great hoppy casks from Port Brewing – 4th Anniversary and Wipeout IPA.  Friday the 16th we will have some beers from Airdale Brewing Company including Dark and Stormy Imperial Stout.

Our local beer writer, Peter Rowe at the Union-Tribune, now has a blog on the internet.  In addition to the bi-weekly Brewery Rowe Pint Sized Pour, Pete has additional stories and updates as well as news on what is happening in the San Diego beer scene each weekend.  The paper is sizing up which blogs will stick around and we certainly want to make sure that the beer blog is one of them.  Please support the Brewery Rowe blog by visiting it and checking it out.  You can read the story of how the American Homebrewers Association voted Pliny the Elder the best commercial beer in America for a second straight year.  Find it at: http://www.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/brewery-rowe/.  If you can link to it on a website or a Facebook page, that too would help.  Please visit the site and spread the word to help make sure that the San Diego beer scene stays in the mainstream media.

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

Here are the upcoming World Cup matches:

Friday, 7/2: Pub Open at 6:45
7 am – Netherlands v. Brazil

11:30 am – Uruguay v. Ghana

Saturday, 7/3: Pub Open at 6:45
7 am – Argentina v. Germany

11:30 am – Spain v. Paraguay

Tuesday, 7/6: Semi-Final
11:30 am – winner of Neth/Brazil v. winner Uru/Ghana

Wednesday, 7/7: Semi-Final
11:30 am – winner of Arg/Ger v. winner Spain/Paraguay

Saturday, 7/10:
Third Place Match at 11:30 am

Sunday, 7/11: We will open early, but time TBD
World Cup Final at 11:30 am

Th pub will open at 11 am on Monday and Tuesday, June 28th and 29th.  World Cup matches both days at 11:30 am.  Then two days off before the Quarterfinals start on Friday.  Down to 12 teams and we lose two more tomorrow.  Looks like my Germany pick in the pub pool is looking pretty good.  Cheers, Tom

Hello World Cup Fans!

The round of 16 is here and it is time for a little payback for 2006 against a very talented and physical Ghana team.  The pub will open at 6:45 am for the 7 am kick off of Uruguay v. South Korea.  We will have coffee, OJ and light breakfast fare (muffins, etc…) for that game.  We will start full breakfast service at 9 am with burritos and omelettes until around 10:30 am.  We will then serve our regular food menu starting around 11 am.  I expect the pub to be crowded long before kick off, but I really don’t know when it will fill up.  We will be adding another TV outside so that we can make use of the far side of the patio.  We will be replaying parts of the USA’s group stage games after the Uruguay game and before the USA kick off.

The pub has been greating some amazing exposure online and on local TV stations.  Channel 7 and 8 were both at the pub at 5 am for the Algeria game.  The link for the NBC video is: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local-beat/USA_Pulls_Through_at_the_Last_Minute_San_Diego.html.  We have it and the Channel 8 spot both taped at the pub.  Some great online video from Alex Kliotzkin show the pure, raw emotion that ran through pub when the USA finally scored against Algeria: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkzo3H7ZSaM.  This video was also featured on the New York Times Soccer Blog and apparently was sent out on Twitter by ESPN.  You can see the NYT website here:  http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/across-the-u-s-an-explosion-of-joy/.  It shows video from all over the country of fan reaction to the goal.  There are two other spots from San Diego county on the list as well.  There is also video of the pub singing Queen’s “We Are the Champions”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aVAlDjdeoU and the still unbelievable disallowed goal against Slovenia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdjzC7ZLZwc.

San Diego has been the number one US market for all three USA games on ABC and ESPN.  The Algeria match was the highest rated TV show of the entire day in San Diego.  And the ESPN and ABC numbers do not include the added audience on Spanish language Univision or broadcasts at pubs and bars around town.  You can see the complete front page story here: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jun/24/beautiful-game-entrances-soccer/. If you would like to contact the Union Tribune sports department to thank them for this story (or suggest other World Cup story lines) it can be reached at: sports@uniontrib.com.  You can also write a letter to the editor at: letters@uniontrib.com.

San Diego is still gathering signatures for its World Cup bid.  We need your help getting people to support the bid by signing the online petition.  You can find the sign up at the USA Bid website: http://www.gousabid.com/city/local/san-diego-ca/.  San Diego has over 13,000 signatures, but is way behind most of the other 18 cities in signature totals.  Please spread the word.  You can also find the sign up counter on the O’Brien’s homepage – www.obrienspub.net.

You can follow the San Diego American Outlaws on Facebook and Twitter for daily updates during the World Cup and losts of great fan posts.  If you are interested in joining the local chapter of US Soccer supporters club, or you just want to find out more about it, please visit: www.theamericanoutlaws.com.  And if you still can’t get over Koman Coulibaly, you can join one of the nearly 200 anti-Coulibaly Facebook pages, some of which have very funny names.  Alpine Red Card Ale, my collaboration beer for the World Cup is still flowing and I expect it to be on tap for the entire tournament.

Those are the updates for now.  Let’s help cheer out boys to victory on Saturday.  Sunday is an amazing day of match-ups with England v. Germany in the morning and then a great rematch of Mexico v. Argentina from the last World Cup.

Here is the upcoming schedule for the games:

Friday, 6/25:
On Tape – Portugal v. Brazil, North Korea v. Ivory Coast

11:30 am – Switzerland v. Honduras
11:30 am – Chile v. Spain

Saturday, 6/26: Pub Open at 6:45, full breakfast at 9 am

7 am – Uruguay v. South Korea

11:30 am – USA v. Ghana – get to the pub early!  Be ready to sing some chants!

Sunday, 6/27: Pub Open at 6:45, regular menu at 10 am

7 am – Germany v. England
11:30 am - Mexico v. Argentina
 
Monday, 6/28: Pub Open at 6:45
7 am – Netherlands v. Slovakia
11:30 am – 1G v. 2H
 
Tuesday, 6/29: Pub Open at 6:45
7 am – Paraguay v. Japan
11:30 am – 1H v. 2G
 
Friday, 7/2: Pub Open at 6:45
Quarterfinals at 7 am and 11:30 am
 
Saturday, 7/3: Pub Open at 6:45
Quarterfinals at 7 am and 11:30 am
 
Tuesday, 7/6:
Semi- Final 1 at 11:30 am
 
Wednesday, 7/7:
Semi-Final 2 at 11:30 am
 
Saturday, 7/10:
Third Place Match at 11:30 am
 
Sunday, 7/11: We will open early, but time TBD
World Cup Final at 11:30 am

Check this out:

One of them has over 60,000 views
right now, was tweeted by ESPN writer Bill Simmons and was requested
for clearance by ESPN to use on all their platforms (I didn’t see it
anywhere yet though). I think it’s pretty awesome, and all of the
videos do say that it’s taking place in O’Brien’s

Here are the links to the videos:

U.S. winning goal vs. Algeria: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkzo3H7ZSaM
U.S. vs. Algeria post game celebration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aVAlDjdeoU
U.S. disallowed goal vs. Slovenia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdjzC7ZLZwc

The first video was also featured on the New York Times Soccer Blog.  Way to go fans!  Showing the rest of the country how it is done!  Respect!  Tom

Hello Beer Fans,

I have to start by saying congrats to the U.S. Soccer team which won group C over England today.  The team played a great game and created tons of scoring opportunities – in addition to having another seemingly good goal called back.  Landon Donovan put in the winner in the 91st minute of play setting up a showdown with Ghana on Saturday at 11:30 am.  The pub will be crazy, but it will be a good crazy.  If you happen to read this early enough in the afternoon on Wednesday, you might be able to see the pub on Channel 8 or 7/39 on the evening news.  Both news trucks were at the pub at 5 am!  So now on to the beer for a bit…

Tonight, Wednesday the 23rd, we tap a cask of Bear Republic Racer X at 6 pm.  We don’t often get casks of this beer, so it is a real treat.  Thursday the 24th we host an AleSmith night featuring a cask of the new 2010 Decadence anniversary ale.  This year, the brewery remakes the award 2005 recipe which was an old ale, around 11% alcohol.  In addition to the cask at 5 pm, we will have Nautical Nut Brown, Speedway Stout and the new Summer YuleSmith all on tap.  You can also look for the remaining Six Rivers beer to be rotating into the line-up.  I seemed to be the only person who fell in love with the Chili Pepper Ale, but all of the beers were quite good.  The Alpine Red Card Ale is still flowing strong and I expect it to be on tap during the entire World Cup.  If you haven’t tried it yet, be sure to check it out next time you are at the pub.

Thursday lunch time will feature Denmark v. Japan and Netherlands v. Cameroon both at 11:30 am.  Friday the 25th will bring us Spain v. Chile and Switzerland v. Honduras at 11:30 am.

SDIBF
 
For those unfamiliar with the above acronym, it stands for San Diego International Beer Festival.  The fest is in its fourth year at the San Diego County Fair.  This year the festival will feature 4 four hour tasting sessions over three days – June 25, 26 and 27.  The sessions run from 4-8 pm Friday and then 11-3 pm and 4-8 pm Saturday and 1-5 pm on Sunday.  More than 350 different beers from 20 different countries will be available for sampling.  Admission to the fest is $30 and includes unlimited one ounce sampling of the beers during the session.  You must also buy admission to the San Diego County Fair.  You can buy tickets in advance and save some money – just go to www.sdfair.com/beer.  You will also find the winner’s list there from the competition.  This is an amazing chance to try a ton of beers you have never had before.  Don’t miss this San Diego version of the Great American Beer Festival!
 
While I am talking about fests, we have a few left over shirts from the San Diego Real Ale Festival that we are blowing out for just $10 each.  We have men’s Large, XL and 2XL along with a few girls shirts in Large (Bella brand) for $15 and few hats (S/M Flex fit) also for $15.  If you are interested, please email me with what you would like and I will have the shirts delivered to the pub.  I will have the shirts at the pub this Thursday (6/24) if you would like to pick one up.  If you have already emailed me about the shirts, I will have them set aside for you at the pub anytime starting Thursday evening.

World Cup this Weekend

So we now know this weekend’s match-ups for the World Cup.  This weekend starts the knockout round where it is win or go home.  The pub will open at 6:45 am on Saturday the 26th and serve coffee, OJ and light breakfast fare (muffins, bagels, etc..) with Beer and Mimosas starting at 8 am, full breakfast service (burritos, omelettes) from 9 am until 10:30 am and then lunch from 11 am through the rest of the day.  The morning game will be Uruguay v. South Korea at 7 am.  We will then show the USA v. Ghana game at 11:30 am.  We will be adding an additional TV outside to help with the overflow on the patio.  I expect to be completely full at least an hour, if not 90 minutes before the USA-Ghana match kicks off.  If you are not coming to the pub to watch the game, I strongly suggest you show up at or after 2 pm to avoid the standing room only crowd that we are sure to have for the game.

Sunday the 27th, we will again open at 6:45 am with coffee, OJ and light breakfast fare for the 7 am game between England and Germany.  We will start full food service with our normal menu at 10 am.  Mexico faces Argentina at 11:30 am in what is sure to be a great day of blockbuster matchups.

We still do not know the schedule for Monday and Tuesday’s games, but we will open at 6:45 am on both days.  For more soccer info, sign up for out soccer specific email.  Just reply to this email and let me know you want to be on it.  If you are interested in joining our San Diego chapter of the American Outlaws, or you just want to know more about it, go to www.theamericanoutlaws.com.

Looking Ahead
 
Thursday July 1st we will tap a cask of Hanger 24 Double IPA.  I had this beer at the Real Ale Festival and it was delicious.  We will be CLOSED Sunday, July 4th for Independence Day.  We will be open until Midnight on Saturday, July 3rd and normal hours on Monday, July 5th (which is our $10 craft/local pitcher night, strong ale pitchers just $14).  The Green Flash-St. Feuillien collaboration beer, Biere de l’Amitie (Beer of Friendship), will be released at O’Brien’s pub in July.  Green Flash brewer Chuck Silva joined us on the Great Belgian Beer Tour and then stayed a few days later to make the beer with owner Mike Hinkley and the St. Feuillien brewers.
 
I will end the email with a list of the upcoming World Cup matches.  We will see you soon for a great beer – and some great soccer.  Cheers, Tom
 
Upcoming World Cup Matches – All Games Are Being Taped

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

Thursday, 6/24:
On Tape – Slovakia v. Italy, Paraguay v. New Zealand

11:30 am – Denmark v. Japan
11:30 am – Cameroon v. Netherlands

Friday, 6/25:
On Tape – Portugal v. Brazil, North Korea v. Ivory Coast

11:30 am – Switzerland v. Honduras
11:30 am – Chile v. Spain

Saturday, 6/26: Knock out round begins, Pub open at 6:45

7 am – Uruguay v. South Korea

11:30 am – USA v. Ghana – GO USA!!!

Sunday, 6/27: Pub open at 6:45

7 am – Germany v. England
11:30 am - Mexico v. Argentina
 
Monday, 6/28: Pub open at 6:45
7 am – 1E v. 2F
11:30 am – 1G v. 2H
 
Tuesday, 6/29: Pub open at 6:45
7 am – 1F v. 2E
11:30 am – 1H v. 2G
 
Friday, 7/2: Pub open at 6:45
Quarterfinals at 7 am and 11:30 am
 
Saturday, 7/3: Pub open at 6:45
Quarterfinals at 7 am and 11:30 am
 
Tuesday, 7/6:
Semi- Final 1 at 11:30 am
 
Wednesday, 7/7:
Semi-Final 2 at 11:30 am
 
Saturday, 7/10:
Third Place Match at 11:30 am
 
Sunday, 7/11: We will open early, but time TBD
World Cup Final at 11:30 am

Hello Beer Fans!

The World Cup is in full swing with every team having taken the field at this point.  We have a ton of great cask beer to tap in the next two weeks and this Friday we will be serving four beers from the small Six Rivers Brewery in McKinleyville, which is in northern California.  We still have some great Alpine beers on tap including Good barleywine, Ned Flanders Red, Duet IPA and more Red Card Ale will be on tap tonight.

This Week at the Pub

Tonight, Wednesday the 16th we will tap a cask of Stone Ruination IPA at 6 pm.  This is my favorite cask beer from Stone.  It is always very hoppy and finishes dry in the cask so the bitterness comes through really well.  We’ll also have all of today’s World Cup games on tape – Spain v. Switzerland, Chile v. Honduras and South Africa v. Uruguay which is the lunch time game.

Thursday the 17th we have two great casks that will be tapped at 5 pm – AleSmith IPA and Alpine Red Card Ale.  AleSmith IPA is always a crowd favorite and at just over 7% it packs a nice punch.  This will be the first time that Red Card is served cask conditioned and I can’t wait to try it.  We’ll also have the NBA Finals game 7 on all of the tvs for your viewing pleasure.  With apologies to the Laker’s fans, I am sure that we will have our small, but very vocal Boston fan contingent at the pub (feel free to abuse them).  France v. Mexico is the Thursday lunchtime World Cup game.

Friday is a big day as we will open at 6:30 am for the USA v. Slovenia match which kicks off at 7 am.  I am expecting a big crowd again, so don’t show up late.  We will be serving breakfast starting at 6:30 am for at least an hour.  We will have coffee provided by former bartender Coral Fodor (she won’t be at the game – she will be working at her coffee bar in Del Mar) and we will have tea and orange juice.  We will be able to serve beer, champagne and mimosas for the second half since we can’t serve alcohol until 8 am.  We will be staying open after the USA match to re-show the Germany v. Serbia game (live at 4:30 am) around 9:15 am.  We will have the kitchen re-opened for lunch by 10 am.  The lunch time game features the other group c teams – England v. Algeria.  A very big day for the U.S. team.  A win against Slovenia puts them in a very good position to advance to the next round.  We will replay the game at lunch and at 6 pm on Friday.

Friday night we will have four beers from Six Rivers Brewery.  This is the first time that we have had anything on tap from this northern California brewery.  We will have IPA, Kona Porter, Chili Pepper Ale and Raspberry Lambic.  All of these beers are just in 5 gallon kegs, so the supply is limited.  All four will be on tap by 5 pm on the 18th.  I would love to tell you about these beers, but this will be the first time that I have tried them myself, so I am really looking forward to Friday night.

Saturday the 19th we will open early at 11 am and have the Cameroon v. Denmark game on at 11:30 am.  We’ll have our regular bottle special all weekend – 10% off all bottles including imports to-go.  All of the new bottles from last weekend are still on the list including our two South African meads – one with coffee, one with fig leaves, Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus, De Molen 1914 Porter and Storm and Averij (double IPA), Struise Black Albert Royal Stout (13%), Fantome Dark White, Theillier La Bavasienne – which is an excellent French Biere de Garde, Amager Imperial Stout from Denmark and Haandbrygeriet Dark Force Stout.

On Father’s Day (Sunday the 20th) what many of you have asked for will come true – we will be open.  We will open at 11 am and have the great Brazil v. Ivory Coast match on at 11:30 am.  We will stay open until our normal 6 pm.  You can look for Fish Tacos, our Chipotle Fish Sandwich and Fish and Chips – all with our great beer battered cod.

Next Week

Next week the World Cup moves into the final group stage games which are played at the same time.  So Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, June 22-25 there will be two games on live at 11:30 am.  The USA’s final group game is at 7 am Wednesday, June 23rd against Algeria.  If we beat Slovenia on Friday, we could be playing for first place in the group.  England will face Algeria at the same time.  The pub will be open at 6:30 am and again we will be serving breakfast.  Hopefully there will be ecstatic celebration for making it to the next round after the game.  The next two games on Wednesday will be at 11:30 am – Ghana v. Germany and Australia v. Serbia – which will determine our group’s next round opponents.  We will replay the USA game at 6 pm on Wednesday.  We will also tap a very rare cask of Bear Republic Racer X at 6 pm Wednesday night.

Thursday the 24th we will host an evening of AleSmith beers with a cask of the brewery’s 2010 Decadence.  This year’s version revisits the award winning old ale recipe from 2005 which was delicious.  In addition to the Decadence cask we should have Nautical Nut Brown, Summer YuleSmith and Speedway Stout all on tap.  I will have more info next week on the exact draft list.  The cask will tap at 5 pm.  If there is any Racer X left from Wednesday, we will tap it for Thursday night as well.

Starting Saturday, June 26th, the pub will be open at 6:30 am for four straight days (June 26-29) for the Round of 16 games.  We will serve breakfast each day.  The teams will not be known until the end of next week.  We will also open at 6:30 am for the Quarterfinals on July 2nd and 3rd.  The Semi-Finals, Third Place Match and Final are thankfully all at 11:30 am.

SDIBF

For those unfamiliar with the above acronym, it stands for San Diego International Beer Festival.  The fest is in its fourth year at the San Diego County Fair.  This year the festival will feature 4 four hour tasting sessions over three days – June 25, 26 and 27.  The sessions run from 4-8 pm Friday and then 11-3 pm and 4-8 pm Saturday and 1-5 pm on Sunday.  More than 350 different beers from 20 different countries will be available for sampling.  Admission to the fest is $30 and includes unlimited one ounce sampling of the beers during the session.  You must also buy admission to the San Diego County Fair.  You can buy tickets in advance and save some money – just go to www.sdfair.com/beer.  You will also find the winner’s list there from the competition.  This is an amazing chance to try a ton of beers you have never had before.  Don’t miss this San Diego version of the Great American Beer Festival!

While I am talking about fests, we have a few left over shirts from the San Diego Real Ale Festival that we are blowing out for just $10 each.  We have men’s Large, XL and 2XL along with a few girls shirts in Large (Bella brand) for $15 and few hats (S/M Flex fit) also for $15.  If you are interested, please email me with what you would like and I will have the shirts delivered to the pub.

Looking Ahead

Thursday July 1st we will tap a cask of Hanger 24 Double IPA.  I had this beer at the Real Ale Festival and it was delicious.  We will be CLOSED Sunday, July 4th for Independence Day.  We will be open until Midnight on Saturday, July 3rd and normal hours on Monday, July 5th (which is our $10 craft/local pitcher night, strong ale pitchers just $14).  The Green Flash-St. Feuillien collaboration beer, Biere de l’Amitie (Beer of Friendship), will be released at O’Brien’s pub in July.  Green Flash brewer Chuck Silva joined us on the Great Belgian Beer Tour and then stayed a few days later to make the beer with owner Mike Hinkley and the St. Feuillien brewers.

Beer writer Peter Rowe has a blog with more beer info than he gets to print in the paper.  Check it out at – http://www.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/brewery-rowe/.  Tyson is now on top of keeping our tap list up to date on our website – which automatically posts to other sites like the San Diego Brewers Guild and Tap Hunter.  Tyson is also building our business Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Diego-CA/OBriens-Pub/56730476319?ref=mf.  Look for updates on new beers, bottles and random kegs that don’t make it into the email.  While on Facebook, you can also check out the San Diego American Outlaws, U.S. Soccer supporters club: http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Diego-CA/OBriens-Pub/56730476319?ref=mf#!/pages/American-Outlaws-San-Diego-Chapter/292661370983 where you can find a great Lego recreation of the USA v. England game.  And San Diego had the highest Nielen TV ratings in the country for the USA-England match!

I will end the email with a list of the upcoming World Cup matches.  We will see you soon for a great beer – and some great soccer.  Cheers, Tom

Upcoming World Cup Matches – All Games Are Being Taped

Wednesday, 6/16:
On Tape – Honduras v. Chile, Spain v. Switzerland

11:30 am – South Africa v. Uruguay

Thursday, 6/17:
On Tape – Argentina v. South Korea, Greece v. Nigeria

11:30 am – France v. Mexico

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

Saturday, 6/19: Open 11 am
On Tape – Netherlands v. Japan, Ghana v. Australia

11:30 am – Cameroon v. Denmark

Sunday, 6/20: Open 11 am
On Tape – Slovakia v. Paraguay, Italy v. New Zealand

11:30 am – Brazil v. Ivory Coast

Monday, 6/21:
On Tape – Portugal v. North Korea, Chile v. Switzerland

11:30 am – Spain v. Honduras

Tuesday, 6/22:
On Tape – Mexico v. Uruguay, France v. South Africa

11:30 am – Nigeria v. South Korea
11:30 am – Greece v. Argentina

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

Thursday, 6/24:
On Tape – Slovakia v. Italy, Paraguay v. New Zealand

11:30 am – Denmark v. Japan
11:30 am – Cameroon v. Netherlands

Friday, 6/25: May open early if Group G undecided
On Tape – Portugal v. Brazil, North Korea v. Ivory Coast

11:30 am – Switzerland v. Honduras
11:30 am – Chile v. Spain

Saturday, 6/26: Knock out round begins, Pub open at 6:30 am for 7 am games

7 am – 1A v. 2B

11:30 am – 1C v. 2D

Sunday, 6/27: Pub open at 6:30 and serving breakfast

7 am – 1D v. 2C
11:30 am – 1B v. 2A
 
Monday, 6/28: Pub open at 6:30 and serving breakfast
7 am – 1E v. 2F
11:30 am – 1G v. 2H
 
Tuesday, 6/29: Pub open at 6:30 and serving breakfast
7 am – 1F v. 2E
11:30 am – 1H v. 2G
 
Friday, 7/2: Pub open at 6:30 and serving breakfast
Quarterfinals at 7 am and 11:30 am
 
Saturday, 7/3: Pub open at 6:30 and serving breakfast
Quarterfinals at 7 am and 11:30 am
 
Tuesday, 7/6:
Semi- Final 1 at 11:30 am
 
Wednesday, 7/7:
Semi-Final 2 at 11:30 am
 
Saturday, 7/10:
Third Place Match at 11:30 am
 
Sunday, 7/11: We will open early, but time TBD
World Cup Final at 11:30 am

We’ll see you soon for the games.  Cheers, Tom

San Diego had the highest Nielsen TV ratings in the country for the USA v. England World Cup match on Saturday, June 12th.  Here is a complete article with the numbers:

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/06/13/usa-vs-england-most-watched-fifa-world-cup-first-round-match-and-most-viewed-united-states-match-since-1994/53968

Join us at 6:30 am Friday for the next USA game vs. Slovenia.  Want to join the American Outlaws?  Visit www.theamericanoutlaws.com.  Cheers, Tom

Hello Soccer Fans!
 
The World Cup starts tomorrow, Friday the 11th.  We will have South Africa v. Mexico on tape and we will show Uruguay v. France live at 11:30 am.  We will be taping all games in hi-def on two tvs so that we can show any game.  We will be replaying all USA games at 11:30 am and 6 pm each game day.  Check out our new World Cup/American Outlaws when you are next at the pub.  The Alpine Red Card Ale that I brewed with Shawn McIllhenney will be on tap on Friday as well.
 
If you are interested in joining the San Diego chapter of the American Outlaws you can sign up at: www.theamericanoutlaws.com.  Please join us for our USA viewing parties.  You can also follow the SD Outlaws on Facebook and become a fan at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Diego-CA/OBriens-Pub/56730476319?ref=mf#!/pages/American-Outlaws-San-Diego-Chapter/292661370983?ref=sgm.
 
I expect a big crowd for the USA v. England game and I am advising people that I think we will be full by 11 am, maybe even earlier.  Any England fans will have to sit on the patio as we will be 100% USA inside.  I expect to full but not overflowing for the 7 am USA matches.  Friday lunch is already a very busy time for us, so I expect all Friday games to be quite full.  For all of the other games, it will depend on the match up.  Some teams are more popular than others and it is hard to say which teams we will get big crowds for.
 
Here is the complete schedule of games and openings for the pub.  If you have a group interested in watching an early game that we are not open for, please email me and we will do our best to accomodate you.  We are open Monday through Friday at 11 am and we will be opening early for every USA game and at 11 am every Saturday and Sunday during the Cup.  We will be open for ALL knockout round games starting on the 26th.  GO USA!  Cheers, Tom
 
Friday, 6/11: World Cup Finals Begin!!!
On Tape – South Africa v. Mexico – will show immediately after Uruguay v. France at 2 pm
11:30 am – Uruguay v. France

Saturday, 6/12:     Pub open at 9:30 am, breakfast 9:30 am – 10:30 am
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 – replay at 5 pm

Sunday, 6/13: Open at 11 am
On Tape – Algeria v. Slovenia, Serbia v. Ghana

11:30 am – Germany v. Australia

Monday, 6/14:
On Tape – Netherlands v. Denmark, Japan v. Cameroon

11:30 am - Italy v. Paraguay

Tuesday, 6/15:
New Zealand v. Slovakia, Ivory Coast v. Portugal

11:30 am – Brazil v. North Korea

Wednesday, 6/16:
On Tape – Honduras v. Chile, Spain v. Switzerland

11:30 am – South Africa v. Uruguay

Thursday, 6/17:
On Tape – Argentina v. South Korea, Greece v. Nigeria

11:30 am – France v. Mexico

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

Saturday, 6/19: Open 11 am
On Tape – Netherlands v. Japan, Ghana v. Australia

11:30 am – Cameroon v. Denmark

Sunday, 6/20: Open 11 am
On Tape – Slovakia v. Paraguay, Italy v. New Zealand

11:30 am – Brazil v. Ivory Coast

Monday, 6/21:
On Tape – Portugal v. North Korea, Chile v. Switzerland

11:30 am – Spain v. Honduras

Tuesday, 6/22:
On Tape – Mexico v. Uruguay, France v. South Africa

11:30 am – Nigeria v. South Korea
11:30 am – Greece v. Argentina

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

Thursday, 6/24:
On Tape – Slovakia v. Italy, Paraguay v. New Zealand

11:30 am – Denmark v. Japan
11:30 am – Cameroon v. Netherlands

Friday, 6/25: May open early if Group G undecided
On Tape – Portugal v. Brazil, North Korea v. Ivory Coast

11:30 am – Switzerland v. Honduras
11:30 am – Chile v. Spain

Saturday, 6/26: Knock out round begins, Pub open at 6:30 am for 7 am games

7 am – 1A v. 2B

11:30 am – 1C v. 2D

Sunday, 6/27:

7 am – 1D v. 2C
11:30 am – 1B v. 2A
 
Monday, 6/28:
7 am – 1E v. 2F
11:30 am – 1G v. 2H
 
Tuesday, 6/29:
7 am – 1F v. 2E
11:30 am – 1H v. 2G
 
Friday, 7/2:
Quarterfinals at 7 am and 11:30 am
 
Saturday, 7/3:
Quarterfinals at 7 am and 11:30 am
 
Tuesday, 7/6:
Semi- Final 1 at 11:30 am
 
Wednesday, 7/7:
Semi-Final 2 at 11:30 am
 
Saturday, 7/10:
Third Place Match at 11:30 am
 
Sunday, 7/11: We will open early, but time TBD
World Cup Final at 11:30 am
 
We will see you soon for the games!  Cheers, Tom

Hello Beer Fans!

We have a special treat this week for cask ale fans.  We simply had too much beer for the Real Ale Festival this past weekend at Pizza Port Carlsbad and some of the best left overs are making their way to O’Brien’s this week.  We have a massive Alpine night on Friday featuring 9 beers – all in full size kegs so that they will last all night.  And the World Cup starts on Friday for a month of Soccer madness with games nearly every day at 11:30 am until July 11th.  June 10th-13th there is a mini San Diego Beer Weekend happening all over the county.  At the end of the month we get the San Diego International Beer Festival at the San Diego County Fair on June 25th, 26th and 27th featuring more than 350 beers from 22 different countries!  It is a great month to be drinking beer in San Diego.

Casks at the Pub

The fun starts tonight, Tuesday the 8th, with a very rare cask of Lost Abbey Bourbon Barrel Serpent’s Stout and Alpine Hoppy Birthday, both tapped at 6 pm.  The Real Ale Festival is the only time that Lost Abbey has released the Bourbon barrel version of this massive dark stout, and probably the only time it will as the rest is planned to be used in various blending projects.  The Hoppy Birthday is fast becoming one of our favorite beers at the pub and the cask was one of my personal favorites at the fest.

Wednesday night we tap into a cask of Moylan’s awesome Hopsickle Imperial IPA.  This is one we don’t often see cask conditioned, so this is a real treat.  Look for some great Mexican inspired food specials from Chef Cesar on Wednesday nights.  The Carnitas Tacos last week were amazgin.  Thursday the 10th we will have a cask of the widely popular Coronado Idiot IPA (very appropriate for an election week) at 5 pm.  Friday the 11th we will have a cask of the Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA, which is a strong, English-style IPA that is 8.7% and hoppy.

Friday is Alpine Night at the pub featuring 9 full size kegs from this little mountain brewery.  We have two very special kegs – Good, the non-barrel aged version of the Great Barleywine that is 14.1% alcohol.  We will be doing 10 ounce pours only of this massive beer unless you are 6 foot nine or taller.  The other special keg is much anticipated Ned, which is a Flanders Red that is ooh so drinkable.  The sour cherry notes blend well with the barrel flavors making you feel like you are in Belgium.  The other 7 beers will all pretty much be hoppy – Duet IPA, Nelson Rye-IPA, O’Brien’s IPA, Hoppy Birthday, Alpine Ale, Pure Hoppiness and we will have the release of my latest collaboration with Alpine, Red Card Ale, made just for the World Cup.  Unlike the Alpine Irish Red, this 6.2% beer has a high bitterness at 50 IBUs and plenty of aroma hops.  Most of the Alpine beer will be on tap all day, certainly all kegs by 5 pm.  I expect most of the kegs to last past Saturday.

Saturday the 12th we will feature some great new hard to find bottles that we just got in today.  We will have beers from De Molen in the Netherlands, Struise, Haandbryggeriet, Fantome, Amager, De Ranke and more.  All of the bottles will be 10% off all weekend as well and all of these new bottles will be available for purchase to-go.  Sunday we will be open from 11 am to 6 pm.

For info on the mini San Diego Beer Week’end that is happening the 10th through the 13th visit www.sdbw.org.  The San Diego Visitors and Convention Bureau is hosting a weekend for out of town media and convention planners and the Brewers Guild is doing its part to show what a great place San Diego is to come visit.  Long live Beer Tourism!

World Cup Fever

Whether or not you are a soccer fan, it is hard not to be caught up in a bit of World Cup fever.  The quadrennial tournament features 32 of the best national teams on the planet all battling for the title of number one team on Earth.  The USA is in a group with England, Algeria and Slovenia and is expected to make it to the knock out round.  The games start on Friday the 11th.  We will have Mexico v. South Africa on tape and we will show France v. Uruguay live at 11:30 am.  We will be busy every day from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm for the lunch-time games pretty much until July 12th.  If you want to avoid the soccer crowds, just come in at or after 2 pm and you will be fine.  We will be taping every game on two tvs and reshowing games at lunch, after work and all throughout the day.  We will be open at 11 am every Saturday and Sunday during the tournament.

Saturday the 12th is the mammoth first game between the USA and England at 11:30 am.  The pub will be opening at 9:30 am and reshowing the morning games until the USA game starts.  We will serve breakfast from 9:30 am to 10:30 am that will include breakfast burritos and some scrambles as well as coffee, OJ and mimosas.  We will start serving our regular menu and lunch specials at 11 am.  I expect the pub to be VERY CROWDED for the game.  There will be no darts until 2 pm and if you are not coming specifically to watch the game, I would advise you to not show up until 2 pm.

There will be games every single day until the end of the month.  For a complete schedule you can check out the Soccer page of the News section at our website – www.obrienspub.net.  At the end of this email, I have included a list of the 11:30 am games that we will be showing during normal business hours.  We will be opening early for all USA matches and all of the knock out round games which start on June 26th.  The next two USA matches are at 7 am on Friday, June 18th and Wednesday, June 23rd.

Looking Ahead

Next week we will tap our cask of Stone Ruination IPA on Wednesday the 16th at 6 pm.  Thursday the 17th we will tap a cask of Alpine Red Card Ale at 5 pm.  Friday the 18th we will re-show the USA v. Slovenia game at 11:30 am and 6 pm.  The 18th we will also host an evening of beers from Six Rivers in McKinleyville in Northern California.  We will be open 11 am to 6 pm on Father’s Day, June 20th.  The following week we host an AleSmith Night on Thursday the 25th that will feature a cask of AleSmith Decadence 2010, which revisits the award winning Old Ale recipe from 2005.  For information on the San Diego Festival of Beers June 25th, 26th and 27th, visit www.sdfair.com/beer.  You can save money by buying your ticket in advance.  We will be closed, Sunday, July 4th.

Stay up to date on the latest O’Brien’s news by becoming fan on at our Facebook page – http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Diego-CA/OBriens-Pub/56730476319?ref=mf.  I posted up information on the upcoming casks there including the Ballast Point Sculpin cask we had Monday night.  For World Cup and soccer updates, you can follow the San Diego Chapter of the American Outlaws, U.S. Soccer supporters club at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Diego-CA/OBriens-Pub/56730476319?ref=mf#!/pages/American-Outlaws-San-Diego-Chapter/292661370983.

That is your good beer and World Cup news for now.  For more World Cup info, join our soccer specific email list – just reply to this email and let me know you want to be added.  We will see you soon for some great cask beer and World Cup action.  Cheers, Tom

Live World Cup Games – All Games on Tape

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

Saturday, 6/12:     Pub open at 9:30 am

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:     Pub open at 6:30 and serving breakfast
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:     Pub open at 6:30 and serving breakfast
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 rounds start, teams TBA

We will be open late today for the NBA finals at 5 pm between the Lakers and Celtics.  We will also have a cask of Ballast Point Sculpin IPA tapped before the game around 4 pm.  This is the first of some special treats left from the Real Ale Festival this weekend.   Look for some great casks coming up this week.  Stop by today for Sculpin and basketball.  Cheers, Tom