We made the trip up to Poway to sample Lightning’s newest beer and other local breweries “special” releases. I was a bit disappointed to find out that only Lightning had a complete selection of beers.

Here’s what everyone else had available:

• Alesmith Nautical Nut Brown
• Ballast Point Yellow Tail Pale Ale
• Ballast Point Big Eye IPA
• Coronado Islander IPA
• Green Flash Le Freak Belgian Style IPA
• Stone Smoked Porter
• Stone IPA

A quality line up, but nothing out of the ordinary.

I specifically enjoyed Lightning’s Black Lightning Porter on cask. All of their beers are quality but the Porter really stood out from the rest.

Food

Pizza Port brought their mobile kitchen to the event. We love Pizza Port,  some of the best pizza in San Diego county.

They were also giving away extra large pretzels & homemade beer bread. I didn’t have either but they looked good.

Misc

All of the events proceeds are going to science education, cancer prevention and tree planting. I’ll drink to all three of those causes.

The San Diego Astronomy Association was out in full force with multiple telescopes points at the sun and moon. Looking at the sun you could see solar flares, with the moon craters were clearly visible even in the middle of the day.

Photos

We were all very happy to avoid most of this mess and had an enjoyable experience despite our preconceived notions.

Location

3.5 out of 5 stars
At the very end of Grand overlooking the ocean. It’s a fantastic spot to bring out of towners that are interested in seeing the Pacific Ocean. As a San Diego native, it’s a nice feature, but we opted to sit inside rather than wait for the rooftop.

Parking anywhere near the beach is normally a huge hassle, we lucked out with a $5 lot located right next to the restaurant. Score. If we didn’t find that spot, it would have been a 4 block hike.

Ambience

3.5 out of 5 stars
We were lucky enough to sit in the back near their brewing room. There is a glass wall, so you can see everything that is going on inside while you hang out.

Other than that, they have a plethora TVs playing a huge range of sports. In the time we were there I noticed the following: NASCAR, horse racing, skateboarding, football, soccer, baseball, wakeboarding, horse jumping, and BMX. An interesting mix.

Beer

3 out of 5 stars
For a place that calls itself the Ale House they’re lacking in beer selection.  They have 6 they brew in house and 4 guest beers available. 10 pretty decent beers, not too shabby, huh? Well, they have 13 wines on their menu. Double the guest beers section and add 2 more house beers and I’ll be happy here.

Of their beers we tried the following.

1. Pacific Sunset IPA, an IPA that is easy to enjoy with food. Finely balanced of hop. A little over carbonated for my liking.
2. PB Porter, nice coffee aroma. Slightly over carbonated again. Chocolate after taste.
   
3. Crystal Pier Pale Ale, an extra pale ale with a citrus finish.

Food

5 out of 5 stars
Everyone enjoyed their food immensely.

I ordered the Blackened Ahi Sandwich. It came with the fattest piece of seared Ahi I’ve ever had. Everything was delicious.

The food was excellent.

Service

1 out of 5 stars
This is where PB Ale House falls completely flat. We were seated very quickly which was nice, however we had to wait a solid 15 minutes for our drink order to be taken. Then another 10 minutes to get our menus… Annoying.

The table next to ours had the previous customers dirty plates all over it. This wasn’t cleared till we were almost done with our food.

Overall

3.2 out of 5 stars
Will we be back to the Pacific Beach Ale House? Oh yes. Will we go out of our way to make it down here again? Not anytime soon. They need to change a couple of things around before they can make it into our normal rotation.

You can find the Pacific Beach Ale House at PBAleHouse.com.

721 Grand Ave.
San Diego, CA 92109
Phone: 858.581.BEER (2337)

Rogo to the pale ale:

• Beers come in tall glasses, which I like.
• The flavor is plucky with a citrusy finish.
• Temperature is within an acceptable range.

Chicago has a massive listing of beer establishments. With a little bit of pre-trip research, we had our selection narrowed down to The Map Room, Goose Island, Delilah’s, Green Mill, The Hop Leaf, Rock Bottom and Clark St. Alehouse.

Thanks to the L and Google Mobile Maps, we were able to get around the city without too much hassle. We purchased day passes for $5 which are good on trains and buses. After reviewing our location and some maps, we were off to our first stop.

Goose Island Clybourne Brewpub

5 out of 5 stars
Brewpub
gooseisland.com

Since our last real meal was over 26 hours ago (thanks to Cheez-Its for holding us over), we needed to go somewhere with a full menu and plenty of beer. Based upon recommendations we decided to head over to Goose Island since it was just a couple of miles from where we were staying.

…our Clybourn Brewery is the perfect spot to sample all our special beers. Since 1988, Goose Island has consistently brewed Chicago’s finest hand-crafted ales and lagers. Our brewers produce an unmatched variety of seasonal brews, with over 10 drafts to choose from every day…

They had 15 beers available, 14 on tap and 1 cask. On cask was their Summer Bitter (5%), it’s an interesting beer that I would order again. I didn’t take any notes on this beer other than it was enjoyable. Gretchen tried the Blueberry Ale, it was surprisingly good. Most “fruited” beers turn me off, they can’t seem to find a good balance of taste and aroma, Goose Island’s Blueberry Ale is the exception.

After our first pints, we wanted to try a whole slew of their beers but didn’t want to walk around Chicago like drunken tourists (that’s reserved when the sun goes down). Luckily they offer a choose your own sampler. We opted for the Nut Brown Ale, Old Clybourn Porter, Reserve Pere Jacques and India Pale Ale. My favorites were the Nut Brown and Pere Jacques.

Our food was also good

After exploring some of Chicago’s other fine locations for the afternoon, we met up with some friends in the evening for pizza and a couple more beers.

The Map Room

4.5 out of 5 stars
Beer Bar
maproom.com

Even closer to our lodging was The Map Room. This made an obvious choice to round out the evening because of its recommendations and location.

Entering the bar the first thing I notice is their beer list, strikingly similar in style to Hamilton’s, but with a definite midwest twist. Their menu is split into three sections; Imported Drafts, American Craft Brews and Belgium Drafts. 26 total draft selections, 1 cask beer and a whole bunch of bottles. I wasn’t able to locate their bottle list easily, bummer.

I was excited to try a couple of the Three Floyds beers they had. My first selection was Alpha King, an American Pale Ale. Big hops and very drinkable. Their cask selection was Three Floyds Pride & Joy, another fantastic beer.

For a Sunday night the place was very crowded, there were 2 open seats at the bar for the girls. The guys were all standing. I wonder how it gets in there on a Friday or Saturday? Yikes.

Overall

An afternoon in Chicago isn’t enough! I’m really looking forward to getting out there again for at least 3-4 days to take in more of the great city and beer.

From: NBCSanDiego.com

Beer Tax Plan Would Raise $2 Billion

Beall: Alcohol Industry Should ‘Pay Fair Share’

…the money could be used for “health and law enforcement services that must cope with the havoc — traffic accidents and fatalities, domestic violence, and illnesses — that is fueled by the alcohol industry…

Being the responsible beer drinkers that we are, no DUIs, fighting or hospital trips, we get stuck with the bill. Pretty typical, I suppose we should be used to it by now.

Beer is the alcohol of choice for under-age drinkers…

Smirnoff Ice is NOT beer.

..increase the tax on a six-pack of beer by $1.80…

We’re already paying over $10 for some 6′ers, we don’t need another $1.80 gone.

..the money would “force those responsible for the problem to pay for it…”

Once again, the community in general isn’t responsible for an individuals actions. You can’t blame a substance for forcing someone to become a problem. Personal responsibility, people need to learn that. Send the asshole a bill that crashed his/her car while drinking but don’t force the majority to pay for it.

…claimed the tax could make beer harder for teens to obtain because of higher prices…

If teens want to drink, they are going to. A couple extra dollars will not deter them.

Ugh, the entire thing is annoying. Let’s hope this thing gets shotdown.

It was only five years ago that we all came together in San Diego for the first time to discuss our successes, struggles, and opportunities as small wholesalers specializing in craft and specialty import beers. Well, those five years have flown by and we are back in San Diego this coming April 16th & 17th at the Town and Country Hotel. Complete Details

What does this mean for the normal beer enthusiasts that can’t shell out the registration fee ($400+)? Lots of great events at local bars and breweries! I’ll keep this post updated with everything we hear about.

O’Brien’s

More info from O’Brien’s blog:

Monday 14th: Ballast Point Specialty Beer; Victory at Sea, Sextant Stout, Even Keel, Bourbon Barrel Aged Black Marlin, Three Sheets Barleywine (a blend of 5 month old and 5 year old 3 Sheets!) and of course Yellowtail.

Tuesday 15th: Pizza Port and Lost Abbey; Pipe’s IPA (nitro), Sticky Stout, Poor Man’s IPA, Black Lie IPA, Guru Doulbe IPA, Cuvee de Tomme, Serpent Stout, Old Viscosity and El Camino IPA.

Wednesday 16th: Artisianl Ales Night with Urthel and Koningshoeven; Quadrupel, Urthel Hop It and Meantime IPA the brewers from all 3 breweries will be at O’Briens sometime around 9pm.

Thursday 17th: Alpine Cask, Vintage Unibroue and Triple IPA Night; Four different casks from Alpine at 5, 7 and 9 pm.  Starting at 6 pm they will tap 4 triple IPAs - Russian River Pliny the Younger, Avery Maharaja, Moylan’s Hopsickle and Alpine Exponential Hoppiness.

Friday 18th: Dogfish Head Release Party; O’Briens is hosting the official release party with brewer/owner Sam Calagione.  90 Minute IPA, Midas Touch and Palo Santo Marron on tap at 5 pm.

Saturday 19th: Northern California Brewers Day; Marin, Lagunitas, Moylan’s, 21st Amendment, Sierra Nevada, Lost Coast, Russian River, Bear Republic and Rubicon.

It’s going to be tough to figure out what days to head over there. Plus, who’s going to drive us?

Hamilton’s Tavern

Thursday April 17th at 6pm with Green Flash
2 Casks, multiple specials on tap and free BBQ.
Details

San Diego Brewing Company

50 beers on tap and 4 casks throughout the week. Here are the details for their event on Tuesday the 15th:

Belgian Draft Night! On hand will be special guests the Brewer from Palm, the whole crew from New Belgium including Peter the Head Brewer. Both Head Brewers from Schneider Weiss and Chimay plan on attending at some point that evening as well.

We will also be featuring our own Trophy Wife, a Belgian style beer with hints of fruit, clove, spice, and vanilla aromas presented on the nose come ever so slightly through to this sleek bodied beer. This beer is slender, seductive, and everybody wishes it was theirs.

We will have various Belgian Style beers from Belgium, USA and Canada (some have never been in this country before) including:

Palm, Palm Royale, Steenbrugge Dubbel Bruis, Steenbrugge Blanche/Wit, Rodenbach Grand Cru, Ports’ Dubbelicious, Allagash Black, Chimay Tripple, Affligem, New Belgium’s Eric’s Pale (A Lambic) and Anniversary Ale (Done with the Champagne Method), Geenflash’s Triple, Grand Cru, Saison and La Freak IPA, Coronado’s Belgium IPA.

Vienna’s large network of buses, street cars and subway trains make the entire city easily accessible. I paid €18.50 for a Vienna Card that allows unlimited access to the entire system for 72 hours. As an added bonus, the Vienna Card also gives a discount at most major attractions. I must have saved at least €10 by just presenting the card at various locations, well worth the investment.

Back on to the beer, my only major complaint about Vienna is that they still allow smoking indoors. Smoke kicks the crap out of my ability to smell and taste properly. Plus, the smell always seems to linger around several days after the exposure. I didn’t see any indications of an upcoming ban on smoking, some quick Google searches confirm this. Most places offered a “non-smoking” section, although they were located 10 feet from the people smoking with no airflow. Oh well, gotta deal with it I suppose.

7 Stern Bräu

3.5 out of 5 stars
Brewpub
7stern.at
Because of it’s location, under 1km from the hotel, this was our first taste of Vienna. We visited late on a Thursday night, they were busy. Our group of 10 thought seating was going to be a nightmare, luckily another large group was leaving shortly after we arrived. Our waitress was very friendly, spoke perfect English and recommended drinks for our group members having trouble selecting something. There were a couple of smokers sitting directly behind us. Overall, a great intro to Vienna.

On a separate visit to 7 Stern we used their large outdoor area normally reserved for the warmer months. This area was a great way to escape the smoky interior despite the chilly air (13°C is chilly for San Diego). While outside the Brewmaster was making his rounds and we were given an impromptu tour of the site.

India Pale Ale: A quality IPA, not overhopped. Very smooth. Clean finish. I would buy this at home.
Bamberger Rauchbier: Very strong smoke aroma. Overwhelming smoked sausage flavor. Interesting but not my style.
Chilli: No noticeable aroma. Beer starts out like the little brother of their IPA, a clean Pale Ale with a little sweetness. This is followed by a mild back of tongue and throat tingle. I had spicy burps after this beer.
Hanf: Mild cannibas aroma with a somewhat ‘green’ after taste. Enjoyable.

Plutzer Bräu

2.5 out of 5 stars
Bar
plutzerbraeu.at
Hidden around the corner from 7 Stern was Plutzer Bräu, a small bar with a large non-smoking section that was actually segregated from the smoking. They had 6 beers of draft and no bottle selection. They were out of 2 beers, maybe because it was lunch time? The diminutive selection resulted in me not taking any notes on the beer.

For lunch I had Brew House Cheese Spaetzle, a homemade pasta with cheese and garlic. The pasta had more of a dumpling consistency but it was still a good lunch.

Krah Krah

3.5 out of 5 stars
Bar
krah-krah.at
Across town from our hotel but I wanted to check it out. After figuring out the trains we were off. Krah krah rewarded us with two complete pages of beer, proper glassware and bartender with a good sense of humor. After the bartender explained Austrians distaste for Swedish beer, he made some recommendations.

Krah Krah House Beer: Clean Pilsner style.
Grieskirchen Dunkel: Sweet darker beer.
Erdinger Wheat: Cloudy pale yellow with a citrus aroma. Slight fruit after taste.

1516 Brewing Company

4 out of 5 stars
Brewpub
The beer highlight of my Vienna adventure! 1516 is a very international establishment, their food menu ranges from Austrian to Mexican and the staff Australian to Romanian. They have two stories of seating and it was packed for dinner both times we went. Our lunch experience was the opposite, they only had the bar area open with minimal customers.

Our dinners were over 10 people, on each visit we waited for less than 20 minutes to be seated. Service was excellent on every visit.

1516’s beer and food is excellent, this is a place I would visit often if it was stateside.

NZ Victory Hop Devil IPA: Fresh hop aroma, dark amber color, white thick head. Caramel and hop flavor. Hops aren’t overdone, nice balance, very clean.
Governator Strong Ale: Sweet smelling followed with a sweet and warming drink. Very good.
Stout: Pitch black with a very thick lingering white head. A little sweet/candy’ish taste.

That pretty much covers the beer in Vienna. There are two more items worth mentioning here.

Stift Klosterneuburg

stift-klosterneuburg.at
A monastery located just outside Vienna. Easily accessed with the Vienna Card through trains & bus. The architecture and history here is amazing, well worth the trip.

As an added bonus, they’ve been producing wine for over 900 years. They have a limited selection but the wine is very affordable (starting at €1.80 a glass). I started with their ‘cheap’ red, quite drinkable. The ‘cheap’ white is also a decent drink. The ‘expensive’ red adds a lot of body and is very nice.

Naschmarkt on Saturday

An interesting swap meet/farmers market hybrid that spans ~2km and was packed with locals and tourists alike.

Starting Saturday at 6am the swap meet aspect of this market gets going. Locals bring out their lederhosen, fake antiques, Nazi documents, old broken clocks, WWII memorabilia, clothing and other miscellaneous goodies for everyone to rummage through. I found an Austrian bottle opener from the ~30s for €10. I completely overpaid for it but when am I going to be in Vienna again?

Appeneded to this was the food area. Fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods, a multitude of cheeses, fresh fish, some meat, stuffed olives, herbs and just about anything else you can imagine was available here. The merchants try to sell their products by offering free samples of everything. I made it out with a bag of stuffed olives and a couple donuts.

Overall

I had a great time in Vienna and look forward to going again sometime.

From the deep dark depths of our Brewmaster’s imagination comes this rich and monstrous oatmeal stout. Our Sea Monster embodies all that the true dark beer aficionado will appreciate: roasted coffee notes, with hints of bittersweet chocolate and currant flavors all brought together by a perfect hop balance.

Don’t fear the Monster!

Our Robust Series gives all beer lovers an opportunity to try our most rare beers, previously available only on draft at select tap houses. Enjoy!

Appearance
Just as it should be, pitch black, the beer allows no light to penetrate. There is about 1/2 inch of off white head that quickly dissolves to almost nothing.

Aroma
Mellow coffee notes and a little chocolate.

Taste
Doesn’t deviate too much from the aroma, a good coffee, roasted malt and bitterness balance. The beer seems to be lacking in carbonation.

Overall
4.5 out of 5 stars
A very enjoyable stout.

Here’s the basic idea of how we’re going to run the single blind (the drinkers don’t know what they’re rating) tastings. Each beer will be assigned a number, we’ll pull numbers at random to select the order of the tastings. From there, each participant will be given ~4 ounces to review. Their thoughts and rankings on each beer will be reported below. Like I said earlier, simple.

Our Tasters

1. Dad: Novice brewer - expert drinker.
2. Dook “Awesome” Schweikert: New to ales, but has a fondness for flavorful beer.
3. g$: Matt makes me drink beer
4. Jorge: I likez teh beerz.

A great group for our premier challenge! On to the results.

Green Flash Extra Pale Ale
6 Pack - $9.99

This American-Style Pale Ale has a bright golden color as the name indicates. Cascade hops impart a floral aroma that is accented by citrus notes lent from Chinook hops. The hop flavors mingle with premium pale malted barley to create a flavorful ale that is crisp and refreshing.

1. 4 out of 5 stars Clean finish, good beer - needs more hops.
2. 4 out of 5 stars Light airy smell, hint of hops, full flavor with a hoppy dry finish, good carbonation, smooth body.
3. 2 out of 5 stars Kind of flat, bitter, light colour, bland scent
4. 3 out of 5 stars Flowery/hoppy aroma, very crisp - bitter (not bad) after taste, clean finish

Alesmith X Extra Pale Ale
22oz - $3.99 - 5.5% - 1.054 OG

AleSmith X is our refreshing Extra Pale Ale. Pale Yellow color, bright white head. Aroma of fresh hops with notes of citrus and pine.

1. 5 out of 5 stars Excellent taste and finish. Great balance of hops w/ no after taste.
2. 4.5 out of 5 stars Hit of hops then clean scent, smooth malty finish, hoppy body, slighly hoppy after taste
3. 4 out of 5 stars Floral scent, good finish, strong initial hop flavour, golden colour
4. 4 out of 5 stars Great color! Fruity, smooth. Very quick, clean finish.

Stone Pale Ale
22oz - $3.49 - 5.4% - 41 IBUs

Our flagship ale, Stone Pale Ale is our Southern California interpretation of the classic British pale ale style. Deep amber in color, Stone Pale Ale is robust and full flavored. A delicate hop aroma is complemented by a rich maltiness. This is an ale for those who have learned to appreciate distinctive flavor. Stone Pale Ale is great by itself, or with food that requires a beer of character.

1. 3 out of 5 stars Good beer - no aroma or hop flavor. Can definitely taste the grains.
2. 4.5 out of 5 stars Slight aroma, almost nil, very malty, almost like a brown, full flavor, low hops, smooth finish.
3. 3 out of 5 stars Fruity scent, dark colour, slight bitter taste, nutty ?
4. 3.5 out of 5 stars Nice amber color, very light aroma, nutty, clean flavor.

Firehouse American Pale Ale
6 Pack - $7.99

A delighful example of the classic American Pale Ale style. It has deep amber color and full bodied complex character with no after taste. The fragrant bouquet and spicy flavor are the results of the generous use of the best cascade hops.

1. 3.5 out of 5 stars Deeper color and flavor than the one above - good but not a favorite
2. 3 out of 5 stars No aroma, nutty smokey flavor, smooth body, slightly dry hint of hoppy finish. A beer that doesn’t know what it wants to be.
3. 2.5 out of 5 stars Orangey, no aroma, quick finish, initial hop overload then meh…
4. 2.5 out of 5 stars Nice reddish color, fruity aroma, not remarkabe flavor.

Ballast Point Yellowtail Pale Ale
22oz - $3.49

So where can you taste a Kolsch? There are no Kolsches being imported into the United States. So you could fly to Cologne. A better idea is to come to Ballast Point Brewing Company and try our Yellowtail Pale Ale Kolsch. We make it with 5% Wheat, finish hop it with Liberty and Tettnanger hops, and ferment it with a yeast we borrowed from a brewery in Cologne. So come on in and enjoy a taste of the Rhineland!!

1. 3 out of 5 stars Taste the grains/malt.
2. 4.5 out of 5 stars Slight aroma, malty, good full body, unique after taste.
3. 4 out of 5 stars No aroma, medium colour, slight smoky flavour, no after taste, medium hops.
4. 3 out of 5 stars Light aroma, almost a “brown ale” taste

Overall
We had a ton of fun drinking these San Diego Pale Ales and discussing them with each other. The overall favorite was Alesmith - X Extra Pale Ale, congrats. We’re working on the Porter Challenge next, stay tuned…

Location
2 out of 5 stars
First thing of note is the odd placement. It is sandwiched between furniture stores in what is affectionately called the Eastlake Design Center. There was plenty of parking for the time we went (8 oclock or so) but lunch time goers might have a bit more trouble.

871 Showroom Place
Suite 102
Chula Vista, CA 91914

Ambience
2 out of 5 stars
The initial wait was supposed to an hour or more, but we decided to try the bar (Full Menu) seating. From the start I noticed that the staff seemed a *bit* inattentive. The waitress seemed more interested in learning how to use her brand new computerized ordering system instead of concentrating on her customers. I hope this has been remedied by now. Once again, we were eating in restaurant that was LOUD. They crank up the music, so we in turn have yell to hear each other…

Beer
3 out of 5 stars
Matt and I both ordered a flight of tasters just to see what their beers were like. Wolf Canyon Wheat , Rolling Hills Irish Red, Palomar Pale Ale, Otay Lakes Oatmeal Stout, Star of India IPA. Overall the beers were very run of the mill, with the Wolf Canyon Wheat having what Matt described as a “butterscotch like” flavor. The one stand out(to me anyway) was Oatmeal Stout. It was the best of the bunch.

Overall
2.33 out of 5 stars
I tend to agree with Matt on this one…I wouldn’t go out of my way to go back to the Brew House. It just seems that they don’t quite have their act together

San Diego Brewing Company’s website (www.sandiegobrewing.com) is the epitome of small brewery websites. It’s beautiful, feature rich, full of quality content, updated frequently, and extremely informative. Hats off to the team that put it together. The site set our expectations for an inaugural visit to their establishment.

We were, unfortunately, over sold.

Beer
4 out of 5 stars
They have a large selection of draft beer, at least 30 taps wrap around the backside of the bar area. A couple local brews and many out of town beers. I enjoyed a Russian River Pliny the Elder and an Alaskan IPA, while Jorge & Gretty ordered a Sierra Nevada Early Spring Brew and Callahan Blueberry Wheat respectively.

I did not notice any type of bottle selection.

They also brew their own beer here, however nothing on the menu looked interesting during this visit. Their beers receive mediocre reviews at RateBeer. We’ll test drive a couple of their brews on our next visit and update this review.

Ambience
3 out of 5 stars
It feels like a college hang out, not that there’s really anything wrong with that. A little loud, a little messy.

In addition to their LCD units, they have many dated 17″ tube style TVs hanging around. The worst part about the old-school TVs, their color is blown out (at least the units we could see).

Location
4.5 out of 5 stars
Just up the freeway from us on Friars Rd, a very accessible location. They have a massive parking lot, we were able to find a spot without any issue whatsoever. In my opinion, this is the saving grace for them.

Food
2 out of 5 stars
Nachos are pretty hard to mess up, but somehow they did it. Our entire plate was greasy, had minimal cheese, no jalapenos, a small portion of guacamole and salsa that tasted like the cheapo stuff you can get at Food 4 Less. Major dissapointment.
My Tuna Melt was dry and lacked flavor.

Overall
3.38 out of 5 stars
Because it’s less than 10 miles from my place and they have a pretty decent beer selection I’ll go back. If it were any further a repeat visit would be debatable.