San Diego 2012 - Part VII: OK, I think this is it!

On Thursday, June 21, we enjoyed a quick breakfast at Sunshine Cafe, a small breakfast and lunch nook two doors down from Rancho.  Then it was off to OB for a bit, a stop at the gym and finally our daily visit to Pizza Port OB for yet even more Jetty IPA and A.B.L.E. Stout. 

As I mentioned in our last episode, we had tried to visit Mission on Wednesday, but alas a Padres game foiled our plans.  Today, however, was different.  We opened the place and decided to go with a sampler tray, which included the following beers:  blonde, hefe, amber, pils, IPA, Shipwrecked DIPA, and finally Dark Seas RIS.  All were solid, with the RIS being our favorite of the lot. However, the names of most of the beers were simple "Mission" and then the style of beer - not too clever.  Still, the place was cool and offered a kind of a pirate-themed atmosphere.

Inside Mission's tasting room

After Mission, we headed north (up near Escondido) to another new place for us: Mother Earth Brewing Company.  We immediately felt at home at this place.  The walls were adorned with vintage music posters - lots of Zeppelin, Floyd and even a Rush poster!  Music and beer.. you can't get me more sucked into a place than when you combine those two things.  Some of the beers sounded pretty damn interesting.  Brewslut opted for a Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, while I went with their cask offering, Rysing IPA with Zythos hops.  We enjoyed both quit a bit.  Afterwards, we tried samples of a few more offerings: Pinup Pale Ale and Red Dog Extra Pale Ale.

 Overall, the place is pretty chill and laid back.  Some folks even brought their dogs in, which I particularly liked, being a dog lover and all.  So we spent some time petting the dogs.  In addition, we also met some cool peeps from Minnesota with whom I spoke for a while about beer, music and what not.  The merch also looked pretty dope, so I purchased a T-shirt. When I was paying for said shirt, the bartender informed me that they were having a grand opening of a new, improved tasting room on Saturday, and he gave me some details.  We liked the place enough to consider visiting the new tasting room, and perhaps we'd visit Stone again, as both were in close proximity to one another.

Pleeps is cut off!

After a fun visit to Mother Earth, we checked in at Pizza Port Carlsbad for a pair of Coffee Monster Stouts.  Like our first visit to Solana Beach, this place was like a daycare center.  There were tons of kids running around and the parents didn't seem to care.  Well, this time at Carlsbad it was no different.  I don't mind if you take your kids to a brewpub or other establishment that serves beer.  But you know what?  Don't let them run around unsupervised, bumping into people, tables, chairs, etc.  Also, I can't stand when little kids are sitting at the bar.  Really?  Unless you are serving them alcohol, they shouldn't be sitting at the bar.  Ever!  I guess when you combine pizza and beer, the end result is some kind of drunken Chuckie Cheese experiment gone wrong.  With that said, I like Pizza Port beer enough to endure these little shitballs, especially since we only get to visit once a year.  Just don't expect me not to swear just because there are a bunch of eight-year-olds there. Fuck that shit!

Pleeps... the drunken sailor.

After Romper Room, we headed over to another Pizza Port location (the fourth and final site on this trip) - Solano Beach.  This is the first Pizza Port site we'd ever visited, and back then it was like a daycare center.  Well, as if we didn't get our fill of rugrats at Carlsbad, we were greeted with a similar barrage of little kids during this visit to Solano Beach.  No need to rant again (read my last paragraph again, if needed).  At any rate, I went with Swami's IPA and Brewslut went with Fisticuffs Dry Irish Stout.  We also ordered the OB veggie pizza, and I must say it was awesome!  We could tell that this was the oldest Pizza Port location, given the shitty microphone and PA system they used to call out orders.  After this visit, we retreated for OB for the day to regroup and get ready for Friday.
 
The next day, we woke up and did our usual morning routine.  Breakfast at Rancho again, this time I enjoyed turkey chorizo con huevos with wheat tortillas.  We officially love this place, and will definitely return for multiple visits during future visits to San Diego.  After breakfast, we hit the gym for a bit, then enjoyed some peach/mango smoothies from a local stand down the street from the gym.  Today was also laundry day, and since airlines charge like $30 per bag per flight, I decided to save $120 and wash a few shirts, socks and skivvies in lieu of paying the exorbitant rates levied by the airlines. 

After laundry, it was off to Pizza Port OB, bitches!  We both opted for the Blue Steel Pilsner this time.  Yum!  Honestly, I could drink this crisp, refreshing beer all day.  It's the perfect beach beer.  After a quickie at Pizza Port, we walked up the street to Newport Pizza again for more Parabola.  Lucky for us, it was still on tap.  What?!  We were shocked it hadn't kicked yet.  Oh well... more for us!  While at Newport, we ran into our brewer friend, Cy Henley, who'd previously worked for Ballast Point and Alpine.  We were pleased to find that recently he'd been hired by California Kabob's new in-house brewery, called Amplified Aleworks.  He invited us to stop by before we left San Diego, even though none of his beers were ready for consumption yet.  Still, we were excited to see what was brewing there, so we made plans to visit on our last day of the trip.  After catching up for a bit (and buying him a beer), we invited Cy to dinner with us, as we were heading off to an Ethiopian restaurant with Dano and Mags shortly.  This would our first foray into the world of African cuisine.  So, we headed back to Dano's to get ready, and the five of us jumped into the rental car and departed for the University Heights neighborhood, destination Muzita Abyssinian Bistro for some authentic Ethiopian food.  The place was awesome, and the food was amazing and reasonably priced.

After dinner, we headed down the street for a nightcap at Small Bar, one of the better beer bars in the neighborhood, according to Dano.  I went with another pour of Port's delicious 6th Anniversary IPA.  I couldn't seem to get enough of it on this particular trip.  After a one-and-done visit, we headed back to Dano's for Lebowski night, where we watched The Big Lebowski in its entirety.  In the spirit of things, Brewslut and I stopped by the liquor store (ie: Rite Aid) and purchased vodka and Kahlua so we could make White Russians (or Caucasians) for everyone.  Dano is one of the biggest (if not THE biggest Lebowski fan I've ever met), and he is even collecting memorabilia to make his guest quarters into what he calls the "Lebowski Suite."  I promised not to micturate on his rug.

We awoke on our last true full day in San Diego with minor hangovers (well, at least I had one), and what better way to combat the effects of a hangover with... more alcohol?  Cy was busy concocting his patented bloody mary mix for us to enjoy.  I'd never been a huge fan, so I opted for a kid's portion and made my way over to the leftover Kahlua and spiked my morning coffee.  After a bit of morning preparation, we caravaned down to the annual OB Street Fair, something that all of the San Diego folks were excited about.  We were too, but it turned out to be a glorified block party just like all the other street fairs across the country: overcrowded and overpriced.  What did this mean for us?  It was over for us before everybody else wanted to leave.  After milling around for a bit and getting some falafel, we ducked in to the AZ Bar to meet Dano for a quick one (in my case, a can of Tecate), then crossed the street to good old Pizza Port OB for what has turned into my daily dose of Jetty IPA.

Blind Lady Ale House

Since we quickly grew tired of the street fair shenanigans, Brewslut and I regrouped back at headquarters and decided to go and check out Blind Lady Ale House, home of the tiny Automatic Brewing Company.  After a GPS malfunction and plenty of curse words, we made it to our destination only to find no Automatic beers on tap.  M'wah!  Upon perusing the beer menu for what seemed like five minutes, the woman at the counter finally asked me, "What would you like?"  "Um," I answered, "Aren't there any Automatic beers on tap today?"  She replied, "No, but we have twenty-four other beers on tap."  I kindly explained that we lived three-thousand miles away and were on a beer vacation.  Nevertheless, I wasn't going to let it cockblock us, so I ordered a Port 6th Anniversary and Brewslut opted for a Hanger 24 Chocolate Porter.  

Blind Lady Ale House

After a quick one-and-done visit to Blind Lady, we headed off to the grand opening of the brand new Mother Earth tasting room, which was just two exits down from the original site we'd just visited two days prior.  After a bit of frustrating traffic, we made it to Mother Earth and were greeted by a fairly packed house, which we expected, of course.  They pretty much had the same offerings on tap today that they did two days ago at the old site, although they did have the fine Rye IPA on draft, which I selected as my first beer.  Brewslut decided on the Cali Creamin', a great name for a Cream Ale.

 

    

While we were there, Sonic waitresses rolled by selling bags of tater tots and other snacks, which was pretty cool, considering there was no food available at the tasting room.  So, I grabbed some tasty tots as a quick snack.  We followed up our beers with samples of their blonde and Scottish ale, both of which were solid.   

My little slut... Brewslut, that is!

After a fun visit to the new Mother Earth tasting room, we made the very short drive to Backstreet Brewery, a small CA brewpub chain.  Located in one of those outside mall villages, it definitely felt like a chain brewpub.  They had a decent selection of house beers, and Brewslut and I settled on two of the more interesting sounding offerings: Rydin' Dirty IPA and Cellar Rat Rye Porter.  We washed down our beers with some chicken quesadillas with jalapenos.  Surprisingly, we thought the beer was better than the food!

Since we were in close proximity to Stone, we decided to head over for dinner since our last visit was cut short due to Dano needing a ride home from work a few days prior.  When we arrived, it was apparent they were extremely busy.  We decided to wait, as we figured we only get here once or twice a year.  There was about an hour wait for table, so we sat at one of the outside bars around a fire pit and ordered some beers.  I tried the Ruination 10th Anniversary IPA and Brewslut went with an AleSmith YuleSmith.

Fire at Stone

After a while, or table was ready, but we were informed by our server that the kitchen was extremely backed up.  I was beginning to think that the tots and quesadillas at the last two places were a good idea!  We both decided on the Yakisoba with chicken, an Asian noodle dish.  Dinner was excellent, although it took over an hour to get our food.  We were too full for dessert, so we ordered some coffee and chilled out for a bit in the crisp evening air.  We even had leftovers for lunch the next day!  We finally got back to OB around midnight... a long day all in all!

The last picture of the trip.  I am as tired as I look!

On the morning of our last day in San Diego, we decided to take a leisurely walk down to Dog Beach.  We stopped for iced coffee at a street vendor called Pirate's Cove, and picked up some bananas at a nearby supermarket for snack.  After watching a plethora of little K-9s run around and play in the sand, we made our way to Pizza Port OB for our final visit of the trip... our eleventh!  One last Jetty IPA for each of us, though I had many more than Brewslut over the course of the entire trip.  Afterwards, we headed back to Dano's to pack, relax and watch the Olympic diving finals on TV.  

Our last order of business before leaving sunny California and returning to the volatile and unpredictable weather of our native PA, we stopped by California Kabob & Beer Garden, the future home of Cy's new Amplified Aleworks.  While none of Cy's beers were ready just yet, he did hook us up with lots of great beer, including Green Flash West Coast IPA and Double Stout, as well as Ballast Point Sextant Stout.  The food was outstanding!  I enjoyed my kabob platter with shrimp, chicken and salmon, plus sides of veggies and falafal.  Brandi got a tasty citrus salad with salmon.  We definitely can't wait to return so we can try some of Cy's beers!

After saying our goodbyes, we made our way to the airport, only to be greeted by a long twenty-minute line through security.  Waiting on the other side, however, was none other than a Karl Strauss beer garden.  Yeah!  One last beer, right?  I went with their Tower 10 IPA and Brewslut got... wine?  WTF?!

Overall... what a beer trip!  Everything went extremely well, save for some annoying traffic and toddlers along the way.  Plus we achieved our goal of visiting Pizza Port OB every day of the trip.  YEAH!  We also hit tons of new places.  We are definitely looking forward to our next venture to San Diego.  Right Pleeps?

San Diego 2012 - Part VI: Let's Wrap This Shit Up!

OK, even I think this epic trek to San Diego is taking forever to wrap up.  So, what do you say we end it?  Ready?

We're at Monday, June 18th, and its time for our daily visit to Pizza Port OB.  Today, we're enjoying the $3 Pint of the Dizzle, which happens to be the tasty yet sessionable Longfin Lager by Ballast Point.  This is one of those simple yet poundable session beers that you can drink all day at an outside party. 

After a quick beer, we headed over to Toronado, the kinder, gentler southern California counterpart to the more gruff, original San Francisco location.  We bellied up to the bar, perused the tap list, and made our selections.  I went with Bear Republic Double Apex, while Brewslut opted for Maui's Hawaii 90.  Immediately, we were pegged as "not locals" by the friendly bartender.  Perplexed, we asked how he deduced this phenomenon.  He informed us that most regulars order Alpine beers, and most other Californians will tend to go with Pliny the Elder.  I kindly retorted with, "Well, we just visited Alpine yesterday, and just had Pliny at O'Brien's* before that."  With such a great, varied tap list, we decided to have seconds, so we went with New Belgium Vrienden (sour collaboration with Allagash) and Port Older Viscosity, the latter of which I enjoyed, but not quite as much as I was anticipating.  It's definitely not for the faint of heart!  At any rate, being out-of-towners definitely paid off, because not only was it happy hour, but the bartender also comped our first round as a "welcome" to San Diego.  A nice gesture, indeed!

Chillin' in front of Toronado

*Editor's Note: I somehow neglected to mention our visit to O'Brien's, one of the premier beer bars in San Diego and coincidentally the hoppiest place on earth.  Regardless, the place is awesome and always worth a visit.  I must have been too busy basking in the hops to have bothered to jot down what we were drinking.  Well, it was Russian River's most excellent Pliny the Elder.

After a pleasant experience at Toronado, it was off to a brand new brewpub called Monkey Paw.  Upon entering, it was clear that they weren't monkeying around.  OK, that was a bad pun.  This place is adorned with all that is monkey.  If you don't believe me, check out some cool Brewslut approved pics below.  This time, we decided to share a sampler tray, which included the following house beers: Rich Man's DIPA, Monkey Stones American Black Lager, Pineapple Express Extra Pale Ale, and  Bekantan Farmhouse Saison, the latter of which was a collaboration with Stillwater Brewing Co.  The beers were commendable, although the one that stood out was the Pineapple Express, simply due to the beer's uniqueness. 

Monkey Paw was definitely Pleeps' favorite place of the trip!

Clever chalk artwork @ Monkey Paw

More cool chalk artwork @ Monkey Paw

 After monkeying around at Monkey Paw, we headed over to Coronado Island to meet up with Dano, Andy and Tony (two of Dano's co-workers) at Coronado Brewing Company, where we enjoyed the delicious Idiot IPA and Coffee Stout.  If you read my previous San Diego blog, you may remember that during our last visit, they were plumb out of Idiot IPA, much to the chagrin of this beer geek.  Nevertheless, it is always an enjoyable visit, especially since Dano is a mugger there and knows just about everyone.  So this time, I was happy to imbibe in idiocy of Idiot IPA.  It is an often overlooked West Coast DIPA in the grand scheme of things, but I think it stands up with the best of them. 

The next day, we headed down to South Beach again for Taco Tuesday and Sculpin.  Taco Tuesday rules because all of the tacos (save for the lobster tacos) are $2.75 each.  They also have a great happy hour with cheap drafts daily.  Brewslut went with a Port F.N.G. Pale Ale this time around.  Tasty as always.  South Beach will always be a San Diego staple for us. 

Next up was an amazing visit to The Lost Abbey, Port Brewing's Belgian-style offshoot brewery.  We were definitely both excited to get back here after having only visited one other time during our inaugural trip to San Diego.  As with AleSmith, Green Flash and Ballast Point, The Lost Abbey also boasted a newly expanded Tasting Room, and we were happy to indulge.  We started off with a pair of typical brews: Serpent Stout and Dark English Mild.  We followed these up with Mo' Betta Bretta, a sour collaboration beer brewed in conjunction with New Belgium.

However, the highlight of this particular trip (and Brewslut's favorite beer of the trip), was enjoying a bottle of the extremely rare Box Set series beer called "Track 6: Highway to Hell."  Despite being a 375ml bottle, these were extremely limited and only available for purchase and consumption at the brewery.  Also, each "Track" is limited to 450 bottles.  So, we were indeed lucky to get our hands on one of these bottles!  Described as "Deliverance in reverse – Brandy barrel-aged Serpent’s Stout blended with bourbon barrel-aged Angel’s Share," this beer was a powerhouse.  Brewslut is still upset that we couldn't bring this back home with us.

...and he's going dooooown!  Pleeps is on a Highway to Hell!!!

Oh yeah, they also had a "hidden" tap, which happened to be Bourbon Barrel-aged Angel's Share, so I had to have one of those too, right?  Right!  By the way, the reason I discovered this "hidden" beer was due to the fact that I counted the tap handles and then counted the beers listed on the chalkboard.  Noticing this discrepancy, I asked the bartender if something new had just gone on.  He said, "No, but that's Bourbon Barrel-aged Angel's Share.  We just don't have it listed.  Do you want one?"  Um, yes sir, please!

Bon Scott's remains are hidden in one of these barrels!

Since I discussed the tour in some detail last time, I will spare you most of the details.  So fast-forwarding to the end of the tour, we were able to sample four of Stone's flagship beers: Levitation, Smoked Porter, IPA and Arrogant Bastard.  Afterwards, we stuck around for dinner and enjoyed a tasty ceviche appetizer and almond-crusted tilapia as our entrees.  We paired our meals with double dry-hopped Sublimely Self Righteous and Saison du Buff, two very different (but tasty nevertheless) beers. 

Yum, yum, gimme some!

Unfortunately, our visit to Stone was cut a bit short, because we had to head back down to Coronado to pick up Dano, who was experiencing car trouble.  Now, the average beer novice or even intermediate drinker would have been on his or her knees by now.  But not the Pour Travelers, for we were back at Coronado for a second time in two days. While we were there, I tried their new Frog's Breath IPA and Brewslut had another Coffee Stout.  I mean, we were there, right?  But it doesn't end there, either.

Yup, you guessed it... it was back to old reliable, Pizza Port OB for pints of California Honey and Jetty IPA, the latter of which was my "Sunshine Pils" of the trip (ie: my go-to, or fridge, beer).  Tasty stuff for sure!  And with that, we cap off another momentous day of beer hunting.

On Wednesday, we tried going to Mission but were foiled by a Padres home game.  And again we find baseball ruining our plans.  With the downtown area in clusterfuck mode, we bolted as quickly as possible and went to the Ballast Point homebrew shop.  To our surprise, Dorado had just been released for the first time in a few years!  This was the beer responsible for getting Brewslut into hops.  Thank God!  We enjoyed samples of this liquid grapefruit and also purchased a bomber for consumption at home.  I wanted to send this back, but couldn't resist cracking it open back at Dano's due to the freshness of the bottle.  In addition to the Dorado, we also samples Barrel-aged Piper Down, Ginger Big Eye/Black Marlin blend and Tongue Buckler.  I also picked up a cool Victory at Sea T-shirt, which is perhaps my very favorite of all Ballast Point's amazing beers.

After a nice visit to Ballast Point, we headed over to the brand new Rough Draft Brewing Company.  Just opened in March 2012, Rough Draft boasted a comfortable, spacious tasting room and ample bar area.  They definitely have room to grow, too.  We settled on a sampler again, which featured the following cleverly-named beers: Eraser IPA, Frontal LaBottleMe IPA, Hop Therapy DIPA, and Freudian Sip Strong Ale.  Brewslut opted for the three following samplers: Rye Ale, Belgian Vanilla Stout, and the Hop Therapy DIPA.  The beers were all pretty solid, though nothing really stood out or was that memorable.  Still, this place has tons of potential and we will definitely come back next time.

Inside Rough Draft's tasting room

After Rough Draft, we settled on Rock Bottom (yeah, yeah, I know... it's a chain), but you know what?  Their beers are almost always solid and they are pretty consistent from location to location (we've been to several across the country).  Best of all, they have a pretty bangin' Happy Hour.  So, we snacked on a chicken quesadilla and chicken BBQ pizza and washed them down with Hop Bomb DIPA and a Kolsch.  The Hop Bomb was quite commendable, I must say. 

Afterwards, we checked in for our daily Pizza Port OB visit.  This time, I enjoyed a Port Mongo DIPA and Brewslut went lighter with a PP Hawaiian Hefe. 

Back at Dano's, we watched an excellent documentary on Wesley Willis and shared a bottle of Firestone Walker Wookey Jack I picked up at Olive Tree Marketplace earlier.  Without going into too many details, Wesley Willis was an artist and musician from Chicago who was also a chronic schizophrenic.  (Click on the link above... he was a really interesting person.  Plus his music is hilarious!)

OK, so I failed to finish this bitch tonight.  Stay tuned for the final four days of this jaunt!

San Diego 2012 - Part V: No rest on the Seventh Day

You know, Sunday is an underrated day for drinking.  It's easily one of my favorite days to imbibe.  I guess you could say I pray at the altar of Ale and my prophets are Hops, Yeast and Barley.  But enough with the religious analogies, because this day we were off to one of my favorite and severely underrated breweries in all of California - Alpine Beer Company.  Nestled in the small town of Alpine, CA, about thirty miles northeast of San Diego, Alpine brews some serious IPAs... some of the best I've ever consumed, as a matter of fact.  Pure Hoppiness, Duet and Nelson are just three of the world-class hoppy beers concocted at Alpine.  The brewpub itself is a tiny establishment, with seating for perhaps forty people at the most.  Two doors down is the production brewery, which is equally as small.  We didn't get to visit the actual brewery this time, because they are closed on Sunday.  Also, our friend Cy had moved on from Alpine to a brand new brewpub at California Kabob called Amplified Aleworks, but more on that later.

This was our second visit to Alpine's brewpub (the first time was during last year's brief trip during our West Coast venture).  This time, the tap selection was equally impressive, with a whopping FOUR IPAs on draught: the aforementioned three IPAs plus a brand new offering, a DIPA named Bad Boy.  I opted for the Nelson first (one of my favorite beers of all time - an IPA hopped with nothing but the zesty Nelson Sauvin variety from New Zealand, the country's best export since Flight of the Conchords).  Following the pint of Nelson, I went with the Bad Boy and also Odin's Raven, a delicious bourbon barrel-aged Imperial Stout.  Brewslut opted for the Odin's Raven first, which promoted me to get my own snifter... yeah, it was THAT good!  She also tried the Captain Stout and the Chez Moneiux Kreik, the latter of which was the only clunker of the bunch.  For lunch, we both agreed that the Southwestern salad was the way to go.  With spring mix greens, black bean corn salsa, cheese and avocado served in a tortilla bowl and topped with chipotle ranch dressing, this proved to be a delicious (and filling) lunch. 

Pleeps lookin' cool and sharin' my Odin's Raven.

Our next stop on the itinerary was a new place called Manzanita Brewing Company in Santee, CA.  The brewpub itself is a fairly small and boxy yet modern-looking room with dim lighting.  We sat at a high-top table and got a round of beers.  I chose an American Pale Ale brewed with Cluster hops and cleverly named Cluster's Last Stand, while Brewslut opted for a light wheat ale called Riverwalk.  Since we spent quite some time at Alpine, we decided to go with a "one and done" approach.  The beers were pretty solid, but overall it wasn't one of the more memorable spots on the trip. 

Joking with Pleeps as he poses with the coaster at Manzanita.

After visiting Manzanita, we made a quick stop at Beverage For Less, a great liquor and bottle shop we discovered on our inaugural trip to San Diego.  I picked up several bottles to ship home for consumption and to share with my beer peeps, the most notable being a bomber of the Alaskan Brewing Co. Pilot Series named Birch Bock and brewed with birch syrup.  I can't wait to try that one!

Surf's up at Pizza Port OB!

 Up next was our daily visit to Pizza Port OB, where I sampled Foam Ball, an English style Pale Ale.  Then, it was up the street to the famous Newport Pizza and Ale House, where Brewslut and I enjoyed the amazing Firestone Walker Parabola, a delicious Russian Imperial Oatmeal Stout aged for eight months in circa 1990's Heaven Hill bourbon barrels.  Forget the snifter... this was so good that we enjoyed a full pint of this delectable treat.  Needless to say, after hitting three brewpubs and then offing a full pint of this bad boy, I was pretty wiped out for the time being.  We also happened to run into Cy, our brewer friend who we'd met through Dano on our first visit to San Diego.  We talked at the bar for a while, and I bought him a beer.  We were about to head out with Dano and Mags to an Ethiopian restaurant for dinner, so we made arrangements for Cy to tag along.  This was Brewslut's and my first foray into the world of African food, and let me tell you, it was well received!  The food is served family style, whereby your party orders several entrees which are served on a large communal plate atop of a spongy bread that is ripped apart and used to grab the various food items.  We found this to be a great concept, especially when dining with multiple people!  After our fantastic dinner, we headed across the street to Small Bar for a nightcap (aka another beer).  I ended the night with one of my favorite beers of the trip, Port Brewing's 6th Anniversary IPA. 

San Diego 2012 - Part IV: Road Rage Sidestep

Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't react well to heavy traffic.  Having worked from home for the past year, I am even more susceptible to the agitated frame of mind one tends to experience while suspended in a state of non-motion.  In other words, I despise traffic.  I simply don't understand how an open five-lane highway can all of a sudden become as congested as a skinny, frail kid with asthma.  At any rate, we hit a wall of cars while en route to our final destination (The Bruery) of the "epic beer day" that began with Pizza Port OB and continued with Ballast Point, Hess, AleSmith and Green Flash.  After what seemed to be an eternity of grueling bumper-to-bumper gridlock, we faced defeat and pulled off at the San Clemente exit for some much needed liquid relief.  Lucky for us, Pizza Port San Clemente was only minutes away, so we decided to dock ship, regroup and hit the highway when things settled down a bit. Since I was still fairly agitated from the traffic (though happy to be sitting somewhere AND accomplishing something simultaneously - drinking a beer), Brewslut's notes failed to capture what I was drinking.  She went with the Pier Rat Porter.  Let's just say that I went with an IPA, which is my drink of choice when visiting the various Pizza Port locations.  We also enjoyed some pizza while we waited for traffic to die down a bit.  In the grand scheme of things, I'm actually glad we hit some dreaded traffic, because the Pizza Port San Clemente location was the only Pizza Port we hadn't yet visited.  So to quote Ricky, we got "two birds stoned at once." 

Pleeps and Brewslut love them sours!

After a pit stop in San Clemente, we were back on the road to our final destination, The Bruery.  I must admit that it took a while for The Bruery to impress me with their beers.  After a few decent offerings and a disappointing drain pour of Papier.  However, I became an instant convert after a beer friend, Tanger, shared three amazing bottles one night at a tasting.  Those beers were Sour in the Rye, Barrel-Aged Two Turtle Doves and the outstanding Chocolate Rain.  Chocolate Rain, in particular, was so good, that it is one of my highest rated beers on BA (and that's saying a lot, because I've reviewed over 1700 beers)!  Brewslut also loves sour beers, and The Bruery definitely has a proven track record brewing tasty sour concoctions.

Wood Jerry... wood!

The tap selection was quite impressive, featuring a bevy of sour beers including Tart of Darkness, a sour stout aged in Black Tuesday barrels.  We also sampled Burly Gourd, a milk stout brewed with pumpkins; Nottenroth, an un-soured version of Hottenroth, which was light and refreshing... and the result of a brewing mistake: the batch simply wouldn't sour); Sans Pagaie, a Belgian Kriek; Tradewinds, a Tripel brewed with Thai basil; and finally Mother Funker, a sour blonde ale.  Wow!  That's a lot of palate-wrecking tartness, eh?

Outside, there was a cool medieval-themed food truck with a bunch of different kinds of corn dogs and fries. The even had a corn dog named after my favorite "man... I mean dragon-man... well, maybe he was just a dragon," TROGDOR, the Burninator!  If this reference has you scratching your head with confusion, get thee to Homestar Runner.net...it's dot commmm!  Anyway, I grabbed a chicken sausage corn dog and some tots, and both really hit the spot.  As last call approached, I grabbed a bottle of Fruet and Burly Gourd for my friend, Chris, and we headed back to Ocean Beach.

Stay tuned for Part V, which finds us visiting one of my personal favorite brewpubs, Alpine Beer Company, as well as a new place - Manzanita Brewing Company, plus our daily visit to Pizza Port OB.  Until next time...

Um... this picture needs no caption.

San Diego 2012 - Part III: Smoke and a Sausage

Friday was a pretty light beer day (not LITE beer) in terms of actual consumption, because we decided to head up north to Harrah's Rincon Valley Center to see Cheech and Chong in concert!  Harrah's is a mammoth casino complex housed on an Indian reservation about an hour outside of San Diego proper.  I'd listened to Cheech and Chong's Greatest Hit compilation tape quite a bit back when I was a kid, and also saw several of their movies (my favorite being "Up in Smoke"), so it was kind of a "bucket list" decision... let's go and cross it off the list!  After all, when else would we get the chance to see these two comedy icons in the flesh?  

But first, we headed to Rancho's again for breakfast, then to Rite-Aid for some gym-related articles, and finally to the gym for our workout before stopping in at Pizza Port OB for their awesome lunch special - a slice of pizza, a hefty salad and a beer.  Today, I went with the Chinooki Pale Ale brewed with 100% Chinook hops.  The sign on the tap list was quite humorous and depicted the Snookie (from that God-awful MTV show Jersey Shore) Monster from a fairly recent South Park episode.  I got a kick out of it.  

 We had a bit of time, so we decided to check out a brand new brewery called Societe that just opened about six weeks prior to our visit.  We were surprised to find a fairly large brewery and tasting room situated in one of the many industrial parks that seem to house many of the San Diego breweries.  But the floor plan was so open, that they definitely have plenty of room to grow and expand.  Overall, I really enjoyed the vibe of Societe.  I get the feeling that they are trying to create a Victorian-style fictional town, given the names of their beers and images on their merchandise.  They only had five beers on tap during our visit, so we opted for a sampler, which included generous pours of all five beers.   Of the five beers, three were IPAs (The Dandy, The Apprentice and The Pupil) while two were Belgian-style ales (The Harlot and The Widow).  My favorite was, without a doubt, The Pupil, an IPA brewed with one of my favorite hop varietals - Nelson Sauvin.   In retrospect, Societe may have been my favorite of the "new" breweries we visited during this trip.  I look forward to returning to see what else they've come up with since this past visit.

Inside Societe's brewery

We milled around OB for a bit and headed back to Dano's to get ready for the Cheech and Chong show.  After chilling for a bit, we embarked on the hour-long drive to Harrah's.  The roads were quite Californian - long, winding mountainous two-lane highways that made me wish I was in the front seat (motion sickness, you know?).  We made it to the casino about an hour before the concert was set to begin, and we had to secure tickets and eat dinner.  Lucky for us, one of the restaurants in the casino was pretty dead, so we ordered and were served in about fifteen minutes.  We chose a steakhouse, not the best option for Brewslut and I, but we had very limited options. So we both inhaled our chicken Caesar salads and headed to the venue.  Overall, the show was great, with Chong's wife (extremely HOT wife, that is) opening the show and acting as MC throughout the night.  The duo performed many of its musical hits (Basketball Jones, Earache My Eye, Born in East LA) and a solo set from Blind Melon Chitlin.  And of course, they performed the classic "Dave" and "Let's Make a Dope Deal" skits, among others.  After the show, we headed back to San Diego for some much needed rest, as tomorrow would be a busy drinking day, indeed!


We had a pretty hectic itinerary planned for June 16.  First up was our daily visit to Pizza Port OB, followed by a stop at Ballast Point's newly expanded tasting room.  I was pleased to find that they beefed up the beer selection from about eight or ten selections to a whopping twenty-two taps, complete with most of the flagship and seasonal beers, as well as several one-offs and specialty beers rarely seen in PA.  We decided to get several samplers, as there was plenty on tap that we'd either never had previously, or wanted to drink again!  We opted for the Barrel Aged Piper Down (a Scottish ale), Three Sheets Barleywine, a special batch of Black Marlin Porter brewed with chipolte peppers, cocoa nibs and orange peel, Indra Kunindra (a curry stout brewed with cumin, cayenne, kaffir leaves, coconut and the aforementioned curry), and finally Barmy ale (brewed with apricots and honey).  We honestly could have stayed for another hour.  

So many taps... not enough livers!

 Aside from the beer, we also met a local fellow at the bar with whom we struck up a conversation.  When we mentioned we were both from Pennsylvania, he informed us that his cousin lived there, but in a small town we'd likely never heard of - Shamokin!  As you probably know, both Brewslut and I grew up in Shamokin and lived there until we graduated high school.  So it was quite amusing to meet someone three-thousand miles away who'd heard of little old Shamokin.

Up next on the agenda was a visit to a relatively new brewery called Hess Brewing.  I must admit that I'd never heard of them before, but I soon found that they had only opened in August 2010.  Hess has the distinction of being San Diego's first licensed nano brewery, meaning the are REALLY small (they brew in 1.6 barrel batches, or about fifty gallons per batch).  It appears that Hess has a penchant for brewing some pretty ballsy brews.  Of the four beers we sampled, the lowest ABV was 6.3% (a tasty coffee and cream stout named Grazias Induresco).  We also tried the Amplus Aeerba, a San Diego Pale Ale weighing in at a mammoth 11.3% ABV, as well as Ex Umbris, a rye imperial stout (9.8% ABV) and finally Solis Occasus, a DIPA with Meridian hops and weighing in at 7.7% ABV.  We were also feeling a bit peckish, and thankfully there was a food truck outside peddling European sausages.  Lucky for us, they had an apple chicken sausage with cheese and caramelized onions that was delicious and really hit the spot!

Next was our much-anticipated return visit to Alesmith.  If you may recall, they were closed the last time we visited San Diego, and needless to say, we were quite bummed out.  This time around, we made sure the tasting room was open!  Lucky for us, they had a killer tap selection and a recently expanded tasting room to boot.  We enjoyed the Yulesmith Summer DIPA, a double coffee version of the amazing Speedway Stout and also the standard version of Speedway.  It was pretty much elbow to asshole in the tasting room, so we decided to chill and sit on the floor and enjoy our own company rather than try to be sociable.  I also picked up the first of several brewery T-shirts at Alesmith, a cool black and gray all-over print design featuring the Alesmith brewery logo as well as their high gravity beer logos.

It's a bit too big for Pleeps, so I guess I'll keep it!

Just a hop, skip and jump away from Alesmith is Green Flash Brewing Company.  We'd visited once before during our inaugural trip to San Diego, but we were thrilled to find that they too have expanded their tasting room... and entire brewery, for that matter!  We enjoyed pours of the Double Stout, Le Freak, White IPA and Palate Wrecker, the two latter beers I'd never had before.  Green Flash makes some amazing beers, and it was great to see how much they have expanded since our last visit.  We also got talking to some folks who were in the process of opening a new brewery somewhere in California (if memory serves me correctly), so perhaps there will be another new brewery waiting for us on our next visit.  Check out some great pics, courtesy of Brewslut...

As if this day wasn't epic enough, we decided to make the 90-minute trek to Orange County to visit The Bruery.  But I will save that story for Part IV.  Until then... cheers!

Seven years of beer geekery finally pays off!

Seven years ago (or thereabouts), I became enamored with craft beer.  I'd never developed a taste for beer prior to that, largely due to the fact that I grew up in Shamokin, PA, a veritable beer wasteland, where Yuengling Lager and Genesee Cream Ale was the "good stuff."  However, in my late twenties, I decided to try and get into beer, mostly because beer is the only alcoholic drink a musician can get for free while performing at bars and nightclubs.  I started off with Miller Lite and Corona, and quickly moved on to Blue Moon, then Franziskaner.  At one point, I thought Appalachian's Water Gap Wheat was the best thing since sliced bread.  However, one day when I was having lunch at the Center Street Grille in Enola, PA, I came across a yellow tap handle with the name Troegs emblazoned upon it.  Curious, I decided to try the beer, as I heard they were a local brewery from nearby Harrisburg!  It turned out to be Rugged Trail Nut Brown Ale.  It was at this precise moment that I morphed into a beer geek.  Over the course of the next year, Troegs played an important role in educating me about the various beer styles.  The first hoppy beer I ever sampled was Hopback, and the first dark beer I ever loved was Dead Reckoning.  Sunshine Pils turned into my go-to beer of the summer.  As it turned out, the brewery was a short hop, skip and jump away from my office in Camp Hill, so I would frequent the brewery during my lunch breaks and get to know its employees.

Over the course of the next few years, my love for Troegs multiplied.  I attended special releases, firkin events, the awesome 10th anniversary party, even volunteered for the Brewer's Festival.  I had even dreamed of working there someday.

Well, that "someday" has finally arrived.

I am pleased to announce that I am gainfully employed at Troegs Brewing Company as of Tuesday, July 17 (although my first official day of work is August 14).  I am the new Coordinator of Media and Communications, and I couldn't be more thrilled!  While music is my first passion in life, I've often said that craft beer comes in at a close second.  I look forward to a long, fruitful career with Troegs Brewing Company.  Look for me next time you are at the brewery!

Brewery Manager Ed Yashinsky and myself at Troegs on the day I accepted employment!

San Diego 2012 - Part II: Hello OB!

We awoke to a slightly overcast first day in Ocean Beach (hereon out referred to as simply OB), eagerly ready to begin our "beer-cation" in our favorite U.S. city.  But first, breakfast and fitness were on the agenda.  I perused Dano's bathroom library and came across a recent issue of San Diego magazine, which coincidentally enough was a "Best of San Diego" issue and featured plenty of restaurant listings for OB.  We settled on a restaurant with a Mexican and vegetarian flair - Rancho.  We soon found that it was conveniently about a minute away from Dano's.  Upon entering, I'd remembered we'd eaten there once for dinner with Dano on a previous trip to San Diego, and the food was very good.  The menu boasted quite a bit of vegetarian and vegan selections, including vegan carne asada!  They also have a nice looking salad bar with fresh vegetables and dressings.  I opted for a breakfast burrito special, and it was tasty and filling.

Next, it was off to Robb Athletic Field to join the local gym.  Brewslut and I have been working with a personal trainer for about two years, so we felt it necessary to seek out a local gym so we wouldn't come back to PA out of shape.  We decided to join for an entire month since it was only $25 versus $5 per day, as we figured we'd go more than five times.  (We were correct... we went to the gym seven times during our visit.)

Pleeps is happy to be back at Pizza Port OB!

But enough of that.  First on the beer agenda was a visit to Pizza Port OB, the first of ELEVEN visits.  You see, I got it stuck in my stupid noggin that we should go to Pizza Port OB every day of our trip and have at least one beer during each visit.  It sounded like a reasonable goal for the trip, right?  I opted for the Middle Man IPA, while Brewslut chose the A.B.L.E. Stout.  I also got the OB 125th Anniversary Pale Ale, brewed in celebration for, well, OB's 125th Anniversary.  Both were excellent and got the trip started on the right foot.

A plethora of beer at Pizza Port OB!

Brew system at Pizza Port OB... right in front of the bar!

Next, it was over to one of our favorite spots, South Beach Bar & Grille, up on the Newport Ave. strip.  This place has the best fish tacos on the planet!  See below if you don't believe me.  Yes, they taste even better than they look!  They are even better when you add a side of rice and beans and wash it down with a fresh Ballast Point Sculpin IPA!  Plus we hit during Happy Hour, so the Sculpin was only $3.00 and the Wahoo tacos were $2.75 each!

Best. Meal. Ever!

Afterwards, we made a quick stop at the Olive Tree Marketplace, where they have quite an extensive beer selection.  I picked up a six pack of Deschutes Inversion IPA to share with Dano, while Brewslut picked up a few bottles of North Coast Old Rasputin.

For dinner, we settled on the OB Noodle House and treated Dano and Mags to dinner and drinks as a thank you for letting us crash for the duration of the trip.  Dano had taken us there on our last trip, and not only was the food bangin', but the beer selection was stellar as well!  I decided to go with the dry chow fun, which was pretty damn amazing, and paired it with Port's 6th Anniversary IPA, which was perhaps the best anniversary beer of theirs I've had thus far.  This year's offering was a citrusy, tropical fruity, juicy, lip-smacking DIPA.  After dinner, we retired to Dano's to chill for a bit, drink some of the aforementioned Deschutes IPA and hit the sack.

 

Stay tuned for Part III... coming soon!