San Diego 2017 - Part 7: Let's wrap this shit up!

Aaaah, the last full day of our trip. Traditionally, it's a day that elicits many emotions. On one hand, I'm sad to be leaving our favorite city and friend with whom I only get to visit infrequently. On the other hand, I'm typically anxious to get back into the routine of daily life at home. In all honesty, I do get a bit homesick after a while. Plus I miss playing my drums and (believe it or not) going to the gym. (During one long 11-day trip to San Diego, we actually joined a local gym and went 7 times!) Of course, I'm never in a hurry to get back to work to plow through the inevitable 250 emails waiting for me in my in-box. That's never fun. And on yet another hand (yes, I know... three hands? Well, some people think I have three hands because I'm a drummer), I get a bit nostalgic and tend to reflect back on the rest of the trip (as well as other trips), discussing with Brewslut our favorite (and not-so-favorite) beers and breweries, as well as fun stories and people we'd encountered along the way.

For our final day, it was only fitting that we revisit our favorite place in San Diego: Ocean Beach. So, it was one last hurrah at OB for the Pour Travelers until next time. First on the list? Pizza Port OB, of course! We decided to start our day off with one of PP's famous lunch special deals: a pint of house beer, generous tossed salad, and slice of cheese pizza for $7.00. Or if you aren't too keen on "food's food," you can substitute another slice of pizza for the salad.

Last visit to Pizza Port OB.

On this particular visit, I went with the Norsewoman IPA, one I hadn't had. This was another top-notch San Diego-style IPA from Pizza Port. Despite the haze craze making its way westward, I have a feeling that PP will continue to churn out these classic West Coast works of art for many years to come. I know it's what keeps me coming back!

Following the IPA, Brewslut and I shared a pint of Gimme Samoa, a delicious coconut porter. The toasted coconut really shined through in this beer, but it also boasted a nice, full chocolate character, which complemented the coconut flavor nicely. Samoas, of course, are classic Girl Scout cookies made with chocolate, caramel and, obviously, coconut. According to my trusty friend, Wiki, Samoa cookies account for 19% of annual Girl Scout cookie sales, making it the second best seller behind only - you guessed it - Thin Mints. And rightly so. Still, this beer was fantastic and served as a sweet little dessert after our lunch specials.

Pleeps says, "Gimme some more of Gimme Samoa!"

We decided to swing by Kilowatt again (our third visit this trip) to see Luke, who was working an afternoon shift that day. One could easily visit Kilowatt a few times over the course of a week and still not sample everything on tap. The tap selection was about 24 deep, which is quite ambitious (and thus impressive) for a newer brewery. We decided to conduct more sampling of a variety of beers. Here's the run-down of what we tried this time:

• S3 Green Apple - sour apple Berliner Weisse variation of S3 (Super Sour Series).
• Coconut Chai - coconut porter with chai tea. Kilowatt seems to dig chai tea. 
• Snappy Cat - citrusy American-style pale ale.
• S3 Pomegranate Sour - pomegranate Berliner Weisse variation of S3.

Tap handles at Kilowatt spell out Ocean Beach California.

I'm glad we really got to dig into Kilowatt's vast tap selection over the course of our three visits. We put a nice dent in the 24-odd taps, and they turned out to be one of our favorite new places. The OB tasting room kind of reminds me of a black light cellar where college kids used to party in the 70s. They even have a bowl of community 3-D glasses outside the restroom area so you can enjoy some psychedelic "mood lighting" and other trippy effects while you urinate or... well, the other one.

Take advantage of the 3-D glasses when you visit the bathroom... trust me!

After saying goodbye to Luke, it was off to Council. This was another place I'd forgotten about... until we got there. I remembered the name, but as soon as we arrived, I was teleported back two years to our last trip. I had one of those "oh yeah!" moments. Since we didn't remember much about Council (except for the place itself once we got there), we figured we might as well get a few sample flights. Here's the run-down:

• Hazeas Corpus - New England-style IPA with Mosaic, Citra and Amarillo hops.
• Questionable Advice - Another hazy NE-style IPA with Citra and Nelson hops.
• Beatitude Pineapple Tart Saison - "mixed fermentation" tart saison with pineapple.
• Royal Blood - Imperial red ale hopped with Centennial, Zythos and Columbus.
• Bully Drop - Triple IPA hopped with Mosaic, Simcoe and Nelson
• Pirate's Breakfast - Imperial oatmeal stout with coffee and chocolate notes.
• Woofle Dust - American golden sour ale aged in foeders with apricots. Love the name!

Although Council has been brewing a wide variety of beer styles since first opening in 2014, it recently launched a new label called "The Magic Factory," which focuses on wood-aged beers. The Woofle Dust, for example, is a Magic Factory beer. I definitely dig the name, and this beer was easily one of the best of the lot.

Overall, the beers here were solid, although nothing was in the running for a "best of the trip" award. Still, it was great to revisit this place seeing as it kind of got lost in the shuffle last time. I look forward to seeing first-hand how the Magic Factory program will have evolved by the time we visit again.

Fun with blocks at Countil. Possible name for a bacon sour?

Societe, on the other hand, is one of our favorite places of recent visits. There's nothing forgettable about this place. I love how they've created this faux old-time European town filled with unique personalities, which are portrayed by their many disparate beers. Societe's "town" is filled with such characters as The Butcher, The Widow, The Pugilist, and (my favorite) The Harlot, among dozens of others. Love it!

Outside the "town" of Societe.

For our third visit to Societe, we arrived to a warm, friendly greeting from one of the bartenders and a regular customer upon setting foot inside the tasting room. I decided to capture the moment with a selfie. It even made my Instagram feed. Here's the shot.

Greeted like a regular customer at Societe!

They intuitively must have known I was famous. Who am I kidding? It was probably my goat shirt.

It's a pleasure to see how Societe has grown since we first visited shortly after they opened for business in 2012. I recall commenting on how large the space was compared to other start-up breweries. Upon looking through a window into the production area, I said, "Wow. they definitely have room to grow." Fast-forward five years, and Societe's growth is evident by the number of fermentation tanks that now occupy that once-empty cellar. I've also noticed their beer on tap at quite a number of beer bars as well as guest taps at other small breweries.

I started off with a short pour of The Bachelor with Tahoma. The Bachelor is Societe's single-hopped IPA, and there are many variations. This particular iteration featured Tahoma hops, a variety with which I was unfamiliar. The profile for this American hop variety boasts notes of lemon, grapefruit, cedar, pine, spice and pepper. After a few sips of this IPA, the dryness and spice of the cedar definitely nudged its way through the citrus and pine notes prevalent in the initial flavor.

Meet Societe's cast of characters.

We also sampled The Coachman, session IPA or as Societe calls it, "a really small IPA." The bartender also hooked us up with some of The Heiress, a solid Czech-style pilsner that was mighty tasty. Many breweries opt not to brew a pilsner, mainly because they are so difficult to brew successfully. I'm a sucker for a good pilsner, so I applaud any brewery who can produce a great one. Societe definitely has its shit together, and we've enjoyed everything about this place since first setting foot inside five years ago.

Inside Societe's tasting room.

Our next two destinations were situated in the dreaded downtown area, not far from the baseball stadium. At first, I was hesitant about visiting this area during the day, but ultimately decided that we'd give it a shot, largely because there was no game on this particular day.

First on the agenda was Half Door, one of two new breweries that had opened since our last visit. Inside, Half Door feels like a traditional European pub from simpler times when neighbors gathered at their local watering hole to discuss their daily lives over a pint. The decor echoed these simpler times, and I felt I'd been transported back to England or Ireland at the turn of the century (not this past one, the other one). The tap handles fit the vibe nicely, as all were antiquated doorknobs opened with skeleton keys like you used to see in your grandparents' house when you were a kid.

Full pints at Half Door.

I kicked things off with a half pour of Hoban House, a 6.5% NE-style IPA with hints of pineapple, peach and tropical fruit. This was a winner in my book. It was soft, velvety, flavorful and aromatic without being overly bitter. Equally impressive was the Bean Bar Mocha, a nitro golden ale with chocolate and coffee added for a creamy, roasty flavor brewed in collaboration with the local Bean Bar coffee roasters. I really want to see the "golden coffee ale" trend pick up some steam on the east coast, as it seems fairly prevalent out west. We'd first encountered several similar beers during our venture to Portland last summer. I'm definitely on-board with more of these kinds of beers!

Pleeps gets his IPA on at Half Door.

On the other end of the spectrum, Necessary Evil was a tasty sour wheat ale with raspberry and passion fruit. I'm always down for a low ABV sour beer with fruit, and this one didn't disappoint. Bearleener, another light sour, was a straight-up tart, refreshing Berliner Weisse with plenty of lemon acidity. This was an exemplary interpretation of the style, which is one of Brewslut's very favorites. After sampling these four fine selections, it seems like Half Door has both hoppy beers and tart beers dialed in. The hoppy beers were more up my alley, but I recall leaving Half Door adequately impressed and in a happy state of mind.

Just around the corner from Half Door was our last brewery of the day, Resident. I always feel a bit melancholy when I know we're at the last brewery of the trip, but this time I just felt a wave of calmness envelope me. I was loud and busy (after all, it was Happy Hour when we arrived) but I kept things laid back during this final stop. Perhaps all of the beer had slowed me down and bit and gave me an opportunity to reflect on the past few days.  Speaking of reflecting, this photo captures the sun shining through an adjacent window and splashing across the beer chalkboard directly onto the bartenders head. I just like the way it looks.

Light streams down in bright, unbroken beams...

With that said, I must admit that I didn't have very high expectations about Resident. The place was loud; not only did the sound of booming patrons' voices fill the room (again... Happy Hour), various TVs blared a variety of sports competitions. They also featured quite a bit of guest taps. Not always a bad thing, but in our travels I've found that sometimes this can be a tell-tale sign that the house beer, well, isn't very good. Still, it was our last brewery of the trip and I was going to stay positive. "Staying positive" is a trait I'm working to perfect in my advanced years... without much success, of course.

But enough of my yakin'! Let's talk beer.

First up was Die Gose, a straight-up sour German wheat beer with a citrusy tang. Everybody makes a gose these days, just like every brewery now has a NE-style hazy IPA. While I like both styles, I'd love to see more gin barrel-aged beers and blonde coffee ales, personally. I guess it's good to stay ahead of the trends as well as follow them, as there are certainly more than one type of consumer out there. Next was the excellent Vacation Coconut IPA, featuring tons of coconut and pineapple notes courtesy of real toasted coconut as well as Citra and Amarillo hops. This beer just hit the spot at that precise moment in time, and it turned out to be one of the most memorable beers of the trip. This beer was a slam dunk! And I'm not talking about a dunk from the tall white kid in high school who just barely can touch the rim. I'm talking about the backboard glass-shattering dunk you see in Game 7 of the NBA championships by Shaq.

Our final beer was Walk of Shame, kind of an ironic beer with which to end such a great trip. Well, not the beer itself, just the name. Speaking of blonde coffee beers, this one is a version of Resident's Perky Blonde Ale with coffee and cacao nibs added. To refrain on the type of extensive verbosities (is that a word?!) used to describe the last beer... I freakin' loved it! Sorry. Sometimes I just need to embrace my Polonius-like nature. Brevity ain't the soul of wit... otherwise, why are Bill's plays so damn long?! To put things into better perspective, Yngwie J. Malmsteen once uttered these wise words: "How can less be more? That's impossible. MORE is more."

Pleeps looks like he's ready for the Walk of Shame.

And with that said... 

Stick a fork in me, San Diego. It's been real.

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One of the nasty side effects of traveling to San Diego is having to fly to get there. I have a love/hate relationship with airplanes, airlines and airports. On one hand, I love the convenience of flying. On the other hand, I hate the inconvenience of flying. But if you want to get anywhere in this world (i.e. travel), then you best just shut up and deal with it. Otherwise, you ain't goin' nowhere. 

I was glad to see the Stone tap room so close to our gate at the airport. This made me immediately thirsty, so we took the bait and entered. They only had a handful of beers on tap, as this was one of the smaller Stone taprooms at the airport. When we landed in San Diego this time, we just missed grabbing a beer at the much larger Stone site at the airport. There must have been twenty taps, but alas they had just closed.

I found it fitting to start my morning (it was around 9:30 a.m.) with a beer called Who You Callin' Wussie. This beer turned out to be a solid, crushable German-style pilsner with a crisp, hoppy flavor profile... just the way I like 'em! I know in the past Stone has criticized other breweries for making "fizzy yellow beers" and calling them out as "wussies," so I thought this was a funny name for its own "fizzy yellow beer." I've kind of been on the Stone hate train as of late, but I couldn't resist an airport beer. Plus we completely skipped over Stone this time around, opting for newer, smaller breweries that had opened in the last two years since our previous visit. With that said, this beer (a 20-ounce, no less) delivered and provided just enough of a depressant to allow for a nap on the plane.

Astronaut or suffocation? You decide.

Believe it or not, I actually was able to catch some zzz's on the flight to Charlotte, NC (half an hour tops, which is good for me). However, the majority of our time was spent chatting with the guy sitting next to us in the aisle seat. This made time on the plane fly by (no pun intended). After we landed, we had just enough of a layover to seek out a beer at the airport. Enter local brewery Sugar Creek. Our new friend also had some free time before his flight, so he was nice enough to offer to buy us each a pint. Can't turn down free beer! Sugar Creek Pale Ale was a pleasant, straight-up citrusy American pale ale that went down with ease. It was nice to have a taste of the Carolinas, even if we were just swinging by momentarily.

Is the glass half empty or half full?

And with that, folks, ends another chapter in the Pour Travelers' San Diego adventures. You know we'll be back in two or three years because we can't seem to stay away from this amazing place. Until next time...

Vertical Epic Fail!

On Friday, December 21, a group of my closest beer friends convened at long-time friend and former Shamokin Area High School alumnus Jason Kramer's house for his annual holiday party.  Having attended for the past several years, Brewslut and I look forward to this event each year.  Kramer was the first real beer geek I met (though I knew him since high school, we didn't become good friends until many years later when I stumbled upon his name on the Beeradvocate.com and Ratebeer.com web sites).  At any rate, a few days prior to the party, I learned that Kramer would be dusting off and breaking out his complete Stone Vertical Epic collection, dating all the way back from 2002.  He needed two bottles (2007 and 2008, I believe) to round out his collection, which were graciously provided by Jason Pendall.  At one time, Kramer did in fact HAVE the entire set (multiple sets, I believe), but he was able to... well, let's just say he was able to parlay one complete set into quite a pretty penny, thanks to a certain on-line auction site).  Since the 2002 bottle alone was indeed an über-rare find, needless to say Brewslut and I were quite thrilled to partake in such an epic undertaking (no pun intended).

Stone Vertical Epic 2002-2012

However, what transpired was literally a chronological bludgeoning of sub par, virtually undrinkable swill from this revered brewery.  Now, it was my understanding that the whole point of this series was to age each beer and enjoy them all as a "vertical" event, meaning drink each year in succession.  To beer geeks, this is how the vertical works.  Well, after drinking all of these, I'm not so sure that's what Stone initially had in mind.  Without going into too much detail, I've decided to transcribe my Untappd notes and share a bit about each release.  Let me first say that I enjoy Stone's beers and respect them as a brewery.  Their brewpub alone is worthy of much praise.  But be warned... most of these comments are not kind... at all!

2002
"Not as bad as I was anticipating."  Still, this evoked hints of wet cardboard and air from Camden, NJ.  Not bad, but unfortunately not even in the vicinity of anywhere near what I'd call "good."

2003
"Not holding up... at all!" This may have been the worst of the lot, but unfortunately my notes were sparse, to say the least. 

2004
"Lemon Pledge."  Yes, this beer tasted little more than lemon-scented cleaning spray, I'm afraid.

2005
"Prunes."  Yes, constipated elderly beer drinkers may think this would be a match made in heaven, but alas this year's offering was not enjoyable.  I did fill me with the urge to defecate, though.

2006
"Shitty black bow tie licorice!"  Remember that waxy licorice candy in the shape of bow ties?  Yeah, me too... and this beer was even worse!  I was expecting the "666" beer to hold up a bit more, but unfortunately even Satan couldn't save this one from the fiery depths of Hades!

2007
"Spicy."  That was all I could muster up to say about this one.  If you want to try and re-create this beer, just fill a glass with tap water, then rummage through the spice rack in your kitchen and add a teaspoon of everything you find.

2008
"It has to start getting better soon!"  These words indicate another in a long line of shitty beers.  By this time, I was losing faith in this experiment, and was praying for the end.  If only I knew what I had in store for me next...

2009
"Rancid coffee with a hint of Doberman anus."  Perhaps my most evocative description thus far, I must have been inspired by Brewslut, as this hearkens back to one of the first-ever Pour Travelers blogs: The Anomalous Olfactory Anecdotes of Brewslut.  This was undrinkable.

Between 2009 and 2010, I needed a well-deserved break from what I described as the "Stone shit show" and enjoyed a small pour of Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout by Goose Island.  Now there's a beer that you can actually age in your beer cellar!  But back to our regularly scheduled program...

2010
"Better... closer... warmer!"  This was probably the best of the bunch, and it only warranted three out of five stars.  This was described as a Belgian Strong Pale Ale, so the "strong" portion of the beer allowed it to age for a bit without producing notes of dog ass, for example.

2011
"Grass with dog shit."  Another canine reference for all you dog lovers.  Ever step in dog shit out in your neighbor's yard, take off your shoe to scrub the sole, and catch a whiff as you run hot water over it?  Yup, that's what this beer evoked... at least in my twisted mind.

2012
"Thank God!  What a chore!"  I had already had a sip of this beer, courtesy of Deuane during a recent visit to Al's of Hampden.  I was not impressed, to say the least.  This was even spicier than the 2007 release, and although this was brand new (released only nine days prior), this just tasted like a spicy mess to me.  I took one single gulp and raised my fists in victory (and anger) at the end of this horrific crucible.

Vertical Epic fail, indeed!

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!