Category: Guide to better beer

how to discover new beer to try

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San Diego Beer Week

Close on the heels of L.A. Beer week comes the San Diego version.

From the press release, “The only official San Diego Brewers Guild sanctioned event, San Diego Beer Week will be held November 4-13, 2011. The ten-day festival celebrating local, craft beer will feature beer dinners, festivals, rare bottle tastings, cheese pairings, brewery tours, classes, and more. SDBW 2011 kicks off with the San Diego Brewers Guild Festival on Saturday November 5, 2011 at Liberty Station and concludes with the “Beer Garden” event at The Lodge at Torrey Pines on Sunday November 13, 2011.”

Events that caught my eye (out of the 178+ on the list) are the British Pub Day party at Sessions Public, the Cellar-bration at the Linkery, and the San Diego Beer Week intro held at Stone.

Just glancing through the list, there are a lot of places in San Diego that I need to visit.

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Ghoulschip

Allagash has a Belgian twist to the Halloween seasonal with Ghoulschip. Aged in Oak barrels with pumpkin and pumpkin seeds as well as molasses.

Don’t know when or if it will hit the west coast so if you see it, grab it.

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One refreshed, One almost opened and One in the works

And they are all under the Andre Guerrero banner.

First, The Oinkster the always crowded (and with good reason) BBQ joint in Eagle Rock with a great beer list has been renovated from tables and chairs to menu board. If you didn’t already go for the beer, check out it’s updated look.

Next up is Maximiliano in Highland Park. It is yet to open but if Oinkster is any indication, this will be yet another spot for great beer and Italian food.

UPDATE – I just tried Maximiliano and I have to say that it is great. The interior is way cool. Great windows make it an airy space. I have tried a good chunk of the desserts which are great and the potato pizza that I had was really good. On the beer front, they are going to carry primarily Craftsman beers including a special beer made just for the restaurant. The place gets a thumbs up from me for sure after one visit.

Last is the news (now, not so new) that a third spot will be created downtown called Little Bear! With the always friendly and beer savvy Ryan Sweeney on board. Check out the details HERE. Thanks to Eater for always finding the latest scoop!

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Hollister

As a prequel to LA Beer Week (which starts today, should I reiterate that more?), I headed up to the Santa Barbara area and Goleta, California specifically to sample Hollister beers for the very first time.

Overall solid beers and good food even though the football was on too loud and the outside patio overlooked a parking lot.

I was surprised that my favorite beer was Tiny Bubbles a sour wheat beer. It was tart but not super sour with a nice little grain taste. Second was the Hippie Kicker IPA, which was better than two other IPA’s sampled. The Pope which was more a pale ale and Maiden Voyage which was a bit of a mess to me. The other surprise was that the Irish stout was better than their touted Black Ice in my beery opinion.

I was sorry not to get to taste the pumpkin saison though.

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Repoterroir

Repoterroir is a mega-collaboration between:


“A distinct 5.5% ABV session-lager brewed with elemental, native terroir from the following collective of brewers: Sierra Nevada (wild rice, beets, cucumber, mint and carrots), Avery (Colorado alfalfa honey), Allagash (Maine purple potatoes), Dogfish Head (free-range Atlantic Ocean beach wood), and Lost Abbey (cage-free Pacific Ocean beach wood).

Born out of a backroom conversation in a Boulder restaurant and blooming into a full-blown cornucopia of a collaboration, Repoterroir is a coming together of like-minded craft beer compatriots. Brewed at Sierra Nevadas brewery in Chico, CA this sessionable lager beer reclaims the earthbound mantle of terroir from the grape-soaked, buttoned-down world of wine and repurposes it in a new sudsy sense. Featuring natural ingredients contributed by each of the five breweries, this unique and earthy beer is complex and layered but ultimately drinkable. Using the full repertoire of skills from more than 86 combined years of brewing knowledge and skill, this lager combines traditional (and not so traditional) ingredients into an ideal summertime brew.”

As with the first post of the day, I like the idea but it seems two ingredients too much just for the sake of equal representation. I can do without the carrots and beets. Color is the least of my beer judging worries.

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Bruery (Faster, Bigger) + Dogfish (Better, Bolder)

Today, I will feature two posts on beers that may very well be excellent but, to me, make me long for a simple pale ale.

“Faster, Bigger, Better, Bolder (Gradually, Quietly, Steadily) is an homage to the contrasting lifestyle views of American excess set against the more humble and traditional ways of Japan. Brewed with kumquats and our own seven spice schichimi togarashi blend along with sake yeast, this is an excessive beer brewed with tradition in mind. $1 from each bottle sale will go towards rebuilding Japanese breweries and households that were destroyed during the recent earthquake.”

I can live with kumquats. Spice is fine. I love sage in beer so it is no problem. But then combine with sake yeast. That is where I start to wonder.

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While the beer world was in Denver….

So the craft beer world was tilted towards Colorado, I didn’t sit on the couch grousing that I wasn’t there. Especially since my football team was winning (Go Linfield!)

I took to the road and visited 4 SoCal breweries. The first stop was Cismontane for the release of their Double Rainbow DIPA….

My driver and fellow craft beer fanatic Richard

We got to sample the “regular” version of Double Rainbow….
..and the cask version as well!

Cismontane even grows a few hops outside their pleasant little industrial park tasting room….
hops mark the entrance to Double Rainbow, Black's Dawn and Coulter

Next stop is the fairly new Anaheim Brewing. Another pretty interior in which to drink beer and aside from me in the foreground…
a nice patio to enjoy beer on a sunny SoCal day.

I will have to sample more to make a complete assessment of their creations…
maybe I will try out the regular stable of beers like the Hefe or Golden.

Richard and I sampled the Tavern Ale and the Oktoberfest both of which were underwhelming in comparison to Cismontane.
Third Stop was the Bruery...
and all of the choices on that board. The big winner was the Humulus Wet. Which in my opinion is the equal of Kern River’s Citra (which are both better than a certain PtY). Big citrus aroma. Light on the tongue. A hit of bitterness. Just delightful. The Berazzled was awfully good too. Almost a raspberry soda. Re-tried the Autumn Maple and still had a difficult time with it. To strong and medicinal to me.
I bought yet another bottle of batch 300 tripel too!

Our final stop was a quick jaunt to Eagle Rock Brewery to get a taster of Populist and to buy a small growler. Then home to sleep!