Tag: San Diego

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Beer Bloggers Conference 2014 – Day 2 Report

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Day 2 in Mission Valley in San Diego, our host for the 2014 Beer Bloggers Conference.

Learning day! Multiple break-out sessions either tangentially or directly targeted at bloggers. With the key and most important talk coming from Ken Grossman, the keynote speaker. The man behind Sierra Nevada. He spoke about Beer Camp and the tour that wound it’s way from Chico to Mills River in North Carolina. I think it was better to hear about the bus and the AC breaking down than to experience it.

Before that, we had choices for topics. I went to photography first followed by Beer Blogging Ethics. Both held nuggets of good information but starting with the photo session which seemed targeted at a more PR/Art photography rather than the “in the trenches” photography from a bar or festival. The main take-away was learning your camera and your editing software so that creating better photos becomes second nature.

The ethics session was good in concept but not executed well despite the combined wisdom of Jay Brooks and Brandon Hernandez who have held numerous positions in beer writing. The free flowing Q&A should have been ditched for more questions from the moderator who has a legal and blogging background and could have led the discussion instead of letting go the reins.

Lunch was at Yard House. I was not there. Too sponsor-y to me and I don’t need to come to San Diego for their food and taps. I came for San Diego beer. So fellow blogger Richard and I headed to the FlavorDome. That will be a separate post.

After Ken Grossman concluded his well done speech and announced that BBC15 will be Asheville, North Carolina we went into technical blogging and social media techniques. Me being contrary to all things SEO, I wrote this post instead. Also because I knew that major beer drinking was ahead. That too will be covered later……

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Beer Bloggers Conference 2014 – Day 1 Report

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Lovely Mission Valley in San Diego played host to the 2014 Beer Bloggers Conference.

We arrived near Charger/Qualcomm stadium to meet bloggers and taste beer and learn about San Diego. After a stop Pizza Port in Bressi Ranch of course. Had to fuel up with pizza and beer.

The conference was already started with beers already flowing. Many Ballast Point beers were available like Grapefruit Sculpin and the latest Homework Series beer, a rye hop bomb. Also Belching Beaver and New English ( which was new to me) bottles were being passed around.

We had barely sat down and hadn’t even seen our room when cool event # 1 started. Hop Vaping with Lagunitas. I probably didn’t do it right but it was still cool. Amarillo hops piped into a bag then pushed into your waiting nasal passages. I went back again later that night and just soaked in the aroma from the “Vaping” table.

Cool event # 2 was hearing the true San Diego craft beer history with the titans of SD brewing. Peter Zien from AleSmith, Tomme Arthur from Port and Lost Abbey and Chuck Silva of Green Flash. This panel could have gone on for hours. The blog marketing info presented afterwards was good but really paled in comparison. A poor time slot can make or break a presentation. The beer history was so informative that I will post separately when I talk about the documentary, Suds, County.

A trip to the Karl Strauss tasting room was anti-climactic as well. Solid beers and a lovely landscaped and decorated space but safe, not adventurous.

That adventure came at the Lagunitas nightcap. Aged Olde Gnarleywine from ’09 and ’11. Sucks on tap. And the standout for the night was Mandaraison. Pepper and fruit swirled with Belgian influences. Fantastic. Plus news of their new fresh hop Born a Yesterday Pale.

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More to come later…..

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New(Port)

Port Brewing Co.  “will change up its original branding of a “port hole” and “pint glass”, to a recognizable icon seen on beaches worldwide, the flip-flop.”

And that branding change will encompass the label designs and the newly refurbished website with the Port motto, “Laid Back but Hop Forward™.”

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“We’ve been using the Flip-Flop tap handles to brand our draft beer for the past 7 years” said Tomme Arthur Director of Brewery Operations for Port Brewing. “Adding these icons to everything from our new website all the way down to our bottle caps makes perfect sense.”

Agreed.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the artwork on some of the bottles and I think a unified image will be better in the long run both artistically and commercially.

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Expectations Unmet

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I don’t usually write harsh reviews. Mostly because I am pretty damn picky about the beers that I spend my money on.  But I do have breweries whose beer I think is over-over rated and there are others whose beer just underwhelms expectations.

And unfortunately, Saint Archer has twice fallen into that latter category.

Recently, I had a taster flight plus 2 of Saint Archer beers at Beer Belly.  I set aside my previous experience with the Pale (which I did not cotton to) and the Blonde (which I really quite enjoyed) as I had heard that quality had improved over time.  Which I have found to (sometimes) be true as brewers dial in the recipes.  And since Saint Archer along with Modern Times have been blitzing the L.A. market, I felt the time was ripe to re-evaluate the line.

The Blonde was just as good as I remembered so I started hopefully moving down the taster line.  The Pale was better though not lip-smacking good.  Middle of the Pack.  Which isn’t bad in a crowded hop field.  Then I got to the IPA which was incredibly soapy to me.  I was glad that I didn’t get a full glass of it.  Not much bitterness either.  The last of the taster was a Scottish Ale that was fine but it did have a touch of wort-ish, not quite done-ness to it at the back.

While waiting for a fellow beer gourmand to arrive, I overheard that the Nitro Coffee Brown was tasty, so I ordered one up.  And what I got was certainly a distinct take on the style.  It was just not what I was expecting.  It was the coffee bean all right but the peppery, unroasted type.  So you got much more of that green pepper taste than coffee. Which was a direct counter to the coffee aroma.  I can see how others might like it but it just didn’t work for me because of the switch from aroma to taste.

I finished with the Double IPA which much like the Pale was good but not Wow! Good.  It was fine but in comparison to the hoppy creations of El Segundo that I had tasted the night before, it just paled in both strength and hoppiness.  Maybe my hop palate has an uber high tolerance level but it just didn’t have an effect on me one way or the other.

This experience got me to thinking about expectations. How much of my disappointment is based on the track record of the brewers behind the brand. There are good people at the mash tun so it certainly is a factor. Or is it a comparison to Modern Times whose beers seem on track?  Was I hoping for more than a standard product line of blonde to stout ? Or is it just what I expect from San Diego beer in general?  Only a psychiatrist could probably find out what percentage of my review can be attributed to those points.

As for now, I can heartily recommend the Blonde but I would suggest stopping there unless you want to do your own analysis.

 

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Video Review – Black House coffee stout from Modern Times

Modern Times gets the beer review spotlight for January 2014 and we sample their Black House coffee stout…..

Here is the brewery description of the beer, “Black House is an oatmeal coffee stout bursting with coffee aroma and flavor. Modern Times is one of the only breweries in the world to roast our own coffee, which allows us to be exceptionally picky about which coffees we use and how we roast them. The result is an abundantly flavorful beer that’s incredibly complex and aromatic, with loads of roast character and a chocolate-covered espresso bean finish.”

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Video Review – Lomaland Saison from Modern Times

Modern Times gets the beer review spotlight for January 2014 and we start with their Lomaland Saison…..

Here is the brewery description of the beer, “Lomaland is an earthy, rustic Belgian-style farmhouse ale that’s both complex and quaffable. It smells like hay, pepper, and friendly sunshine. Its dry, cracker-like body and lightly-hoppy finish makes it a beautiful compliment to food. We named Lomaland after the brilliantly crazy utopian community that was the first settlement built in Point Loma, the San Diego neighborhood where our fermentorium is located.”

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Review – Shipwrecked DIPA from Mission Brewery

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Before I get into my brief review of the quart sized “cannon” of a DIPA from Mission Brewery, here is my 2010 review dusty from the archives….

Pretty orange/copper color. Hop aroma is pronounced. Nice and malty with a good amount of hop heat to it. A good representation of the DIPA style without going overboard.

Horrible pun there at the end I know and yes that is a bottle opener in front of a can.  Made for a prettier picture.  32Oz makes this one to share with a friend or two.  It is strong.  Really strong.  It is not a subtle DIPA.  I got some grapefruit notes from it but the predominant taste is a battle between the malts to keep up with the hops are mostly of the dank and pine variety to me.

The cannons are an interesting presentation and one that might make for a cool gift for the beer lover on your Christmas list or to share around the Thanksgiving table.  Of the two that I sampled courtesy of the brewery, I liked the XPA better.  The hops were more punchy and the wheat really let the citrus taste grow on you.

My non-beer side is reading a collection of 6-word memoirs from Smith Magazine. And thinking to myself that it is a lot easier in some respects to fine tune 6 clever words than writing 1700 per day for National Novel Writing Month.

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Beer Blogger Conference – I’ve signed up!

After a two year hiatus, I am once again scheduled to appear (as myself) at the 2014 Beer Blogger Conference.

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Not the Dublin one (though that would be nice) but at the much closer to my home base of Los Angeles American version in San Diego.  I had a grand time at the 1st conference in Boulder and the 2nd in Portland and I certainly wished I could have gone to the Boston and Indianapolis ones.  On a side note, I wish Asheville would host or Chicago.

The link above give you reasons why you should attend.  A) for $95 you would be hard pressed to find a conference that has that low of an admission fee and B) It gets you out of your chair and face to face with people with familiar and new faces.  For those who don’t go out, faces are on people when you talk to them in close proximity.

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Review – El Conquistador XPA from Mission Brewing

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A week back a box appeared on the doorstep of BSP Headquarters with two Mission Brewery beers in it.  I had heard tales of their new “cannon” sized cans but it did not mean the initial sight was less surprising.  Since it came in such a big can (1 quart, aka 32oz), I expected the Conquistador to be huge considering it hails from San Diego.  But to my surprise, this was a quaffable and spot on XPA.  Very well balanced.  You get wheat notes, hints of citrus (mostly orange) and a parting shot of bitterness that fades off nicely and doesn’t damage the tongue.  And it is a lovely light orange color as well with a light fruit aroma.

You could be selfish and drink this yourself since the ABV is a low 4.8%.  But I would suggest sharing with a friend or having 1/2 in the first half of whatever game you are watching and then the rest after halftime.  This size makes them good for tasting events too.  You could get a group of 8 together and everyone could have a solid 4ozs.  Wow, just dropped some math on ya’.

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You can ask my wife, but when I love a TV show, I will re-watch it and currently I am re-watching Season 1 of Dexter.  You can make a plausible point that the show has gone on too long and gotten a little trippy at times but re-meeting the characters in earlier times is fun and reminds you where each person was at when this started.