GABF judges like San Diego beers

The winners have been announced from this past weekend’s 2008 Great American Beer Festival in Denver, and congratulations are in order to a number of San Diego-area breweries. With Gold, Silver and Bronze winners in 75 categories, there are plenty of awards to go around, but local breweries nabbed more than their fair share.
Most notably, the [...]

Wet hop heaven

If I were to pick a favorite beer-drinking day from 2007, it would have to be the wet hop festival at O’Brien’s. Regular readers of this blog (hi, grandpa!) know that I love wet hop beers, and the lineup at O’Brien’s last year was simply outstanding.
This year’s wet hop weekend might not top last year’s [...]

Hop porn

Sierra Nevada’s Chico Estate Harvest Ale is out now. This is a fresh hop beer made with hops that Sierra Nevada grew themselves on their land in Chico. Here’s what they have to say about it:
We wanted to see if we could grow hops at our brewery in Chico, California so we planted our own [...]

Ballast Point bash

If you missed out on the recent batch of Sculpin IPA, you have another chance to get it. Its brewer, Ballast Point, is having its 12th anniversary party Oct. 25 and I’ve been told they will have kegs of all the specialty beers they’ve made this year, including Sculpin as well as Schooner, their tasty [...]

Sculpin release date announced

I recently posted the very good news that Ballast Point is making more Sculpin IPA. Now I’ve got the release date information, via the Ballast Point blog. I was under the impression it would only be available in growler fills, but apparently they’ve bottled some as well. (They’ve also upped the per-bottle price by two [...]

Barrel-icious

Those barrels might not look all that exciting, but some would say they have treasures inside. They’re whiskey barrels used to age beer at the Alesmith brewery.
You can get a bottle of beer from one of those barrels in a couple weeks if you’re willing to stand in line and pay $20. Of course, they might [...]

Let the High Tide countdown begin

Before the month is over, Port Brewing is going to release this year’s High Tide Fresh Hop IPA.
If you’ve had High Tide in the past, then you know it’s something to look forward to. As I said before, I’m a big fan of fresh hop beers, and the High Tide is one of the best.
And there [...]

Sunday, growler Sunday

The Coronado Brewing Co. has a nice Sunday growler special during the NFL season.
Half-gallon fills are just $5 on Sundays beginning this weekend and running through the Super Bowl.
They have some nice brews there.
What more do I need to say?

“Like hanging out at our parents’ house”

If you didn’t go to the beach over the Labor Day weekend, you’re not alone. According to a story in today’s Union-Tribune, fully half as many people went to San Diego beaches during the holiday weekend this year compared to last year.
The weather was perfect and gas prices are down a little bit, so those [...]

Street Scene to have good beer after all?

So yesterday morning I complained that I’d be stuck drinking crap beers at Street Scene while others were enjoying great beers at the San Diego Festival of Beer.
The Street Scene organizers must’ve been reading, because they announced yesterday afternoon that Street Scene will feature a “MicroBrewery Festival” with 12 local, regional and national breweries pouring [...]