I was sitting in a taco shop the other day, eating a bean and cheese burrito and loving it. A couple tables over were two young men eating burritos. Well, one of them was actually on his cell phone, referring to the person on the other end as “dog” and trying feverishly to plot out the next 60 minutes of his life. Then he hung up and took a bite of his food. Brief pause. ”There’s nothing like a bean and fucking cheese buritto, dog,” he said to his dining companion. “Seriously, dog. I’ve got nothing but love for these bad boys.”

If I didn’t have hot sauce and sour cream on my fingers, and didn’t mind being called “dog,” I might’ve high-fived him.

I love taco shops, and the bean and cheese burrito is always the first thing I order when I go to one for the first time. There’s just something so perfect, so pure about a good bean and cheese burrito. Whoever invented them should get a Nobel Prize, or a Pulitzer, or a Heisman Trophy or something. A taco shop has to make something else really well to get my repeat business if it makes a bad bean and cheese burrito.

Picking a favorite taco shop is impossible, but the one I go to the most these days is Reyberto’s (3017 Clairemont Drive, next to Keil’s). Or maybe it’s Rey Berto’s. They’re a little inconsistent with their signs. Anyway, they make a killer bean and cheese burrito, and for dirt cheap. The regular price is $1.86 — no extra charge for cheese like at the Roberto’s down the street. And on Mondays they’re on special for just 99 cents.

All but one of the people who work there are friendly, and the one who’s not friendly is simply indifferent, not a grouchypants or anything. I’m happy to give them my business.

Another thing I judge taco shops on is their salsa, and Reyberto’s doesn’t disappoint there. They make their salsa fresh every day, one of the women employees told me, and it’s always delicious. They have a salsa/peppers/carrots bar where you can ladle salsa into little styrofoam cups. That can get a little messy, so I’ll usually ask for one of the bottles they keep refrigerated behind the counter.

Aside from usual taco shop fare, Reyberto’s also has gyros. I’ve never tried them, but you can get gyro quesadillas, gyro burritos and other stuff. They also sell hand-carved wood furniture, like headboards for beds and wooden statues of the snake-slaying bird on the Mexican flag. There are a few of the wood items in the shop, plus a binder with photos of others that they’ll presumably bring in for you if you’re interested.

Every time I go to the Morena Club, I wake up the next morning and swear I’m never going there again. But then a couple-three weeks pass and I find mice elf going back for more.

There are many things about the Morena Club that draw me to it and/or push me away. It’s convenient for where I live, but it’s in a somewhat sketchy block. There’s a trailer park nearby, and I’ve seen some shady characters by the apartments around the corner. I regularly read the police reports for the area, and there are frequent arrests for assault, public intoxication, DUI and narcotics abuse in the block where the club is located.

Parking in the Morena Club lot can be a little dicey when it comes time to leave because you have to back out onto busy Morena Boulevard. (Could that be why there are a lot of DUI arrests?) Parking around the corner can be dicey because of the aforementioned shady characters.

The place is a dive bar with a smidgen of attitude. During the day or early evening, a jukebox supplies the music and TVs show the Padres or other sports, or perhaps some animated porn. At night they sometimes have DJs who play hip hop, or maybe reggae, or maybe ’80s stuff. There’s always a good chance you’ll hear “Pass the Dutchie” by Musical Youth. It can get a little crowded after 11 p.m. if there’s a DJ, but otherwise is usually pretty empty.

The bartenders often seem buzzed, or will unabashedly tell you they are hammered. The hot female bartender has been known to strike suggestive poses on the bar or pool table. Once when we were there Mrs. Beerandburritos saw her flash her boobs to a customer, but I missed it. If he’s drunk, the male bartender might buy a round of shots for you — and him.

The beer selection is nothing to get excited about. They have Stone Pale Ale, but it always tastes a little funny. They also have stuff like Bass and Stella Artois and Budweiser.

I’m not sure why I keep going back. Maybe it’s the slightly dangerous undercurrent. Maybe it’s hope that this time it will be better, or that this time I’ll see the bartender’s boobs. Whatever, I’m sure I’ll be there again soon.

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 Alesmith brewing team was named the Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year. You’ll get no arguments here.

Alesmith also took home the Gold medal for its Wee Heavy in the “Strong Scotch Ale” category, the Gold for its Decadence Old Ale in the “Old Ale or Strong Ale” category, the Silver medal for its Vintage Speedway Stout in the “Aged Beer” category and the Silver for its Old Numbskull in the “Barley Wine-Style Ale” category.

The only other San Diego-area brewery to take home a Gold medal was beerandburritos favorite San Diego Brewing Co., which got the Gold for its wonderful Hopnotic in the “Imperial or Double India Pale Ale” category.

The local brewery with the most awards, if you lump all their locations together, is Pizza Port/Port Brewing. 

• Pizza Port Carlsbad won the Silver for its Party Pants Pilsener in the “German-Style Pilsener” category, the Silver for Night Rider Imperial Stout in the “Imperial Stout” category, the Bronze for Port Truck Stout in the “Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout” category, the Bronze for Cow Stout in the “Sweet Stout” category and the Bronze for its State Beach Blonde in the “Herb and Spice or Chocolate Beer” category.
• Pizza Port Solana Beach won the Bronze for its Big Wednesday in the “American-Belgo Style Ale” category.
• Pizza Port San Clemente (OK, it’s Orange County and not San Diego, but it’s a local company) won Silver for Way Heavy in the “Strong Scotch Ale” category. (Now I wish I’d tried that when I was at PP San Clemente two weeks ago.)
• Port Brewing and the Lost Abbey won Bronze for Hop 15 in the “Imperial or Double India Pale Ale” category.

Also, Rock Bottom in La Jolla got the Silver medal for its Ragtop Red in the “Irish-Style Red Ale” category.

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 because of the hop shortage and all, but it still promises to be darn good.

According to O’Brien’s owner Tom Nickel, this year’s wet hop action will happen Oct. 24-26 and feature about 20 wet hop beers, including several casks. See you there!

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 hop field selecting our prized Cascade and Centennial varieties along with some specialty hop varieties to experiment with. To our surprise, we not only could grow hops, we were also able to harvest them in late summer due to Chico’s ideal climate.

Chico Estate Harvest Ale is one of the very few estate harvest ales produced anywhere in the world today. All the hops in the beer are grown naturally on the premises of our brewery in Chico. We pick the hops ourselves and then take them directly to the brew kettle, without being dried, just after picking so they retain nearly all of their natural oils and resins. It is made with Cascade, Centennial and Chinook hops. Until now, this beer has only been available in draft. Starting this year, we will be bottling it on a very limited basis, with plans to expand its availability as we expand our Chico hop field in the coming years.

Sierra Nevada has a video on their Web site that is like porn for hop lovers. I’m not smart enough to figure out how to direct-link to it, so I have to send you to the Chico Estate site.

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 wet hop ale.

This year’s party is at a new location, Liberty Station on Point Loma. And while there will be more than enough great Ballast Point brews to make the fest worthwhile, this year’s edition is also for the first time featuring other brewers. The list of those brewers is below. Details on the event can be found at the Ballast Point Web site.

Alesmith Brewing Co.
Alpine Brewing Co.
Backstreet Brewery
Brew House
Coronado Brewing Co.
Firehouse Brewing Co.
Gordon Biersch Brewery
Green Flash Brewing Co.
Karl Strauss Brewing Co.
La Jolla Brewhouse
Lightning Brewery
Mission Brewery
Oceanside Aleworks
Oggi’s Pizza & Brewing Co.
Pacific Beach Ale House
Pizza Port/Port Brewing
Rock Bottom Brewery
San Diego Brewing Co.
San Marcos Brewery & Grill
Stone Brewing Co.

The Street Scene has announced its replacement for Saturday headliner the Black Crowes, who cancelled because of an undisclosed illness.

It’s Devo.

I’m sure some will complain that Devo’s not the draw that the Crowes are. And some will complain that Devo just played at the Del Mar race track a few weeks ago.

But if you think about Street Scene’s history, Devo as a headliner makes perfect sense. The festival evolved from a small event on the streets of downtown to a giant event at Qualcomm Stadium parking lot, then de-evolved back to being a smaller event on the streets of downtown this year. When it comes to de-evolution, Devo wrote the book.

Plus I like them better than the Crowes. So I’m happy.

Check out the updated Street Scene schedule and make your plans.

Meanwhile, here are some Devo vids for your enjoyment.

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 bucks over the last time.)

Anyway, here’s the info:

Ballast Point Brewing is proud to announce the release of our world famous Sculpin IPA in 22oz bottles and on draft.  Beginning Saturday 9/13 10am at our brewery in Scripps Ranch only and on Sunday 9/14 12pm at our Linda Vista location.  This beer will only be made available at our two brewery locations, not anywhere else, so come visit us.  As always, supply is extremely limited, so be sure to get here soon.  When it’s gone, it’s gone until we’re not sure when.  Thanks to all of San Diego for their continuing support of good beer and of Ballast Point.  See you this weekend.  Cheers!

22oz – $7.99 (limit 12; no case discount)  1/2gal growler fill - $20.

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 sell out before your turn comes, but them’s the breaks.

It’s a batch of barrel-aged 2007 Speedway Stout and the sale happens at noon on Sept. 26. Having recently attended a special Alesmith tasting that featured four different vintages of Speedway Stout, I can vouch for the fact that it gets better with age, and the barrel-aged versions are excellent.

Here’s the info from Alesmith:

We are releasing another batch of Barrel-Aged Speedway Stout this year!  On Friday, September 26th at noon we’ll be releasing our 2007 batch of Barrel-Aged Speedway Stout.  Maximum purchase will be two (2) bottles, for $20 each, and we will reserve the right to change the allotment during the sale.  Once again, we’ll be conducting the sale from the back of the brewery and Jessica will be in charge of the tickets, so look for her when you get there! 

The Alesmith special-release events typically are very popular and the beers sell out fast, so if you want in on the action, I recommend getting there early. Oh, and not to be a grandma about it, but wearing sunscreen would probably be a good idea.

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 will be more of it than ever this year, according to brewer Tomme Arthur’s blog. Port first bottled High Tide in 2006, making one 30-barrel batch that sold out in two weeks. Last year they bottled three times that much and it sold out in two weeks as well. This year they’re making eight batches (240 barrels), the largest seasonal release they’ve ever done.

Here’s something to tide you over until the High Tide arrives.