Jason and Todd Alström, founders of beeradvocate.com
photo courtesy of New York Times

Guess what? Even the New York Times has figured out that there’s way way more to beer than the fizzy yellow stuff you get in the 24 packs at the gas station (which I pick up occasionally because it’s a cheap and effective snail and slug killer).

From the article:

The Web site [beeradvocate.com] is just one of the gathering spots for beer lovers — not the guys sitting in front of the tube with a six-pack of mass-market brew, but a rapidly growing body of connoisseurs who are as devoted to their chosen beverage as wine lovers are to theirs.

The article, which is focused on the Alström boys who run beeradvocate, is good but a tad inaccurate:

“As far as the vocal component on the Internet, it’s all men,” Todd Alström said. “But at beer festivals and on the social end, it’s more even.”

I believe Beer Molly would disagree with that. This is her site.

» Read: Overcoming a Frat Party Reputation (via The New York Times)

Just got my newsletter from Tom Nickel, owner of the most excellent O’Brien’s Pub and a co-founder of some great beer-bashes like the Strong Ale Festival and the 12 Hour Belgian Beer Party. It looks like there’s all kinds of good stuff going on at O’Brien’s over the next week or so.

If you’re going to be down in San Diego for Spring Break (and honestly, there’s no better place to be this time of year), you should make sure to swing on by, quaff a pint or two and say hi to Tom. He’s hard to miss — just look for a mountain of a guy with a beard that wraps up and over his ears and around the base of his shaved head.

Here’s Tom’s newsletter:

From: “Tom Nickel”
Subject: Lightning Strikes, Mead and the Final Four

Hello Good Beer Fans!

First off I just want to say how great it was to see so many pub patrons at the Belgian Beer Party this past weekend at Pizza Port. Thanks to everyone who braved the line and the crowds. More than 200 cases and 20 kegs were consumed in the 12 hours - it was a ton of fun. And I love any excuse to put on my monk outfit.

On the pub front, we still have our Belgian pre-party ales on tap - De Koninck Winter Ale, Geants Saison Voisin and in place of the Duchess keg that wouldn’t pour I tapped our last keg of the Dutch Mastreechs Ajit Flemish Red (same style, but drier than the Duchess). When that blows, I have some of the Monk’s Cafe Sour Brown to tap, which is made by Petrus, but is a special blend (less sweet than the Petrus Oud Bruin) just for Monk’s Cafe in Philadelphia. Also new on tap is the great Avery Maharaja Imperial IPA - nearly 10% and quite a hop punch. The AleSmith IPA is back on tap as is the Boddingtons Pub Ale.

I will have a bunch of new bottles on the menu this weekend. We do already have bottles of the great Malheur Brut in stock - it is champagne-style similar to the Bosteels Deus Brut des Flanders. I will have some bottles from the festival in limited quantities available as of Saturday.

This week’s cask beer is the Alpine Irish Red on Thursday the 29th at 5 pm. And as an excuse to get our cook Humberto to make more Guinness Gravy, we are re-visiting our St. Patrick’s Day with Corned Beef and Cabbage (along with mashed potatoes and the delicious Guinness Gravy) and Bangers and Mash with Guinness Gravy. Unfortunately, you will not be able to order pint glasses full of the gravy to drink - but you will want to. So if you missed it on St. Patty’s, or just didn’t get enough Corned Beef, this is your chance.

Friday the 30th is our Lightning Brewery night with Fulminator Double Bock, Thunderweizen (a German-style Hefeweizen), Black Lightning Porter and Pilsner. We will also have some logo pint glasses for sale from the Poway-based brewery. And it sounds like the owner and brewer will be coming by to have a pint or two. All of the Lightning beers will be on tap by 5 pm Friday and on special all night. Lindsey will be dubeting the new Camembert Burger at Friday lunch as well.

Saturday is the Final starting at 3:07 pm with Ohio State v. Georgetown. The Florida v. UCLA will be on immediately after. We’ll show both in High Def. The Championship is Monday night at 6 pm. Every Monday we feature $8 pitchers of all local and craft brews and strong ale pitchers are just $12 from 4 to close. We also run our great beer battered fish and chips and fish tacos every Monday and Sunday.

Sunday, April 1st is our Mead Day and Mead Tasting. David Myers, owner and meadmaker of Redstone Meadery will be leading a tasting of meads from the International Mead Festival at 5:30 pm (he also organizes the International Mead Fest). I unpacked the boxes of meads this week and the list will be very impressive. Here is a sample of what will taste - Redstone 2003 Boysenberry Reserve Mead, Rabbits Foot Apple Cyser, Dwojniak Herb Mead (from Poland), Jardins Melliferes Blueberry Mead, Adytum Cellars Harvest Moon Mead, Long Island Root Beer Mead (really!) and many more! Cost is $25 and includes some light snacks prepared by Lindsey. Sign up at the pub to reserve your spot - we have about a dozen spaces left. We will have a mead making demonstration on the newly expanded patio at 3 pm and David will be around between 2 and 4 pm to answer questions about mead and pour some Redstone Meads by the glass.

Next week I have lined up a double dose of hoppy Pizza Port ales. On Thursday, April 5th we will have a cask of Wipeout IPA from Pizza Port Carlsbad. And to celebrate the repeal of the Prohibition on beer we will have draft kegs of Yiga’s Revenge IPA from Solana Beach and Doheny Double IPA from San Clemente. The prohibition of beer was repealed on April 7th, 1933. So we’ll celebrate Brew Year’s Eve a little early. We will be closing down on Sunday, April 8th for Easter Sunday, but we will be open all day Saturday until 11 pm for your beer drinking pleasure.

For those interested in soccer, the UEFA Champions League resumes next week with the first leg of the quarter finals. The first games - PSV v. Liverpool and AC Milan v. Bayern Munich will both be LIVE at 11:30 am on Tuesday the 3rd. Chelsea v. Valencia and AS Roma v. Manchester United will both be LIVE at 11:30 am on Wednesday the 4th. You can find the complete list of soccer games at the pub on our website. We also have a soccer-specific email list that goes out twice a month to list upcoming games - if you want to sign up, just reply to this email.

Further off in the following week we have our first beer and cheese tasting at Taste Artisan Cheese Shop in Hillcrest at 7 pm on Wednesday the 11th. We did the pairings on Monday and we have all new beers and all new cheeses. Some of the beer highlights include Schneider Aventinus, Chimay Red Cap, Maredsous 8 and Malheur Brut. Also on Wednesday the 11th we will be debuting the new batch of Alpine Nelson IPA made with New Zealand hops.

And Friday, April 13th I have a Triple Threat of Triple IPAs planned for this spooky day - the new Alpine Exponential Hoppiness, Avery Maharaja IPA and Russian River Pliny the Younger. All three will be on tap at 5 pm and who knows how long they will last. There may be other hopy draft surprises as well.

That is all for now. We’ll see you soon over a good beer and some Guinness Gravy. Cheers, Tom

Tom Nickel
O’Brien’s Pub
20 Taps - Tons of Hops
4646 Convoy Street
www.obrienspub.net

» O’Brien’s Location on Google Maps