As regular readers of our (irregularly updated) blog know, we’re all about the beer scene here in San Diego, California. More specifically, we’re all about the beer scene in Northern San Diego county, particularly along State Route 78 that we like to call “the beer highway”.

Along a 12 mile stretch of road that runs from the Pacific Ocean to the foothills you can hit no fewer than eight great breweries and brew pubs, try just about every type of beer imaginable, and get a look at operations that range from 7 barrels to 10,000 barrels.

Now, thanks to Google’s new embeddable maps feature, I’ve created a map of the brewers along the beer highway complete with addresses, phone numbers and websites. So if you’ve ever wanted to do a little (real or virtual) brew-hopping in San Diego, here’s your chance to do it. Check it out:

The map has all the same functionality as a regular Google map, so you can zoom in and out, click on the little blue pointers to get more info, and even get a satellite view if you want.

Pretty cool, don’t you think? (And a darned good excuse to come to San Diego and do a little sampling.)

I’ve been to quite a few beer festivals, but I don’t think I’ll be attending any in Serbia any time soon. From the article:

BELGRADE, Serbia (Reuters) — A 23-year old Serb was found dead and half-eaten in the bear cage of Belgrade Zoo at the weekend during the annual beer festival.

The man was found naked, with his clothes lying intact inside the cage. Two adult bears, Masha and Misha, had dragged the body to their feeding corner and reacted angrily when keepers tried to recover it.

“There’s a good chance he was drunk or drugged. Only an idiot would jump into the bear cage,” zoo director Vuk Bojovic told Reuters.

Local media reported that police found several mobile phones inside the cage, as well as bricks, stones and beer cans.

Gotta love the zoo director’s quote. “Drunk”, “drugged”, or “an idiot.” I’ve seen all three at beer festivals before (sometimes in the same person) — just never with a couple of bears involved. If you ask me, that’s Darwinism at work.

Via CNN.com

Ran across this little snippet of news from beautiful, sunny and sandy Bahrian:

TWO INDIAN men have been accused of operating an illegal “cottage industry” of brewing and selling alcohol.

One is accused of setting up the brewery in his house and the other of obtaining, possessing and selling alcohol to customers and being an accomplice in manufacturing alcohol.

The first man admitted the charge and the second said he bought alcohol from him, but only for his own use.

Both men, in their 30s, were further remanded in custody by the Lower Criminal Court, which adjourned the case until Monday.

The defence lawyer for the first defendant unsuccessfully requested the court to release his client on bail, but under a travel ban.

Yikes. The guy must be a worse homebrewer than me.

» Via Gulf Daily News

Just a quick update to my earlier note on the Lost Abbey Barrel Tasting.

The full press announcement is now on their website right here.

And a link to the online tickets can be found right here.

Inside Bay Area’s William Brand had a little ditty over the weekend about the Toronado’s 2oth Anniversary party coming up this weekend. (warning: IBA’s layout is kinda hosed. If you can’t read it, there’s a mirror right here.)

In the article there’s a few quotes from Toronado proprietor and beer demi-god David Keene (who also adorns the cover of this month’s Celebrator). His comments are about Vinnie Cilurzo and Fritz Maytag are pretty much expected as they’re both Bay Area brewing legends.

But what really caught my eye was the quote about my favorite brew nerd Tomme Arthur of Lost Abbey / Port Brewing fame.

Tomme Arthur (Port Brewing/Lost Abbey), scoured his wood casks and blended a beer for our Anniversary, we have one keg and a limited number of bottles. I have not sampled this beer yet, but have it on the authority of John Hansel, of the Malt Advocate, that it in his opinion it is the best beer he has had from Lost Abbey and perhaps in the entire USA. Can’t wait to try it.

Okay boys and girls, I have tried it. In fact, I’m one of the few people who’s tried it several times, and I can say without hesitation that it is a) the best beer in North America right now, and b) the best beer Tomme’s ever made… right up until Tomme’s next best beer.

The one bad thing I can say about Cable Car is that there’s pitifully little of it. A total one-off produced in such limited amounts that most mere beer mortals won’t ever even get close to anyone who actually even saw a bottle.

But on the bright side, Tomme seems to have a knack for going to his barrel archives and blending up something even better than his last. (Truthfully, he’s more of a “Malt Alchemist” than a simple brewer.) And on August 25th he’s hosting his first ever Barrel Tasting at Lost Abbey.

The guest count will be limited to just 100 lucky folk, but they’ll be treated to some of Tomme’s most prized barrel-aged beers including his first release of Red Poppy, an incredible 18 month old Angel’s Share and a second 2007 release of Cuvee de Tomme.

But perhaps even more significant than that is that Tomme is blending a special beer just for that night — a bottle of which each guest will receive.

Given what Tomme’s done for the Toronado with Cable Car, it’s not much of stretch to believe that what he’s going to do for his own guests will be equally (if not more) incredible.

Tickets for the Barrel Tasting went on sale around noon on Monday August 6th, so if you’re reading this any time shortly thereafter there’s a (albeit remote) chance that you can still pick up one or two.

The event is $50 per person and will include (at a minimum) five of his barrel-aged brews along with his special release. An amazing array of hors d’ oeuvres and foods will also be on hand to accompany the beers.

Full details and tickets purchases can be found on the Lost Abbey website right here.

Honestly — if you’re anywhere within 500 miles of San Diego that weekend, you’d be a fool to miss this. Really.

“No fish, no fruit.”

It’s a pretty straightforward policy — one that I held for many years and applied to both pizza and beer. (A personal Reinheitsgebot if you will.) It still holds for pizza, but over the years I’ve modified it for beer to allow certain fruits — sour apples, cherries, grapes are allowed, but keep your damned limes to yourself. (As for fish, I’ll accept a on the label, but that’s as close as I want it to the beer itself.)

Molly’s standards, on the other hand, aren’t rearly so restrictive. She especially likes sweet, fruity beers as they blend well with her taste for dark porters and stouts. She has one concoction that’s one part Lindeman’s Framboise and one part Young’s Double Chocolate Stout. “Tastes like a raspberry cheesecake!” she says. (”Ick,” I say. I like my cheesecake in solid form.)

I, on the other hand, can’t stand the sweet as it reminds me of the Bartles & James wine coolers we used to drink when we were young and interested more in the effect than the flavor. On the other hand, when a brewer does something beyond simply tossing fruit in beer — souring, spicing, smoking, etc. — then I get interested.

Much of our exposure to interesting fruit styles can be credited to Tomme Arthur and his peculiar ability to make just about anything taste good in beer, as well as fair number of beer-enthusiast and homebrewing friends with a willingness to brew anything at least once.

Sour beers seem to draw me the most. I like the way the way spicy, fruity aromas waft upward right after the pour. I like that first taste of tartness that initially challenges the malt’s thick sweetness, but finally blends with it in a flavor profile that has all my taste buds firing at once. Done right, it’s a complex style that demands sipping rather than drinking.

That having been said, fruit beers are neither Molly’s nor my favorites. It could be that living in San Diego means it’s always fruit season, so the flavors aren’t all that exotic. It could be that you don’t find many on tap, so when we’re out wandering the pubs we don’t get enough exposure. It might also be that really good fruit beers are so few and far between the style kind of bores us. Then again it could be that fruit beer’s just not our style.

Hmm — I think I’ll ponder this over a nice glass of Compunction. Cheers!

(Hat tip to Greg Clow at Beer, Beats & Bites for hosting this month’s Session.)