A couple of good beer festivals this weekend.

13th Annual San Diego Festival of Beer
Tonight is the 13th Annual San Diego Festival of Beer in Downtown San Diego. The $25 admission fee gets you 10 tastes, and there’ll be 50 or so microbreweries on hand, so there’s plenty to choose from.

Best of all, all the proceeds from this event go to cancer research (just another way beer helps the world be a better place).

The San Diego Festival of Beer runs from 6pm to 11pm. You can get information and tickets right here.

Side Note: If you’ve still got energy after the festival, there’s a number of great beer bars and restaurants within walking distance from the event. We did a write up on a few of them a couple of weeks ago over at Hop Talk. You can read about the downtown San Diego beer scene (complete with Google map) right here.

Great Tucson Beer Festival
Tomorrow we’re getting up early and driving to Arizona to participate in the Great Tucson Beer Festival at Hi Corbett Field (spring training home to the Colorado Rockies) in downtown Tucson.

That event is $35 and runs from 6pm to 10pm and should be a blast. I’m looking forward to tasting beers from all over the southwest that I’ve never had an opportunity to try (plus I’ve never been to a beer festival in a baseball stadium). Oh — and we’ll actually be pouting beer for Port Brewing / Lost Abbey, so if you make it to the even be sure to drop by our station and say hello.

You can find complete information on Great Tucson Beer Festival right here.

And if you can’t make either event, I still hope you have the opportunity to celebrate the Autumnal Equinox properly by raising a glass to the gods and paying them tribute for a good barley harvest.

Cheers!

Yes, I finally got around to sucking all the photos off my camera and loading them to the web.

As usual, the Port Brewing party was a hoot (and the food was great). Plus Tomme put Hop 15 on cask (wow!). Stone’s party was great too. Got to see a lot of fun people and taste some awesome beer.

After it was over, we all wandered back to Port, where Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo were waiting. Naturally we made them help us clean up a bit then we all went over to Churchill’s Pub for dinner.

Good times…

Take a gander at the random photos right here:

Port Brewing Pre-party & Stone 11th Anniversary

This time around it was Rick Lyke’s of Lyke 2 Drink turn to pick the subject for beer blogging Friday. A hat tip to him for making “The Brew Zoo” the topic.

Molly and I just sent our oldest off to college at the University of Arizona a couple of week’s ago. The UA is in Tucson, Arizona’s second largest city, a six hour drive east of San Diego. It is also home to the state’s largest microbrewery, Nimbus Brewing Company, who’s monkey mascot makes it the subject of our post.

Located in a non-descript industrial park pushed up against railroad tracks south of downtown, Nimbus’ building frontage is adorned with eye-popping art featuring wild beer labels and dancing apes in top hats. A giant orange and yellow grain tank emblazoned with the brewery’s signature monkey head stands out front as well.

Inside the brewery the walls are painted purple, yellow and orange and adorned with paintings and decor in a sort of weird mash-up of Mexican folk art, religious iconography and monkey heads.

Side Note:: I asked about the origins of the brewery’s atmosphere, but nobody really seems to know how it came about. A Nimbus is the halo disc you see above a saint’s/holy person’s head in early European art. The folk art stuff may be from their first beer, Dirty Güera (sort of Spanish slang for “blond girl”) Ale, and the Mexican influence in Tucson. And the monkey seems to be from their old slogan “people should be more like monkeys.” (Add plenty of beer and see what you get.)

The taproom is in the front portion of the building, gated off from the brewery proper, but still with a clear view of the brewing operation. There’s also a patio area at the front where you can sit outside when it’s not too hot and watch the trains go by.

We were there mid-week around 1pm and the taproom was populated by an eclectic collection of businessmen, college students, hippies and bikers enjoying a cold pint on a hot desert afternoon.

We ordered a flight of testers and were served up a tray with ten glasses arranged on a tray with a sheet describing each beer. Here’s the regulars:

• Dirty Güera — Southwestern-style Blond Ale
• Pale Ale — Northwestern-style Pale Ale
• Red Ale — Classic American Amber Ale
• Brown Ale — American Brown Ale
• Oatmeal Stout — Specialty Stout
• Old Monkeyshine — English Strong Ale

Also in the flight were four seasonals, India Pale Ale, Belgian Gold, Smoked Porter, and Hefeweizten. (Sadly, there are no links to these on the website.)

While none of these beers pushed the limits of their style (which is often the case with the breweries here in San Diego), I have to admit, all were very refreshing and drinkable — a nice attribute given the 104 degree temperature outside. My favorites turned out to be the Dirty Güera and Belgian Gold. Molly (naturally) enjoyed the Smoked Ported the most.

Nimbus head brewer Scott Schwartz was kind enough to come out, give us a tour and chat even though a malfunctioning bottling line was giving him trouble. (I think we cheered him up with a bottle of Judgment Day from Lost Abbey.)

Afterwords we picked up a couple of mixed cases to take home (Nimbus isn’t available in San Diego), said goodbye to Scott and the other Nimbus folks, and headed back out into the mid-afternoon heat of the Sonoran desert. We plan on dropping by again though. We’ll be back for the Great Tucson Beer Festival in late September.

If you’re ever in Arizona, make sure to drop by Nimbus Brewing (Tucson is only 90 miles from Phoenix). It’s may be one of the most enjoyable breweries you’ve never heard of. You’ll find it at:

Nimbus Brewing Company
3850 E. 44th Street
Suite 138
Tucson, Arizona 85713

» Nimbus Brewing website

Saturday September 8th we’re heading out to Stone Brewing’s 11th Anniversary party.

It’ll be our fourth time at the festival, and we always have a great time. There will be 39 breweries from as far away as Holland and Germany pouring beer that weekend, plus a lot of great food and fun
people.

It’s been ungodly hot here lately (well into the upper 90’s / low 100’s), so we’re hoping that it cools down before Saturday — especially since they’ve moved the festival to the upper parking lot this year, which is a giant heat-dish of black asphalt. If you’re thinking of going to the celebration, make sure to say hi to Molly and me. We’ll be at the second session which starts around 2:45 pm.

Before the Stone thingy we’ll be at Port Brewing (only 5 minutes away) for their big “pre-Stone” brunch. Tomme and Vince lay out a huge spread food — eggs, pancakes, toast, tortillas, and at least half a dozen pork products (sausage, bacon, ham, chorizo, you name it) — to chow down on while you enjoy some tasty Port and Lost Abbey brews.

It’s a perfect way to lay down a solid meat and starch foundation to get you through the Stone party. (Or to get you through a day of hanging at Port Brewing — which many people do.)

The Port brunch starts at 8:30am and runs to… well, usually whenever. I recommend getting there early, however, as the crowds get pretty large. The food is free and the beers are a very reasonable $3 or so a pint. Tomme is also threatening to pull some magic out of the barrel room, so you might also be treated to some real rarities in the beer world.

Naturally Molly and I will be there first thing in the morning. Look for Molly in one of her beer festival dirndls. I’ll probably do sometihng special too — like wear a clean t-shirt. If you don’t run into us at Stone, make sure to give us a shout while you’re there.

» More info & Tickets for Stone Brewing’s 11th Anniversary

» More info on the Prot Brewing Pre-Stone Brunch

Here’s a slideshow of last week’s barrel tasting event at Lost Abbey / Port Brewing:

Last Saturday was Lost Abbey’s first annual barrel tasting event, and as promised, it was a night of food, festivity and really fine beer.

The sold out event began a little after 6pm as people filed into the brewery to sample a little Devotion and Red Barn as preparation for the main attractions.

Once folks had a glass of their beverage of choice, they were invited to enjoy cheese and fruit, and line up to bottle their very own numbered edition of Veritas 001 - a specially blended strong ale with notes of oak, wine and cherries. (Alas, people couldn’t take the bottles home that evening, as the labels don’t yet exist. Tomme promised, however, that the time Veritas spends bottle conditioning will make it all that much better when the bottles are finally issued to their owners.)

Lost and Found and Amazing Grace
Once everyone had a chance to bottle, the tasting began in earnest with a side-by-side comparison of Lost and Found and its barrel-aged sibling Amazing Grace. (For the source of the name Amazing Grace, check out the hymn’s lyrics.) As a frequent drinker of Lost and Found, tasting it right next to Amazing Grace, really opened my eyes to what a year and a half in an oak barrel can do to a beer. The sweet, malty and figgy fruit flavors you find in fresh L&F mellowed, dried and took on flavors that you commonly associate with wines rather than beers.

Dawn Patrol Dark and Red Poppy
Lost and Found/Amazing Grace tasting was followed by the premier of Red Poppy, a deep brown ale aged for the past year in sour cherries, paired with its precursor Dawn Patrol Dark, an English Mild Tomme has blogged about in the past.

Even though I’ve been staring at barrels filled with Red Poppy for a year now, this was the first time I’d been able to taste it in any significant quantity. Dawn Patrol Dark, on the other hand, I drink often enough. DPD is a low alcohol — 4% or so — beer Tomme uses to fill idle barrel to prevent them from drying between batches. As such there’s always plenty on tap, making it a tasty alternative to the brewery’s high ABV beers.

Unlike the Lost and Found and Amazing Grace, which were easily discerned as relatives, beyond the dark brown color, Dawn Patrol and Red Poppy bore little in common. DPD was smooth, flavorful and, well… mild. Red Poppy on the other hand was an explosion of cherry aroma, sour fruit, grass and oak that left my senses reeling well after the beer passed my tongue. If Dawn Patrol were a fuzzy caterpillar, the time in that barreled cocoon had transformed it into a most extraordinary butterfly.

Food from Chef Vince — an amazing assortment of gourmet pizzas made with rustic breads, cheeses, and toppings, and baked on an outdoor pizza oven - provided the crowd with an excellent repast as the next course of beers was staged.

Moab and Cuvee de Tomme
Our next pairing consisted of the year’s second release of Cuvee de Tomme (the first release sold out in a few hours at the brewery’s first anniversary party in May), and it’s fittingly named parent, the Mother of All Beers (or Moab as it’s known in these parts).

Moab’s a great beer in its own right - dark, malty and rich with notes of fruit and caramel. But for Tomme this is just the beginning (he actually uses this as the stating point for a number of his beers). We sampled the Moab and admired its aroma and flavor. Then it was time for the CdT.

Oh. My. God. (Yes, I just wrote that.) This year’s CdT still has Tomme’s signature sour cherry and raisin power, but this time around he used a combination of Bourbon AND Brandy barrels (usually it’s just bourbon), and then blended the results of those six barrels in proportions known only to him. The spring anniversary release was fantastic, but the extra four months in wood this second release had vaulted it well past the first. The spring release of CdT was $15 for a 375ml bottle. I can only imagine what this second release will be once it makes it to glass. ($30? $40?)

Older Viscosity
Cuvee was followed by the only non-paired (and non Lost Abbey label) barrel-aged beer of the evening, Older Viscosity. Those familiar with Older Viz’ base beer, Old Viscocity, know that it’s a sweet, malty and heavy dark strong ale with lots of flavor (goes great with pancakes). Once aged in Bourbon barrels for half a year or so it picks up a little heat and caramel booziness and becomes Older Viscosity.

But not this time. I don’t know if it was different barrels, the age of the beer, the serving temperature, or some combination thereof, but the Older Viscosity I had that evening smelled and tasted of a full-bodied red wine like Merlot. It was still outstanding, but not what I had expected at all.

Presentation Time
As the crowd sipped Older Viz, the lights dimmed, the wall above the barrel room brightened and Tomme began a presentation on (drum roll please) barrel-aging beers. Having traveled the world in search of great beer, he had quite a bit of information, pictures and stories regarding the huge variety of barrels — oak tuns, funky old Belgian barrels, seriously large oak fermenters, etc. - that have been used in brewing beer for centuries. It was a great combo art-history and brewing lesson given only the way professor Arthur could have done it.

Grand Finale - The Angel’s Share
After the presentation Tomme climbed on top of the bar to announce the evening’s final tasting - The Angel’s Share - the original batch (now 18 months old) along side its barley wine base beer. Glasses were filled and Tomme told the story behind the beer (”a very simple beer” he likes to say.) I don’t know if anyone at the tasting was an Angel’s Share first-timer, but the folks I talked to all agreed that the beer only gets better with age (do they give above perfect ratings on sites like Beer Advocate and Rate Beer?).

Sweet, dark and caramel chocolate, the only thing that could have made the Angel’s Share sampling better would have been something like pairing it with a dessert of fresh baked cinnamon rolls and real vanilla ice cream - which is exactly what they did. Awesome.

The night wound down (or peaked I should say - everybody was feeling pretty good by the time we got to the Angel’s Share), with Tomme atop the bar horsely leading the 100-odd folks in attendance in a rousing version of “Happy Birthday” for Jason, a Port Brewing regular. Following the song people mingled, chatted. The crowd gradually thinned until just a few of us remained to do some clean up (ok, a lot of clean up) and reminisce on the evening’s events.

All-in-all a wonderful, intimate event. I’m already looking forward to next year. I think just about everyone else is too.

I am excited about the barrel tasting party tonight and the Lost Abbey. It’s the 1st one the brewery has put on and it’s sold out. Only 100 lucky people get to go and I’m one of them.

I’ve trying to pick out my outfit for many days and it’s so hard but I think I have settled on one. You’ll have to wait and see the pix’s.

Tomme Arthur has a list of beers for tonight most people would kill to taste. I’m hoping Cable Car is one of the choices because I know how hard it is to get ahold of. We will also be having Cuvee de Tomme and The Angel’s Share. I’ve had these before — they are awesome and unlike any beer you’ve ever had. We have a few bottle stashed away for a rainy day.

I’ll be posting tonight live from the barrel tasting and letting you know what I think. I get tipsy easily so don’t mind the spelling — I’ll fix that in the morning.

I’m off to go look in my closet for *THE Outfit*.

Cheers,

Beer Molly

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.)