This time around the confab centered around local craft beer with Alesmith, Ballast Point, Green Flash, Lightning, Lost Abbey, and Stone Brewing offering up beers to be paired with foods ranging from aged and grilled pork bellies to stout ice cream.

Molly and I went to the event as guests of Jon and Mindy from Brewery Tours of San Diego, but we carpooled with Lost Abbey’s Tomme Arthur and Mike Rodriguez as well as Mike’s wife, Michelle, so we could visit The Neighborhood, a local gastropub, in advance of the event. (A great beer selection from all the local breweries.)

Following our visit to The Neighborhood we strolled back to the Stingaree, met up with Jon and Mindy, and headed to the party on the roof.

The Stingaree, which is just a couple blocks from Petco Park in downtown San Diego, offers a really hipster atmosphere and decor, and the rooftop bar / patio is a spectacular place to watch the sunset. Naturally, the food, beer and people were all exceptional. Here’s a photo gallery of the evening’s events:
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And thanks again to Jon and Mindy for inviting us!

Hangar 24 Craft Brewery, Redlands, CA

We’d heard about Hangar 24 over a year ago while Beer Molly and I were hanging out in Las Vegas. At the time they were shutting down the brew pub in the Monte Carlo and we had asked one of the guys disassembling the brewing equipment where it was going.

“To a new brewery opening up in California,” the guy said. “Hangar 24 by the airport in Redlands.”

Saddened by the lack of fresh beer in the Monte Carlo, we shrugged and moved on. (BTW — turns out the guy we had talked to was Hangar 24′s owner and brewmaster, Ben Cook.)

Fast forward to a month or so ago and the arrival of one of our semi-regulars at the Lost Abbey tasting room. He comes down to San Diego once a month or so from his home in San Bernardino and this particular time he happened to be wearing a Hangar 24 t-shirt.

“Hey, that’s the place that got the brewing equipment from the Monte Carlo,” I said. “How’s the beer?”

“Not bad,” he said. “You ought to go there sometime.”

“Next time I’m in Redlands,” I said.

Redlands is 70-odd miles north of us just off of Interstate 10 at the foot of the San Bernardino mountains. There’s not much out there save the brown haze that blows in from Los Angeles and a lot of orange groves, so I’d never actually been there, nor had I any plans on going.

A couple of days later Beer Molly and I wandered into our favorite beer bar to discover two Hangar 24 beers — the Orange Wheat and a porter — on tap. I ordered the Orange Wheat and Molly the porter. Turns out the beers weren’t merely “not bad”, they were actually pretty good. That’s saying a lot because I’m a fan of big-assed double IPAs, not lightweight lagers, and Molly is hyper-critical of just about any porter or stout.

Those two pints (and a third for Molly) settled it. We were going to Redlands and Hangar 24.

Conveniently, Hangar 24 has good weekend tasting room hours, so Molly, Adam and I loaded into the car on a Sunday afternoon and rolled out to the brewery. It turned out not to be difficult to find. Pretty much take the I10 to Redlands Blvd., turn towards the mountains and drive until the road ends. Hang a right, and bang — there it is right across the street from the hangars at Redlands Municipal Airport.

The brewery sits in a converted warehouse once used by missionaries. It has an open, airy feel thanks to the big bay opening and large windows that span the length of one wall. When we arrived around 2 pm there were a dozen or so folks standing about talking quietly and sipping beers from small plastic cups. A young lady filled growlers and tasters from taps along the cold box wall which afforded those awaiting their beer a nice view of the brewhouse and its rows of copper kettles relocated from the Monte Carlo.

Most of the Hangar 24 staples were on tap — a Helles, the Orange Wheat, alt, pale ale and IPA. Sadly, the one beer Molly had come to try — the porter — wasn’t, but given that she was a little dazed from the heat (and perhaps a couple of glasses of Adam’s spicy Bloody Marys), she didn’t seem too disappointed. I found all of them to be good beers, a little on the lighter side, which made them excellent for the brewery’s dry, warm, sub-desert location. Ultimately I liked the alt beer the best and had a couple extra tasters of that one, while Adam, ever the hop-hound, settled with the IPA.

Hangar 24's Really Cool Growlers

We also sampled some of his Imperial Blood Orange Wheat straight off the fermenter. (Excellent — a light, citrusy flavor that belies its 8% ABV.)

Before we left gave Ben and crew some Lost Abbey beers and gear and they gifted us some t-shirts and a couple growlers of IPA and alt beer. (Hangar 24 growlers are very cool, btw.) Oh, and Ben promised that he’d send Molly some porter when it was ready. All-in-all a great trip; One that gave me a new appreciation for flavorful lagers and ales that don’t wander into the 10% range. We’re looking forward to going back there sometime in the near future.

Hangar 24 photo gallery:
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Economic stimulus in the making

It takes a particular type of personality to start with nothing more than an idea and risk it all to try to turn it into a profitable business. (It also requires an affinity for the adrenaline rush that comes with knowing that the whole thing could blow up in your face at any time.) I also think it’s this sort of independent-minded, risk-taking attitude that makes the U.S. economy the most vibrant in the world.

Forget Obama, Congress and the rest of the government yahoos who never created anything themselves. You want the economy to recover? Go to your favorite pub, liquor store, brewery, or whatever and buy a couple of pints of craft brew. Your $10 in support of your favorite small brewer will go a lot further toward righting the economy than any idiotic “stimulus package” bureaucrats can dream up.

Here’s the Wall Street Journal article: In Lean Times, a Stout Dream.

(PS: Oh, and hey, if you’re interested in GPGPU acceleration of cloud computing, my new start-up is looking for about $1.5 million of seed capital to get things rolling. Call me.)

Mike taking a little time to catch up on his reading

His wife assured me that he usually does that elsewhere, but the “library” might have been occupied at the time.

And yes, those are de proef kegs. And no, they’re not going to be on tap. They had Signature Ale in them at one point, but these guys have all been cleaned and are getting palleted to make the trip back to Belgium.

Matt Dolman

A resident of Northern San Diego County and a frequent fixture at Stone Brewing Co., we often see Matt as he drops by The Lost Abbey for a quick pint when he’s on a “Home Depot run.” (Check him out at the end of The Lost Abbey’s GABF video to find out what that means.) Omnivorous when it comes to beer styles, you’re as likely to find him drinking a local double IPA as you are a rare Belgian Dubbel.

Matt fills our Foreign Correspondent slot because he likes to travel and drink. You’ll note that he’s very fond of pictures of himself.

You can email Matt at “matt (at) mybeerpix.com.

Damian and Lona Mongomery

Damian and Lona Montgomery, East Coast Bureau Chiefs
Husband and wife team Damian and Lona are our newest contributors to the blog.

Up until a couple of weeks ago they used to live here in San Diego County. Damian worked at The Lost Abbey where he came to fame on the cover of Celebrator magazine as the well-dressed guy in the middle (leading many people to ask “Tomme Arthur is black?”). Lona is a powerful up and comer at Geico Insurance where she works with cavemen and lizards.

Lona recently received a promotion from the Big Lizard himself and the couple has relocated to Fredericksburg, Maryland where they now act as our official East Coast Bureau chiefs covering all the beer from Florida to Nova Scotia.

You’ll find their posts listed under “McNairs”. (If you want to know why, ask them. It’s a good story.)

They can be contacted at: damian-lona (at) mybeerpix.com

Adam Tillotson

Located here in San Diego, by virtue of his job as an HVAC contractor (feel free to ask him about air conditioning) he gets to travel all over the county on jobs. Conveniently nearly all of these jobs are located near breweries/brewpubs/bars, so Adam often pops in to give us a visual update of what’s on tap in the region (and beyond when he travels).

For a guy that’s well over 6 feet tall, many find Adam’s fondness for tiny things (hats, glasses, dogs, etc.) interesting. But beer isn’t one of them. For him, the bigger the better. You’ll find him gravitating to beers like double IPAs and imperial stouts as well as a lot of barrel-aged rarities.

You can email Adam at: adam (at) mybeerpix.com

(Ladies: Adam is single, earns a six figure salary and has a yacht.)

Trinity Brewing – Awaken Stout

Trinity Brewing – Flo IPA

Our next stop was Phantom Canyon Brewing Co.

At Phantom Canyon I chose the beer sampler of the eight beers they had on tap. My brother chose a pint of Railyard Ale. After the Trinity beers Phantom.

Our next stop was Judge Baldwin’s Brewing Co. We each chose a beer sampler of their five beers on tap. Champion Wheat, Rasberry Wheat, Winter Bock, Belgian Oud Bruin and Wellington Pale Ale.

If you have not heard of Judge Baldwin’s, there is a good reason. The beer is not good.

I asked our server, Barb, which beer was the most popular. Her response was that they all were the same. I took that as they really do not sell much beer. The best part about this brewpub is the free nuts.

We left without finishing our beers.

Bristol Brewing Co.

Our next stop was Bristol Brewing Co. Once again I chose to sample each of their six regular tap beers plus the four special beers, my brother chose a pint of Red Rocket Ale.

All were good.

Arctic Craft Brewery

Stop number five was Arctic Craft Brewery. I was familiar with the beers having first tasted them while stumbling around at the 2007 GABF with Beer Molly and Beer Sage. Though they were not yet open to the public for the day, John Dunfee, the only man there at the time, was more than accommodating. He gave us a few taster glasses and allowed my brother to play bartender while he worked, taking time once in a while to talk about his beers.

When the On On Ale and the Sour taps proved empty, John, opened us a can or On On and syphoned some sour ale from one of his wood casks. Though not all my favorite beer types, there was not a bad beer in the selection. We ended up taking home 2 growlers; one of Milk Stout and one of Raspberry Wheat. We polished those off when we got home.

Rock Bottom Brewery

We still had a few minutes to kill before had to pick-up my sister from shopping all day, so we stopped at Rock Bottom Brewery.

To be truthful I cannot remember the name of the beers we ordered, though my brother ordered the amber ale and I ordered the stout. It was good, but did not compare to the Arctic’s Milk Stout.

Patron Sinners and Saints Party at The Lost Abbey

I just posted a photo slideshow from last Saturday’s (October 18) Patron Sinners and Saints party over at The Lost Abbey website.

The atmosphere was cool — the brewery lit only by candles and strategic lighting under the barrels and it was great to see so many Sinners and Saints together for the first time. (I’m also thinking the brewery is drawing a lot of very attractive women these days.)

My only regrets from the evening were the premature death of my camera battery (too much flash photography), and the fact that we couldn’t get the DVD player on the big screen working so we were forced to watch the Lost Abbey video in low res from YouTube.

Otherwise, the combination of people, Vince’s food, great beer, and the live performance by Dead Feather Moon (who wrote the song in the video), made for an outstanding evening.

» Click here to see the photo slideshow

To can find other breweries’ submissions by searching the term Beer Lovers and Brewers Love GABF at YouTube.