Neighborhood San Diego

The ONLY thing I don’t like about Neighborhood in down town San Diego, is that it is too popular.  I’m the type of guy that walks down the street, sees a crowded bar and thinks “Yuck…people”.  I like the abandoned bars, with great atmosphere, good beer, and a few well mannered people with great life experience.  Don’t get me wrong, I like people one at a time, but I get uncomfortable in large a group, that’s why I like drinking at 2 in the afternoon.

Any who…Neighborhood has been an important part of San Diego's East Village for the last five years.   They have a great beer selection, excellent food, an attractive staff, and a big secret in the back behind the Keg Wall.  In the last few months I’ve been there four times. It’s a good place to go with family, friends and even colleagues. 

Food Recommendations:

The burgers are fantastic, but if you are looking for ketchup for your burger, head down the street, they have unique sauces that will definitely satisfy.  However, the one item I always get there are the Chorizo Corn Dogs.

Drink Recommendations:

They always have Pliney the Elder, so end your night with one of these if you aren’t driving home.  Every Thursday they have a cask beer on tap.  When I went last week it was Stone Vertical Epic 12.12.12 and was excellent (AND is the last release in the Vertical Epic Series!!!!).  I also had a Stone Double Bastard last week and was reminded how smooth the double was compared to the original Arrogant Bastard, or the Oaked Bastard.  The DB’s flavor has the beginnings of a Barley Wine…yum.  You will find something new everytime you go, so go often.

If you are into liquor, there are two really cool things to know about Neighborhood. First, they have a great Whisky selection, and you can get flights in the main bar.  Second, take a look at The Noble Experiment, reserve a spot and take a trip behind the Keg wall into a room wallpapered with bronze skulls.  Tell the bartender what your liquor of choice is and let them make you something awesome.

Happy Holidays and Good Drinking!

The League of Extraordinary Beers

 

 

Two months ago, seven of my friends and I met at Mission Brewery  in downtown San Diego for the first session of the League of Extraordinary Beers (LXB).  Here is how it’s run; a group of beer enthusiasts meet every two months, and each member chooses a beer to submit to the group and purchases enough of that beer to share with the rest of the members at the meeting.  So if there are six members, you bring six of your favorite beers, give out five of them, and you get a beer from the other five members to take home with you.  Over the next two months, you drink and rate those beers.  We decided to keep it simple, so we rank the beers by personal preference from 1 to 8 (or however many beers there are).  Ratings are submitted to the league administrator to tally up.  The beer with the lowest total score wins, the beer with the highest score loses.  The winner gets to choose the location of the next meeting and the theme of beers that will be swapped.  The loser has to buy a round at the next meeting.  This concept is evolving to potentially include a “Stanley Cup” trophy that is handed over every two months. And we are working on a good way to buddy up and share larger volume beers so we don’t have to purchase a 22oz beer for every member of the group.

Below is a list of the beers that were submitted in the first meeting and how they stacked up.  I came in the top 3, not bad, and I have to admit the first place winner has been one of my favorites for a long time.

1st place - StoneSublimely Self-Righteous - 16 points (Jeremy)

 2nd place - Green Flash Double Stout - 20 points (Yun)

 3rd place - Green Flash Hop Head Read - 23 points (Greg)

 4th place - Ballast Point Sculpin IPA - 29 points (Shaun)

 5th place - Dogfish Head My Antonia - 30 points (Dawley)

 6th place - Coronado Idiot IPA - 38 points (Dan)

 7th place - Spaten Oktoberfest - 44 points (Vu)

8th place - BuffaloBill Pumpkin Ale - 53 points (Jin)

                   

Our second meeting was a few weeks ago at the Regal Beagle in San Diego.  The theme chosen by last month’s winner Jeremy was “Nor Cal” beers, and the quality has been kicked up a notch this time around.  No beer submitted can be criticized as harshly as we hammered Buffalo Bill Pumpkin Ale last month.  Below is a list of the beers submitted. How do you think they are going to stack up when the votes are cast?

Red Rocket Ale - BearRepublic - Jin

Double Barrell Ale -Firestone - Dan

 Wookie Jack Black IPA - Firestone - Vu

San Quentin'sBreakout Stout - Marin Brewing Co. – Jeremy

 Old Stock Ale - North Coast - Yun

 John Barley Corn Barleywine Ale - Mad River - Greg

 Old Rasputin Imperial Stout - North Coast - Shaun

Anchor Christmas -Anchor Brewing - Ryan

 Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ Ale - Lagunitas Brewing Co. – Brent

I’ve already downed 6 of these and was pleasantly surprised by a few of them, and extremely disappointed by one…I’ll let you know after the voting is done. 

If you live in SD and want to be a part of the LXB, please let me know.  If you don’t live in SD, I encourage you to begin a group like this in your home town.   I’ve learned a lot about beer just from the first two meetings.  It also never hurts to have an excuse to grab a beer with friends on a weekday night…not that we need one.

Good Drinkin!

Widmer Brothers Barrell Aged Brrrbon '11

Quick shout out to this beer I drank the other day. It's so good I gargled it in front of my disapproving wife.  Strong Ale type flavor, with a bunch of bourbony goodness. I'm a bourbon and scotch drinker and this is one of the best beers I've had in awhile.  Drink one soon. Check out Beer Advocates rating or the Widmer Brothers website.

Beer - There's An App For That

Have you ever had a craving for on specific beer but don't know where that it is being served?  Or have you ever been at a restaraunt, not recognized the odd beers on the menu and wanted to know more about what you are getting yourself into?  Or are you looking for something new - a beer that you haven't tried before?  With all the huge flavors being created by craft breweries these days, the world of beer drinking can often be a frightening and intimidating place.  Fear no more, there are mobile apps and websites galore that can help you navigate through the vast and tasty ocean of incredible, and sometimes horrible ales, lagers, bitters, and brews.

Tap Hunter - "Helping you find awesome beer at local bars, bottle shops and tasting rooms"

Tap Hunter allows you to search your city by bar, or by beer. So if I'm looking for a place that is serving Pliny the Elder, I can search all my local bars. Or, if I'm in an unfamiliar city, I can bring up a list of bars that will have a solid choice of beers on tap. Created a few years ago by my neighbor, Flash Gordon (not kidding), Tap Hunter has expanded its coverage from San Diego to Austin, Chicago, Denver, LA, Orange County, Portland Oregon, Philly, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver.  I travel a ton, and Tap Hunter covers all the major cities that I go to.  They will also give you a heads up on any events coming to town, like the "Great American Beer Festival" happening in Denver next week.  If it isn't in your town yet, bug your local beer bars to reach out to Tap Hunter.  To my friends in Leesburg, VA, sorry to add to the bad news after the Nats took a dump last night, but I don't think Tap Hunter is coming to your town anytime soon. It's FREE too.

Beeradvocate - "Respect Beer"

These guys have done their homework and pretty much put my critiques to shame.  If you're looking for something new to try, or sitting at a bar considering going off book, take a quick look at these reviews. They are pretty spot on.  While a good review from Beeradvocate certainly won't gaurantee that you will like a beer, it's better than shooting from the hip.  For example, Dogfish Head My Antonia was a beer presented to me at my beer swap group, The League of Extraordinary Beers.  It's rated really high, and I am sure it's a quality beer.  Dogfish Head has some of my favorites, but My Antonia is not my cup o' tea.

Today's Beer

Think daily pinup, but with beer instead of ladies. I'm still trying to figure out the practical use of this app, but the presentation is wonderful.  Each day, there is a different beer that you can ogle in a bottle, or as a draft.  The 3D tool alows you to rotate around the image and see it from all sides - hubba hubba.  BONUS, you can also look at yesterday's beer!  It's a fun app, and if you have trouble setting goals for yourself, you can use this app to decide what beer you are going to drink today.

I hope you feel a little less overwhelmed after reading this and if you have other apps or websites you want to suggest, let me know.

Stone 16th Anniversary Celebration Sample-A-Thon

3 Years ago, the Stone 13th AnniversaryCelebration was a big exclamation point at the end of the best two and half weeks of my life. Those two and half weeks started with me getting married, included a 10 day honeymoon to Tahiti, and finished at Cal State San Marcos rushing to use both my own and my wife’s drink tabs as fast as possible (She doesn’t drink beer, but she does enjoy a Lambic, Pear Cider, or a Lost Abbey Angel’s Share from time to time).  Back then I probably recognized 5 or 6 of the 50 plus brewers in attendance, and that’s if you include Stone.  Unfortunately I was unable to attend the 14^th and 15^th anniversary celebrations because of grad school classes on most weekends (yawn).  This year though, I realized how much I’ve grown, and that all that beer drinking since 2009 has really paid off. I recognized over half of the brewers there, including Green Flash, Pizza Port, Societe, Lagunitas, Monkey Paw, Mission Brewery, Ballast Point, Victory, Avery and so many more.  Back in 2009, I made the mistake of sticking to what I knew, this year I tried as many new beers as I could, some rare, some not so rare.  I recorded my reactions to each throughout the day -- they began fairly benign and uninteresting (my comments, not the beer), but as the day went on, and with some chiming in from my friends, the comments got more interesting. 

Black Market Brewing, 80’s Scottish Export. 5% alc, 24 ibu (not too bitter when compared to other West Coast favorites)

My Comment: “It’s Good.”

Victory Pale, yes, I’ve never had this one from Victory. 5.1% 

My Comment: “It’s Good.”

Haven, upRYEsing, one of the first ones, one of my favorites of the day, a rye IPA. It’s a gastropub in Orange and Pasadena.  I didn’t realize it while I was there, but my boss took me there in Orange a few months ago, good eats too.  It has hops and flavor close to a traditional IPA, but I thought it had less of a kick to it.

My Comment: “It’s Good, hey, look at that guy over there, he is so tan he’s maroon.”

Artisanal Imports out of Austin Texas– I don’t remember what I had, but I liked it so much I took a picture…try them all, if one of them is good, that’s the one I had. Let me know when you find out.

Stone, Oaked Russian stout. I like the original a lot and I like this one even more.  I really like oakiness and/or smokiness in my alcoholic beverage. I feel like it smoothes out the flavor and lowers acidic qualities.  I don’t think this is going to be a regular offering from Stone, sorry everyone.

My Comment: “You can taste the oak, you can taste the stout, and you can even taste the Russian a bit.  Yummy.”

Stone, Levitation Habanera -- good to try, not overpowering but definitely has a back of the palate habanera taste. I’ve had a Mission shipwrecked habanera that was really powerful with the habanera taste.  Levitation is one of my top 5 from stone, and I’ll probably stick to the non habanera one, but I’m glad I had a chance to taste this one.

Stone, Highway 78 stone scotch ale, a collaboration between Stone, Green Flash, and Pizza Port.  I really like Scotch Ales and this one was so good.  Not as carbonated as some Scotch Ales, but excellent flavor.

My friend Shaun says “SO GOOD!” I say it’s excellent. Plus, I got to skip the line on this one.

21^st Amendment, Back in Black triad ipa, 6.8% alc, 65 ibu’s (now we are talking), and in cans, this was a tastey beer.

My Comment:  “Drinking beer out of cans takes me back to elementary school, tastes good and nostalgic”.

 

Manzanitas, second anniversary, not to be confused with its first anniversary, good flavor.

My Comment: “Is that a double rainbow?  What does it mean?”  (At this point the heat and the alcohol started taking their effect.  I was very happy to have a sober driver with me, thanks sweetheart!).

Monkey Paw, Pale Ale, couldn’t taste at the end of the day, If you frequent downtown and like low dousche, bars with high beer quality, check this place out, it’s outside of the Gaslamp, in a sketchier part of town, but right across from the police station.  If you are a good guy that should make you feel good, if you are a bad guy, stick to Star Bar.  Just kidding, I love you Star Bar.

Yun’s Comments: “It’s hoppy, and it’s got flavor.”

I think we grabbed another beer at this point, and Shaun enlisted two young ladies to grab us a few more.  I neglected to take notice or notes regarding any of the beers, and by this point my palate was toast.

If you missed it this year, too bad, you have to wait another year. But the good news is there are a lot more beer festivals coming up including the 18^th San Diego Beer Festival coming up in September.  It’s not about getting drunk, it’s not about big stupid hats, it’s about the beer.  See you there!

Beer to Order - Craft Beer Connect

Where do you go when you want to drink a good beer?  Answer: a bar.  Where do you go when you want to drink a crappy beer? Answer: a bar.  Craftbeerconnect.com has given us a different option, and made sure that we avoid the crappy beers.  They have taken the "X" of the month club and
introduced craft beer to the concept.  My only complaint about it, is that living in so cal, I already have access to most of the beers available in their various packages.  So rather than wait each month for a shipment, I can walk up the street to super junior and buy the beers Im craving
or find a new beer to taste .  However, if you live in the frozen tundra|boiling arid hell of the midwest, the east coast, or cincinati, this is a great way to find good, innaccessable beer made from happy folk living in the warm sunshine of southern california and parts nearby.

http://CraftBeerConnect.com
Startup hopes to be Netflix of craft beer

By ANDREW KEATTS, The Daily Transcript
Wednesday, July 18, 2012


Another company is looking to capitalize on San Diego’s growing craft beer industry.

The newest endeavor, CraftBeerConnect.com, is looking to bring the award-winning beer from the county’s many microbreweries to the rest of the country.

It’s combining the long-established concepts of beer-and wine-of-the-month clubs with Netflix to create a beer-on-demand distribution system for Southern California beer.

It’s the product of three local craft beer fans who wanted to enter the craft beer arena, but figured they could do so more cheaply this way than by starting another brewery.

“There’s also a bit of saturation in the market; we were looking for an alternate angle and this looks to fit us better anyway,” said partner Ted Kelly, who’s also a full-time equity trader at First Allied Securities downtown.

The company joins other peripheral local craft beer companies including a craft-beer finder mobile app, brewery bus tour providers, a monthly publication, beer-pairing dinner planners and companies that make beer bones for dogs and cupcakes with local beer.

“Craft beer is such a regional thing, and obviously small companies don’t have a lot of reach,” Kelly said. “I and two others from the East Coast knew it was hard to get beers from small places and how popular San Diego beers are, but how hard it is in other parts of the country to get them.”

Beer and the Wheel 'O' Cheese!

A little change of pace this week. My wife and I live near a great little cheese place in downtown San Diego, Venissimo, and up until a few months ago, like good yuppies, we would have some wine with the cheese we bought from Venissimo.  I recently discovered the benefits of having the right beer with the right cheese.  So far it's hit and miss, and I have no idea what goes with what, but recently at Counterpoint, a little place that prides itself on food and beer, I got lucky and had a crisp belgian beer that really brought the flavor out of a mild blue cheese.

So...without further ado...for your education and my own...I present...

THE WHEEL 'O' CHEESE (Sold to me by the fine folk at Venissomo)

So I encourage you to dump out that wine and pick up a beer and start matching.   Why not go grab a Kraft Single and cram it down with a bottle of ...crap...I don't see american cheese on the wheel.  Oh well, good thing beer goes down perfectly well on its own.