O’Brien’s Pub – Bears, Bolts and Strong Ale!
San Diego Beer Week was a huge success all over town. Thank you to the many people who showed up and made our events so much fun and to all of the brewers who made a special trip to come by the pub.
The food was great and there was way too much beer (really?) but I am glad that things are back to normal now and we can resume our regular events that make it beer week every single day at the pub.
During this holiday-shortened week we will host the last brewery night that didn’t quite fit into San Diego Beer Week – a night of Bear Republic hoppy beers on Wednesday the 24th. Look for a Movember fundraiser on Tuesday, November 30th. I am also getting ready for the San Diego Strong Ale Festival at Pizza Port Carlsbad on December 3rd and 4th. And our annual weekend of Belgian Christmas ales is happening Friday, December 10th thru Sunday, December 12th. So read on for all of the details…
This Week
Tonight, the Chargers play the Broncos at 5:30 pm for Monday Night Football. It is still a bitter pill that this game is just a battle for third place in the AFC West, but third is better than last. We will have our fantastic pitcher special from 4:30 until closing time – pitchers of craft and local beers for just $10, and strong/rare ale pitchers just $14. There is no better deal on great beer during Monday night games. Look for Fish Tacos and Fish and Chips on special from the kitchen all day Monday.
We get the other kind of football on Tuesday and Wednesday at lunch in the form of the UEFA Champions League. We’ll have at least 7 live matches each day at 11:45 am that will feature some of Europe’s best teams: Manchester United, Chelsea, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Bayern Munich and many more. The US Women’s team is one win away from reaching the Women’s World Cup next year. However, the team’s do or die game against Italy on the 27th will stupidly not be on TV. Locally the San Diego Sockers have started their season playing at the Del Mar Arena at the Fairgrounds –www.sdsockers.com. Check out the U.S. Soccer website where O’Brien’s is the Soccer Bar of the Month for November: http://www.ussoccer.com/Community/Official-Bar-Program-2.aspx. And next week we will open early on the 2nd to find out if the USA will host the 2022 World Cup.
Wednesday is the new Friday this week. We will celebrate the short week with a Bear Republic night featuring two beers we have never had on tap before: Mach 10 double IPA and Endeavor IPA. We’ll also have the staple Racer 5 IPA and a keg of Hop Rod Rye on tap. The Mach 10 is an 8.7% aggressively hopped double IPA and Endeavor is a 6.8% English-inspired IPA. And since there will be no cask on Thanksgiving, we will be tapping a 5 gallon cask of Ballast Point Dorado Double IPA at 5 pm. Look for some new bottles on the list. We’ll have several new Redstone Meads including the holiday Vanilla Bean and Cinnamon Stick. And to get you ready for Thanksgiving dinner, Lindsey will have beer gravy for sale to go in mason jars. She is making two types of gravy – one with Guinness and one with Rodenbach. Both are amazing with a wide variety of meats and sides. Quantities will be limited – look for them to be available in the late afternoon.
Thursday the 25th and Friday the 26th the pub will be CLOSED for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Beer goes great with Turkey and left overs so make sure to pick up some local beer for your family feast. If you need to get out of the house, please visit one of the other great pubs or breweries around town. Find a complete listing of local breweries and great pubs at the San Diego Brewers Guild website: www.sandiegobrewersguild.org.
The pub will be open normal hours on Saturday the 27th from 11:30 am until Midnight. Sunday the 28th the pub will stay open late for the Chargers Sunday night game against the Colts at 5:30 pm. The pub will open at 11:30 am and stay open until after the game, around 9 or 9:30 pm. The kitchen will be open until halftime of the Charger’s game.
Whenever you stop in this week, be sure to check out our new merchandise. We restocked some winter items like beanies, sweatshirts and long sleeve shirts. We also have new Dickies Work Shirts in black and new O’Brien’s Polo Shirts (if you see Tyson on the golf course, he’ll be wearing one). I have to apologize to all of the ladies out there – all of our new women’s wear items were missing the O’Brien’s logo on the back and the items are in the process of being reprinted. Look for new items in the next week or so.
Next Week
Tuesday the 30th we will host a fundraising night for Movember. For those unfamiliar, Movember is a movement started in Australia in 2003 to help raise awareness of prostate cancer. Participants grow a moustache during the entire month and help solicit donations that are then passed onto cancer charities including Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Foundation. Prostate cancer is the number one cancer that affects men. Movember is being celebrated by several pub patrons and to show our support we are going to tap a keg of Ballast Point Sculpin and donate $1 from every glass to the Movember cause. So join us for a great beer for a great cause. For more information on Movember and its mission or to donate online, visit: http://us.movember.com/.
Our annual pre-party for the San Diego Strong Ale Festival will be on Thursday, December 2nd. I have two great cask beers lined up for the night, AleSmith YuleSmith and Alpine Bad Boy IPA. Both will tap at 5 pm. We’ll also have some great strong ales on tap including a keg of Sam Adams New World Tripel, which is a Belgian-style Tripel aged in Bourbon barrels. I have saved back a few kegs from Beer Week that will be coming back on tap for the pre-party. It will be a great night of strong beer before I spend all weekend drinking strong beer.
We are also going to be opening up early at 8 am on Thursday the 2nd for the World Cup announcement from FIFA. Starting at 8 am we will find out who gets the rights to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. We will open at 8 am with coffee, OJ, Mimosas, beer (of course) and some warming soup as we wait to find out if the USA will host the World Cup in 2022. If the USA gets the rights to 2022, there is a good chance that San Diego will be one of the host cities. Please stop by and support the USA World Cup bid. If we win the 2022 bid, expect the champagne corks to be popping (and not just because Lindsey is there).
Strong Ale Fest
The 14th San Diego Strong Ale Festival will be at Pizza Port Carlsbad on December 3rd and 4th. The festival will feature only beers over 8% alcohol. There will be double IPAs, Imperial Stouts, barleywines, Imperial Reds, Belgian-style ales and much more on tap over the two days. I expect there to be around 70 beers at this year’s festival and the beer list will be identical both days. The festival will run from 4 pm to 11 pm on Friday and 11 am to 11 pm on Saturday. Admission is $30 and tickets will be available at the door. Admission includes a festival tasting glass and 8 taster tickets each good for a 4 ounce pour. Additional taster tickets are just $1 each. The Coaster train is a great way to get up there Saturday day (get there by 11 am and leave around 4:30 pm) or if you are planning on spending Friday night at a local hotel (trains run out of downtown until 7 pm with 4 return trains on Saturday). The VIP session from 1-4 pm on Friday is almost 100% sold out. Last count I saw there were only 25 tickets left. Those can be bought through www.pizzaport.com.
Looking Ahead
The Chargers play the Raiders on Sunday, December 5th at 1:05 pm. Still not sure if this game will be on TV, but my guess is that the Raider fans in LA will push it over the top and we will get to watch it at the pub. The next two home games are a bit trickier – Kansas City and San Francisco. If we are 7-5 before those games then I feel good about our chances of showing them. If our record is anything else, we could be listening on the radio.
We will have a weekend of Belgian Christmas Ales starting Friday, December 10th and running through Sunday, December 12th. We will have lots of great beer on tap including kegs of St. Bernardus Christmas, Affligem Noel, Gouden Carolous Noel, Delirium Noel, St. Feuilllien Noel, Dupont Avec les Bon Voeux and Scaldis Noel. We’ll have lots of great bottles too of beers that we can’t get on draft. Look for some great food specials from the kitchen.
If you missed the Halloween party, or you can’t quite remember it clearly, Tyson has posted up some great photos on the Facebook page – www.facebook.com/obrienspubsd. There are also some great shots from SD Beer Week. Also in cyberspace, Brewery Rowe, the beer blog from local beer write Peter Rowe has a new web address: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/night-and-day/brewery-rowe/.
That is your good beer news for now. We’ll see you soon for a great beer. Cheers, Tom
Tom Nickel
O’Brien’s Pub
20 Taps – Tons of Hops
Official U.S. Soccer Bar
4646 Convoy Street
www.obrienspub.net
