Blind Pig, Avery and Real Ale Fest!
Hello Beer Fans!
This week we have two blockbuster events planned. First is our annual Real Ale Festival Pre-Party tonight – Thursday the 12th. We are kicking it off right with the release of Blind Pig IPA on tap. And I am not talking just one keg. I mean, this is it, for real, we now have Blind Pig IPA available.
Granted, you folks will likely drink it faster than Vinnie can send it down here, but we should be able to get several kegs a week from now on. I have 4 kegs stashed away for tonight and this weekend, but I have no idea how long it will last. We will also be tapping a cask of Green Flash’s Imperial IPA at 5 pm – the same time that the Blind Pig will go on tap. I can also assure you that there will be some fantastic food specials for tonight as well.
The second event is Friday the 13th – Avery Night. We will have a great selection of beers from this Colorado brewery including Collaboration, Salvation, 15th Anniversary, IPA and Karma. This is our first chance to taste the new 15th Anniversary which I have heard great things about. On Saturday we will feature some vintage bottle specials from Thomas Hardy’s and Samichlaus!
Please not that on Sunday, June 15th we will be CLOSED, as we are every year, for Father Day’s. Please enjoy the day with family.
New on tap at the pub this week we have Left Coast Hop Juice Double IPA and North Coast Old Rasputin Imperial Stout. We also still have all of the Dupont beers from our Friday night promo. We had two kegs of most of the beers, but we are nearing the end of the keg on a few of them. As of last night, we had Saison Dupont, Avec les bon Voeux, Biere de Miel (honey), Foret Organic Saison and Moinette Blond and Brune. Malheur 12 is back in the 750 ml bottles. I am going to update the bottle lists tonight as well, so there should be a few new ones popping up.
This weekend is the San Diego Real Ale Festival at Pizza Port Carlsbad. The festival will run from 4-11 pm Friday the 13th (late night Coaster runs until about 9:30 pm) and from 11 am to 11 pm on Saturday the 14th (again, late night Coaster, but only until about 7:30 pm). The festival is $25 and will feature more than 45 cask conditioned beers. This is the best line up of cask beers that we have had in years. There are casks from Washington (Elysian, Big Time, Pike), Oregon (Rogue, Deschutes), Nevada (Big Dog, White Pine), Arizona (Papago, Four Peaks) and Colorado (Avery). We have tons of great local and California beers as well including Hollister, Craftsman, Firestone, Marin, Moylan’s, Speakeasy, Lagunitas and many more. Nearly every local brewery will be represented. We have two casks of many of the beers and back up casks to tap when others are gone, so there should be nearly identical tap lists both days. Don’t miss this great festival and its truly great line up of cask ale. And I wouldn’t worry too much about traffic on Saturday – The US Open starts at 8 am and the Fair starts at 10 am, so as long as you are not driving up to Carlsbad for breakfast, you should miss most of the morning rush. That said, I still think that the Coaster is a bargain – especially with gas prices – and a much safer way to get up to the fest.
The European Championship has started and our TV schedule is now on the Soccer page. We will be taping all of the 9:00 am games during the tournament so that we can show them while we are open. All of the other games start at 11:45 am. The tournament will have two games a day, every day from the 7th until the 22nd I believe. The final will be on the 29th at 11:30 am. You can sign up for our soccer-specific email list at the pub, or by shooting me an email.
Next week you can look forward to a cask of Wipeout IPA form Pizza Port Carlsbad on Thursday the 19th and New Belgium Night on Friday on the 20th with kegs of Eric’s Ale and La Folie on tap. We will also have some new Imperial Pint glassware from New Belgium. And don’t forget that next weekend is the San Diego County Fair Craft Beer Festival – Saturday, June 21st from Noon to 8 pm with more than 200 different beers!
Further ahead, we will be hosting David Myers from Redstone Meadery on Tuesday, June 24th. We will have several Redstone bottles along with both the Sunshine Nectar and Black Raspberry Nectar on tap! And we will have some great draft blends with the meads and other beers on tap that David has set up. David is a great guy and loves to talk about mead. So if you have any questions, this is the guy to ask. He’ll be around the pub from about 6 pm to 9 pm. And he always brings goodies to taste and raffle off. Looking ahead to next month, I am working with Peter Zien of AleSmith to host a night of Vintage and Barrel Aged AleSmith Beers.
Hope to see you up at the Real Ale Festival this weekend! Cheers, Tom
Tom Nickel
O’Brien’s Pub
20 Taps – Tons of Hops
4646 Convoy Street
www.obrienspub.net
