Congrats San Diego – 21 Medals at World Beer Cup!

Hello Lucky San Diego Beer Fans!

We are very fortunate to be a part of such a wonderful and vibrant beer scene here in San Diego.  Our local brewers brought home 21 medals from the World Beer Cup in Chicago and Ballast Point won three gold medals and was named Small Brewing Company of the Year.  San Diego has had a strangle hold on the Small Brewing Company award, winning it 3 out of the four times it has been given out at the World Beer Cup (Ballast Point in 2010, Tomme Arthur with Lost Abbey in 2008 and yours truly in 2004 with Oggi’s Pizza and Brewing).

The World Beer Cup is an international competition held every other year.  This year, 642 breweries from 44 countries (and 47 different US states) entered 3310 beers, making it the largest commercial beer competition ever.  There were 90 categories and roughly 265 medals given – of which 21 went straight to San Diego county.  Just across the northern border, San Clemente picked up a further two medals, a gold for Pier Rat Porter for Pizza Port San Clemente and gold for Black Magic Stout from Oggi’s.

The San Diego medal haul included 4 for Pizza Port Carlsbad, and 3 each for Alpine and Rock Bottom La Jolla.  The collaborative Alpine O’Brien’s IPA won a gold medal in the American Strong Pale category and the super delicious Duet took a bronze for American IPA.  Ballast Point’s 3 gold medals were for Fathom IPL (India Pale Lager – look for it this summer), Bourbon Barrel Piper Down Scottish Ale and of course Sculpin IPA.  Port Brewing took a silver medal for its Hot Rocks Lager, made with red hot rocks dipped into the beer.  It is on tap right now at the pub.  And we will have bottles of the silver medal Lost Abbey Red Poppy Flanders Red this weekend on Saturday the 17th.  Karl Strauss also won a gold medal for its Red Trolley Ale.  Rounding out the list of award winning breweries was Green Flash, Breakwater, Pizza Port Solana Beach and AleSmith which won medals for Wee Heavy and 2009 Decadence, which is a weizenbock.  The complete winner’s list can be found at www.worldbeercup.org.  Congratulations to all of the medal winners!

On Tap This Week

This week is jammed pack with great beer.  We start Monday the 19th with our weekly pitcher night – $10 craft and local pitchers and just $14 for strong/rare ales all night from 4:30 pm until close.  Tuesday the 20th with tap our final keg of Pliny the Younger at 4:20 pm.  I don’t expect it to last long so don’t show up late if you want some.  If you want to avoid the Younger crowd, just show up after 6 pm.  Wednesday the 21st we will tap a 5 gallon cask of the very hoppy Slap and Tickle Pale Ale from Pizza Port Carlsbad at 6 pm.

Thursday the 22nd we celebrate Earth Day by celebrating two of Ballast Point’s award winning beers.  We will tap a cask of Piper Down Scottish Ale aged with oak chips soaked in Ballast Point Bourbon and a draft keg of Sculpin IPA both on tap at 5 pm.  The medal winning version of the Piper Down was aged in a Bourbon barrel, but for right now, this is as close as we can get.  We will have dinner specials on both Wednesday and Thursday next too.  Look for another keg of Sculpin IPA to be tapped at 6 pm on Saturday the 24th.

Friday the 23rd we will have our first draft night with Mikkeller brewery from Denmark.  Scandanavia has a small but thriving craft beer scene that is constantly pushing boundaries.  On tap we will have Santa’s Little Helper – a dark brown Belgian-style strong ale and Single Hop IPA made with one of my favorite hops, Centennial.  We will also have the coffee stout Beer Geek Breakfast in the bottle.  I have never had either of the draft beers, so I am really looking forward to this night.

There will also be plenty of great soccer next week.  The UEFA Champions League and Europa League are both in the semi-final stage.  Tuesday the 20th at 11:45 am Inter Milan will take on holders Barcelona and Wednesday the 21st Bayern Munich hosts Lyon.  The return legs will be the 27th (Lyon v. Bayern) and 28th (Barca v. Inter).  In the Europa League, we will have two live games at noon on Thursday the 22nd – Hamburg v. Fulham and Atletico Madrid v. Liverpool.  Those return legs will both be on the 29th.  All games will be taped for replay later in the day.  For a complete list of all of our upcoming games, sign up for our soccer specific email list by sending an email to [email protected].

Looking Ahead

Wednesday the 28th we have two very special kegs from AleSmith – award winning 2009 Decadence and Bourbon Barrel Aged Speedway Stout.  Both will tap at 6 pm.  Thursday the 29th we will tap a cask of the award-winning Alpine Duet IPA at 5 pm.  Friday the 30th we will have beers from New English Brewing Company which is now making all of its beer right here in San Diego.  Thursday, May 13th we will have party to celebrate the return of the gold-medal Alpine O’Brien’s IPA.  We will have two casks and draft kegs.  I would think it is a safe bet that we will be filling one of the 3 liter goblets to celebrate the gold medal.  There are still a few of our Malheur Draft Launch T-Shirts for sale.  And we will have some new women’s gear by the end of the month.

That is your good beer news for now.  Congratulations again to all of the award winning breweries!  Cheers, Tom

Tom Nickel
O’Brien’s Pub
20 Taps – Tons of Hops
Official US Soccer Bar
4646 Convoy Street
www.obrienspub.net