O'Briens Pub – Alpine, St. Patty's and Russian River!
As usual, there is lots of good beer news for you this week. It starts today, Wednesday the 11th, when we tap kegs of Alpine Nelson Rye IPA and Alpine Duet IPA tonight. Both beers will be on tap by 5 pm – the Nelson is on tap already. Pliny the Elder will be back on tap again today, too. And for those reading this shortly after it goes out, we have the UEFA Champions League games today at 12:30 pm including Manchester United v. Inter Milan.
All of the games will be taped to show later tonight as well (you can sign up for our soccer specific email by replying to me at this address – all of the upcoming games are listed in the soccer section of our website). Lindsey will also have some new flavors of her delicious beer cheese out tonight. And check out bottles of Ballast Point’s Victory at Sea Imperial Coffee Porter!
Thursday the 12th we have a very special cask from Sierra Nevada – Imperial Smoked Porter. This is a new specialty beer that I am very excited to taste. Look for some great Cambazola cheese specials from the kitchen including the Cambazola burger and the Cambazola Chicken Melt. We’ll also have a Sierra Nevada beer cheese for the evening. Look for the new Oscar Blues Little Yellow Pils on tap.
Friday the 13th we have a very rare treat from Brew Dog in Scotland – draft Punk IPA. We had the lads from Brew Dog by the pub when they launched their bottles in San Diego a while back. Now they are trying out draft kegs. The beer comes in a special recyclable plastic keg. There were only a few kegs sent over on this test run and we were lucky enough to get one. It is only an 8 gallon keg, so while it should last the night, it may not last much longer. For Belgian-style beer fans, we will also tap a keg of the Allagash Four, which is a quadruple using four malts, four hops and four yeast strains. And look for Humberto’s incredible Torta sandwiches on Friday all day.
St. Patrick’s Day
Next week we have St. Patrick’s day on Tuesday the 17th. We will have an amazing line up of food including Lindsey’s wonderful Corned Beef and Cabbage, Guinness Stew, Bacon and Guinness Beer Cheese Burger, Corned Beef Sandwiches, Ruebens and Irish Nachos. There will also be lots of great beer – and as you might expect – lots of great stouts. We will have Guinness along with Ballast Point Sextant Stout, Alpine Captain Stout and we will rotate through Murphy’s Stout, Beamish Stout and Pizza Port Seaside Stout starting this weekend. And as an added bonus, we will have a full size cask of Alpine Boris Imperial Stout at 5 pm. St. Patrick’s Day is always a fun party at the pub. Stop by and catch your case of the Irish Flu for Wednesday!
Thursday the 19th (see I skipped Wednesday, since it won’t really exist for most of us anyway) we have two local cask beers – Coronado Red Devil, a double Red and AleSmith ESB brewed with a special English yeast strain that was used for the upcoming Decadence release. Both casks will be on tap at 5 pm and all of our local beers will be on special.
Russian River night is back on Friday the 20th. We will have 10 beers on tap and a few more in the bottle. We will have our 3 regular RRBC beers – Pliny the Elder, Blind Pig and IPA along with 6 TION beers including two barrel aged beers. Check the pub for a complete list of draft and bottled beers that will be available. We will also have some Russian River pint glasses for sale. This will be a great night of Russian River beers and all but one of the beers will be in a full size 15.5 gallon keg (last time, nearly everything was in a five gallon keg). So I expect every single beer to still be on tap for Saturday the 21st and most to still be on tap for Sunday the 22nd. So if you can’t make it by on Friday, stop by over the weekend for some great RRBC beer.
Coming Soon
Looking further ahead, we have some great events planned. On Thursday the 26th, we have a cask of Alpine Nelson Rye IPA. I have a very special, and at the moment secret promo planned for April 1st. Wednesday the 8th we are hosting Pizza night with Vince Marsaglia from Pizza Port and we will feature some very rare draft Italian craft beers. And our next round of Beer and Cheese Tastings with Taste Artisan Cheese and Gourmet shop in Hillcrest will be Wednesday, April 22nd and Sunday, April 26th. I will have more details in the next email. For now, you can sign up for the class at the pub (cash only please) or at Taste (find their link on our website). Cost is $40 and we will have about 7 beer and cheese pairings.
The Belgian Beer Party at Pizza Port Carlsbad is Saturday, March 28th in two sessions. Both sessions will feature the exact same line ups of beer. More than 100 Belgian and Belgian-style beers will be available for sampling. There are only about 100 tickets left for the first session. The second session from 5 pm to 11 pm still has a good number of tickets left. Pre-Sale tickets are available for $40 at the Pizza Port website – www.pizzaport.com. Tickets will be $45 at the door, so you can save a few bucks and guarantee yourself getting in by purchasing in advance. There will be 3 liter bottles opened every hour and the Pizza Port bottle shop will have glassware and full bottles for sale. Look for a pre-party on Friday the 27th at Pizza Port Carlsbad with 10-20 Belgian beers on tap at the pub.
I always like to support folks who support the pub. And though no one really enjoys going to the Dentist, let me recommmend Dr. Craig Kubina. Craig is a beer enthusiast and he and his wife Rachel just started homebrewing. If anyone can make going to the dentist more enjoyable, it is Craig and his friendly staff. His office is in La Mesa just across from Grossmont Center, near another excellent doctor – Periodontist Dr. Harold Gulbranson. Harold is a long time homebrewer and pub patron and past president of the QUAFF homebrew club. Both doctors are highly recommended and do excellent work. Craig’s office number is 619-466-3271. Why not go to a dentist that likes good beer?
That is your good beer news for now. We’ll see you soon for a great stout beer. Cheers, Tom
Tom Nickel
O’Brien’s Pub
20 Taps – Tons of Hops
4646 Convoy Street
www.obrienspub.net
