O’Brien’s Pub – Poor Man’s, Pizza Port and Sculpin!

We are half-way through the anniversary month and the good beer just keeps flowing.  There are still a few beers left on tap from the epic Lost Abbey night on Friday.  And we have some great new beers on tap including Alpine O’Brien’s IPA, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine and Ballast Point Schooner.

When we have the Bigfoot on tap, we at the pub like to make the Big P – 1/2 Sierra Pale and 1/2 Sierra Bigfoot.  An excellent combination that is strong and hoppy, but very drinkable.  I have a keg of Sierra Nevada Harvest coming up soon as well.

This week we tap even more great beer.  It starts Wednesday night, the 21st, with a cask of Ballast Point Sculpin IPA at 5:30 pm.  The keg we got earlier in the month was great, so the cask should be the same.  The kitchen will be serving up beer cheese plates on Wednesday night as well.  Thursday the 22nd we will tap two casks – Pizza Port Carlsbad’s Poor Man’s IPA and Alpine’s Nelson Rye-IPA, both at 5 pm.  The Poor Man’s is one of the most drinkable double IPAs in town at 8% alcohol.  And all of our local beers will be on special Thursday night.

Friday the 23rd we host our Pizza Port Draft Party.  We will have over a dozen beers from the three Pizza Port brewpubs on tap including El Camino IPA, Poor Man’s IPA, Swami’s IPA, Great American Brown, Quadruple, Twerp, Warrior and more.  There will be a whole range of beers on tap, so everyone will find something to like.

Over the weekend, we’ll still have plenty of great Pizza Port beer on tap.  The US Men’s Soccer team plays on Saturday, at 5:30 pm against Sweden on Fox Soccer.  Sunday, you can catch a ride with Brewery Tours of San Diego up to the Stone Winter Storm.  Check them out and their regular brewery tours around San Diego at www.brewerytoursofsandiego.com.

Next Week

Mercifully, next week is the last week of our anniversary month.  You can only go full tilt so long – we have already tapped nearly 50 different beers this month, and we have at least 30 more to go.  Wednesday the 28th we tap a cask of Alpine O’Brien’s IPA at 5:30 pm.  Thursday the 29th is a special Russian River cask night with Pliny the Elder and Russian River Porter at 5 pm.

Friday is the big night that many of you have been waiting for – Russian River TION night!

It is hard to believe that we will tap 19 different Russian River beers on Friday the 30th.  There will be a dozen different TION beers on tap along with some of the favorites from the Russian River pub.  This is going to be a very popular event and the pub will be crowded.  So to try and break up some of the rush, I am going to tap the Pliny the Younger at 4 pm and then tap the TION beers, including Consecration, Beatification, Sanctification, Temptation, Batch 23 Damnation and Supplication all at 5 pm.  And yes, I expect the Younger to be gone by 5 pm.  But don’t worry, the beer hasn’t even been released yet and we will get kegs of it in February when it is normally released.

We will be pouring 5 ounce glasses of all of the Russian River beers if you want to try them all – please only order 4 at a time though to make life easy on your bartender.  And I will have a list of all of the beers on tap and what all of the various TION beers are.  In addition to the 19 draft beers, we will also have 3 liter bottles of Damnation, vintage bottles of Supplication and Temptation and bottles of beatification.  Look for some great Russian River-themed goodies to be coming out of the kitchen.  There will also be plenty of great Russian River beer on tap over the weekend and for the Superbowl (or So-So bowl really) on Sunday the 1st.

Special Events

Our next special brewery tasting will be Stone Rare and Vintage beers including bottles of Vertical Epic, Anniversary Ale, Russian Imerpial Stout, Double Bastard and more.  The tasting is Sunday, February 8th at 6:30 pm and cost is $25 per person.  We will be serving some light food paired with the beer throughout the tasting.  Please sign up at the pub – space is limited.

O’BRIEN’S celebrates The  5th annual Great Belgian Beer Tour hosted by our friend Bill Snider of Ciao! Travel. To celebrate, O’Brien’s is offering a free hotel upgrade in London.  There are just JUST 4 FREE UPGRADES – GET A FREE LONDON HOTEL UPGRADE  FROM 1ST CLASS TO SUPERIOR 1ST Class on GBBT 2a – London & Belgium or GBBT 3 – London, Belgium & Paris.

JUST 09 SPACES LEFT! – LONDON, 24 HOURS BELGIUM BEER FESTIVAL & PARIS!

The Dollar has strengthened dramatically against the Pound and Euro, airfare bargains abound and European hotels have lowered their prices, GBBT prices haven’t been this low since 2006. Pick up a copy of the GBBT brochure at O’Brien’s and you’ll save $200 off regular web prices with the O’Brien’s server coupon. Or  go to www.ciaotravel.com and click on O’BRIEN’S in the left hand column.  Don’t miss out having fun with Belgian Ale with your pals from O’Brien’s.  HURRY THERE ARE ONLY 09 SPACES LEFT!!

In February, I already have a few events planned.  On Friday the 6th, we will host a Mission Brewery night.  Friday the 12th we will have a cask of AleSmith’s My Bloody Valentine.  And Friday the 13th is AleSmith Night at O’Brien’s with a keg of My Bloody Valentine and several other draft beers.

That should keep you thirsty for now.  We’ll see you soon for a great Pizza Port beer.  Cheers, Tom

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