O'Brien's Pub – Victory, Rodenbach and Sierra!

Hello Beer Fans!

It is hard to believe that it is almost March of 2009.  St. Patrick’s Day is lurking just a few weeks away.  This year it is on Tuesday, March 17th.  We’ll have all of our great food specials including Corned Beef and Cabbage, Guinness Stew and the Bacon Guinness Beer Cheese Burger.  We’ll also have a number of great stouts on tap including a cask of Alpine Boris Imperial Stout.  But first, let’s get you up to date on what is happening this week at the pub.

We have some great new beers on tap including Lagunitas Imperial Red, Firestone Walker Velvet Merkin Oatmeal Stout and Pizza Port San Clemente Killer Dana double IPA.  We also have Green Flash West Coast IPA and AleSmith IPA on tap.  Pliny the Elder and Blind Pig will both be back on tap on Thursday afternoon.  Because Russian River has sent down so much specialty beer recently, including Pliny the Younger, there have been brief shortages of some of the beers.  That said, this should be the last time this happens for a while.  Supply lines are restocked and the Pliny will be flowing no later than 4 pm Thursday(yesterday).

This Week

Friday the 27th we will host a Palm Brewery night.  Palm is a brewing group in Belgium that produces Palm, Steenbrugge and Rodenbach.  While Rodenbach is still not available again, I have some kegs stashed away for just such an occasion.  So we will have three beers on draft: Palm, Steenbrugge Dubbel and Rodenbach Grand Cru.  There will also be some very nice Palm and Steenbrugge glassware for sale.  This will be a great night of Belgian beers at the pub.  And like every night, it will also be a great night for hoppy beers.  Look for Chicken and Sausage Gumbo and Humberto’s fantastic new Tortas on the food specials board.

Saturday night is a great time to come to the pub.  Because we are in a business district, the many people who work around the pub are not there over the weekend.  The crowds are always moderate and the beer is just as good.  And for a parking tip – I never use the lot, it is filled with too many teenage drivers who do not know what they are doing.  There is almost always street parking on Convoy or Opportunity or just around the corner on Ruffner.  You can look for the new Fuller’s 2008 Vintage ale in the bottle over the weekend along with Allagash Black, De Proef Signature with Tomme Arthur and the De Proef Flemish Primitive Wild Ale – not quite sour, but with a pleasant wild yeast flavor.  We still have bottles of Russian River Consecration and Batch 23 Damnation.  And all bottles are 10% off all weekend both in house and import bottles purchased to-go.

Next Week

Looking ahead to next week, we will tap the first of our two Sierra Nevada casks.  We don’t get many, so this is a special treat.  The first will be Chico IPA, a double IPA, tapped on Thursday, March 5th at 5 pm.  The second is an Imperial Smoked Porter that I can not wait to try on Thursday, March 12th.  I also have a 5 gallon cask of Green Flash Imperial IPA coming that I am going to try and tap for the 5th if it shows up in time.  If not, look for it on the 12th.  We will also have a Sierra Nevada beer cheese on the 12th.

And speaking of Beer Cheese, Lindsey has the Alaskan Smoked Porter, Bacon and Green Onion beer cheese this week.  It is a really incredible blend and the smokiness of the beer is detecable.  Look for Beer Cheese Plates as well as To Go Tubs.  There will be plenty of Guinness and Cheddar Beer Cheese for St. Patrick’s Day.  Check the board next to the tap list for all of the current flavors available to go and the food specials board for the Beer Cheese Plate.

Next week we will also have a small Russian River night on Friday, March 6th.  We will have 6 beers on tap and 6 more in the bottle.  Most will be hoppy and we will only have one TION beer on tap.  There will be a keg of Pliny the Younger tapped at 11 am during lunch, so bring your drinking shoes.  Check the pub for the complete line up of beers and bottles.

New beers that you can look forward to over the coming weeks include: Hollister Bowling and Beyond double IPA, Karl Strauss 20th Anniversary bourbon barrel Tripel, Kern River IPA, Anderson Valley Anniversary Double IPA, Lagunitas Hop Stoopid and Ballast Point Sextant Stout on the nitro tap.

Belgian Beer Party

Tickets for the Pizza Port Belgian Beer Party on sale now at the Pizza Port website – www.pizzaport.com.  The festival is Saturday, March 28th at Pizza Port Carlsbad in TWO 6 hour sessions – 10 am to 4 pm and 5 pm to 11 pm.  There will be more than 100 Belgian and Belgian-style beers available.  Admision is $40 and includes a Belgian beer glass and 8 taster tickets.  Additional four ounce tastes are just $1 each.  This is one of the best collections of Belgian beer in the country.  If the tickets sell out via the pre-sale, there will not be tickets available at the door.  So if you want to go, buy your tickets now.  The first session is nearly 50% sold out already.  Look for a pre-party at Pizza Port Carlsbad on Friday, March 27th featuring 10-20 draft Belgian beers.

One last tip – if your bartender tells you that you should have a glass water – listen to them and don’t argue about it.  We all want to have fun and the bartenders are there to help us make sure that we will come back safe for another day.  Water is good for you and helps prevent hangovers.  You really can’t drink enough water, so bottoms up.  And Pat from Alpine would remind you to always wear your selftbelt, again, good advice.

That is your good beer news for now.  We’ll see you soon for a great beer.  Cheers, Tom