Ballast Point Sculpin and Urthel Visit at O’Briens in San Diego

From Tom Nickel of O’Brien’s Pub in San Diego

Hello Beer Fans!

We had one hell of a party last week to kick off the launch of Malheur draft.  And though we have blown through plenty of beer, both the light colored 10 and the dark, rich 12 are both still on tap.  So if you haven’t tried them yet, indulge yourself with a glass, you will not be disappointed.

We also have Alpine Duet IPA, Bigfoot (and the Big P), Ballast Point Bourbon barrel Black Marlin Porter and we just tapped Kern River J.O. IPA (Just Outstanding) and the new Kern River Citra Double IPA.  Both beers will move out fast.  However, the good news is that Kern River has more regular distribution in San Diego so we, and all good beer bars, should be able to get more of the brewery’s beer.  Alpine Pure Hoppiness should be back on by Friday night.

Thursday, April 8th is Sculpin Casks night.  No, that is not a typo, there will be cask(s) plural of Ballast Point Sculpin IPA.  We will tap the first one at 5 pm and the second one when the first is blown.  I don’t expect it to last all night, but the two casks should last until at least 7 pm (no promises though).  We should be getting in some Sculpin draft and the Ballast Point Piper Down Scottish Ale next week.  On Friday the 9th look for Alpine Ale on tap and our very popular Chicken or Roast Beef Tortas from the kitchen.  Coming soon on draft you will find North Coast Old Rasputin, Sierra Nevada Glissade Golden Bock, Deschutes Hop Henge and Alpine Nelson Rye-IPA.

Urthel Visit

Saturday the 10th we have a very special treat as our friends Bas and Hildegard from Urthel will be stopping by the pub.  They will be at the pub from 5-7 pm to share beers and talk about them.  Their Belgian beers are made under the name of De Leyerth Brouwerij at Konigshoeven, in Holland.  Urthel is the brand name and the name for the funny cartoon character that graces the label, which is drawn by Bas.  We will have two Urthel beers on tap – Hop It!, a 9% alcohol Belgian-IPA beer, and Saisoniere which is a 6% alcohol saison-inspired ale with a nice handful of hops.  We will also have three beers in the bottle (all of which will be 10% off all weekend) – Hibernus Quentem Tripel, Samaranth 12 Quadrium (11%) and Vlaemse Bock.  Bas and Hildegard are very friendly folk and we are excited to welcome them back to the pub.  Look for an Urthel beer cheese plate on Saturday night from the kitchen.  I am hoping to have at least one of the Urthel beers on tap for Friday night.

On Sunday the 11th we will be open normal hours from Noon until 6 pm.  You can get 10% off any of our bottles all weekend including import bottles sold to-go.  Sunday and Monday we will have our beer battered fish and chips, fish tacos and chipotle fish sandwich.  Monday night we will feature $10 pitchers of any local/craft beer and $14 pitchers of any rare/strong ale from 4:30 pm until close.  It is great way to spend a Monday night with friends, without spending a lot of money.

On the bottle front, we have all of the Malheur bottles back in stock including Brut, Dark Brut and we still have some of the 2006 Vintage Commemorative Brut, which is a dry-hopped version of the regular Brut.  We currently have 7 different Redstone Meads in stock – Nectar of the Hops (dry-hopped mead), White Pyment (made with white grape juice), Red Pyment (made with Pinot Noir grape juice), Traditional, Vanilla Bean-Cinnamon Stick, Boysenberry and Black-Raspberry.  Look for bottle specials on the St. Peter’s beers from Suffolk, England including Cream Stout, Winter Ale and IPA.

Beer and Cheese Please

There are still about 6 spaces left for our Spring Beer and Cheese pairing on Sunday, April 18th at 6:30 pm at the pub.  We have some great pairings and are using some wonderful beers including Gouden Carolous Classic, Nogne O Saison, Allgash Victor, La Choulette Framboise, Stone 06/06/06 Vertical Epic and more!  In all we will taste 7 beers from 5 countries and 8 different cheeses.  Cost is $40 and you can sign up and pay at the bar (cash only please).

Looking Ahead

Next week is the always dreaded April 15th tax day.  To ease the pain we will be tapping a cask of Alpine Duet IPA on Wednesday the 14th at 6 pm.  And then on Thursday the 15th we will tap a cask of AleSmith ESB at 5 pm.  Tuesday, April 20th we will tap a keg of Russian River Pliny the Younger at 4:20 pm.  At the end of the month, we are planning a Friday night of beers with New English Brewing, which is now making its beer right here in San Diego.

For soccer fans, the UEFA Champions League is in the semi-finals stage.  The match days will be April 20 and 21 with the return legs on April 27 and 28.  The games pit Barcelona v. Inter Milan and Bayern Munich v. Lyon.  The last round of games was very entertaining and the Barca-Inter match is a blockbuster pairing.  We will have all of the games live at 11:45 am each day with taped replays that we can show later in the day.

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

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