Gouden Carolous brewer at O'Brien's on 3/21!

Hello Good Beer Drinkers!

The craziness of St. Patrick’s day is over and it is back to our everyday good beer enjoyment at the pub.  I had planned on taking this week off from sending an email, but the beer gods have set events in motion this week that they require you to know about.

The brewer from Gouden Carolous and the Het Anker Brewery in Belgium will be at the pub this Saturday, March 21st from 2 to 5 pm.  We will be featuring five different Gouden Carolous beers on tap including Cuvee van der Keizer Blue and Red, Hopsinjoor (hoppy strong blond ale) and Tripel.  It is a rare treat when we have a brewer come all the way from Belgium.  Gouden Carolous makes some of the best beer in Belgium and has also been a featured stop on our Belgian Beer Tour.  So please stop by and enjoy a Gouden Carolous beer with the man who makes it and help us give him a very warm reception in San Diego.

Tonight, Thursday the 19th 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.  A few of the Russian River beers for Friday will already be on tap as well.  The NCAA tourney games will start on Thursday and run all day. We will have the tournament on channel 8 all weekend long.  Lindsey has packed up a bunch of her addictively good beer cheese to-go.  See what flavors are available on the board next to the draft list.

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.  I will have the complete draft list up on the website on Friday.

We got some new merchandise in last week.  We have several new girls shirts and tank tops and some that say “Well behaved women rarely make history”.  We restocked a lot of the men’s shirts and got some new ones in that say “IBUs we can believe in”.  IBU stands for International Bittering Units and is the measurement of how bitter a beer is.  Hats, workshirts and hoodies are all back in stock as well.  Check it all out next time you are at the pub.

Next Week
We have some great beer to drink next week.  Wednesday the 25th we have the return of Ballast Point Dorado Double IPA on cask at 6 pm with Bourbon Barrel Black Marlin and Victory at Sea both on tap.  Dorado has become a rare sight these days as Ballast Point is concentrating on bottled product at the expense of draft beer.  I can’t even remember the last time we had a cask of Dorado.  But I do remember it being delicious.  So don’t miss out on this rare double IPA treat.  The guys at the brewery are very excited about this batch of Bourbon Barrel Black Marlin porter.  I can’t wait to taste it either.

On Thursday the 26th, we have a cask of Alpine Nelson Rye IPA.  The Nelson uses New Zealand hops for a unique tropical fruit type aroma.  It is always great on cask.  Friday the 27th is New Blegium Night with three beers on tap and one more in the bottle.  We will have the newly re-released Biere de Mars, which has not been brewed since 2004.  Also on tap will be the Dunkelwiezen 30 and the new Mighty Arrow Pale Ale.  We will have the Dark Kriek in the bottle.

I have a very special promo planned for April Fools Day that will involve hoppy beers over 10% alcohol – one named for a mathmetical function, one named for an ancient philosopher and lawyer and one named for an Indian King – all on tap at 6 pm.  Wednesday, April 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.

Belgian Beer Party
The Belgian Beer Party at Pizza Port Carlsbad is Saturday, March 28th in two sessions.  Tickets for the first session are nearly sold out.  I expect that the first session will sell out by the end of this weekend.  There are still plenty of tickets available for the second session.  Both sessions will feature the exact same line up of beer.  More than 100 Belgian and Belgian-style beers will be available for sampling.  The first session is from 10 am to 4 pm.  The second session is from 5 pm to 11 pm.  Pre-Sale tickets are available for $40 at the Pizza Port website – www.pizzaport.com.  Tickets will be $45 at the door, if there are any left available.  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.

That is your good beer news for now.  Hopefully we will see you this weekend for a great beer from Russian River or Gouden Carolous!  Cheers, Tom

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