Real Ale Festival This Weekend

Hello Beer Fans!

This weekend is the 13th San Diego Real Ale Festival at Pizza Port Carlsbad.  The festival will run from 4 pm to 11 pm on Friday, June 4th and from 11 am to 11 pm on Saturday June 5th.  We will have more than 45 cask conditioned ales on tap from Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, Illinois, Nevada, Indiana and all over California.  Everything from Milds to Double IPAs will be on tap including porters, browns, IPAs, pale ales and even a few Belgian-style beers.  Admission is $30 which includes a festival Imperial pint glass and 8 taster tickets.  Additional taster tickets are just $1.  Tickets will be available at the door.  For more info and directions, visit www.pizzaport.com.

There will be a special VIP session for the Real Ale Fest on Friday from 1-4 pm.  In addition to getting first crack at the festival line-up, there will be a selection of special casks from some great breweries including Alpine, Three Floyds, Automatic, Triple Rock, Green Flash, Port Brewing and more.  Ticket sales for the VIP are limited and include admission into the regular Friday night session.  These tickets are $40 and are available in advance at www.ticketderby.com.  There will be some limited VIP tickets available at the door starting at 1 pm.

At the pub

We have a great line up planned for the Real Ale Fest pre-party on Thursday, June 3rd at the pub.  We have three casks to tap – Alpine Bad Boy IPA and Ballast Point Sculpin IPA will both be tapped at 5 pm and then we have a special 5 gallon cask of Pizza Port Carlsbad’s new Big Black Poochie which is an Imperial Black IPA named after the woman who runs our favorite hot dog stand in Chicago, The Wieners Circle.  If you must know more about it, google it and you will find out what makes it so special – but be warned, the videos are labeled uncensored for a reason.  I should also have one of our last kegs of Malheur 12 on tap for the evening along with some Alpine Hoppy Birthday.  The NBA finals start Thursday night as well and we will have Chimay Red on bottle special all week for just $13 for a 750 ml bottle.

Friday the 4th we host a night of Alaskan beers at the pub.  In addition to the great Summer Ale (kolsch-style beer) we will have Alaskan White Ale and Alaskan IPA.  I also have a case of Alaskan Smoked Porter 22 oz bombers that will be on sale on Friday.  Saturday the 5th we will show the USA v. Australia friendly match on delay right after we open at 11:30 am.  The game is live in South Africa at 5 am and it is the last warm up before the tournament starts for the USA on the 12th versus England.  We will also have Duvel draft on tap on Saturday along with the very cool Duvel green draft glasses.  Duvel draft is not quite the same as the bottled Duvel, but it is still delicious.  The beer is officially being launched in San Diego this month.

San Diego International Beer Festival

The SDIBF is coming up during the San Diego County Fair on June 25th, 26th and 27th.  There will be four session over the three days featuring more than 350 beers from more than 20 countries.  Admission is $30 and includes unlimited 1 oz sampling.  There will also be great food paired with the beer and educational seminars.

The results are out for the judging and San Diego was of course well represented including taking the Best of Show award – Pizza Port Solana Beach Big Wednesday Belgo-IPA!  For more information on the festival and the complete winners list visit www.sdfair.com/beer.

The festival is also looking for some volunteers.  This is from my co-organizer, Chad Stevens:

The online registration for judge/steward/and IBF table captain will be shut down in a few days. These positions are all for June 25-27 at the International Beer Festival at the Fair. If you plan to volunteer, please register now!

We need another 20 judges and Stewards June 27th. We need another 25 Table Captains all sessions 25-27th. In return you will get a t-shirt and free entry to sample 380+ beers from 22 countries.

www.zuvaruvi.com for instructions.  Thanks and see you at the Fair!  Chad

World Cup

The World Cup starts Friday, June 11th.  We will be taping every single game during the tournament.  There will be games every day from June 11th until June 30th at 11:30 am, so if you wonder why we are busier than normal at lunch those days, the World Cup is the reason why.  We will be opening up early for all of the USA matches.  On Saturday, June 12th we will open at 9:30 am for the 11:30 am USA v. England game.  Friday, June 18th we will open at 6:30 am for the 7 am USA v. Slovenia game and Wednesday, June 23rd we will again open at 6:30 am for the Algeria game.  We will be serving breakfast all three games as well, though just 9:30 am – 10:30 am for the England game.  We will be open at 11 am every Saturday and Sunday during the World Cup

All of the USA games will be replayed at lunch and again after work around 6 pm or so.  If you would like to join our U.S. Soccer supporters group, the San Diego American Outlaws, just sign up at www.theamericanoutlaws.com.  You can follow the San Diego Outlaws on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Diego-CA/OBriens-Pub/56730476319?ref=mf#!/pages/American-Outlaws-San-Diego-Chapter/292661370983.  For a complete listing of our World Cup activities, visit the soccer section of the News page on our website.  You can also sign up for our soccer specific emails – just reply to this email and let me know.

If you are not coming to the pub specifically to watch the USA v. England on Saturday, June 12th, I strongly urge you to come by at or after 2 pm – I expect to be very crowded for the game.  But as soon as the game is over around 1:30 pm, the pub will start to clear out and return to normal.

Looking Ahead

Next week we will have a cask of Stone Ruination on Thursday the 10th at 5 pm.  Friday the 11th we kick off our Alpine Beer Weekend that will feature the debut of the brand new Red Card Ale brewed for the World Cup.  The following week we will feature a cask of Red Card Ale on the 17th and another, smaller Red Card cask for the USA v. Algeria replay at 6 pm on the 23rd.  Thursday the 24th is AleSmith night which will include a cask of the new 2010 Decadence, which is a remake of the 2005 award winning Decadence, which was an old ale.  The pub will also be open on Father’s Day this year, Sunday, June 20th.  Visit our Facebook page and become a fan at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Diego-CA/OBriens-Pub/56730476319?ref=mf.  Tyson has taken over the posting to keep you up to date on what is going on at the pub.

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

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