Upcoming Events —
Tonight, URGE American Gastropub in Rancho Bernardo is throwing an event called “Blackout” featuring dark offerings from some of their favorite breweries, including AleSmith Double Coffee Speedway Stout, Port Midnight Expressions, Stone 15 Anniversary Escondidian Black IPA, Iron Fist Velvet Glove on Nitro, Port Old Viscosity, Ballast Point Barrel-Aged Sea Monster, Lightning Black Lightning Porter, Karl Strauss Black’s Beach, Hess Ex Umbris Stout, and Mission Dark Seas. There’s plenty more on tap, but these are just some of the locals. Also, the two beers on cask are both standouts: Ballast Point Peppermint Victory at Sea and Stone Vanilla Bean Smoked Porter. This event doubles as a book signing for San Diego’s Top Brewers, and will include appearances by Mitch Steele and Steve Wagner of Stone, Colby Chandler of Ballast Point/Home Brew Mart, Jim Crute of Lightning, Dan Selis of Mission Brewery, Dan Love of Mother Earth, and Mike Hess of Hess Brewing.
Tomorrow, New English’s tasting room in Sorrento Valley will open to the public for the first time at 4pm. The guests of the soft opening held about two weeks ago read like a who’s who of San Diego beer, with appearances by Lee and Jennifer Chase of Blind Lady, Greg Koch of Stone, Colby Chandler of Ballast Point, Bruce Glassman of Chefs Press/San Diego’s Top Brewers, Dan Selis of Mission, Gary Pitman of Manzanita, Chris White of White Labs, writer Brandon Hernandez, and more. It was a great show of support for owner/brewer Simon Lacey, who’s really been performing all his duties as a one-man team, with some occasional help from homebrewer Kenny who offered his services when Lacey spoke at a QUAFF meeting more than a year ago. Lacey’s Explorer E.S.B. — the brewery’s flagship — and Brewers Special Brown Ale were obvious hits, as both casks blew before the night was out. New English’s tasting room will also be open Fridays from 4-8 and Saturdays from 12-8.
Check out our event calendar for more great happenings. If you don’t see an event listed that your brewery/bar/restaurant is hosting, there is a submission form on the top of the online calendar, or you can e-mail me directly at ryan@westcoastersd.com
Cast your votes —
Voting for The Full Pint’s Best Craft Beer of 2011 ends tomorrow at 5pm, and there are some great locals in the running: Ballast Point Indra Kunindra, El Cajones IPA from El Cajon Brewing Company, Karl Strauss Two Tortugas and more.
TapHunter’s 2nd Annual San Diego Brewery Awards are underway, at least the first stage in the competition. TapHunter members are invited to submit their best brewery story through February 3rd. Between February 4th and 24th the voting begins, and the brewery whose story receives the most votes will be honored at a March awards party. Users are eligible to win a $200 gift certificate to Best Damn Home Brew Shop for first place in the voting.
Cast your dollars —
Straight from Kickstarter, “the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects”: “Beer Hunter: The Movie is a documentary film about the British journalist and author Michael Jackson, whose books and television series about beer inspired the global phenomenon that is the craft brewing renaissance. An intimate portrait based on over 60 hours of rare, recent video footage, Beer Hunter sheds insight into the life and contributions of this brilliant and beloved man, who, while quietly battling Parkinson’s, became the leading voice and inspiration behind the craft brewing movement. For those who had ever met Michael Jackson, or were deeply inspired by his work, it’s hard to imagine that he is no longer with us.”
The filmmakers are asking for your help to complete this project. Although the $30,000 goal has already been met with three days to go, more archival material and more of Jackson’s story will come through with each dollar raised. A non-profit organization, Michael Jackson Memorial Foundation, is also being set up with the goal of organizing annual fund-raising events in Michael’s memory, with proceeds to benefit Parkinson’s Research.
We asked one local, Greg Koch of Stone Brewing Co., for his thoughts: “The first time I ever sat next to Michael Jackson was during a lunch at the 1996 Craft Brewers Conference. I was so nervous, and afraid that I’d say something dumb, I just sat there and never even said hello. Years later, confidence built up a bit, I had the pleasure of sharing beers with Michael a couple different times. He was worth being nervous about talking to when considering the weight and importance of his life’s work, but was actually as down-to-earth and easy to talk to as anyone in reality. We miss Michael.”
If you can, please help make this film the best it can be! Here’s the press release.
Cast your beers —
The last day to register for Holiday Wine Cellars’ homebrew competition is Monday the 30th. The winner will brew their recipe on Iron Fist’s system. Last year, homebrewer Alex Tweet won the contest, and his beer Indra Kunindra not only landed him on The Full Pint’s beer of the year shortlist, but also on the payroll at Ballast Point.
And you have a little under a month to register for Monkey Paw Pub & Brewery’s homebrew competition. The theme: Belgian-style beers.
More information for both competitions is available on our event calendar.
