Dorado on a New Fence

"It never rains in California, but girl don't they warn ya, it pours man it pours."  So said Albert Hammond in his dreadful song from the early '70s.  I can attest to the pouring part, and when it rains the long-term dearth of rain seems to magnify the water flow and its impact.  During January's rains I lost a section of a wood and concrete fence in my back yard.  Cleaning and hauling, and buying and hauling material for a stone mason has taken up most of the past few weekends.  The new concrete block fence is now up and the picture above is a Ballast Point Dorado double IPA sitting on top of the new fence, along with a new cedar fence in the background.  My friend, who helped with the cleaning and hauling, and I shared the growler of Dorado after back filling the fence with rock over the French drain pipe.  The Dorado smelled grainy, just like brewery, and tasted of pure hop brilliance.

Stone's Old Guardian Barley Wine Ale

It's strange.  I aggressively seek out and drink certain Stone Brewing releases while overlooking others.  I try to buy Stone's special Vertical Epic series and Anniversary Ales as soon as they are released.  But I am not too eager to try its regular, annual releases.  The two Imperial Russian Stouts I've had have been outstanding, and I occasionally drink a Double Bastard before Christmas, but I don't mark their release dates on my calendar.  Until last Saturday, I had never tried Stone's third regular release, Old Guardian Barley Wine Ale.  The reason, I am sure, why I don't rush to buy Double Bastard, Imperial Russian and Old Guardian is their high alcohol level.  All three have abvs higher than 10%, which eliminates casual drinking and requires a sizable time investment.

It was worth the time it took to drink Old Guardian. The beer's color was lighter than I was expecting.  It poured a deep amber and had big, Navajo White foam.  It reminded me of a hopped-up imperial red ale.  Its roasted malty flavor was matched by a long bitter finish.  The alcohol, at 11.1% abv, did not dominate the beer.  It was present throughout but did not burn, even as Old Guardian warmed.   Old Guardian was the first barley wine ale I ever drank, and if it's true to style, barley wine ale was more approachable than I was expecting.  Not sure why I had a picture in my mind of a dark booze-infused beer.  It is always good to learn new things about beer.

Mission Brewery Building - Finally There's Beer

The imposing red brick Mission Brewing building located along I-5, just north of downtown San Diego, has teased beer drinkers for years.  A large sign at the top of the building announces "Mission Brewing," but no beer has been brewed here since before Prohibition.  I think a brewery was scheduled to open in the building in the late 1980s but it never happened.  It has been an office building since.  Until now.

The Beer Rovette saw on TV that beer is being brewed at the old brewery, and I set to work to get the story.  Here is a link to the local TV show, Then and Now, that gives a history of the building and explains about the new beer being brewed.  But here is where it gets confusing.  The brewer at the Mission Brewing building is New English Brewing Co., a recent addition to San Diego's list of brewers.  San Diego has another brewer named Mission Brewing that is named after the original Mission Brewery, but it brews its beers in Chula Vista.

New English describes its move to the Mission Brewing Plaza building here.  It expects to have a tasting room open sometime in March.  Here is the quote from the News section of New English's website:

The old brewery at the Mission Brewery Plaza has been expertly reconditioned by Clint Stromberg of Stromberg Tanks International. Clint will be brewing beer there under the name "5 Points Brewing" and New English will also be brewing on-site. We fired up the kettle for the first batch of "Brewers Special Brown Ale" on January 8th and have been steadily brewing up batch after batch and working through teething issues since. Almost all remaining issues are behind us and there will be a tasting room opening at the brewery sometime in March (with luck)

I had New English's ESB last year and thought it not too bad.  I drive by this building several times a day, and I'm looking forward to hitting the tasting room.  I am curious to learn more about 5 Points Brewing.

NY Times Reviews Belgian Golden Ales

The New York Times reviewed Belgian Golden Ales last week.  The article is here.  Included in the tasting along with Belgian brewers were American craft brewers and their interpretations on the Belgian style.  Jolly Pumpkin's Oro de Calabaza topped the list.  San Diego's Alesmith's Horny Devil ranked third.  The article is a good read, but it's hard not to think that the panel would be more interesting if Aaron from The Vice Blog was on it shaking things up.

Karl Strauss' Tower 10 IPA

I've wanted to try Karl Strauss' new Tower 10 IPA since it was released.  I originally thought Tower 10 was going to be a limited or periodic release, but it looks like it has replaced Stargazer as Strauss' IPA.  What I really wanted to know was whether Karl Strauss going to join other San Diego brewers in making a top quality IPA, or was it going to continue to produce a sub-par IPA.  Tower 10 is an improvement over Stargazer and Strauss no longer has a "sub-par" IPA.   While Tower 10 is a decent beer, Stone, Alpine, Green Flash, Alesmith, Pizza Port and Ballast Point still make superior IPAs.

I don't think Strauss was trying to emulate other San Diego brewers in creating a West Coast-style IPA, which is an aggressive, hop-centric beer style brewed with a variety of American hops.  The West Coast-style IPA is San Diego's signature beer, and its brewers have defined and perfected it.   Tower 10 is not as aggressive as its San Diego competitors, even though it's brewed with many of the same hops.  It had an earthiness and a touch of vegetal flavor, rather than the pervasive taste of hops.   It weighed towards the grapefruit end of an IPA's pine/grapefruit taste spectrum.  To me, Tower 10 was like a Northwest IPA, in particular, it reminded me of Rouge's various IPAs.  The initial hop bitterness was subtle and more pronounced in the finish.  It was malty IPA, which was probably accounts for the earthiness.  

I did not read the BeerAdvocate reviews on Tower 10, but I don't suspect that the beer geeks fell in love with this beer.   I didn't.  But I get where Karl Strauss is coming from.  It has an excellent distribution system and, in my opinion, is as much a restaurateur as brewer.  Crafting Tower 10 as an accessible beer, rather than a West Coast hop bomb, makes sense for the majority of restaurants that will sell it.  I'd definitely order Tower 10 over many other beers.  Karl Strauss is crafting other beers that will appeal to the beer geeks, which are special releases, some of which get bottled.  I'd like to try its Big Barrel Double IPA and its To The 9s Holiday Ale, both big hoppy beers.  While Tower 10 did not not overly impress me, it's good to see Strauss stepping up its craft brewing game.

Serpent's Stout

I have been in one of my too frequent IPA ruts and tonight I decided to break the routine.  I reached to the back of the beer fridge and grabbed a bottle of The Lost Abbey's Serpent's Stout.   I received it as one of a four bottle birthday present last summer.  As soon as I popped the cork, Serpent's roasted aroma leaped out of the bottle.  It poured near pitch black and had almost no foam.  What little foam there was gathered around the walls of my chalice and was dark brown. 

The initial taste was sweet with a large dose of dark dried fruit, like raisins and plums.  Flavors of roasted, dark, bittersweet chocolate were also prominent.  There is a faint, but noticeable earthiness in the taste.  Serpent's initial sweetness gives way to a long bitter finish.  Serpent had an intense effervescence, despite having no foam.  This is a big beer.  It has an 11% abv, and as it warmed the alcohol came forward with a burn, but strangely, it never took over the beer.

I don't drink too many imperial stouts.  I like them, but they're just too rich and complex for my simple beer mind, and they usually take to long to drink.  That being said, I know a good beer when I drink one and Serpent's Stout is a good beer.  It's massive, full of flavor and keeps your attention.

D'Oh

The large chalk board listing the beers Downtown Johnny Brown's said High Tide IPA but my brain read Wipeout IPA.  We went to DJB's for an early dinner last night and the the draft beer selection was almost all big beers.  I wanted something less than a monster and chose what I thought was Wipeout IPA.  I have had Wipeout a number of times, and think it an OK beer.  I didn't bother to take a picture because I wasn't planning on writing about Wipeout again.  As I was drinking the beer I kept thinking, Wipeout is better than I thought, so fresh and hoppy.  As we were leaving I re-read the sign and saw I had been drinking Port's High Tide Fresh Hop IPA.  No wonder it was so good. 

The Good Old Days

In Mesopotamia workers were paid in beer.  One of the oldest examples of writing is a record of workers' beer rations.  How did any work ever get done with workers getting paid in beer?

Rowe Ramble

My original ideas for this post were spawned by this article two weeks ago by Peter Rowe, the San Diego Union's beer reporter.  I could not (and still don't) understand why he would waste his time writing on some beer called Dutch Republic 1581, available only at Fresh & Easy Markets.  This is a beer no one from beer geek to beer know-nothing would want to drink.  Why not before the Super Bowl, one of the biggest excuse-to-drink-beer days of the year, give the spotlight to a local beer or beers rather than some awful import.  (I have not tried Dutch Republic 1581, and don't plan to try it.  I will grab a Heineken if I ever get the urge to drink a fizzy yellow Dutch beer.)

Rowe, among other writing duties at the Union, writes a periodic (usually every other week) column called the Pint-Sized Pour where he reviews a particular beer and lists any San Diego beer news.  Rowe regained some beer geek cred today with a review of last year's Deschutes' The Abyss.  But The Abyss is released once a year and does not stay on shelves long, so good luck finding the late-2008 release Rowe reviewed.  He has now spent two columns reviewing a beer no one wants and one no one can buy.

San Diego is one of the best beer cities in the nation, and it is good that the Union has a reporter dedicated to beer.  Rowe's columns should focus more on local beers and the Southern California craft beer scene, and less on the crap beers that seem to find their way into his columns.  Rowe's review of beers that are less than pedestrian or obscure, unfortunately, are not uncommon.   He should start a blog for these reviews because his column reads like a blog post or a BeerAdvocate review. 

Rowe's review of Dutch Republic 1581 made me mad.  More reviews like it are going to make Rowe's column and opinions irrelevant.   This is too bad, because the best part of his reviews are that he does not seem to take himself or beer too serious.  Rowe has a unique pulpit to promote San Diego's wonderful beers, and I like'd to see him exploit it.

Glissade

Glissade is a new spring beer from Sierra Nevada.  It is a golden bock, a style I am not familiar with, so this post is solely my impression of the beer and not in context of its style.  It poured a dark yellow with not much foam.  It had a unique taste, prominent malts and not much hops. It is lighter than a pale ale, but with enough flavor to keep the beer interesting.  I could not discern too many distinct flavors, and am not going to try to guess at what I thought I tasted.  There was a subtle sourness throughout the beer that I liked.  Here is what Sierra Nevada says:

With restrained sweetness, we emphasize subtle malt flavor, balanced against delicate aromas of spicy and floral European hops. This complex balance helps Glissade slide across the palate—bracing us against the last cold nights of winter, while its bright golden color turns our thoughts toward spring

I didn't catch the sweetness, and will take Sierra Nevada's word that it had a floral flavor.  It had a more "beery" flavor than an ale.  I'd call it a grown-up pilsner.   It was a balanced beer with a solid mouthful.  It's a perfect weeknight beer.

Gilssade is another well made, interesting beer from Sierra Nevada, which has been producing excellent beers over the past year.  I am not sure I'd like to drink Glissade every day, but I sure would not turn one down.  I think I'm going to go get a couple of more six packs while it is still on shelves.

Third Corner Update

I posted a few weeks ago that The Third Corner restaurant in Ocean Beach, long an outstanding restaurant for great food and excellent wine values, had added taps. I made it back last week and saw that four taps were added.   The four beers are diverse but I question the glassware and was taken aback at the prices.  The four beers were Ballast Point's Yellow Tail Pale Ale, ubiquitous in San Diego, Boont Amber Ale, Allagash White, and  Unibroue's Maudite.  

For all the great brewers in San Diego, I'd of thought that at least two of the taps would have been local.  Maybe the taps will rotate frequently and the likes of Alesmith, Stone and The Lost Abbey will make an appearance.  I am going to guess that part of the reason why there is only one local brewer is that Boont and Uniborue are distributed by wine distributors, and with The Third Corner being primarily a wine shop these distributors got the first opportunity.   This hypothesis makes sense to me, but it's only a guess, as I have no idea who distributes Boont and Unibroue.  I will see how the taps evolve.  As they are, I am not going to complain about the Allagash (shown at right) and Unibroue selections.

I will bitch about the prices.   You'll probably have to click on the picture to enlarge it, but all the drafts are six and seven dollars.   This is a lot for a draft beer, and the seven dollar Maudite is only 8 ozs.  Note under the bottled beers that a 12 oz Stone IPA is a whopping seven dollars.   It must come in a gilded bottle.  I start to question draft beer prices too much above five bucks, especially for the Ballast Point Pale Ale and any amber ale.

To add to my concern about the prices is the glassware.  As you can see in the picture of the Allagash White above, it is served in a beautiful tulip glass.  The glass is cool, but how big is it?   I spent the entire meal wondering how ripped off I was getting.  I knew at seven bucks I was being over charged, but how over charged?  I might feel better about paying seven dollars if the glass held more than a typical pint.

I bought the beer, which I shared with the Beer Rovette, for the sake of the blog.  I was put off by the high prices.  This beer list is a great reason to buy an excellent, reasonably priced bottle of wine, which The Third Corner has in abundance.   

OB Pizza Port Update - Late January 2010

Here is a picture taken of the under construction Ocean Beach Pizza Port.  It looks like two stories along with a deck that can't be seen in the picture.  The stucco has been applied, but I could not see the inside.  A commenter noted that the restaurant/brewery is scheduled to open on February 15th.  That is less than two weeks away, so I don't see that happening.  My estimate of March or April does not look too bad.