Ballast Point founder Jack White (right) with Carl DeMaio in front of the City Council, May 18 2010

LIBERTY STATION – May 18 = Ballast Point Day @ Slater’s 50/50
Two years ago on this day the San Diego City Council declared May 18 “Ballast Point Day” in San Diego. This year the party’s at Slater’s 50/50 with nine BP taps: Victory at Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter, Sea Monster Imperial Stout, Fathom India Pale Lager, Tongue Buckler Imperial Red Ale, Navigator Doppelbock, Abandon Ship Smoked Lager, Sculpin IPA, Pale Ale and Pescadero Pilsner. Also look for cocktail specials using Ballast Point’s house-made Three Sheets Rum, Old Grove Gin and Fugu Vodka. Founder Jack White and brewery staffers will be on hand around 5p.m. to talk with beer lovers.

LA MESA – West Coast Barbecue & Brew Grand Opening
Great new 28-tap beer spot West Coast Barbecue & Brew has been open for a few weeks now, but the “Grand Opening” begins tonight as Doug Duffield, one of the original “inventors” of Ballast Point Sculpin IPA, will tap a cask of the beer at 5p.m. Ballast Point Day continues vicariously through West Coast BBQ & Brew, with Abandon Ship Smoked Lager, Even Keel Session IPA, Sculpin IPA, Sextant Oatmeal Stout, Steamboat Lager (Ballast Point/Briess Malts/White Labs collaboration for the 2012 Craft Brewers Conference), and a few other goodies on tap.

RANCHO BERNARDO – Founders Brewing Keep the Pint Night @ URGE Gastropub
Beers from Grand Rapids, Michigan brewery Founders Brewing, voted the #2 brewery in the world in 2012 by RateBeer.com, are highly coveted in San Diego. We rarely get their beers out here, but because the CBC was in town, URGE Gastropub was lucky enough to get their hands on eight kegs: All Day IPA Session Ale, Centennial IPA, Curmudgeon Old Ale, Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale, Double Trouble Imperial IPA, Linchpin White IPA collaboration with Green Flash, Porter and Red’s Rye IPA. Check out the full beer descriptions on URGE’s website, linked above. Event starts at 5p.m., and the glasses will go quickly!

Local beer fans try out the Ranchwood BBQ parfait @ Hess Brewing

MIRAMAR – Friday Afternoon Club No. 12 @ Hess Brewing
The last of the numbered Friday Afternoon Club events, this one will feature live music from The Barnacles, led by guitarist and Gordon Biersch brewmaster Doug Hasker. Ranchwood BBQ will be there serving grub, including their famous “BBQ Parfait.” On top of that, a new beer release: AURUM, an 8.7% ABV Belgian-style golden ale.

KEARNY MESA – Latitude 33 Night @ O’Brien’s Pub
Latitude 33, the new Vista brewery that took over Green Flash’s space and is helmed by Alpine and Backstreet-alum Kevin Buckley, will be featured at O’Brien’s Pub tonight starting at 5p.m. Buckley will be in the house along with his Camel Corps IPA, Vanilla Porter, GB’s Pale Ale, The Pasha’s Rye Brown Ale and a new Double IPA.

Mitch Steele, Brandon Sieminski and Ken Schmidt with Farm Supervisor David Solomon at Stone Farms. Photo courtesy of Bill Benzel

Last week, homebrewer Ken Schmidt teamed up with Iron Fist Brewing Co.’s Brandon Sieminski and Stone Brewing Co.’s Mitch Steele to brew a scaled-up version of Pillow Mint at the Ritz, which took top honors at the Stone March Madness Homebrew Competition & AHA Rally. Using organically-grown mint from Stone Farms and the gardens of Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, alongside organically-grown, stone-ground cacao liquor from SoCal chocolatier Chocovivo, the team is attempting to replicate the bold and complex flavors of the original homebrew, likened to a Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie or an Andes mint. “I was a judge at the rally, and it was amazing how well the flavors worked together,” said Steele.

In a few ways this is a “reunion brew” for the three collaborators: Schmidt won the 2009 rendition of the same homebrew competition, leading to the Ken Schmidt / Maui / Stone Kona Coffee, Macadamia, Coconut Porter. Sieminski wasn’t part of that squad, but he did work at the bistro for a spell and was excited to be back — this time on the brew deck: “This beer is right up our alley, and I’ll probably be having dreams about this system for months,” he said. Sieminski was chosen as the third collaborator by Schmidt after careful consideration. “I asked Stone if they wanted someone local, and they pretty much left that decision up to me. I decided to go with Brandon from Iron Fist because I really like the Sieminski family and how they’ve all gotten behind their young brewmaster.”

The beer will be entered in the Pro-Am competition of the Great American Beer Festival this fall. View more photos from the brew day here.

Quantity produced: 340 barrels
Release date: Early July

Monkey Paw Brewing / KnB Wine Cellars (Name TBD) Gose

Derek Freese (left) and Adam Parker monkeying around during yesterday's brew day

This 1000-year old beer style is named for the naturally saline water of the Gose river which flows through the town center of Goslar, Germany. The style became very popular in the nearby city of Leipzig and is similar to Berliner Weiss, but the addition of coriander and salt means it did not strictly conform to the “Reinheitsgebot” German Beer Purity Law of using only hops, barley, and water (yeast was not known to be an ingredient of beer before Louis Pasteur in the 1800s). After the unification of Germany, Gose was granted exception to the Reinheitsgebot rule as a regional specialty outside of Bavaria.

As far as we know, this style had not been commercially produced in San Diego before Tuesday, when brewer Derek Freese (Monkey Paw) and collaborator Adam Parker (KnB Wine Cellars) began their experiment in flavor. Over the next few days Freese will perform a sour mashing technique using Lactobacillus delbrueckii in the kettle, having enlisted the advice of Ballast Point/Home Brew Mart’s Colby Chandler (Sour Wench Blackberry Ale brewer) and Karl Strauss’ Paul Segura (Flan-Diddly-Anders Red Ale brewer). Because Freese and Parker didn’t have the same German water to work with, they’ll be adding the necessary salt to the uncarbonated beer next week, after taste-testing several salts from the KnB kitchen mixed with beer pulled off the fermentors.

Quantity produced: 10 barrels
Release date: Noon on June 30 at KnB Wine Cellars’ 4-Year Anniversary Party 

Tickets are $30 in advance or $35 at the door for the 11a.m. – 6p.m. festival. With a ticket comes 12 tasters of beer; food is available for purchase. For an additional $1 donation to the About the Music Fund, you’ll get a taste of an Automatic Brewing Co. beer created specifically for this event. Click here to buy tickets.

It is awesome to see new faces become fixtures in the festival circuit. Relative newcomers Rough Draft and Latitude 33 will be serving beers along with the brand-new Fezziwig’s Brewing (not open to the public, yet, but you can read about them on page 20 of our May 2012 issue).

(Psssst! … The first ten individuals to comment on this post get a free ticket to the Craft Beer Block.)
Limit one per person – must include e-mail address, first name and last name in your comment. You’ll need to show ID to pick up tickets from Will Call. Tickets are all gone!

If you happen to be heading to Seattle this week there are plenty of sights to see, including the 4^th Annual Seattle Beer Week (May 10-20), which coincides well with American Craft Beer Week (May 14-20). Many attractions are within walking distance of the historic Pioneer Square area. The Best Western Hotel at Pioneer Square is an historic refurbished lodging establishment that has modern amenities, but with a vintage appearance.

The Pioneer Square Saloon

Best of all, at least to me, was the Pioneer Square Saloon (77 Yesler Way, 206-628-6444), right next door to the hotel (Western Ave. & Post Ave). The saloon only serves beer and wine, but oh boy, what beer they sell. There were several brands of microbrews on tap, and an unusual but poignant bar motto that’s stuck with me: “Welcome to the Pioneer Square Saloon—Try not to be an asshole.” Definitely a locals spot (until this blog came out).

I was in the bar two of the three days we were there. On a Saturday the local professional soccer team played, and their replica jersey-donning fans were in full voice the whole match. Alas, most of them ignored great Northwest craft beer (in the middle of Seattle’s Beer Week—for Pete’s sake), drinking Bud Light instead. Had they been less rambunctious I may have made a few suggestions.

We saw the Space Needle – big deal, I know – as well as the Pike Street Market, which is a really neat place. It has tons of souvenir gifts, if you want one. The foodstuffs are out of this world; my top pick was a cheese shop where I had the best macaroni and cheese one could imagine. Okay, you might think if I have macaroni and cheese that I’m not very imaginative. You are wrong. This was great. There’s also a piroshki place (Russian buns packed with a variety of fillings) that will have your mouth watering with all the options. Basically, you name it, and the Pike Street Market has it.

Pike Brewing Company

This is a buildup to my favorite spot in all of Seattle – Pike Brewing Company. The brewpub features a half-dozen Pike Brewing signature beers, plus seasonals, but unless you know what you want I suggest ordering the sampler. I used to say I was the Will Rogers of beer drinking—I’ve never met one I didn’t like. That’s no longer true. There are pumpkin beers and other fruity beers that will make someone, but not me, happy.

In addition to house-brewed beers, Pike Brewing has a rotating selection of California beers to choose from, plus select Trappist, German and English ales. There’s also a selection of rotating Northwest artisan ciders. Oh yes, the food: it’s top-notch, and not just “bar food.” My wife was afraid it would be and I always love it when she’s wrong (about once a decade, if you ask her). Pike Brewing is definitely a worthwhile stop on your trip to Seattle. The brewery is located at 1415 1^st Ave., Seattle, 98101-2107.

Tom Basinski has written for West Coaster before. He’s an ex-seminary student; ex-cop; ex-DA Investigator and ex-light beer drinker. Currently, a travel writer and true crime writer: “No Good Deed” and “Cross-Country Rapist” for Berkley True Crime publishers. 

Alison Grayson at Toronado for the DVD release party

The Craft Brewers Conference promoted an environment where members of the beer industry exchanged ideas and furthered their knowledge of craft beer. Attendees to this year’s conference came from all parts of the world, ranging from the wide-eyed prospective brewery owner to the seasoned beer community veteran. Regardless of position, gender or career focus, individuals at the conference all shared a desire to learn more about this rapidly-growing industry.

During CBC, Portland-based Deschutes Brewery organized an event at Toronado to help promote the DVD release of The Love of Beer, a film by Alison Grayson. Of course, like at most Deschutes’ “Base Camp” events, their famous over-sized traveling barrel keg “Woody” was outside welcoming patrons. On the back patio, Grayson was selling copies of the DVD, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Keep A Breast Foundation. Back inside the bar, purchases of chocolate truffles from local chocolatiers Chi Chocolat benefitted the same cause.

Grayson’s film, which will be screened next Tuesday in Green Flash’s tasting room followed by a panel discussion with local industry members, tells the story of passionate women working in craft beer, with a focus on the Pacific Northwest. Like the title infers, these women “aren’t doing it for feminism or equality—they’re doing it for the love of beer.”

Overall, the film focuses on three women in the industry: Sarah Penderson from Saraveza Bottle Shop & Pasty Tavern in Portland, OR; Tonya Cornett, award-winning Head Brewmaster from Bend Brewing Co. in Bend, OR; and Teri Fahrendorf, first woman Brewmaster at a California craft brewery and President of the Pink Boots Society, an organization whose mission statement is to “empower women beer professionals to advance their careers in the Beer Industry through Education.”

Teri Fahrendorf, President and Co-Founder of Pink Boots Society.

I had the opportunity to meet Fahrendorf at my first National Pink Boots Society Meeting, held on Friday of CBC week. It was truly an honor, and a great source of inspiration, to sit in the same room with presidents, founders, CEOs, managers and brewmistresses from well-known breweries across the country.

In addition to an address from Fahrendorf on the current and future state of the organization, Alexandra Nowell from Drake’s Brewing discussed the Pink Boots Saison, brewed last year as a way to raise money for the organization’s scholarship fund. The 15-barrel batch was available only on draft throughout the Bay Area, and was very popular; Nowell was confident that future brews with donated ingredients would fare just as well.

The Declaration of Beer Independence at Hess Brewing during 2011's celebrations

Two friendly Friday reminders from us at West Coaster: 

1. BeerCity USA 2012 polls close this Sunday, May 13 at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time. Currently, San Diego only has three percent of the vote and Asheville is again in the lead — if you haven’t voted yet, do it today!

2. American Craft Beer Week starts this coming Monday, May 14th. The Brewers Association calls this “The Mother of All Beer Weeks,” and 2011 was the largest celebration yet, with events in all 50 states. On CraftBeer.com, there’s a page dedicated to celebration ideas, including printing out your own 2012 version of the Declaration of Beer Independence you see to the right, then bringing the signed copy to five restaurants or retailers that should carry a broader selection of craft beer. You can also “like” American Craft Beer Week on Facebook, use the hashtag #acbw on Twitter, or host special tours if you’re a local brewery. Check out this cool video on American Craft Beer Week to get you in the spirit.

Still looking for Mother’s Day plans? Well, luckily the San Diego beer community has you covered.

One nice option is the “Bring Mom Out For A Beer Day” hop on/hop off bus that will shuttle you and mom, for free, to these bars between 11am and 3:30pm: Blind Lady Ale House in Normal Heights, Tiger!Tiger! Tavern in North Park, Small Bar in University Heights, Hamiltons Tavern in South Park, and Monkey Paw Pub & Brewery in the East Village. There will be fresh roses at Monkey Paw, and drink/food specials around the circuit. This is a great way to show mom all the places she knows you already frequent, and it will make for lasting, or not so lasting, memories.

Or, take a short road trip out to Ramona with mom and visit the guys from Liquid Glass Co., whose tap handles you read about on page 20 of the April 2012 issue of West Coaster. Glass art experts Greg Hosterman and Dan McStocker host an open studio event every Mother’s Day weekend with catered lunch, live glass blowing demonstrations and plenty of glass art to admire or shop from. The event is open to all ages, and goes from 10am – 4pm on Saturday as well as Sunday.

Coronado's eye candy for conference attendees

BOTTLING – Coronado’s shiny new GAI 3003A BIER bottling line was on display, capable of rinsing, deaerating, filling and capping nearly 3,000 12 oz. bottles per hour, or a little less for 22 oz. bombers. The line was delivered on Saturday to Coronado’s yet-to-open Knoxville St. facility in Linda Vista. If it looks familiar to you, it’s because you’ve seen the exact same model behind the bar at AleSmith’s tasting room — owner Peter Zien was at the trade show and said that he had invited Coronado’s owner Ron Chapman to check out the machine when it arrived, and they placed an order that day. Also, Iron Fist’s brewmaster Brandon Sieminski told us that within two to three months their GAI 1005 line will arrive. Check out a video of the GAI 3003A at work here.

Hess Brewing's new canning line at BrewExpo America

CANNING – There’d been a friendly race between San Diego breweries as to who would can their beer first. Hess Brewing looked to be in pole position but Monkey Paw Pub & Brewery surprised everyone by soliciting mobile canning company The Can Van to package 100 cases each of their Oatmeal Pale Ale, Sweet Georgia Brown and Rich Man’s IIPA right before the Craft Brewers Conference, and just in time to crash Blind Lady Ale House’s “Can Diego” event on May 2. Two days later, Hess Brewing’s 4-head automated filler from Wild Goose Canning Technologies, the MC250, was featured at the show; it too was delivered on Saturday. The line is capable of churning out around 32 16 oz. cans of beer per minute, depending on operator speed. And in another interesting local twist, CBO (Chief Brewing Officer) Mike Hess knew Wild Goose had another MC250 in tow, and suggested they go down to Monkey Paw to check things out; owner Scot Blair was impressed with what he saw, and wrote the check for the new line on the spot. Check out a video of the MC250 in action here, and view more pictures here.

The debate continues between cans and bottles. Last month, Lagunitas Brewing’s owner Tony Magee sounded off on the environmental impact of bauxite mining. Locals Latitude 33 simply asked followers their opinion on the matter. What do you think of cans vs. bottles?

Timetable and stops for Drink the Point - click for full resolution

Drink the Point will be the Ocean Beach / Point Loma equivalent of Uptown’s DrinkAbout. Two buses by Brewery Tours of San Diego will service a route that makes stops at several righteous craft beer destinations: Slater’s 50/50, The Pearl Hotel, Harbor Town Pub, Sessions Public, Raglan Public House, Newport Pizza & Ale House, and Pizza Port Ocean Beach.

The inaugural Drink the Point will take place tomorrow, May 9th,  and will occur on the 2nd Wednesday of the month from here on out. Buses will arrive every 30 minutes at each location starting at 7PM and lasting until 11PM. Rides on the bus are free, but please tip the drivers a buck or two.

While the bars/restaurants involved don’t want this to become a “booze-cruise”, there is a very real chance that it’s going to happen* (Slater’s alone has 100+ taps). Should your booze-cruise run into drunken waters, a night’s stay at the very swanky Pearl Hotel costs around ~$100.

It is events such as this that make San Diego’s beer community awesome!

*Please be civil. Nobody likes a drunk jerk.

Soon-to-be Brewmaster of Hillcrest Brewing Company David White wrestles with a tiger.

Last month I met with David White, partner and brew master of Hillcrest Brewing Company. The brewpub, currently under construction, is located on the corner of Normal and University. It will be the newest addition to the Shaw Group/Mo’s Universe. The group also runs the restaurant/bars Urban Mo’s, Gossip Grill, and Baja Betty’s – all within the Hillcrest neighborhood.

This is White’s first foray into professional brewing. Previously, he worked as a tiger trainer in Las Vegas until the economy crashed. After losing his career, he wrote up a business plan upon returning to his hometown Escondido. With seven years of homebrewering experience, he’s also a professional welder / contractor (before our meeting, he was welding together what will become rentalable kegerators). Seeing a neighborhood in need of a brewpub and possessing the wherewithal to make it happen, White took his business plan to Chris Shaw – the restaurantuer behind Mo’s Universe. Mo’s agreed to handle the restaurant/bar side of the business, with Joey Arruda from Baja Betty’s joining the project as partner and General Manager. White will be in charge of the small brewery within. White smiles when I remark on the awesomeness of his situation, happily admitting: “It is a dream come true.”

24 taps will consist of 4-12 house beers by way of 5-barrel brewhouse with four 7-barrel fermentation tanks. The remaining ~12 taps will be guest taps. And the beer names? Brain Lubricant American Strong, Crotch Rocket Red, Pearl Necklace Pale Ale, and Eighth Day IPA*.

One of his beers, Lucy’s Red, was named for his pet raccoon, Lucy. After becoming terminally ill, David presented Lucy with a grain buffet. She picked her favorites from the variety of grains, and her hodgepodge selection forged the recipie he now brews in her honor.

White cites Stone, Dogfish Head, Aztec, and AleSmith as inspirations for his recipes, and beer will be served in Honest Pints. There are plans to bottle, eventually. First, HBC hopes to get beers on tap at other bars in Hillcrest. The food will consist of  fired pizza from stone/brick ovens along with salads. The soft opening is May 22nd, a VIP Opening Reception will be June 11th (benefitting Being Alive)  and the grand opening will be on June 12th. The brewery will be located at 1458 University Avenue in Hillcrest.