For a long time, there was exactly one establishment holding down the craft beer fort in Kearny Mesa, O’Brien’s Pub. Founded by original owner Jim O’Brien in 1995 and later sold to former World Beer Cup brewing champion Tom Nickel, it helped set the standard for what a craft beer bar could be (especially one looking to cater to hopheads). Nowadays, Kearny Mesa is a hotbed of beery activity with a total of five breweries headlined by the likes of Societe Brewing Company and Council Brewing Company, and a recent influx of bars and restaurants offering quality beer. Even after more than 20 years in business, O’Brien’s is still leading the charge, this time with coordination of an initiative called the #convoyflight.
Similar to the urban core’s Drinkabout (and similar business-to-business drinking tour concepts in other communities), the #convoyflight will be a monthly event wherein a single brewing company’s wares are divided amongst a quartet of craft beer-centric establishments on Kearny Mesa’s Convoy Street thoroughfare, encouraging drinkers to visit all four in a single evening. The participating venues—O’Brien’s, Nolbu Mini Gastropub, Dumpling Inn‘s Shanghai Saloon and Common Theory Public House—are all within two blocks of each other, making for an easy, walkable crawl.
The inaugural #convoyflight will take place Tuesday, June 23, starting at 4 p.m. The featured brewery will be Kansas City’s Boulevard Brewing Company. All four spots will feature Boulevard’s new The Calling IPA (a double IPA that’s extremely fruity and quite nice), while the remainder of their lineup will be parsed out as such…
- Common Theory: Pop-Up Session IPA & Ginger-Lemon Radler
- Nolbu: Hibiscus Gose & Heavy Lifting IPA
- O’Brien’s: Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale, Love Child No. 5 (bottles) & Bourbon Barrel Quad (bottles)
- Shanghai: Saison-Brett & Ginger-Lemon Radler
Print-outs will be available at each venue, outlining the flight and allowing for the ceremonious x-ing out of all eight beers for sharing of one’s conquests on social media (using #convoyflight). Each beer will be offered for $2 per taste and Boulevard schwag will be available at all four locations. Future editions of the #convoyflight will likely feature local breweries.