{"id":3717,"date":"2012-02-08T17:20:57","date_gmt":"2012-02-09T01:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=3717"},"modified":"2012-05-09T14:02:41","modified_gmt":"2012-05-09T21:02:41","slug":"february-201-brews-in-the-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2012\/02\/08\/february-201-brews-in-the-news\/","title":{"rendered":"February 2012: Brews in the News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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10 lbs of Cascade hops in the mash tun<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brews in the News is a section of our monthly print issues that takes a snapshot of what’s brewing in San Diego beer. Here’s the February 2012 edition:<\/em><\/p>\n

WHAT\u2019S DEAN UP TO?<\/strong>
\nSan Diego Brewing Company<\/a> head brewer crafting beers for CBC\/World Beer Cup<\/strong><\/em>
\nOn January 27th, Dean Rouleau’s \u201cDouble IPA Belgian Grand Cru\u201d was born, and he plans on entering the beer at this year’s World Beer Cup held in San Diego. Rouleau steeped his creation in the mash tun using ten pounds of Cascade hops from local farm Star B Ranch, employed two different Belgian yeast strains, and will soon incorporate oak in some secret way. The expected release date for the public is currently unknown, but as soon as we know, so will you.<\/p>\n

OUR BREWS IN OTHER NEWS<\/strong>
\nSD #14 on <\/strong><\/em>NY TIMES<\/strong> list of 45 travel destinations for 2012<\/strong><\/em>
\nOnly four U.S. cities made the cut in the January 6th piece<\/a>, three of which are in California (Oakland #5, Tahoe #30). Karl Strauss Brewing Company, Stone Brewing Company and Hess Brewing got nods on the beer-creation side, while bottle shop\/tasting room duos Bottlecraft and the Pizza Port bottle shop were described as \u201cstaggeringly comprehensive.\u201d Hamilton\u2019s, O\u2019Brien\u2019s and Local Habit were rightfully denoted as \u201cbeer-obsessed.\u201d San Diego\u2019s home brewing roots were also referenced, as was San Diego Beer Week take four, coming in November.<\/p>\n

MORE NATIONAL NODS<\/strong>
\nDraft Magazine Article Hits and Misses<\/em><\/strong>
\nOn the cusp of its birthday, BLAH received its third consecutive nod in Draft Magazine<\/em>\u2019s annual \u201cAmerica\u2019s 100 Best Beer Bars\u201d<\/a> write-up. The same article falsely stated that Hamilton\u2019s (which made the list along with O\u2019Brien\u2019s) is \u201cthe oldest beer and wine bar in San Diego.\u201d Prior to Hamilton\u2019s opening in 2006, 1521 30th Street was Sparky\u2019s; a long-time, divey neighborhood watering hole. The tavern\u2019s website \u201cabout\u201d section even states that it\u2019s the \u201coldest beer and wine licensed location in San Diego.\u201d Although the magazine mixed up its facts, we do agree with one thing– it\u2019s one of the best places to drink craft beer in town. A big congrats to all three locations that made the 2012 list. (Note: Draft Magazine<\/em> also failed to mention Bar Eleven as a \u201csister\u201d location to Hamilton\u2019s, stating only Small Bar and Monkey Paw as related pubs.)<\/p>\n

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Spiced IPA brewers, l-r: Paul Sangster (QUAFF), Joe Casey (Widmer Brothers Brewmaster) and Chris Stawney (QUAFF) at KnB Wine Cellars on January 31st. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

COASTAL COLLABORATION<\/strong>
\nQUAFF and Widmer Brothers team up to brew Spiced IPA<\/strong><\/em>
\nA Spiced IPA recipe developed by members of San Diego homebrew club QUAFF is the fourth of five planned beers in the\u00a0Rotator IPA series<\/a>\u00a0by Widmer Brothers Brewing, which marks the Portland brewery\u2019s first nationally-released collaboration beer. Local homebrewers Paul Sangster and Chris Stawney brewed the winning recipe that was chosen in a blind tasting out of about 20 entries by QUAFF members. Spices used in this beer include malty Assam black tea, ginger, cinnamon, clove, star anise, black pepper, and cardamom. \u201cThe idea for this beer came from trying to integrate the interesting variety of spice flavors of chai tea with the fruity flavors of a West Coast style IPA,\u201d Sangster said. The beer was first released to the public at 9 p.m. on January 30th at Blind Lady Ale House following a QUAFF-only event.<\/p>\n

NEWEST ZEALAND<\/strong>
\nOwners of New Zealand-inspired Bare Back Bar & Grill open new Ocean Beach restaurant<\/strong><\/em>
\nFrom the team that\u2019s behind Bare Back Bar & Grill\u2019s downtown and Pacific Beach locations comes a new concept in Ocean Beach: Raglan Public House. Named after a similar beach town in New Zealand, the new restaurant\/pub features recycled barn wood from the old Santee drive-in theatre, garage door windows onto Bacon St., great burgers, and a 24 tap lineup just steps from the OB Pier. Doors open in February (1851 Bacon Street).<\/p>\n

CALI-CRAFTED
\n<\/strong>New brewpub coming to Pacific Beach
\n<\/strong><\/em>California Kebab, located on College Avenue across the street from SDSU, has been serving Doner Kebab-influenced flavors since 2009 along with a small but thoughtful craft beer selection. Now, they\u2019re opening a new location, California Kebab and Brewpub, steps away from the Pacific Ocean at 4150 Mission Boulevard. Amplified Ale Works<\/a> is the name of the brewing side of the operation, and Head Brewer and co-proprietor JC Hill says his 3 barrel system was one of the first sales of the newly-founded Portland Kettle Works in Oregon. Armed with two 7 barrel fermentors, Hill expects to fire up the kettle as soon as construction finishes; business partner Alex Pierson says that they\u2019re hoping for a late February soft opening.<\/p>\n

TASTING ROOM BOOM<\/strong>
\nMiramar-Sorrento brewery tract sees big changes<\/strong><\/em>
\nMoving from east to west: Ballast Point\u2019s Scripps Ranch<\/a> tasting room has undergone an extreme makeover, and a new tap tower is coming soon. AleSmith<\/a> held a soft opening for their revamped Miramar tasting room on January 19th, and a grand opening party looks likely for late February. Rough Draft Brewing is hosting a soft opening some time in February at 8830 Rehco Road, and you must follow them on Facebook for a chance to score a ticket – UPDATE: Rough Draft announced on their Facebook<\/a> that the grand opening is March 10th, 2011. The private invite-only party is the night before on March 9th.<\/strong> New English Brewing Co.<\/a>\u2019s tasting room opened January 26th just west of the 805\u2019s Sorrento Valley Road. The Explorer ESB tastes great pumped from the cask.<\/p>\n

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Fellow February birthday clubbers PubCakes (Kaitlin left and Misty right) at the Karl Strauss Changing of the Barrels event 2\/2\/12. The ladies created a special 23rd Anniversary PubCake for the occasion.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO… <\/strong>
\nKarl Strauss Brewing Company (23)<\/a><\/strong><\/em>
\nKarl Strauss is celebrating its 23rd Anniversary with the 2nd annual Changing of the Barrels event on their actual anniversary, February 2nd. On that day, the 23rd Anniversary Old Ale goes on tap at all six Karl Strauss Brewery Restaurants and select beer bars in Southern California; 22oz bottles will be available early February.<\/p>\n

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO…<\/strong>
\nPubCakes (1)<\/strong><\/em>
\nAlthough Misty Birchall began delivering her tasty beer-infused cupcakes to local bars in 2009, it wasn’t until February 2011 that she moved into a storefront with Treehouse Coffee Co. in La Mesa. One year later, she’s celebrating with a beer garden on February 18th from 11a.m.- 5p.m. More details are available on the PubCakes blog.<\/a><\/p>\n

HAPPY (BELATED) BIRTHDAY TO…<\/strong>
\nBlind Lady Ale House (3)<\/a><\/strong><\/em>
\nBlind Lady Ale House celebrated its 3rd Anniversary with a predictably odd and awesome six days worth of events. Besides commemorating the first beer it ever poured, Hangar 24, and, uh, upping the speed of a beer bar \u201ccrawl\u201d to \u201cCraft Beer Run,\u201d BLAH also raffled off a prize package that includes sweatshirts, t-shirts and more, plus the only growler fills available of Automatic Brewing Company\u2019s celebratory release, Three Speed Brown. All raffle ticket proceeds benefit Seeds at the City, the urban farm at City College.<\/p>\n

GETTING THEIR FOOTING<\/strong>
\nLocal homebrewers crafting Stumblefoot Brewing Co.<\/a><\/strong><\/em>
\nBill Randolph and Pat Horton began as self-taught homebrewers about 10 years ago, and now they\u2019re applying all the information they\u2019ve learned over the years to open a new brewery in San Marcos. The Stumblefoot name \u201cis a personification of the strides we have made in our brewing techniques,\u201d according to their website, and Randolph said that \u201cbecause we are building from scratch and scrap we are figuring out what else we need to pick up or make to improve the process (where application meets theory).\u201d The brewers plan to craft some interesting beers, including \u201can original\u201d Chipotle American Stout. When we know more about their tasting room opening, we\u2019ll blog about it.<\/p>\n

LIGHTNING STRIKES<\/strong>
\nPoway brewery picked up by distribution arm of Stone<\/strong><\/em>
\nPoway\u2019s Lightning Brewery was picked up by the distribution arm of Stone Brewing Company in January. Stone also distributes locals Iron Fist, AleSmith, Port Brewing, The Lost Abbey, and Coronado within Southern California. On a side note, Lightning\u2019s Old Tempest Ale has been re-named Old Tempestuous Ale following a cease and desist order from a winery. The beer is set for release in early February.<\/p>\n

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San Diego Brewers Guild Festival at Liberty Station, November 2011. "I want to do whatever we need to do to make sure it is a comfortable event and you don\u2019t have to wait in long lines to get a beer. So that is a big priority this year!" - SDBG President Marty Mendiola<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BEER WEEK BOOM<\/strong>
\nData from San Diego beer\u2019s biggest attraction<\/strong><\/em>
\nSurveys targeting out-of-towners during San Diego Beer Week showed a remarkable jump in hotel room stays over 2010\u2019s figures. 1435 room nights, or $179,734 in additional hotel revenue was recorded in 2010, while 2011 saw 3612 room nights equalling $469,307 in additional revenue. VisionQuest, a professional survey company, compiled this data. Also, both the opening and closing events of Beer Week sold out, with 500 VIP tickets and more than 2,800 general admission tickets sold for the Guild Festival; 450 tickets were sold for the Beer Garden closing event at The Lodge at Torrey Pines.
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Brews in the News is a section of our monthly print issues that takes a snapshot of what’s brewing in San Diego beer. Here’s the February 2012 edition: WHAT\u2019S DEAN UP TO? San Diego Brewing Company head brewer crafting beers for CBC\/World Beer Cup On January 27th, Dean Rouleau’s \u201cDouble IPA Belgian Grand Cru\u201d was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[596,597,595,593,592,566,599,733,589,598,594],"class_list":{"0":"post-3717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","7":"tag-amplified-ale-works","8":"tag-birthdays","9":"tag-cali-kebab","10":"tag-draft-magazine","11":"tag-new-york-times","12":"tag-raglan-public-house","13":"tag-rough-draft-brewing","14":"tag-san-diego-beer-week-2012","15":"tag-san-diego-brewing-company","16":"tag-stumblefoot-brewing-co","17":"tag-widmer-brothers","18":"entry","19":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-XX","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3717\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}