{"id":8976,"date":"2013-11-04T18:13:55","date_gmt":"2013-11-05T02:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=8976"},"modified":"2013-11-04T18:13:55","modified_gmt":"2013-11-05T02:13:55","slug":"alpine-heads-down-the-hill-for-beer-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2013\/11\/04\/alpine-heads-down-the-hill-for-beer-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Alpine Heads \u201cDown the Hill\u201d for Beer Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

As any craft beer fan in San Diego knows, beers from Alpine Beer Company aren\u2019t exactly the easiest to obtain.<\/p>\n

But every year during San Diego Beer Week, O\u2019Brien\u2019s pub in Kearny Mesa becomes Alpine central.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>On Friday night O\u2019Brien\u2019s kicked off Beer Week with \u201cAlpine Comes Down the Hill,\u201d an event featuring 12 Alpine beers on tap, including some beer typically not seen outside of the small brewery off Interstate 8 in East County.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat gets people so excited is they can get everything they can get at Alpine here without having to drive the 20 or so miles,\u201d said O\u2019Brien\u2019s owner Tom Nickel. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a relationship with Alpine since the beginning and we\u2019ve done an event with them every year of Beer Week. It\u2019s been great.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien\u2019s always has at least one tap dedicated to Alpine. But on this night they had a dozen, including Pure Hoppiness, Nelson, Duet, Captain Stout, Hoppy Birthday, Irish Red, Alpine Ale, Koffee Sutra, McIlheney\u2019s Irish Red, and Ichabod Ale. Making rare appearances were Keene Idea, a West Coast double IPA that has been characterized by some as a \u201cdouble Nelson,\u201d and Odin\u2019s Raven, a bourbon barrel-aged Imperial Stout.<\/p>\n

The tap list certainly attracted Alpine fans, as there was a line out the door for most of the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s harder to find an Alpine in San Diego than a Pliny (the Elder),\u201d said one bar patron, \u201cso it\u2019s great to see so many of their beers here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most Alpine beers were tapped at 5 p.m. and the Keene Idea blew in less than two hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it would go faster than that honestly,\u201d said Tyson Blake, O\u2019Brien\u2019s general manager. \u201cThey do a helluva a job. Anyone who drinks their beer knows they make hops their bitch. They use hops in inspiring ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>The O\u2019Brien\u2019s-Alpine relationship is a longstanding one. Nickel has known Alpine owner Pat McIlheney for many years, and Blake has worked with the Alpine crew since his days at San Diego Brewing Co. Blake shares the same birthday (April 29) with Pat\u2019s son, Shawn, Alpine\u2019s head brewer, and the two have celebrated together many times at O\u2019Brien\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure they get calls every day from bars that want their beer, so it does pay to have that relationship,\u201d Blake said. \u201cI think they enjoy the pub kind of feel and this enables them to offer Alpine down in the city in that kind of environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beer Week is always an exercise in logistics for bar owners. O\u2019Brien\u2019s usually features about 20 beers every week. But during this 10-day celebration, they will feature about 11-12 new beers every day, said Nickel.<\/p>\n

Alpine was just the beginning. And for Nickel, it\u2019s the best way to kick off Beer Week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe like opening Beer Week with them, and once you have a good thing going you like to keep it going,\u201d Nickel said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As any craft beer fan in San Diego knows, beers from Alpine Beer Company aren\u2019t exactly the easiest to obtain. But every year during San Diego Beer Week, O\u2019Brien\u2019s pub in Kearny Mesa becomes Alpine central. On Friday night O\u2019Brien\u2019s kicked off Beer Week with \u201cAlpine Comes Down the Hill,\u201d an event featuring 12 Alpine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"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":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-2kM","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8976","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\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8976\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}