ARCHIVE / WEEKEND CRAFT BEER REPORT /San Diego Edition

2 STORIES: ROOTS TO BOOTS. BIKE TO WORK.

GUEST BLOG By Ryan Lamb, Executive Editor, West Coaster Craft Beer Magazine and Website, www.westcoastersd.com

IN HOUSE ENCOURAMENT--Colby Chandler,
specialty brewer with the Ballast Point Brewing Co. team,
is encouraging BP employees--like production
 staffer Kelly Tidwell—to come up with their own brews.

With the San Diego City Council declaring this week Ballast Point Week, it’s fitting that this Sunday each location (Ballast Point Little Italy, Old Grove & Home Brew Mart) will be tapping beers from the “research and development” department, aka Ballast Point’s newest brewhouse in Little Italy.

As part of the R&D program, run by Julia Cain, specialty brewer Colby Chandler has been bringing in Ballast Point employees to brew on the small system in an effort they’re calling Roots to Boots (R2B). “We’re working to get every employee in the brewhouse, and by the end of the quarter we’ll be close to 90%,” said Chandler. “I don’t know of any other brewery in the world that’s doing this.” As a former San Diego Brewers Guild President who travels extensively, that says a lot.

Nearly 80 different types of beers have been brewed in Little Italy over the last six months: ~35 R2B beers and ~45 R&D beers. Below is a list Ballast Point provided of beers that will be on tap Sunday, showing the wide variety of ideas that brewery staff have come up with:

Island Time, Coconut Macademia Nut Brown Trans Atlantic Belgian Triple, Belgian Triple

Cherry/Vanilla Milk Stout

Firkin Hoppy, English IPA

Dead Water Dubbel, Belgian Dubbel with Apricots

Unite Pale Ale, Cascade hopped Pale Ale

FNG (100% Brett fermentation) Brett IPA

Limon Woocello, Strong Cream Ale with Sorrento Lemon Zest

The Commodore, American Stout

Baltic Sea of Cherries, Baltic Porter with Cherries

Guac The Plank, Guac Saison

Wort Hogs, Session IPA

The Bearded Rose, Chocolate Raspberry Milk Stout

Foggy Head, Smoked Porter

Manta Ray w/Coffee, Milk Stout with Coffee

OG’s Mild, English Mild

Manta Ray, Milk Stout

Ball Tick C, Baltic Porter

Shore Leave, Cream Ale

Ginger Beerd, Green Flash Collaboration, (100% Brett fermentation) Brettoberfest with Ginger

Coral, Guava Wheat

Out of Town Brown, American Brown

Shakaboom, Double IPA

Sushi Biru, Rice IPA with Ginger and Wasabi

 MORE NEWS:

Saint Archer’s 1-year anniversary celebrations are coming up on May 24 from 12 – 7 p.m. $15 or $30 packages are being sold at the door (but aren’t necessary for entry). Visit this link for more info.

- Mother Earth and Benchmark will both be canning soon. MEBC recently bought a 12-ounce canning line, and they hope to have it up-and-running by August. Benchmark will be utilizing the services of Mobile West Canning to package beer by their anniversary at the end of June.

- Global Beer Network, the exclusive importer of 10 European beer brands, is throwing a nationwide series of parties and Pints for Prostates benefit events that just kicked off in San Diego this past weekend at Brabant Bar & Cafe. Upcoming events are being held at KnB Wine Cellars (May 16), Public House (May 17), Encinitas Ale House (May 19), and Hoffer’s Cigar Bar (May 23). Check out page 38 of our May issue for more info.

- Rip Current is working on a North Park tasting room (they’ll still brew in San Marcos), according to Peter Rowe.

- Blind Lady Ale House‘s owners won a bid to open an eatery in Balboa Park this summer, according to Candice Woo.

- Latitude 33 will begin contract brewing for Fat Cat Beer Company, according to Brandon Hernández.

- American Craft Beer Week begins today and goes through the 18th. On Saturday alone there are a multitude of events, including Butcher’s Brewing’s 1-year anniversary, Aztec 3rd annual Bacon & Brews, North Park Festival of Arts, Brew n’ Que with Coronado at South Park Abbey, and Walker’s Wild Ride around the uptown neighborhoods.

- Bike to Work Week also begins today. We asked a couple industry insiders to provide their favorite beer-y bike routes:

 - from Julie Wartell (PubQuest): My favorite bike ride would be along the Hop Highway (78) since there is a bike route/path, and you can jump on and off the Sprinter. There are so many awesome breweries to choose from (way too many in a single day ride) and we offer a map on our website. Another favorite route of mine is PB to South Park, up through North Park, and back again.

- from Michael Skubic (Mike Hess Brewing alum, Old Harbor Distilling founder)

Beer Track: Start off at Mike Hess Brewing and head down 30th to Upas to Pershing ride down and enjoy the scenic views of downtown, the new central library, the coronado bridge. The sketchiest part of this is going under the 5 freeway, you need to keep right, but take the left most route. This will get you to 16th and Monkey Paw. Enjoy something Cosimo made then head out towards Petco Park. I like to take the pedestrian bridge that goes over to the Hilton then ride all the way along the harbor (there is some serious construction going on at the port, so be careful and follow the signs) to Fathom Bistro. I might grab a bite to eat by this point because sitting out on the pier and relaxing after a brisk 11 mile trek is quite nice.

From there we head back towards NTC (a good time to swing by Stone too!) and ride along the inlet as far as we can. I prefer to avoid Rosecrans as much as possible, but you need to hop on for a few block to get to Modern Times. The steepest part of the journey is going up presidio. This is where you really earn all those beers. Head to BLAH and then finish up at TORO.

Cyclist’s Cocktail Track: Start at Polite Provision and cruise down through Hillcrest to Aeroclub. Swing down to the harbor and ride over to Tom Ham’s Lighthouse. Head back via the harbor and take the pedestrian bridge over near the Hilton to Petco to get to Monkey Paw. From there head up Pershing to Seven Grand then finally end up at Sycamore Den.

- from derek2Derek Humbard (LOVELIKEBEER)

I love the fact that San Diego offers year-round riding! My favorite longer ride involves taking the Coaster to Carlsbad and then riding south, hitting up Pizza Ports in Carlsbad, Solana Beach, & Ocean Beach.  It’s a 35 mile, beautiful ride down the coast combined with excellent pizza and world-class beers.  Another favorite and a little bit shorter ride that offers up some great views is to start off at Fathom Bistro for a pint on the pier overlooking San Diego Bay, then ride over the hill into OB (make sure you ride down to the end of Sunset Cliffs Blvd!), then over to California Kebab & Beer Garden in PB, be sure to try one of their in-house beers by Amplified, then ride around Mission Bay to Ballast Point (Linda Vista), this location always seems to have Habanero Sculpin on tap.  I’ll usually then ride home, unless I’m still thirsty, in which I’d do a quick stop at the awesome Modern Times tasting room.

Source: www.westcoastersd.com