MAXED OUT: Brewery Tour!

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Well, well, well. Looky who's back? Max with his first installment of MAXED OUT for 2012...

Well, HEELLLOOOOO there my faithful friends of the froth, how have you all been? I've been great, thanks for asking, and I'm back for more debauchery in this new and fantastic year. This is my first time writing in 2012 for Beers with Demo and I am pleased to bring you a wrap on what was one of the better beer tours that we've taken, which was just this past Saturday.

As some of you know and some have even attended, every six months or so I put together a tour of breweries that starts and ends at my bar, Hoffer's in lovely downtown La Mesa. In the past we have checked out such places as Green Flash, Alesmith, Stone, Ballast Point, and Port/Lost Abbey, which we added to the list again this time around. We also checked out Ironfist and a brand new nano-brewery called Aztec, both of which reside in.... errr... lovely? Vista, California.

So we loaded a 50 person stretch-limo bus complete with two stripper poles and a bathroom (BOOM!) with 45 drunkards and set off at noon this past Saturday. First stop: Ironfist. So, Ironfist has a pretty cool story behind it. When they first opened, some 2 almost 3 years ago, their head brewer was a ripe young 20 years old. Since it is illegal to brew at such an age his older brother took the credit for the beer for the first year that they were open. Kinda funny. Ironfist specializes in Belgian style beers with a West Coast angle. More than the angle, it's the accessibility that makes Ironfist a pretty damn good brewery. By accessibility, I really mean that they aren't crazy, over the top recipes like The Bruery in Orange County and Lost Abbey, who both take a pretty batty take on Belgian style brews. If you haven't had the opportunity to try any Ironfist delights, may I recommend the Velvet Glove Imperial Oatmeal Stout, Spice of Life Belgian Pale, or the Hired H nd Saison.

Somehow we got all 45 people back on the bus and headed to Aztec Brewery. One of the people on the bus, my friend Matt Wilson, is classmates with one of the owners and recommended we try them out. Thanks, Matty, great suggestion. While they are a young brewery that only self-distributes, I was shocked at the size of their brewery (pretty darn big.) Not only were the beers and size a pleasant surprise but they also had a Jamaican dude slingin' Jamaican food in front. They had a few really nice bourbon and tequila (ya, tequila) aged beers that were very interesting and not overly aggressive. But the highlight for myself, and several other people that I talked to, was their Chipotle IPA. Very interesting and like the barrel aged beers, was refreshingly unaggressive. Great job Aztec, keep up the good work. Oh, and if you want to try the Chipotle IPA, Hoffer's will be getting a couple kegs of it by next week. You're welcome in advance.

Our last stop on this here brew tour was the ever reliable Port/Lost Abbey located in... errr... lovely? San Marcos, California. My main man Andy surprised us all and had a tour lined up and waiting for us when we stepped off of the bus. THANKS ANDY!!! So we took a quick 20 minute tour of their facilities, complete with a brief history of the place and a concise yet educational description of how they make their beers, and split time making it between Port and Lost Abbey. Even I learned a thing or 2. I know, and you thought that I knew it all. Port/Lost Abbey is my personal favorite brewery I've ever been to, and if you haven't checked it out, I implore you. As for beers to check out if you get the chance? ALL OF THEM!!!

All in all, I had a great time and I think that most of the other people on the tour did as well. Stay tuned for the date of the next tour, which I'm thinking will be some time in mid-July. If you want a spot let me know in advance and I'll save a seat for ya.

Oh, and since I've already told you all my top 10 favorite beers of all time, a new addition to this new year will be a little segment I call THE BEST BEER I EVER HAD THIS LAST WEEK!!! So...

THE BEST BEER I EVER HAD THIS LAST WEEK: Chipotle IPA from Aztec.


Until next time my beer loving brethren, have a beer for me.

(ed. note: Familial obligations prevented us from attending what was this favorably received brewery tour.... We are not into Belgians but we are way into Iron Fist, if that is any indication regarding the quality of their beers.... If we can make a pairing recommendation: grab some sushi to go along with Spice of Life.... And Max wasn't lying about the brother combo. Our first exposure to Iron Fist was about 2-1/2 years ago and big brother Adrian was indeed passing himself off as the head brewer.... Reason #28 as to why San Diego is the craft beer capitol of the world: cheap real estate in which to set up shop in these charming little industrial parks in places like Vista and San Marcos)

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MAXED OUT: the best beer I ever drank

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It's Max's last blog post of the year so that means it's time for the great unveiling!

Huzzah! We made it through our first year together, y'all! We laughed. We cried. We bitched and moaned. And best of all, we DRANK GOOD BEER! Thanks for stickin' it out with me.


And now, without further ado, my FAVORITE BEER OF ALL TIME!!! Wait, no. I'm going to further ado for a moment and recap my previous 9. Which ones have you tried out of my top 9?


Ok, so we started the year off with Jolly Pumpkin's Oro de Calabaza, remember that one? The 'breakfast beer' that I'd love to drink every morning when I wake up. Who needs OJ? I'm not sure, but I think the next one was Hitachino XH, a sour brown ale from Japan. Delirium Tremmens was next, and is oft voted the "best beer in the world" by beer geeks. I had two IPAs on the list, my favorite of which is Pizza Port OB's Cho Saiko which is unfortunately rarely available. The other IPA being Ballast Point's Sculpin, which is just my go-to beer that is typically available year round. We also had the mouth-puckeringly sour St. Louis Geuze Fond Tradition that I had for my birthday at Toronado. FYI, we have that in bottle at Hoffer's as well. Moonlight Brewing's Reality Czech made the cut as my favorite pilsner, so next time you're in the Bay Area keep your eyes open. And the final of the best of the rest is actually the most similar to my numero uno which is Ballast Point's Victory at Sea, a huge Imperial Porter that tastes of coffee and vanilla and rainbows and magic. OK, maybe not rainbows, but magic for sure. Alright, that's it, my top 9.

And now! Now it is time to unveil. Gosh, seems like I've been building up to this moment for so long. I guess I kinda have, haven't I? You know, this one time that I was... Ok! Ok! I'll get on with it. Geez!


My absolutely most favoritest beer in the history of all things fermented is Stone's home brew collaboration winner from 2009. Ken Schmidt is a local home brewer and in Stone's first home brew contest he created a recipe that combined coconut, coffee and macadamia. Stone took it one step further and paired up with Maui Brewing Company out of... uh duh!... Hawaii. And used their kitchen to toast thousands of pounds of coconut. The elicited Kona Coffee Company for their freshy fresh freshest coffee beans, and threw in several hundred pounds of macadamia nuts. The result? Well, it's the best beer I've ever had. That's the result.


I was working at K&B Wine Cellars in Del Cerro when this beer first hit the market. The word of mouth was soooo huge that we had to limit the customers to 2 bottles a piece. But I worked there! HAHAHAHAH! Between my roommate and I, we racked up about 15 bottles. Maybe 20. Oh, and it gets better. About 6 months ago they released their Bourbon Barrel Aged version of this beer. They raffled off a few hundred bottles at $1 per ticket, all of the proceeds going to some Escondido cause of sorts, then sold the bottles at $25 each. Oh, and one of my best friends, one Joseph Ornelas happened to win! BBOOOOOOOYYYAAAAAA BBAAAAABBBBBBAAAAYYYYYY!!!!


I could go on about how limited it was and how you now have to spend some $75 on ebay to find one of the original 12oz bottles, but instead I am going to describe this little taste of heaven in a glass.


So, the thing that is most amazing about this beer is that it changes COMPLETELY with each passing moment. There are certain beers that gain complexity the more they warm up, and this one absolutely takes the cake. As it warms you start off with strong coffee notes with a little back end of coconut. All of the sudden the macadamia slowly drifts in, but never takes control of your tongue but simply adds a beautiful, slightly oily mouth feel. Towards the end of the bottle (which took me 45 minutes to drink the first time I had one at home) the toasted coconut, macadamia and fresh coffee seem to harmonize into a perfect rift that makes you want to some how ring the bottle out for the very last drops available. I really don't know how to describe the last sip of this beer when I first had it. It's like having really good sex for the first time. It's like the first time you catch a perfect wave. It was like.... MAGIC!!!!!!!! And a couple of Saturdays ago I had it side by side with the Bourbon Barrel Aged version. My head exploded. EXPLODED!!!


Oh, and just so you know, it's technically an 8.5% American Porter. Or as I call it THE BEST BEER THAT I HAVE EVER HAD!!!!


So there you have it, kiddos. My Top 10 favorite beers of all time, so far. But next year is another year with more beers to try and more blog posts to tell you about them. I'm going to take a couple weeks off so I can regroup and organize my thoughts but please, join me in 2012 for another amazing year of hops, grain and water! And a little teaser for this year to come: Oktoberfest in Munich. My favorite beer of the week. And much, much more! I'm working on it, guys.


As always, thanks for joining and COMMENT!!!


Until next time my beer loving brethren, have a beer for me.

(ed. note: We wanted to chime in with what we thought was our favorite beer of all time. We believe it was a one-off because they, unfortunately, do not brew it anymore (at least, that's what we think) but Speakeasy Ales and Lagers concocted a couple of years ago their Prohibition Amber Ale. It's classified as an American Amber/Red Ale but because of the amount of hops in it, it drank like an IPA. (And a quick check of Tap Hunter.com just now did not reveal any locales where it was being served). Don't ask us for any Max-like deets on flavor, notes, noses, sessionability or any of that faldoral... all we remember was that it was amazing and that we would walk a few miles if it meant wrapping our taste buds around one again.

Alright, gang. As Max said, he'll be taking a few weeks off here over New Year's and into January to re-charge the batteries. We sincerely hope you've enjoyed this regular feature of the Beers with Demo franchise.)

MAXED OUT: Riehm Family Values Tour

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Max and the Riehm clan Occupy Stone Brewery:

Sup chillins, how goes it? I know we are all deep in the holidays and you all have last minute Christmas shopping to do so I thank you for taking the time to join me on this, the second to last post of the year. I'm going to keep you all in anxious anticipation of my final submission of the BEST BEERS OF ALL TIME one more week, but let me just tease you a bit more. I just tried it again. Wow! But this week I'm here to talk about one of my favorite traditions that I have so humbly been invited to the past couple years: The Riehm Family Values Tour!

The past couple of years the Riehm brothers have gotten together at Stone Brew Co. up in Escondido in the middle of December with sons, nephews, friends, and, yes, last year an appearance by Papa Riehm, himself. I have infiltrated their family with my beer knowledge and unbridled charisma, and have been lucky enough to have been invited both years. This year Uncle Dean, Kent, B-Daddy, Nate, Orange County's Own Flying Tomato, Chris, Mr. Baugh, Toey, Justin and yours truly all made a man-date, crushed beers, grubbed on some deliciousness, some took a tour, and all had a great time (except for maybe Nate who was forced to Tebow several times throughout the afternoon.)

This is NOT a Stone bash. I'd like to start this next paragraph off by stating this emphatically. But now I am going to bash Stone. I've said it before and I'll say it again: $14.50 for Mac-n-Queso? You must be high! $15 for a BBQ Pork Sammy that barely has any BBQ, and the pork is dry? Shame on me. Duck Tacos where the meat could have just as easily have been chicken? Poo poo on you, Stone! I am grateful for the contributions that Stone has given to the community up there in Escondido but they are gougers. I just hope that when they open their brewery in Germany in a couple of years they don't destroy a schnitzel and charge 30 euros. That would look bad for all of us.

Their tap list was pretty good, not great. Oh, and once again they failed to offer any good Stone beers. Why is it that every time I go to the Stone Brewery I find myself drinking beers from every other brewery than Stone? That's like going to Alesmith and drinking a Pliny the Elder! Someone shoot me, now. No. Seriously. Shoot me.
Highlight: St. Bernardus Noel. St. Bernardus is a Belgian brewery and as with most Belgian breweries they call their winter beer a Noel.

After our time at the brewery Dean-o, Mr. Baugh, The Flying Tomato and I met up with a couple of our friends, Loren "Happy Hanukah"
Brent, and Cute Kimi at Churchill's up in San Marcos. This is known as one of the better beer bars in Southern California, and with their 50 taps, wasn't terrible. But I have to admit that I was expecting much more. I didn't find a single beer up there that I can't get at Toronado, and few that I can't get at my own bar, Hoffer's. Typically mediocre English style pub fare. The one highlight at Churchill's was the fooseball table! Yes. I am good at fooseball, and am glad that I played against Mr. Baugh before betting. He was ready to lay money down that he could beat me before we even played. Let's just say that first to 5 goals came quickly, and he wasn't the one to score 5 goals.
Not never. Now way. No how. Like I said, I'm good.

But all-in-all this is a tradition that I have been looking forward to since the last one. It was a bummer that younger brother Matty, bro-in-law Mark, and Papa Riehm couldn't make it out, but they had prior obligations, and hopefully they can make it to the next one.
Also missed Wayne and Jesse, but they were in Hawaii, so screw them.
I kid (kinda.)

A quick side note: It is the Christmas season which means Christmas beers are out there. They tend to have strong spices and woody (oak) characteristics. Belgian Noels will be sweeter, and typically higher in ABV. Notable XMAS BEERS! As mentioned before, the St. Bernardus Noel is great. As is the Delirium Noel. For American breweries I recommend looking for the Anchor Christmas. Also Winter's Folly by Green Flash is a slight change-up to the Christmas style, as it does what Green Flash does and throws a hoppy element to a Christmas beer, which I had never seen before.

Ok, I'm done. Join me next week when I round out my TOP TEN BEST BEERS OF AAAAAAALLLL TIIIIIIIMMEEEE!!!!!

Until next time my beer loving brethren, have a beer for me.

(ed. Note: We'll be perfectly honest: given our position as editor-in-chief of this blog, we have no idea what beer will be unveiled by Max next Thursday... And, yes, our love/hate relationship with the Stone brand continues: pretty mediocre tap line-up considering the Escondido locale is the mothership of the Stone empire and the prices they charge for their middling boutique-y fare is kind of a joke. So, why do we keep going back? Probably for similar reasons why we keep tuning in to ESPN. As much heartache as we have for a lot of their editorial slants and on-air talent, they're easy, accessible and we know what we're getting. There's something to be said for known quantities. Fancy that: Stone is the comfort food of the microbrew universe. Heh.)

MAXED OUT: FRANZISKANER HEFE-WEISSE

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Max's top 10 countdown continues...

Alright you crazy kids of craft, let’s get right down to the
nitty-gritty. I am at the tail end of my favorite beers of all time.
Let’s recap: Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza, Hitichino XH, Moonlight
Reality Czech, Delirium Tremmens, Ballast Point Victory at Sea,
Ballast Point Sculpin IPA, Pizza Port OB Cho Saiko, St. Louis Grand
Fond Tradition… and now, for the ninth and final before the final
final… we have… the beer that introduced me to good beer!

FRANZISKANER HEFE-WEISSE!!!!!!

This beer would never be in my top 10 favorite beers of all time
other than the fact that this represents the beer that brought me into
the community. This is MY ‘gateway beer!’ I KNOW! Now you all know
the secret behind the madness. You know the man behind the curtain.
You know Franziskaner is the beer that brought me to you.

Franziskaner is a 5% ABV hefe that features heavy clove. By clove, I
mean banana. It is a nutritiously delicious beer that brightens your
life with citrus and delightfulness. Do you all remember when I asked
you what a good breakfast beer was? This is the epitome of a GREAT
breakfast beer. This is the reason that you wake up in the morning.

OK. So I know a lot of you think that throwing a lemon/orange in
your beer makes it taste like delicious. WRONG!!! The way to do it
is to SQUEEZE the lemon into your beer and set the lemon to the side.
The reason for this is that the acid doesn’t overwhelm your beer when
you simply squeeze it into the beer. OK. Now you know. And as GI
Joe says, "knowing is half the battle".

Next week I will unveil it. Maybe. My FAVORITE BEER OF ALL
TIME!!!!!! Maybe. Tell me yours. I’m curious.

Until next time my beer-loving brethren, have a beer for me.

(ed. note: our favorite beer... Hmmmmm... gonna need to chew on that for a while. And do some refresher research. Can't let something this important be left strictly from memory.)

MAXED OUT: Lagunitas doesn't suck... at all

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Max mixing it up a little with some micro-brew folklorica.

What is new in the world of consumerism everyone? How’s the holiday
shopping going y’all? And an even more impending question, what did
you get me? NOTHING?!?!?!?! Well let’s change that, shall we? Oh,
and guess what December brings with it this year? My FINAL TWO on the TOP TEN BEST BEERS OF ALL TIME!!!!! But not just yet, kiddos. In the coming weeks I will be posting my final beer in the best other beers
(that didn’t make sense) and then comes THE BEST BEER OF ALL TIME!!!!
According to me, that is. I digress. Today I’m gonna give you a
little anecdote about this new beer that just hit the market and
should be a regular before too long here. Maybe.

So, have you all heard of a little brewery out of Petaluma, CA (the
Napa area) called Lagunitas? I worked side by side with these guys
for several years when I was distributing for Morris up in San
Francisco and the one thing that I can say about them is that they
are… how do I put this lightly? STONERS!!!! Every year they had a
party on April 20th, also known as 4:20, also known as the biggest pot
smoking day of the year. Shortly after they were shut down due to an
undercover raid of their “4:20” party, they came out with a beer called
Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shut-down Ale. This American
Strong Ale is 9.7% in ABV, and was meant to slap the cops that had
nothing better to do than send out a HUGE undercover investigation
about them allowing weed smoking at their brewery. Let me start, or
middle, by saying that I am not a fan of the sticky-icky. But, really?
A full-on undercover investigation for YEARS that led to a two day
shut-down of the brewery? Great use of taxpayers dollar dollar bills,
y’all.

So, these stoners make a beer once a year called Brown Shugga. This is also an American Strong Ale coming it at a whopping 9.99% ABV and
kicks you square in the teeth. So the story goes, this year they
totally forgot to make this beer. That’s right, you heard me. They
just straight-up forgot to brew the beer. When these guys finally got
off their bongs and figured out that they had seriously effed up, they
scrambled to come up with something to put in its place.

IPAs do NOT take a long time to ferment. Basically you throw the
beer in a keg, and three weeks later you are ready to rock and roll.
Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale is a 7.85% IPA that does anything but
suck. It kicks much ass. The rest of the story is that since they
forgot to brew Brown Shugga, they decided to call whatever beer they
made “Sucks.” Dean and I have had this debate several times. I
really do think that they are just a bunch of stoners that forgot to
brew one of their more popular beers. Dean thinks that they are just
marketing geniuses. Either way, this beer is one that you should
definitely check out. Such a nice dank, grapefruit, west coast IPA.
The best IPA that Lagunitas has ever brewed. I implore you to pick up
a 6-pack. If you can find it.

Look it up kiddos. Let me know what you think. Do you think that
they just forgot, or is this just another marketing ploy by the
“geniuses” at Lagunitas? I’m not entirely sold either way, but am
willing to hear arguments for both parties. Comments below, email,
facebook…. You know the drill.

Until next time my beer loving brethren, have a beer for me.

(ed. note: They may be stoners but knowing Lagunitas as we do as opposed to the manner in which Max knows them, we're not buying it. Despite their rep, these guys are just too savvy and brew such great beer for us to believe the "duuuuuude... like we just got totally bombed and forgot, man" excuse. Sorry, not buying it. As for the beer itself, it's our favorite beer right now. Hands down. We snagged the last sixer from KnB Wine Cellars and it was on tap at Hoffer's twice in the last few weeks but only for a few days each time such was its popularity as the clientele blew right through it as soon as it went on.)

MAXED OUT: Giving thanks

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Just in time for Thanksgiving Christmas, Max gives thanks for... what else?

Welcome back to the hood, kiddos! I'm so sorry that I've been away so long. Today I'm telling you the top five reasons that I'm thankful
for beer and boy oh boy am I thankful for the hops. Ok... here we go!


#5: The taste! How do I love thee oh hop Goddess o mine? Every day
I think about beer. I think of the hops, the malts, the everything
that consists of a tasty brew. Can I has you?

#4: The love! Why is the love so far down on the list? I don't know the answer to this question. What I do know is that I have loved few
people in my life, and the 2 that I have loved with feminine genes I
have met through jobs that I got through the hop vine. And I thank
beer for that.

#3: The smarts! Every time someone asks me what I know about
anything I direct them to my knowledge of beer. It feels so good!
Why do I love beer? Because I feel smart when I talk about it, that's
why.

#2: The money! I have made a living off of beer for the past decade
and believe that I will continue for the next ten years. My first
bartending gig was pouring beer, turned into a distribution job, then
back to pouring beer, and now here I am. Thanx, beer.

#1: The friends! If it weren't for beer I wouldn't know Dean. I
wouldn't be writing this blog. I wouldn't be able to hang out with
the friends that I do on the reg. I wouldn't be going to Europe next
Oktoberfest. If it weren't for beer I wouldn't have half of the
people in my life that I do. Thanks, beer.


This blog post was a lot more in depth but my friend/roommate Mr. Steele
decided to take my computer with him, and all of my words with him.
So this is a half-assed attempt to get you all on my good side again.
What are you thankful for this holiday weekend?

Until next time my beer loving brethren, have a beer for me.

(ed. note: As for us?)

Some things just needed to be stated as such.

The 1st annual Beers with Demo meet'n'greet confab open thread

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As of this posting, we and Max are down at Pizza Port OB soaking up award-winning beer, great pizza and enjoyable fellowship.

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A pre-emptive hope that you can make it down there to hang out with us.

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MAXED OUT: the missing article open thread edition

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We think the young lad thought he had the week off. When it comes to beer drinking and beer appreciation around here, it's a 52 week a year undertaking. It may not be easy but we never.... never shy away from challenges.



Hey, just a reminder: this Saturday from 2-5 come hang out with the Beers with Demo staff at Pizza Port OB. The joint is kid-friendly so bring the cheap labor. Look for a Dodgers ball cap and flaming reddish-orange hair.

MAXED OUT: Victory!

Max gets back into his top 10...

Oh hey! Didn’t see you there! Welcome back to the Thunderdome, my colossus clowns of the cone (hop,) and for this week’s topic I’ll be getting back into my TOP 10!!!! (applause.) So a quick recap:

Hitachino XH, Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza, Pizza Port OB Cho Saiko, Ballast Point Sculpin, St. Louis Geuze Grand Fond Tradition, Moonlight Reality Czeck, and Delirium Tremmens have all made the cut, which
means that we’re down to the final three! YAY! Oh, and don’t forget, these are in NO particular order… that is until the final post of this year in which I will unveil my FAVORITE BEER OF ALL TIME!!!!

Is everyone as excited as I am for good ol' numero ocho? Saweeet!
Drum roll please. The eighth beer on my top ten favorite beers of all
time is Ballast Point’s Victory at Sea Imperial Porter. At 11% this beer is a dark and delicious bomb of chocolaty, vanilla, coffee goodness that makes me do the happy dance every time I try it.

Think dark, thick and delicious. Sos this
past week, as some of you know, was beer week, and Toronado had
Ballast Point night on Monday. Around ten of my friends (including
Dean) attended, and tried several different vintages (years) and
barrel agings of this fantastic beverage. Victory at Sea 2010, 2011,
2010 Bourbon Barrel Aged on Nitro, 2010 Bourbon Barrel Aged with
Vanilla Bean, etc. etc. Which one was the best? ALL OF THEM!!!!
They were all so fantastically unique and delightful that I really
didn’t have a “favorite.” I enjoyed them all so much that I implore
you to go check them all out. NOW! GO! SERIOUSLY!!!

Victory comes out once per year, their coffee beans coming from Café
Calabria (on University and 30th) and this year’s vintage was just
released a couple of weeks ago. So run, don’t walk to your local
liquor store and check to see if they have it. If you are lucky
enough to find it, do yourself a favor and grab a few bottles. It is
one of those beers that you can definitely age for at least a couple
of years and it will only get better. Delicious and nutritious!

Until next time my beer loving brethren, have a beer for me.

ed. note: Though we are not huge porter or stout fans, the Victory at Sea is mighty tasty though we think we would burn out on all that chocolately and coffee goodness after a single pint. Also, our recommendation of a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream into a half pint of Victory was met with the derision we reserve for those wishing to put A1 steak sauce on a perfectly good ribeye. There are certain things you just don't do and with Victory fans, making a Victory float is one of them.... Hey, just a reminder: next Saturday, the 19th, at Pizza Port OB between the hours of 2 and 5 will be Beers with Demo's first annual meet-up with Dean and Max. PP is kid-friendly so get those soccer games and chores out of the way and chill with us before the hustle and bustle of the Holiday season is upon us.

MAXED OUT: San Diego Beer Week, Baby!

No introduction needed. You all know the drill.

Hello, cutie pa-tooties! How ya be? I’ve realized that I’ve been on a little bit of a rude streak lately (have you come to expect anythingless?) So today I’m gonna be nice. No, I swear! I’m gonna be on
good behavior!

So raise of hands…. Who here has heard of San Diego’s Beer Week? Oh,
you have? Well aren’t you so cool? Hipster! No, but in all honesty, all of you who have never heard of SDBW let me tell you, you are
missing out… UNTIL NOW!!! You’re welcome! So this Friday marks the
beginning of the third annual San Diego Beer Week in which most of the
beer bars throughout our fair city take part in tapping some of the
finest brews from this fair city, and country, and world.

Ima keep this week’s post short and just let you know that you MUST
check it out. Go to the website here and check out this week’s events. A heads up, I will be at Hoffer’s on Friday (tonight) for our “Best Of” tap list, and at Toronado this Sunday for the total tap takeover and Monday for the Ballast Point night. Come play?

Hit me up if you wanna join or have any questions about any of the events.

Until next time my beer loving brethren, have a beer for me!

(ed. note: And do you want to know the coolest thing about Beer Week? There's so much awesomeness contained therein, it simply cannot be fit into one calendar week rather it is spread out over 10 days (Nov. 4-13). Did we say coolest? You bet we did.... To help you sort things out, the good folks at WestCoasterSD have chosen 3 worthy events for each day of the "week", here... Oh, second coolest thing: even when Beer Week is over, you can still drink beer! And you can still drink many of the excellent beers featured during Beer Week that haven't tapped out yet.... A final note on the Great American Beer Festival back in September: San Diego County walked away with 20 medals. More than any other state except California (duh) and Colorado)

MAXED OUT: What's so "great" about it?

Proving that in the world of microbrews, there are no sacred cows...

Welcome back to the Sandlot, you silly sons-a-men and women. Thanks for stopping by for another diatribe from yours truly. I’m going to
keep this week’s banter to a minimum so you can do some homework!
YAY! I know how much you’ve all been dying to get back to the grind
with the old h-dub. It’s not really homework, nor is it a
requirement, it’s just more for your own personal gain. Ok, enough
dilly-dally, let’s get to this week’s topic.

The Great American Beer Fest or GABF as we in the beer biz know it,
is a four day festival held in Denver every year celebrating the best
that America has to offer in craft beer (and other.) So I really only
have one bone to pick with the GABF; WHY ARE THERE 84
CATEGORIES!?!?!?!?! That’s right, 84 freakin’ categories.

An example of why I don’t like the GABF: Pabst Brewing Co. won more
medals than Alesmith (2) and Alpine (0) combined. I’m sorry, could
you repeat that?!!!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Holy crap in a can!
That’s right, Pabst Brewing won 4 medals. FOUR!!!! I’m sorry, but if Pabst wins that many medals… wait…. No…. if Pabst wins any medals, you may just have too many categories. Just sayin’. Also, Alesmith IPA won an award for American-Style Strong Pale. No, that’s an IPA. THAT’S AN IPA!!!!! Holy crap in a can Batman! Oh, and my favorite (least favorite) thing that happened is that the Imperial IPA from
Epic Brewing won the silver medal for the Imperial IPA category. Oh,
why is that my favorite thing that happened? THEY ARE FROM UTAH!!!!!!
UTAH!!!! Wait, let it sink in. UTAH!!!!!!! HOLY S*#@!!!!! Not crap in a can, S*#@!!!! Sorry Dean! It just needed to be said.

Highlights consist of Port Brewing winning over 20 medals. That’s all.

Here is the full list of winners.

Check it out and let me know what you guys think. By the by, a
brewery from UTAH won the best Imperial IPA category. UTAH!!!! Was a
bus driver from China judging this category? Too soon? Too soon?

Until the next time my beer loving brethren, have a beer for me.

ed. note: If Pabst wins any medals, the problem isn't the number of categories, rather you have a definite problem figuring out what is and isn't good beer. GABF disgraced themselves. Never should have happened. Never.

MAXED OUT: Pet Peeves

Max warned us last Friday this was coming. He needed to get a few things off his chest, so oblige the lad, won't you.

What’s the haps my party people? Welcome back and thanks for
joining. I’m feelin’ a lil’, how do you say, FEISTY today! It’s a
gloomy Wednesday afternoon and I am about to get crazy up in this
joint. Today’s topic is my personal pet peeves when it comes to bars.

I’ve talked about what tics me off when it comes to how people act
whilst at bars, and order, and actually tend said establishments but
today ima going to talk about the actual patrons that attend these places.
This might actually be a two parter seeing as though I have A LOT of
people that piss me off at bars. Ok, you ready? Let’s do this!


I don’t know that I can put these in any particular order, seeing as
though I despise most of the rejects equally, but I know that people
that bring dogs into bars drive me absolutely crazy. They drive me
ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!!!!!! I know people love their dogs like they’re
their children (foreshadowing) but guess what…. I DON’T! If you bring some stupid little rat-looking chihuaha in your purse, fine. Just
keep it in your bag, Paris Hilton.

But these people that bring their
Labradors or Hounds to bars should be tarred and feathered. Are they
spending money? No. Are you buying them a drink? No. Are they
driving your drunk asses home? No. Then why the hell are they taking
up valuable real-estate? WHY? What chaps my hide more than bringing your stupid drool monkey to a bar? When they aren’t on a LEASH?!?! Are you hiiiiiiigh? I mean, come on. That’s just completely
inconsiderate. I don’t care if it’s inside or outside, dogs just do
NOT belong in bars. Ever. NEVER EVER!!!!!


I’d promise to calm down and stop shouting at you, but I don’t want
to lie to you. So the second thing that drives me crazy at bars is
KIDS!!!! Holy crap, should these parents be blind folded and beaten to
death with wiffle ball bats? I don’t care if some place serves food,
if it is primarily known as a bar (The Neighborhood and Toronado to
name a couple) and/or there is a door man at ANY point then please
call a baby sitter. A quick little anecdote for y’all. My friends
and I went to a game down at Petco Park a couple of months ago and
after the game, we all went to this bar and pizza place nearby.

I can’t remember the name of the place nor does it matter because it
sucks, so don’t worry about it. Well, there is a bouncer at the door
checking everyone’s IDs, we’re drinking, playing pool, eating pizza,
ya know, spending money when all of the sudden, this couple walks in. With them they have a stroller with TRIPLETS around a year old.
AAAAAAAAAND a six year old. Well, my friend and I go outside for a
smoke when the six year old walks over and starts squirting us with a
squirt gun. I love kids, so I play along and have fun with it.
That’s when my friend Loren comes out. Uh oh. So the kid walks up to Loren and gives him three straight shots right in the face. I lose it
because I know the wrath that is about to be unleashed on this kids
parents. I’ll just summarize the conclusion for you and tell you that
the phrase “put him on a leash” was used, and Loren was not allowed
back inside. But I have to admit, while I had fun with it, that kid
should not have been allowed in and probably should have been on some
kind of a leash. It was right after a game, right by the ballpark,
and there were a lot of drunk people there. Not OK. Oh, and if you
DO bring your kid to a place like that, please don’t ask me to put my
cigarette out. I will blow smoke in your and their faces. So the
moral of the story? DON’T BRING YOUR KIDS TO BARS!!!! Stupid.

Next on the list, and probably Deano’s topper are people that order
WATER!!! Holy crap, if you order water at a bar you’d better be the
DD. Otherwise I’m taking a sock full of nails and giving you a clean
swipe across the face. If you go to The Neighborhood for the food,
you’re a tool and should probably have your drinking rights taken
away. I absolutely HATE those people. I’m sorry, did you need some
water with your truffle popcorn? So that’s bad, right? But when Dean
told me about the time that he couldn't get a seat at Alpine Brew Co
because there were a bunch of bicyclists that had made a pit stop for
some tasty grub I almost lost it. This is valuable real-estate
people! So you spandex wearin’ jagoffs decide to stop off at
ALPINE?!?!?... I’m honestly having a hard time with my words right now
because only cuss words are coming to my mind. So just imagine a ton
of expletives laced throughout this paragraph. And if you DO ride
your bicycle as a hobby, more power to ya. I think that that’s
awesome and I’m jealous of your moxy. Just stay the hell out of
Alpine Brew Co. Take your mammal toes elsewhere.

While I have a ton of other people that should just fall off of the
planet, I will end this tirade with one last group. People that wear
their sunglasses inside should automatically have cyanide pills
slipped into their drinks.

I do have to say that this category does not SOLELY include people that wear sunglasses inside. If you can
IMAGINE someone wearing sunglasses inside, cyanide it is. You know
the type, the Jersey Shore looking idiots. The guys that wear
sleeveless shirts in winter with torn jeans and snake skin shoes. Yeah,
those troglodytes. You know, the guys that order WATER WITH CUCUMBER
IN IT!!!! Or cosmopolitans! I want to stab them with a spoon. In
their manginas! What? Too far? I think not, my friends, THEY go too
far.

Phew, thank God that’s over. I was starting to get a little hot
under the collar. So who irks you when they show up at bars? And
don’t say smokers. I don’t need/want to hear it. Drinking and
smoking is like peas and carrots. Abbott and Costello. Beer and
pretzels. Deal.

Until next time my beer loving brethren, have a beer for me.

(ed. note: OK, everyone just take a deep breath. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Just to clarify: we have no problem with water drinkers, per se. However, as the real estate adage goes: location, location, location. If you are at one of the most phenomenal beer locales on the planet and which also has very limited seating as is the case with the tap room at Alpine Beer Co. and you order water, you are in gross violation of all that is good, proper and decent.... Oh, and this probably isn't the greatest of timing but we and Max are thinking about having a Beers with Demo meet-up with Dean and Max sometime in November. Shooting for Saturday, November 19th later in the afternoon. Where? Pizza Port Ocean Beach... because it's kid-friendly, of course.)

MAXED OUT: Sculpin

Maxipher dives back into his top 10 with a fine, fine choice.

Alright, my bevy of beer drinking beauties, thanks for joining me for another installment of debauchery. The topic of this week’s article? BACK TO THE TOP 10! I know you’re all so excited! Okay, let’s recap, shall we? So so far we have Jolly Pumpkin’s Oro de Calabaza, The Hitachino XH, Pizza Port OB’s Cho Saiko, Delirium Tremmens, The Geuze Grand Fond Tradition, and Moonlight’s Reality Czech. Am I missing anything? I think not. Okay, here we go!

So number seven on the list, in no particular order, is Ballast
Point’s Sculpin IPA. I was really trying to change up my list and not
involve two beers from the same category but with the amount of money
I have put into Ballast Point’s pockets over the past year due to this
beer alone forces me to include it to the list. Sculpin is a
sublimely well- balanced IPA (India Pale Ale for those of you new to
the program) coming in at 7% ABV (alcohol by volume) and 70 IBUs
(International Bitterness Units.) The bartenders at both The
Neighborhood and Small Bar even stopped asking me what I wanted and
just pour me a Sculpin when I walk in the front door. That tells me
two things: 1. I go to these bars too often. And 2. THIS BEER IS
FREAKIN’ GOOD!

So, I am sitting outside of Toronado San Diego as I write this on a
rare Wednesday off for me. It is around 90 degrees outside and I am
dealing with the heat in the best way possible; by crushing a couple
of Sculpins. Boo ya!

So what does Sculpin do for me? Well from what I understand Sculpin
blends four different hop strains, which is a lofty endeavor in its
own rite. It has a lovely deep golden hue to it with bubbles slowly
drifting to the top. This beer is NOT over the top in any way. It
has a well balanced hop flavor that is never overwhelming. It is
always well-carbonated and never over-carbonated. One of the best
things about Sculpin is the fact that, even when it warms up, it never
gets too skunky. This cannot be said for many IPAs out there. To me,
Sculpin is the PERFECT warm weather beer. It’s also a great cold
weather beer. It’s also a great mild weather beer. So, I guess what
I’m trying to say is that Sculpin is a great beer. Ballast Point
does not do a ton of great stuff, but the stuff they do great is
truly great.

I am now seven beers into my top ten and there WILL be another
Ballast Point entry. There will also be a Stone beer, so I guess I’m
a little San Diego-biased, now that I think about it. But alas, we
are in the greatest beer city in the world, I live here, and, oh yeah,
DEAL WITH IT! Speaking of the San Diego beer scene, stay tuned next
week when I wax poetic on Port Brewing, and the copious amounts of
medals that San Diego won at the last Great American Beer Festival, or
GABF. I will be collecting accounts from first-hand survivors,
talking about the beers that did win metads (that I’ve had) and
shunning the beers that did win medals that should never win anything.
Should be fun.

Until next time my beer loving brethren, have a beer for me.

(ed. note: Alas, Max top 10s a beer we can give a complete unqualified endorsement towards as Sculpin is indeed one our absolute favorite beers as well. And one of the best things about it is, as unlike others in the top 10, you don't have to go all Indiana Jones in order to track it down, rather stumble into about any reputable establishment in town as it is that available. Don't believe us? Check out Tap Hunter.com. It's at 41 locations here in the San Diego area. 41! Is life great or what?

And we're glad Max will have something to say about the GABF that went down a couple of weekends ago in Denver as we were going to blog about it ourselves. Spoiler alert... San Diego kicked ass... again! But you've been conditioned to expect that, no? To reiterate, we are the micro/craft brew capital of the world and you are certainly entitled to your right to object, Portland, Boston and Denver/Front Range, but you would be wrong so just deal with it. You're all a pretty distant second.

MAXED OUT: Oktoberfest

Brother Maximus with a seasonally-relevant post:

Alright you crazy kids, after a week’s hiatus I’m back with a
vengeance. Come get some! So this week we shall talk fall beers, and in particular, Oktoberfest beers. What should you be drinking this,
my favorite season? Oktoberfest ales, Marzens, and pumpkin beers, of
course. 'Tis the season to get sloppy!

So what is a Marzen? Marzen is actually a direct translation from
German to English meaning March, as in the month. Before
refrigeration, brewing tended to end before summer, typically in the
month of March, due to bacterial concerns, hence the Marzen. As you
hopefully know, beer takes a while to ferment, so Marzens are brewed in
March and are typically available towards the end of summer/beginning
of the fall. They tend to be darker in color, similar to a nut brown
ale, and earthy in flavor with a nice bitter bite on the end. When
you think of an Oktoberfest beer 9 times out of 10 you’re thinking of
a Marzen. Sam Adam’s? Marzen. Sierra Nevada? Marzen. Firestone?
Marzen mixed with a Vienna Lager aged in oaked Chardonnay barrels.
WOAH! I know. We have it on draft at my joint and it’s as WOAH as it sounds. Check that bad boy out.

For the fall, I recommend seeking out Abbey ales, Belgian Strong ales,
Barley wines, and anything else with a strong ABV and a rich flavor.
North Coast’s Brother Thelonious is a 9.4% ABV Abbey ale that has a rich caramel flavor with a boozy finish. These past couple of days have been crappy and rainy and cloudy and cold, and I LOVE those days. I wish that my big boy duties of work were not in play because I
would have loved nothing more than staying in bed all day/night with
my girlfriend, watching cheesy movies like Army of Darkness and The Labyrinth, and pounding down a Brother Thelonious or 12. But alas, this was not meant to be. If you’re in the market for a Barley wine,
which is actually a sweeter, boozy beer, check out Alesmith’s Old
Numbskull. And if you’re looking for a nice bottle of a big Belgian
Strong ale, just go for old faithful and grab an Arrogant Bastard from
Stone Brewing. Or better yet, grab the Oaked Arrogant Bastard,
available in the six-pack year round. Drink a sixer of Oaked and tell
me that hair doesn’t grow in places that you never thought it could.

There are very few Pumpkin ales out there these days, but a
few of my faves tend to be Shipyard's Smashed Pumpkin, which is a 9.25% Pumpkin ale that is pumpkin and cinnamon in YOUR FACE!!!! For the lighter side of things there is Dogfishead's Lil' Punkin' which is like a nice little slice of pie down your gullet. And our local yocal Manzanita Brewery has a nice Pumpkin ale that I recommend you all try as well. DO IT, DAMN IT!


So guys, tell me what you like to drink on cold, rainy fall days with
your loved ones. Is it a nice whiskey? Is it a nice Chianti? Or
Commander, is it a nice glass of warm milk? A glass of water sans ice
perhaps? Don’t get crazy on me now.

Until next time my beer loving brethren, have a beer for me.

(ed. note: We've never had much luck with Pumpkin Ales... we may need to expand our hop-centric palate and take up Max's suggestion of Firestone's Marzen... Our favorite cool weather drink? Well, we were able to attend a Mezcal tasting event a couple of weeks back and let's just say that we may have acquired another vice)

MAXED OUT

If anyone has a Max sighting, please let us know.

MAXED OUT: Beers in the mail

Max assures us that he will be getting around to the mail bag soon... unless he didn't... we're not quite sure. Until then...

Welcome back to the mental institution my fun loving friends, how the
hell are ya? Today on Maxed Out, I will be putting on blast the act of
buying beer on Ebay and trading beer online. Why is this even an
issue? Well I’ll tell you! Don’t get ahead of me. Geez. Ok, here
we go!

The selling of craft beer on Ebay is not necessarily a new thing but
a growing concern for some breweries. Greg Koch, the CEO and Founder
of Stone Brewing recently released a bourbon barrel aged version of
one of his collaboration beers. He numbered each of the bottles and
held a raffle, vowing that anyone who sold the bottles online would
automatically be disqualified for future raffles. At first, I didn’t
understand why this could be an issue for the brewery. I just thought
it was a rash move by Mr. Kock…. I mean Koch. Dean gave me a good
reason that this could be an issue, and I have thought of a couple
since then. So the reason that Dean gave me was that if you were to
ship a beer it might lose its luster, its pizzazz, its gravitas so to
speak. Sure. It may. But what did you really expect? YOU BOUGHT A
BEER ONLINE!!!!

So Ebay sucks. I mean, kinda in general, but especially when it
comes to beer. While I think that Greg Koch is a total DB, I don’t
think that he is entirely in the wrong. Buying an amazing beer on the
west coast and selling it to someone on the east coast is a brilliant
idea. TRADING it is even better, and something that I’m hoping you’ll
check out.

There are two websites to check out when it comes to this:
tradebeer.com as well as beeradvocate.com. A good friend of mine just traded some pretty mediocre San Diego beers for some pretty freakin’ awesome beers from Odell’s Brewing Company out of Fort Collins,
Colorado. I mean he got hooked up! And it didn’t really cost him
anything. SCORE!

Oh, and one more thing. I have had a lot of friends drive up to
Oregon, or Northern California recently. Or even fly up and drive
down. That sounds neat. Listen to what I am saying now, though.
Bring San Diego beers with you. Send them if you have to. They don’t
even have to be amazing, just decent San Diego beers. They are as
good as gold. If you don’t drive up, ship them up to where you will
be staying! Trust me, I’m a professional.

So what did we learn today, kids? Don’t buy beer online. Lame.
Trade beer instead! Sweet! And take San Diego beers with you if you
are going to good beer towns. I know what I’m talking about.

Until next time my beer loving brethren, have a beer for me.

ed. note: Yes, buying beer online is totally lame and we're still skeptical of trading as there would seem to be a lack of control on both the age and heat factors which as you all know are the death of good beers. How-evah (comma) we are, as Max advised, big fans of travelling with, as in, travelling with great San Diego beers to share with friends and soon-to-be-friends abroad, especially on road trips. As an example, whenever we go river rafting on the Lower Kern, we always tote along in the cooler some of San Diego's finest up to Kernville and the folks at Kern River Brewing Company. Sharing and caring: it's good for business, it's good for the soul. How can you go wrong?

MAXED OUT: Late Night

So what do the Cosby Show, chocolate stouts and terry cloth all have in common? You're about to find out.

How do you do my people? It’s late and I’m tired so I’m here to give
you a brief description of a good late night beer after a long hard
day of drinking and/or working. If my eye lids allow me to, that is.

So what does one drink after a long night of partying or working? I
have a great idea! A BEER! Some peoples out there like to indulge
with a nice glass of wine. Others with a chilled glass of scotch. I
say phewey! Do yourself a favor and go for the good stuff. Beer is
the way to go right before bedtime.

Reason numero uno that beer is the right decision: lower alcohol
content. Let’s not get all hammered right before bedie-boo. I’m not
really looking to get crunked, but sometimes I just need something to
ease the nerves before I lay my head down to sleep, ya know? A glass
of scotch and I don’t even get to “Call me Ismael.” Just sayin’.

Numero dos is the flavor. Have you ever had a nice glass of Cab
right after brushing your teeth? It tastes like the underside of cow
dung. And trust me, that ain’t good. But have you ever had a nice
chocolate stout after the brushing of one’s teeth? Delicious? Yes.
Nutritious? Sure, why not.

So what beer should you have late at night? Like I previously
stated, gimme a stout. Gimme a porter. Gimme a Maui Coconut Porter
and I’m a happy camper. I can feel good about brushing my teeth,
cozying up to the Mrs. (that’s right kiddos, Maxed Out is off of the
market. Sorry.) in my finest terry cloth linens and I am set for the
evening. Put on an old episode of Seinfeld or the Cosby Show and
bliss has been achieved.

Beers not to have before hitting the hay: Any of your Coors, Miller,
Bud, Hefs…. Anything with a lot of wheat or corn. The reason? Gives
ya the toots! Stick to the good stuff kiddos, that’s what I’ve been
saying since day one.

Ok, so this has probably been the most juvenile and LAME Maxed Out
ever. I have written you all a really good insight on the shipping of
craft beer but ran out of time due to the extensive research that I
have been doing. I have also been on the lookout for the next beer on
my top 10 but have yet to receive confirmation on its exact release
date. Stay tuned. I will, however, let you know that it is a porter
from a San Diego-based brewery and that it should be released sooner
rather than later. At least that’s what I’ve been told.

Until next time my beer loving brethren, have a beer for me.

(ed. note: did we not tell you the kid could offer up advice both practical and aesthetic?)

MAXED OUT: freaking hipsters

Work schedule and recent events here in San Diego have thrown off our blogging just a bit. We'll be getting caught up over the weekend on some stuff and to help us do it, here's Brother Max on beer and some culture-watching.

'Sup my faithful flock of froth fanatics? Welcome back to my house
and thanks for joining. Today I am going to wax poetic on hipsters
and their affinity for beer and why it pisses me off/makes me laugh.
Be forewarned, if you are a hipster you will not like this/love it.
BOOM! Lets kick start this juke joint.

hip-ster -noun, Slang
1. person who is hip
2. hepcat
(dictionary.com)

hipster
Hipsters are a subculture of men and women typically in their 20’s and
30’s that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive
politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity,
intelligence, and witty banter.
(urbandictionary.com)

I’m not gonna lie, I was kinda hoping that urban dictionary was going
to blast hipsters a little more than they did. Oh well. The ironic
thing here is that I fall into this group of people, although I think
I’m very much on the fringe. So why put a group on blast that I can
be lumped into? Don’t worry baby birds, daddy’s gonna feed ya.

So the joke goes something like “I knew about that band before they
even existed.” Hipsters are kinda known for their silly mustaches (I
used to have one,) their vests (I own several,) their skinny jeans
(not really my thing,) and riding their fixed gear bicycles (not for
me.) They’re known for knowing about things before they become main
stream. And I don’t know if you’ve caught on yet, but craft beer is
becoming main stream. DAMN YOU HIPSTERS!

Ok, so the main reason that hipsters, and I’m talkin’ the hipster
hipsters. The hipsters that know they are hipsters and revel in it.
Those hipsters. The main reason that hipsters upset me slightly is
because for the past several years I have listened to them talk about
how much they consume, love, and know about beer. Then this skinny
jean, newsboy hat sportin’ dill weeds go to the bar and order Pabst
Blue Ribbon. EVERY TIME! It drives me absolutely batty. Don’t get
me wrong, PBR on a hot day at the beach or at a park is totally fine
by me. But when you go to a place that has good to great beer on
draft or in the bottle I’m sorry, PBR is NOT ok.

I really don’t have a whole lot more to say about the situation, and
I’m sure Demo is going to put me on blast in the editor’s note but I
just had to get this off of my chest. Hipsters please, take your PBR
and enjoy it, just don’t put your stupid faces anywhere near my
beautiful craft beer. You’re giving it a bad name. Oh, and shave
your stupid little mustaches. They look silly. No, really. They
look silly.

Until next time my beer loving brethren, have a beer for me.

(ed. note: Blast? Us? Must be thinking of someone else. We have touched on this subject before with respect to hipsters and the beer scene here in San Diego in which they reside: San Diego's many fine beer establishments tread a fine line between geekery and snobishness. It's great to be totally geeked-out over your beer but it's totally not cool to have a condescending attitude towards anyone who thinks they're getting their hop on for cracking into a Shock Top Belgian White or some other such similar poser micro-brew. It's all about education and it's all about the love.

MAXED OUT: Welcome to San Diego

What's the latest on the beer scene here in San Diego? We'll allow brother Maximus to let you all in on the recent goings-on.

What’s new in the world, you crazy kids? San Diego breweries, that’s what’s new. We all know that San Diego is saturated (in a good way)with breweries, from Alpine to Stone, Port to Alesmith, San Diego Brew Co. to Mission. Why not throw in a few more! Fine by me. In the next few months we will be adding a few more to the list and I
couldn’t be more excited.

One of the more popular beer bars in San Diego is Hamilton’s, and the
owners of Hamilton’s have recently opened other beer bars in the city,
such as Small Bar and Bar Eleven. Well a couple of weeks ago they
added their 4th entry into the San Diego beer scene in the form of
Monkey Paw on the corner of 16th and F downtown. It took over the spot where The Jewel Box used to be, just a few blocks away from El
Dorado and San Diego City College.

Of course I had to check it out
for research for y’all, so this past Monday I stopped by for a couple.
It was nice. They have a limited food menu, the usual suspects on the
beer list (very similar to Small Bar and Hamilton’s) as well as hard
liquor and a decent bottle list. To tell you the truth, it’s pretty
much a total combination of Small Bar and Hamilton’s. Oh, and what I
have yet to mention is that they have already begun brewing their own
beer. I don’t have any deets on when they will be tapping their first
tasty brew, but it should be pretty soon. So stay tuned cuz this
guy’s gonna be the first ta letchya know.

Lee Chase is a former assistant brewer for Stone, and the current
co-owner of Blind Lady Alehouse, down on 35th and Adams, which is a
pizza joint and great beer house. The concept of Blind Lady is
freakin’ fantastic! PIZZA AND BEER! HAZAAAAA!!!! Execution? Holy
crap, did they miss the boat on that one. You’d think it easy, right?
Pizza and beer, how do you eff this one up? Welp, they did. Don’t get
me wrong, the place is always freakin’ busy as hell. You just won’t
find a tall, handsome, blonde guy named Max (it’s me) in there. Pizza
is too salty and “artisanal” with like fennel and truffle oil and
shitaki like that. A brotha can’t just get a freakin’ slice of pep?

Oh, and don’t get me started on the ordering process. JOKE! I
digress. The aforementioned co-owner, Mr. Lee Chase, is one of the
younger brewers out there with a ton of talent. He has recently been
brewing in the back of Blind Lady, and his “brewery” is called
Automatic. I haven’t had the chance to check out any of his beers
yet, but the reason that I’m adding him to the new breweries
thingamajigger is because he’s opening a new bar and restaurant on the
corner of 30th and El Cajon Blvd. I hope it’s a departure from Blind
Lady and am unsure of the name as of it at this moment but once again, I’ll
keep y’all posted. Oh, and they are to have Automatic beers on on the
reg.

Finally we come to the juicy goosey. El Cajon Brewery, coming soon to a theater near you. Or is it? Sos there is so much to say here
that I’m going to take a deep breath. One moment please...

...Ok, I have collected my thoughts. Thank you for your patience. El
Cajon Brewery has been “almost open” for about a year now. Some two
or three months ago the Mayor of El Cajon even gave them some 350,000
dollars to assist in the opening. Never mind the fact that the Mayor
of El Cajon is the father of the owner. PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN
BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!!!!!! So any day/week/month now there will be a
brand new brewery in the heart of El Cajon! Really? That’s where you
want to open a freakin’ brewery? Okie dokie! I have heard a couple
of different things on their beer. I have heard that they are opening
with 40 drafts, 18 of them being their own beer. I have also heard
that they are opening with 40 draft beers and only a couple of them
being their own to start. Either way, get on down to good ole
downtown El Cajon sometime before 2015 and there might just be a new
brewery! YAY!!!

Thanx for joining kiddos! I’ll keep you posted on when these three
places open/start producing beer, and of course I’ll do some of the
research for you and let you know if they’re worth checking out. I
know, I know, I’m a giver. Comments below, Facebook, email me at
maxamilliondollars@gmail.com.

Until next time my beer loving brethren, have a damn beer for me! Or two!

(ed. note: There was an extensive article in the San Diego Union-Tribune a few weeks back on the redevelopment efforts of downtown El Cajon questioning the wisdom of pouring so much public fundage into that area. They even specifically mentioned El Cajon Brewery but amazingly, neglected to report out on the Mayor-son angle... agree with Max on Blind Lady - the communal, Pizza Port-like picnic table set up is cool but they're way too geeked-out on the food. The pizzas are just terrible. It's like licking a salt cube and what's really artisanal about that?.... Monkey Paw is the anti-El Cajon Brewery. You heard just a quiet buzz about the place and then, boom! ... they're open for business, pouring beers and slingin' hash over the transom.)

MAXED OUT: Gueuze Fond Tradition

Brother Maximus, getting back on track and countin' it down...

Welcome back to the Thunderdome my sultans of swig, I’m back after a week off for my birthday. Yes, it was an entire week of research for this here blog. You’re welcome. Oh, and you can send any birthday
presents to Hoffer’s Cigar Bar: 8282 La Mesa Blvd. La Mesa, CA
91942. Kthanks!

And I’m back with a vengeance. Today I’m breaking back into my top
10 beers of all time, and this one is a doozy! St. Louis Gueze Fond
Tradition, which is brewed by a Belgian brewery that I’m not even
going to attempt to spell. Not worth your time, nor mine. Let’s get
right into what a gueuze is, and why THIS is my fave, shall we?

So what is a Gueze? Do you remember back when I told y’all that
there are basically three different types of beer? Do you remember
what they were? Lagers/pilsners, ales, and lambics/wilds. I knew you
guys would remember. Like I always say, you’re so smart. Well how
they make a gueze is they combine 2 lambics, one a little older and a little wiser, and the young upstart. They blend these 2 beasts together,
typically age it for a couple 2-3 years and bam! Gueuze!/b>

Now gueuzes fall into a category that we in the beer industry call
sour ales or sour beers… or just plain old sours. The reason for this
is because THEY ARE FREAKIN’ SOUR!!!! I do not recommend that any of
you newbies start out just yet with sour ales. It has taken me a while
to get here, although I do think that it’s a little easier to jump
into sours when you are a hop head like myself (meaning I love me a
good IPA.) So why this gueuze? Aaahchlow me to exchplain.

It comes in a rather pricy cork and wired bottle at about 18 ounces.
You can smell the sour notes as soon as the first drop spills from the
glass, it’s faint orange color dancing in the sun. It gives off very
little head and evens out with a very faint pinkish orange color.
Very light. The nose has a very strong sour, lemon, faint apple,
acidic-like vinegar, and a little dash of HELL YES! Now the taste?
Holy crap in my pants!!! Hits ya in that mouth like ya just shoved an
entire bag of sour patch kids in your face. With every sip there’s a
jowl bustin’ good time to be had. A lot of the same flavors come
through in the flavor as they do in the nose. Tart lemon, apple, nice
and acidic but doesn’t give you acid reflux like some sours can. Or
at least it didn’t the last time I tried it. Oh, and I forgot to tell
you the best/worst thing about sours in general. They take a long
time to drink so you don’t tend to get drunk very fast. You can slow
sip a sour for hours. And the Fond Tradition is only 5% ABV!

Now this will be a first for me: I do not recommend this beer! I
mean, if you like sour beers then I totally recommend this beer.
Howeva! Comma! If you have never tried a sour this is just not the
beer for you. If you are interested in trying and entry level sour, a
lighter sour, if you will, Duchesse De Bourgogne is a great starter.
A little on the sweet side, but a good starter. If you want to jump
into a straight sour beer that’s a little lighter but not sweet (which
is what I tend to like) the Cuvee Rene is a great, light option.

So ya, there ya go! The Gueuze Fond Tradition, the next notch on my
belt of best beers I’ve consumed. As always, thanks for putting up
with my ramblings and you know where to comment.

Until next time my beer-loving brethren, have a beer for me.

(ed. note: Sours are definetely hit or miss with us and certainly a beer for which one has to be in the "mood")