On Thursday, July 8th, and continuing throughout the rest of the weekend, we'll be creating some special menu items to pair with the three World Beer Cup Gold Medal Award Winning beers from Ballast Point Brewing. They also won the Champion Brewery and Brewmaster award for the Small Brewing Company category. Cheers to local craft breweries everywhere!

Here are our planned small plate specials:
Braised Beef & Cabbage, paired with Piper Down Barrel Aged Scottish Ale
Spicy Grilled Fish & Cucumber Salad, paired with Fathom India Pale Lager
Vegetable Curry with Coconut Milk, paired with Sculpin IPA

And here are the beer details straight from the brewer:

Piper Down Barrel Aged Scottish Ale
The Ballast Point Brewing Company Bag Pipe Band was the inspiration behind this Scottish Ale. Pipe Major and BPBC owner Jack White wanted a moderate alcohol, low hopped and malty Ale to be enjoyed by the band. Using UK Maris Otter Malt, Roasted Barley (no Peated Malt), UK Hops and a three hour boil, we did just that. Now take that base beer and age it in Bourbon Barrels for genuine "Kentucky Flavor" and you have our 2010 World Beer Cup Gold Medal winner in the Barrel Aged Category!

Fathom India Pale Lager
Originally brewed for the 2003 Southern California Home Brewers Festival this "out of style" adult beverage has been a part of the Ballast Point’s five lager line up since 2005. Made with a "traditional" West Coast IPA recipe but changing out the warm fermenting Ale yeast with cold fermenting Lager yeast. Helping to get rid of any fruity Ale esters and taking advantage of the cleaner Lager profile. Allowing the Hop flavor and hop aroma to shine brightly! German Pilsner Malt, Warrior and Magnum Hops all add to this unique 2010 World Beer Cup Gold Medal winner in the Traditionally Brewed/Out of Style category!

Sculpin India Pale Ale
Inspired by our own Home Brew Mart employees Gold Medal success in the American Homebrewers Association National competition, we combined both a Single and Double IPA recipe with a few ingredients added by our Brewer to make this a truly “in house” collaboration. With the addition of Belgian Crystal Malts and Simcoe, Amarillo and Northern Brewer Hops a very tropical fruit forward aroma jumps out of the glass. Its lighter body helps balance the large amount of hop oils that give this beer a sticky, not sweet, mouth feel. Bronze Medal at the 2007 Great American Beer Festival in the Pro-Am category. Silver Medal at the 2009 Great American Beer Festival in the American IPA category. Gold Medal at the 2010 World Beer Cup in the International Pale Ale category!

In the meantime, Happy 4th of July everyone!

Join us next Thursday, February 25th at 7pm to savor the following locally brewed Belgian-style beers from Chuck Silva at Green Flash Brewery, paired with Rocketeer Chef Christy’s beer-inspired creations. As a bonus, Chuck himself will be stopping by to say hello during the meal!

Belgian Brown Ale with Winchester Gouda Cheese Balls rolled in Herbed Fallbrook Macadamia Nuts
Served with grilled Ciabatta Bread from our neighbors at Cardamom Cafe

Trippel Belgian Ale with Fresh Market Fish and Scallop Ceviche
Marinated with Citrus Juices, Red Onion, Cilantro and House-made Habanero Sauce

7th Anniversary Red Rye Ale with Duck Ballantine
Stuffed with Meganʼs Lamb served with Potato Croquettes and Roasted Local Organic Radishes

Le Freak with Cabbage Rolls
Cabbage leaves from Susieʼs Farm filled with California Brown Rice and Ground Berkshire Pork

Belgian Stout with Butternut Squash Mole
Local Organic Squash simmered in a Complex Sweet and Spicy Mole with Guittard Chocolate and Caffe Calabria Coffee

$50 includes all food & beverage. Seating is limited to 20. Reserve your seats today! 619-255-7049.

Some of you might have taken advantage of last month's Thursday DrinkAbout bus which shuttled you, free of charge, to the various beer bars and restaurants up and down 30th Street. Well, this new monthly event has been tweaked a bit so here is the updated info for you. The "beer bus" will run again this Wednesday, January 20th from 7pm until about 11:30.

Here is how it will go down. Each month, 2 lovely buses (by Brewery Tours of San Diego) will cruise a loop, stopping repeatedly at eight different craft-beer bars and restaurants. You are free to hop on and hop off wherever and whenever you desire, and ride as many times as you want, at NO COST TO YOU!

For our part, we'll have the following beers on tap:
* Lost Abbey Red Barn Ale
* Lightning Elemental Pilsner
* Ballast Point Victory at Sea Imperial Coffee Porter
* Airdale Altitude Pale Ale
* Ballast Point Calico Amber
* Ballast Point Sculpin IPA ON CASK

Here are links to the participating beer establishments.
Blind Lady Alehouse
Small Bar
Livewire
Toronado
Sea Rocket Bistro
The Station
Hamilton's
Ritual Tavern

And here are some more details for you...
*Buses will start running at Starting at 7pm and go until around 11:30, or whenever the last bus has reached the end of it's route.
*There will be 2 buses running consecutively, with no freeways involved.
* Buses will run on a set schedule in both directions (see below), rather than stopping and waiting for passengers to come out of restaurants in response to a bell like last time.
* The route is a loop going southbound from Blind Lady Ale House in Normal Heights to Hamiltons Tavern in South Park, stopping at all stops except Ritual on the Southbound. Ritual will be the only Northbound stop, in order to keep the bus on the right side of the street.

Also, check out the DrinkAbout Website and Facebook page.

Our friends up at the Blind Lady Alehouse in Normal Heights have organized a beer shuttle called the "Third Thursday Drinkabout" which starts tonight, December 17th. It's totally free, so all you have to do to take advantage of all the great local craft beers in the area is show up to one of the participating restaurants (SRB included) and hop aboard.

Celebrate our amazing San Diego Beers! Friday, November 6th through Sunday, November 15th is the first ever San Diego Beer Week.

All week long (well, 10 days actually), we'll be offering a special "Cooking with Beer" Prix Fixe Menu for just $30, which includes all food and beer pairings.