Best Beer Weekend Ever (San Diego Trip) - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

im2smrt4u · 09-16-2007, 08:13 PM

Since eating and drinking are so closely related to cooking, I figured this would be the place for this. If not, please move it to a better place.

Alright, this weekend was the best two days for beer I've ever had in my entire life! My fiance and I went to San Diego for my birthday, and it was awesome! Yesterday, we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park (where the serve Stone Pale Ale) and spent most of the day there. Afterwards, we went to Holiday Wine Cellar in Esconditio. Picked up some real good stuff there that I can't find in the Inland Empire, details to follow. After a short stint at our hotel, we headed off into San Diego and went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for dinner. With little to choose from in beer, I got a Pinot Grigio with my lobster bisque and a Cabernet with my Ribeye. After dinner, we went back to the hotel, she got a cocktail and I got the worst beer of the weekend, a pint of flat Pyramid Hefeweizen.

In terms of beer, today started off much better than yesterday finished. My fiance surprised me with a Stone Ruination IPA t-shirt for me and an Imperial Russian Stout shirt for her to wear to Stone later that day. Around 10AM went to a very large BevMo location in San Diego and picked up more good stuff. Missed out on the 1.5L bottles of Chimay Blue, but found everything else I was hoping for. We then headed off to Stone Brewery, much earlier than originally expected. We arrived at about noon, and the first tour wasn't until 2PM, so I got a glass of Stone XI Anniversary and we sat down for bunch. We split the BBQ Duck Tacos and the Buffalo Burger along with a side of Arrogant Bastard onion rings. I got a pint of Oaked Arrogant Bastard, as well as a real beer float with vanilla ice cream and Stone Smoked Porter. We both dug into the real beer float, and after we were done we walked through the garden outside the bistro.

We browsed the gift shop while we waited for the Brewery tour to depart. Picked up some Arrogant Bastard hot sauces and a Smoked Porter BBQ sauce! Yum! The tour guide showed up and got everyone together and into the brewery. Very cool place, very clean, and very nice looking. They talked about what is in their beer (no adjuncts of course), how beer is made, showed off all the cool equipment, and showed us all the packaging equipment. At the end, we got to drool over all the vast stores of beer in the cooler just before we got to try some Stone brews. We had Stone Pale Ale, Smoked Porter, IPA, and Arrogant Bastard Ale, in that order, from the growler filling bar inside the gift shop. Good stuff if you can find it in the bottle, but even better on tap!

After that, it was time for our real reservation at the Bistro. We hadn't planned on eating their twice in one day, but I'm glad we did! We started with the braised beef hand rolls (yes, like sushi!) and a bowl of Ruination IPA garlic and cheese soup. The soup was VERY bitter as I was warned, but very good anyway. The hand rolls were incredible, I only wish there were more! Having had my fill of strong, hoppy beers for the day, I got a set of four tasters: Paulaner Pils, Avery White Rascal, and a Hard Apple Cider and another Pils that I can't recall the makers of. Great brews, especially the Paulaner Pils. For dinner, we had their HUGE steak for two with the cous cous, green beans with mushrooms, and Indian style okra. Not quite Ruth's Chris caliber steak, but an incredible meal at half the price! The dinner was capped off with another float, root beer this time.

After that, we hit the road for home. After we got back, I unloaded my beer haul and took this pic:

From Left to Right:
Brewery Bosteels Pauwel Kwak Belgian Strong Pale Ale
Cobra Krait Prestige Champagne Lager
Lost Abbey Judgment Day Belgian Strong Dark Ale
Sprecher Abbey Tripel
Pyramid Imperial Hefewizen (x2)
Avery Maharajah Imperial IPA (x2)
Port Brewing Hop 15 (x2)
St. Bernardus Belgian Tripel
Victory V-12 Belgian Quadrupel
St. Bernardus Abt 12 (60th Anniversary Limited)
Brewery Bosteels DeuS Brut Des Flandres 2002 Champagne Lager

I have come home a bit fatter, lighter in the wallet, and with the biggest grin on my face EVER! A good weekend for beer to say the least!

EDIT: Got more pics uploaded from the trip:

Arin and Me:

Enjoying a glass of Oaked Arrogant Bastard in the Garden:

My beautiful babe in a Stone Imperial Russian Stout shirt:

The start of our tour and tour guide:

Fermenting tanks:

Bottling line:

Lots of beer ready to ship:

The cold case, including someintersting looking casks:

Starkizzer · 09-16-2007, 09:15 PM

Oh honey! Not quite what I had intended for this weekend to be all about lol. I wanted this to be the best birthday weekend ever. But I guess with how much you love beer, if it was the best beer weekend ever then that means it was the best weekend ever. Please don't drink those all in one night, you'll snore so loud it'll wake the whole apartment complex.

snowy · 09-16-2007, 09:43 PM

Stone Brewing! Awesome shit. I LOVE when they come to our local watering hole for distributor night--they bring us kegs of limited editions and special reserves. Last year they brought a keg of the oak-aged Arrogant Bastard. Delicious and it will knock you on your ass.

I'd find out if Stone does any special events in your area, and haunt your local fine beers emporium for special releases--they've done a couple special releases of Arrogant Bastard worth trying.

Sounds like a fun weekend to me! And I feel bad about the flat Pyramid hef...that's a decent hef if served correctly. I got to go to the Pyramid Alehouse for a tour for my 21er (courtesy of my parents, no less)--a brewery tour I highly recommend. Another brewery worth checking out: Rogue Brewing in Newport, OR. If you haven't tried Rogue's brews beyond Dead Guy, please try to find some 22s. If you like stouts, they have several to tempt your palate. I like the chocolate stout and the Shakespeare stout. Yum. But my favorite is their Chipotle ale. Smoky, spicy, and balanced.

Prost!

im2smrt4u · 09-16-2007, 09:54 PM

Trust me, I'm no stranger to Stone's Special Releases. I've got quite a few I'm holding onto for a while.

teflonian · 09-16-2007, 10:49 PM

You must be a beeradvocate as well im2smrt4u, I just saw your post over there! I love Stone's bistro! I went with my wife at the beginning of the summer and some great food. I don't think I saw many of the dishes you ordered on the menu, but wish I had as those sound great. However, everything I had was excellent as well. We finished off our meal by ordering one of their jalapeno, blueberry, blue cheese slices of cheese cake, and while I have to admit the flavors wera a bit strange all together, it was a very enjoyable dish.

im2smrt4u · 09-16-2007, 10:53 PM

Yep, I'm on BA too.

What did you have aside from that crazy sounding dessert?

robodog · 09-17-2007, 06:52 PM

If you guys ever get out to Cleveland you have to check out two places, Buckeye Brewing's Beer Engine, they have ~25 beers on tap at a time including 4-6 from the brewery itself, these rotate out almost weekly so the beer menu is printed on register tape. The food is also great, the fries must be made with lard they taste so good and then they put garlic and herbs on em. The other interesting beer tasting experience is the bar's namesake, the beer engine. This is a tap that uses something similar to an old fashioned well pump instead of the typical nitrogen powered kegs so you get just the natural effervescence of the beer, they typically have two beers on cask .

The other must drink spot is Great Lakes Brewing which has some nationally known brews including one of my very favorites, their christmas ale which has a nice cinnamon and nutmeg flavor. The food at the westside location has varied over the years depending on the head chef, lately it's been quite good.

honorable mentions:
Thirsty Dog, their Beer Cheese soup is incredible.

Wulfgate · 09-17-2007, 07:52 PM

A couple beers I recognize in there but many that I don't. The ones I do recognize are awesome though, so I bet the rest are as well. A good hearty selection I would say!

And Happy Birthday!

im2smrt4u · 09-17-2007, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wulfgate

A couple beers I recognize in there but many that I don't. The ones I do recognize are awesome though, so I bet the rest are as well. A good hearty selection I would say!

And Happy Birthday!

Read about them all online, so I am breaking new ground for myself. Lots of folks say it is all good stuff, so hopefully they are right!

Starkizzer · 09-17-2007, 10:03 PM

Wish I liked beer well enough to share his adventure. I guess I'll just enjoy watching him get tipsy, always ends in "great fun" for me!

teflonian · 09-18-2007, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by im2smrt4u

Yep, I'm on BA too.

What did you have aside from that crazy sounding dessert?

A great take on Indian curry, their version of potato chips, and a couple of good beers including their 07/07/07 epic ale. Everything we ordered was very good and unique (but nothing topped that crazy cheese cake).

im2smrt4u · 09-20-2007, 04:56 PM

Got more pics uploaded and added to the original post.

teflonian · 09-20-2007, 10:16 PM

Cool pics! You guys certainly look like you took advantage of the beautiful grounds they have there.

I second the "interesting casks". I wonder what they have aging in those things!

09-16-2007, 08:13 PM	#1 (permalink)
im2smrt4u Beer Aficionado Location: Rancho Cucamonga, CA	Best Beer Weekend Ever (San Diego Trip) Since eating and drinking are so closely related to cooking, I figured this would be the place for this. If not, please move it to a better place. Alright, this weekend was the best two days for beer I've ever had in my entire life! My fiance and I went to San Diego for my birthday, and it was awesome! Yesterday, we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park (where the serve Stone Pale Ale) and spent most of the day there. Afterwards, we went to Holiday Wine Cellar in Esconditio. Picked up some real good stuff there that I can't find in the Inland Empire, details to follow. After a short stint at our hotel, we headed off into San Diego and went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for dinner. With little to choose from in beer, I got a Pinot Grigio with my lobster bisque and a Cabernet with my Ribeye. After dinner, we went back to the hotel, she got a cocktail and I got the worst beer of the weekend, a pint of flat Pyramid Hefeweizen. In terms of beer, today started off much better than yesterday finished. My fiance surprised me with a Stone Ruination IPA t-shirt for me and an Imperial Russian Stout shirt for her to wear to Stone later that day. Around 10AM went to a very large BevMo location in San Diego and picked up more good stuff. Missed out on the 1.5L bottles of Chimay Blue, but found everything else I was hoping for. We then headed off to Stone Brewery, much earlier than originally expected. We arrived at about noon, and the first tour wasn't until 2PM, so I got a glass of Stone XI Anniversary and we sat down for bunch. We split the BBQ Duck Tacos and the Buffalo Burger along with a side of Arrogant Bastard onion rings. I got a pint of Oaked Arrogant Bastard, as well as a real beer float with vanilla ice cream and Stone Smoked Porter. We both dug into the real beer float, and after we were done we walked through the garden outside the bistro. We browsed the gift shop while we waited for the Brewery tour to depart. Picked up some Arrogant Bastard hot sauces and a Smoked Porter BBQ sauce! Yum! The tour guide showed up and got everyone together and into the brewery. Very cool place, very clean, and very nice looking. They talked about what is in their beer (no adjuncts of course), how beer is made, showed off all the cool equipment, and showed us all the packaging equipment. At the end, we got to drool over all the vast stores of beer in the cooler just before we got to try some Stone brews. We had Stone Pale Ale, Smoked Porter, IPA, and Arrogant Bastard Ale, in that order, from the growler filling bar inside the gift shop. Good stuff if you can find it in the bottle, but even better on tap! After that, it was time for our real reservation at the Bistro. We hadn't planned on eating their twice in one day, but I'm glad we did! We started with the braised beef hand rolls (yes, like sushi!) and a bowl of Ruination IPA garlic and cheese soup. The soup was VERY bitter as I was warned, but very good anyway. The hand rolls were incredible, I only wish there were more! Having had my fill of strong, hoppy beers for the day, I got a set of four tasters: Paulaner Pils, Avery White Rascal, and a Hard Apple Cider and another Pils that I can't recall the makers of. Great brews, especially the Paulaner Pils. For dinner, we had their HUGE steak for two with the cous cous, green beans with mushrooms, and Indian style okra. Not quite Ruth's Chris caliber steak, but an incredible meal at half the price! The dinner was capped off with another float, root beer this time. After that, we hit the road for home. After we got back, I unloaded my beer haul and took this pic: From Left to Right: Brewery Bosteels Pauwel Kwak Belgian Strong Pale Ale Cobra Krait Prestige Champagne Lager Lost Abbey Judgment Day Belgian Strong Dark Ale Sprecher Abbey Tripel Pyramid Imperial Hefewizen (x2) Avery Maharajah Imperial IPA (x2) Port Brewing Hop 15 (x2) St. Bernardus Belgian Tripel Victory V-12 Belgian Quadrupel St. Bernardus Abt 12 (60th Anniversary Limited) Brewery Bosteels DeuS Brut Des Flandres 2002 Champagne Lager I have come home a bit fatter, lighter in the wallet, and with the biggest grin on my face EVER! A good weekend for beer to say the least! EDIT: Got more pics uploaded from the trip: Arin and Me: Enjoying a glass of Oaked Arrogant Bastard in the Garden: My beautiful babe in a Stone Imperial Russian Stout shirt: The start of our tour and tour guide: Fermenting tanks: Bottling line: Lots of beer ready to ship: The cold case, including someintersting looking casks: __________________ Starkizzer Fan Club - President & Founder Last edited by im2smrt4u; 09-20-2007 at 04:55 PM..

09-16-2007, 09:15 PM	#2 (permalink)
Starkizzer Hi floor! Make me a samwich. Location: Ontario (in the stray cat complex)	Oh honey! Not quite what I had intended for this weekend to be all about lol. I wanted this to be the best birthday weekend ever. But I guess with how much you love beer, if it was the best beer weekend ever then that means it was the best weekend ever. Please don't drink those all in one night, you'll snore so loud it'll wake the whole apartment complex. __________________ Frivolity, at the edge of a Moral Swamp, hears Hymn-Singing in the Distance and dons the Galoshes of Remorse. ~Edward Gorey

09-16-2007, 09:43 PM	#3 (permalink)
snowy Kick Ass Kunoichi Location: Oregon	Stone Brewing! Awesome shit. I LOVE when they come to our local watering hole for distributor night--they bring us kegs of limited editions and special reserves. Last year they brought a keg of the oak-aged Arrogant Bastard. Delicious and it will knock you on your ass. I'd find out if Stone does any special events in your area, and haunt your local fine beers emporium for special releases--they've done a couple special releases of Arrogant Bastard worth trying. Sounds like a fun weekend to me! And I feel bad about the flat Pyramid hef...that's a decent hef if served correctly. I got to go to the Pyramid Alehouse for a tour for my 21er (courtesy of my parents, no less)--a brewery tour I highly recommend. Another brewery worth checking out: Rogue Brewing in Newport, OR. If you haven't tried Rogue's brews beyond Dead Guy, please try to find some 22s. If you like stouts, they have several to tempt your palate. I like the chocolate stout and the Shakespeare stout. Yum. But my favorite is their Chipotle ale. Smoky, spicy, and balanced. Prost! __________________ If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

09-16-2007, 09:54 PM	#4 (permalink)
im2smrt4u Beer Aficionado Location: Rancho Cucamonga, CA	Trust me, I'm no stranger to Stone's Special Releases. I've got quite a few I'm holding onto for a while. __________________ Starkizzer Fan Club - President & Founder

09-16-2007, 10:53 PM	#6 (permalink)
im2smrt4u Beer Aficionado Location: Rancho Cucamonga, CA	Yep, I'm on BA too. What did you have aside from that crazy sounding dessert? __________________ Starkizzer Fan Club - President & Founder

09-16-2007, 10:49 PM	#5 (permalink)
teflonian Appreciative Location: Paradise	You must be a beeradvocate as well im2smrt4u, I just saw your post over there! I love Stone's bistro! I went with my wife at the beginning of the summer and some great food. I don't think I saw many of the dishes you ordered on the menu, but wish I had as those sound great. However, everything I had was excellent as well. We finished off our meal by ordering one of their jalapeno, blueberry, blue cheese slices of cheese cake, and while I have to admit the flavors wera a bit strange all together, it was a very enjoyable dish.

09-17-2007, 06:52 PM	#7 (permalink)
robodog Crazy	If you guys ever get out to Cleveland you have to check out two places, Buckeye Brewing's Beer Engine, they have ~25 beers on tap at a time including 4-6 from the brewery itself, these rotate out almost weekly so the beer menu is printed on register tape. The food is also great, the fries must be made with lard they taste so good and then they put garlic and herbs on em. The other interesting beer tasting experience is the bar's namesake, the beer engine. This is a tap that uses something similar to an old fashioned well pump instead of the typical nitrogen powered kegs so you get just the natural effervescence of the beer, they typically have two beers on cask . The other must drink spot is Great Lakes Brewing which has some nationally known brews including one of my very favorites, their christmas ale which has a nice cinnamon and nutmeg flavor. The food at the westside location has varied over the years depending on the head chef, lately it's been quite good. honorable mentions: Thirsty Dog, their Beer Cheese soup is incredible.

09-17-2007, 07:52 PM	#8 (permalink)
Wulfgate Upright Location: Milwaukee, WI	A couple beers I recognize in there but many that I don't. The ones I do recognize are awesome though, so I bet the rest are as well. A good hearty selection I would say! And Happy Birthday!

09-17-2007, 10:03 PM	#10 (permalink)
Starkizzer Hi floor! Make me a samwich. Location: Ontario (in the stray cat complex)	Wish I liked beer well enough to share his adventure. I guess I'll just enjoy watching him get tipsy, always ends in "great fun" for me! __________________ Frivolity, at the edge of a Moral Swamp, hears Hymn-Singing in the Distance and dons the Galoshes of Remorse. ~Edward Gorey

09-20-2007, 04:56 PM	#12 (permalink)
im2smrt4u Beer Aficionado Location: Rancho Cucamonga, CA	Got more pics uploaded and added to the original post. __________________ Starkizzer Fan Club - President & Founder

09-20-2007, 10:16 PM	#13 (permalink)
teflonian Appreciative Location: Paradise	Cool pics! You guys certainly look like you took advantage of the beautiful grounds they have there. I second the "interesting casks". I wonder what they have aging in those things!