Rich Link
After a year of beer events, traveling around the country, even going
overseas, it's always nice to attend something local. Fortunately, San
Diego is host to several of the year's best beer fests. The Strong Ale
Festival, held at Pizza Port's Carlsbad location the first weekend of
December, exhibited more than 70 beers with an alcohol content of at
least 8% by volume. Although my allotted time at this eighth annual
version of the SAF was limited, I was able to taste my way through
about a third of the offerings. What a way to end the year!
I was unable to attend the Friday night opening of the fest, and I was
worried that many beers may have been consumed come Saturday morning.
Nonetheless, I grabbed my camera, water jug and notepad and made the
40-minute drive to Carlsbad. The weather was cool with scattered
showers, so I grabbed my umbrella and stood in line at the gate. As
the gate opened, I made my way, along with 50 of my new best friends,
to the tasting bar, where I set up shop and set about my "work."
One of the most exciting aspects of the SAF is the new beers that
local brewers send to the event. San Diego is home to arguably the
most passionate and inventive brewers in the country, and it's always
a treat to taste their latest creations. The beer menu listed the
local beers separately from the out-of-town brews. There were 28 beers
from 19 of the local-area breweries. Another 45 or so beers came from
such places as Hawaii, Oregon, Belgium and Canada.
My first choice was the strongest beer on the local list. Alpine Beer
Company's Good weighed in at approximately 17% alcohol by volume. It
had a huge hop nose and a big full body, with warming alcohol tones
and lots of lingering bitterness. Owner/Brewer Pat McIlhenney brewed
this huge barley wine with the intent of aging it in used Jack
Daniel's barrels. He ran out of barrel space and sent some of the
leftover beer to the fest. This beer was the result of a double-batch
brew that was boiled for three hours with Chinook and Sterling hops.
After a week of fermentation, he started adding sugars such as
fructose, dextrose, honey and some other odd sugars he had lying
around. After another 10 days, he added champagne yeast. A couple of
weeks later, the beer had finished out with a specific gravity of
about 1.011. Pat estimated the alcohol content based upon the starting
mash yield and the added sugars. Look for the barrel-aged beer to go
on sale in 16-ounce bottles late this spring.
My second sample was Caber Tossed Wee Heavy, a malty, chewy ale with
lots of caramel flavor along with a slight peat aroma and finish. This
beer was brewed by Jeff Bagby of Oggi's Vista, and it had won the
silver medal at the 2004 World Beer Cup. The last of Bagby's Hop
Whompus, a gold medal winner at the Great American Beer Festival, was
also on tap. Festivus, brewed by Kirk McHale at Pizza Port Carlsbad,
was an 11.5% abv barley wine brewed with 1,600 pounds of two-row malt
to make 11 barrels. It was liberally hopped with Amarillo and Tomahawk
hops, and dry-hopped with Simcoe and more Tomahawk.
Tomme Arthur from Solana Beach Pizza Port brewed an imperial IPA that
took the honor for the best-named beer of the event. Lou P. Lin, named
for the lupulin gland that makes hops so wonderfully bitter and
aromatic, was served on a handpump and had a nice fresh aroma and
lasting bittering from the Phoenix, Simcoe, Amarillo and Centennial
hops.
Other local beers included Come About Stout, an imperial stout from
Ballast Point Brewing; Stone Brewing's Whiskey Barrel Double Bastard;
and Green Flash Brewing's Second Anniversary Ale. Some of the notable
out-of-town beers were Eye of the Goat Double Bock from Craftsman
Brewing in Pasadena; Da Kind Grind Buzz Kona Coffee Stout from Kona
Brewing Company in Hawaii; Black Ice Imperial Stout from Santa Barbara
Brewing Company; and The Beast, the 18% abv Belgian-style ale from
Colorado's Avery Brewing Company.
According to Tomme Arthur, more than 1,200 people attended the
festival. Although the weather that weekend was cold and rainy, people
were still pouring into the event late Saturday night, just a couple
of hours before it shut down. Tomme Arthur, Tom Nickel and Jeff Bagby
deserve a big toast for organizing such a great event. If you have
never attended this festival, make sure you put it on your calendar
for 2005.
© 2010 San Diego Brewers Guild