Southern Stint

I know this journal is all out of order and somewhat out of whack, but in respect to beer, I have one last trip to recap. The trip to San Diego, while not 'beer-centric' did illuminate some of the things that are most important to Chad about brewing and 'pub' atmosphere.

While in San Diego we made our usual pilgrimage to our friend Quentin and Rachel's house to visit over dinner and watch all of the kids interact, demolish the house and have a raucous time. Meanwhile we talk beer and brewing (we talk about other stuff too... don't think we are only one dimensional... :) Quentin informs us that Stone Brewery, our favorite all time Southern California brewery has outgrown it's britches and is relocating from San Marcos to El Cajon (Chad's birthplace). On top of that, they are selling all of their equipment and buying/building a huge new place and hiring tons of apprentice brewers.. hmmm... too bad we just moved North.

Also, the winner of the Small BrewPub of the year is Solana Beach's, Pizza Port Solana Beach. A lot of 'beer activity' in San Diego County. Quentin and Chad agree to meet at a small pub that has tons of beers on tap and specially brewed kegs from some local brewers that aren't distributed anywhere else. O'Malleys, it turns out, is in the same strange strip mall where I had eaten lunch at least once a week for 5+ years that I worked at Qualcomm (a tiny noodle house with 7 or so tables and the best cast iron bowls of buckwheat noodles in the clearest broth). He loved it. The pub that is.

When I went to pick him up, the place was packed with mainly men of all ages, but definitely the kind of men that are drawn to craft beer. Homer Simpson with a degree in hops... if you know what I mean. Chad said that they had all kinds of beer on tap, and it was amazing for him to try the new kinds from all different breweries. There wasn't the elitism or exclusitivity that some brewpubs have when they don't sell any other types of beer. It had evolved with the beer consumer in mind. A place to taste specialty beers. In particular, there was a beer made by a brewer that Quentin wanted Chad to taste but it wasn't currently on tap, so the owner went in the back, dug out the keg and hooked it up for the boys. Too much. Chad was in love. O'Malleys set a new standard.

Before leaving town, we stopped at the liquor store and stocked up on beers that are more difficult to find and more expensive up here. We had cases of Stone Pale Ale, Arrogant Bastard, even Bridgeport IPA. Plus we found Coast Range's Pale Ale (not our favorite by any means). Remember Coast Range? A possible place to outsource production when we were involved with Coastline. Seabright brewery has Coast Range brew and bottle for them now.