Tag: Beer

Mike Hess Brewing of San Diego- Orange Honey Wheat

Want to try a craft brew from San Diego but don’t care for the double, triple, or quadruple hopped varieties that this area is known for? I’m not crazy about hoppy beers, but I wanted something other than wine to go with the pan fried dorado we had for dinner tonight- yea for my freezer and The Husband’s catch o’ the day from several months ago!

Mike Hess Brewing Jucundus is an Orange Honey Wheat beer that I cannot pronounce. So what If I can’t? What I can do is drink this brew. There’s not a lot of hops, it’s not overly bitter, it is just a nice, summer brew.

The beer snobs of San Diego can sacrifice me to the High Hops Goddess for saying this, but I think that this beer tastes like a better version of the basic supermarket beers. Now, excuse me while I duck and run for cover before an angry mob forms to pelt me with local, line caught fish tacos.

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Coconut Porter to Inebriate a Virus? Don’t Mind If I Do!

Is it “Feed a cold and starve a fever? Or the other way around?

A study by the Japanese beverage behemoth Sapporo suggests that inebriating the virus could help. Time Magazine had a article about this back in 2012 titled “Got a Cold? Have a Beer!” Unfortunately, one of the researchers admitted that you’d need to drink 30 12oz. cans to begin to do any good. Take heart, San Diego-style lovers! Your super high IBUs from triple hopped brews means your beer is packed with more of the anti-viral good stuff. (Wondering what IBUs are? Here is a great article from TheKitchn.com about decoding beer acronyms).

Coconut Castaway Porter and Got Nelson? IPA
Coconut Castaway Porter and Got Nelson? IPA

So, off to O’Brien’s Pub we went for spicy enchilada soup and a Thorn Street’s Castaway Coconut Porter. If the soup doesn’t clear me up, I have faith that the beer will restore my health. Don’t go pointing out the lack of healthy hops in my porter… it was good.

The Husband hadn’t heard of Thorn Street Brewery, and, surprise, it is one of our 100+ craft breweries here in San Diego. We found out that the North Park facility is a pub of activities for the whole family, including a Kids Eat Free Taco Tuesday with the Famoso Taco Truck, home brew classes, dance film fest and golf fundraisers, and other food trucks, too. Now that we have perused their web site, I think we need to check out this spot, soon.

Beer Tour!! Vacation AND Pub Hopping all in one convenient package!
Beer Tour!! Vacation AND Pub Hopping all in one convenient package!

And for a fun extra, here is a photo of one of the 21st Annual Great British & Belgian Christmas Beer Festival Tour! O’Brien’s Pub’s own Tyson and Kristina can take you on “the Ultimate Beer Geek Holiday” if you have a spare $3K laying about…

A Good Night for a New Beer- Firestone 805

This hip image as well as the 805 logo above are from the Firestone Walker site- clic this pic for the link
This hip image as well as the Firestone Walker logo above are from the Firestone Walker site- clic this pic for the link

Is there something like a sommelier for beer- a beer steward? That’s The Husband’s job. He’s my beer steward. The kids are working the all-consuming Tech Week for the high school’s musical, so we took off for a beer this evening. And between him and the bartender, they found a good beer for me to try- the loser was Guinness Blond, which was also good. I’ll save the Guinness for Saint Patrick’s Day tomorrow.

Firestone 805
Firestone 805- click the pic for more info on this nice brew…

I have no idea how to describe beers, except to say that it wasn’t watery or weak, and not overpoweringly citrusy or floral (I really don’t care for hops!). I’m not well versed enough to know how to match beer with foods, but can say this non-hoppy happy brew went well with my fries!

Firestone Walker Brewing Company is located up in Paso Robles, California, an area well known for its wines. I’m a BIG fan of wine, but with places like Firestone Walker putting out something other than quadruple IPAs, thankyouverymuch, they finally give me something of a choice- and a FAR tastier option than the basic Mega Corporate American Beer Companies.

San Diego Beer Scene- At Times, Hop-less (thankfully, sheesh!)

Fish Tacos and Lightning's Elemental Pilsner
Fish Tacos and Lightning’s Elemental Pilsner
"Better Beer Through Science" Who can argue with that?
“Better Beer Through Science” Who can argue with that?

Quick Fish Tacos for dinner tonight, and what to drink with it?

I consulted the resident beer expert (he’s also my running coach, among other things) and he suggested a pilsner. So… pilsners generally don’t have a lot of hops, I’m guessing, that must be why I didn’t hate this beer.

Don’t you wish that wines and beers with amusing labels and clever sayings on the bottles tasted better than boring ones as a rule? That would make selecting one much easier. I think The Husband picked this beer because of the motto alone… patronizing fellow scientists. “Better Beer Through Science.” Clever.

I liked this! Lightning Brewery, in North County San Diego, was founded by a couple of former scientists, and I’m happy to see something other than double, triple and quadruple hopped beers coming out of this part of the country. This is getting to be ridiculous!

It may be one of the signs of The Apocalypse, but there are now TWO kinds of beers that I would drink- pilsners and stouts (it only took three wrong spellings before I gave up and used the spell checker to see how to properly spell ‘apocalypse’).

New Restaurant- Bruski in Mira Mesa (Look, Table!)

We had a lot of fun when we first moved here, playing with literal translations of some of the Spanish names. Both of my kids had Spanish classes in their Hoosier school, and I tried teaching them as much as they would let me. Flash back to The Girl, two years old, putting her hand over my mouth after a day of hearing nothing but French, saying, “No more words, mommy.” Needless to say, foreign language lessons chez nous didn’t get too far.

Tonight we hit a new-ish restaurant in Mira Mesa (“Look! Table!”). There are several newer joints tucked into the same shopping center here, and all had a wait of at least 30 minutes. Except Bruski’s. Even though that doesn’t bode well, we went with it. One of us should have pointed at Bruski’s seating availabilities and said “Look! A Table!” I hate it when I miss a good bad joke.

Great beer selections, good chicken wings, The Boy approved of his standard Meat-Cheese-Bun Only burger, and we were happy enough to say we’d come back to try the mac and cheese. I had a Cobb salad that at a half order could have fed four people, and the bacon on it was dee-lish. The Husband was disappointed with the dry chicken on his Caesar salad. His Honey Chipotle wings tasted mainly of honey and were all right, but I think my naked wings were better.

Two tastes of beers from Brewski's- Belching Beaver HORCHATA Imperial Stout and Epic BRAINLESS ON PEACHES Belgian Ale. Both were too sweet for me.
Two tastes of beers from Bruski’s- Belching Beaver HORCHATA Imperial Stout and Epic BRAINLESS ON PEACHES Belgian Ale. Both were too sweet for me.

Next time it will be Epic Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout, because of the name, seriously. And Onion Rings, baby. Mama needs her fried food.