Hello Nickel Beer Fans!
The NFL season is underway and though Mel’s Packers lost, the Chargers are currently undefeated! We will be opening on Mondays for the rest of the year to show Monday Night Football. This Monday, the 8th, we will be staying open late to show the entire Chargers v. Cardinals game that kicks off at 7:20 pm. We’ll open the doors at 3 pm and show the first game of the double header at 4:10 pm – Giants v. Lions.
Our new Monday special will be $13 pitchers of most beers and $17 for IPAs and the Stout. That means you can get Back Country Gold, Julian Pale, Devil’s Copper, Weekender Wheat and more for barely over $3 per pint in a pitcher all night on Mondays. And feel free to bring your own snacks to enjoy during the game, just please clean up after yourself.
The regular Monday hours are going to be 3 pm to 7 pm or the end of the game. We’ll stay open and show the game as long as people are there enjoying it. And no matter what we will stay open until 7 pm every Monday. If the game is a dud or a total blow out by halftime and everyone leaves, we will as well. We are just seeing how things go as we start to expand the hours.
The next Charger game will be at 1:05 pm on Sunday the 14th against the Superbowl Champion Seattle Seahawks. The game is already sold out so it will be on TV. The following week there is a 10 am game against the Bills on the 21st and we will be opening up early to show it. We should have the Jalapeno Gold on tap and some spicy bloody mary mix on hand to mix up some Bloody Beers. And we are hoping to have a brunch delivery set up so that you could come to the brewery and order brunch from a local restaurant and have it brought to you – I will have the details as soon as we finish making them up. We will be open for every Chargers game and you can find the complete schedule here: http://www.chargers.com/schedule/index.html.
New Beers
The new Star B Fresh Hop Pale was a huge hit over Labor Day weekend – by far the beer we poured the most over the 5 days. And now we have our other wet hop beer on tap, ZP Fresh Hop IPA. The beer used 30 pounds of wet hops from Valley Center split between three varieties – Cascade, Crystal and Zeus (also known as Columbus). It is roughly the same alcohol as the Star B at 5.8% but packs a little more hop punch since we used more wet hops, hence calling it IPA (though it is mild compared to our other IPAs).
The Jalapeno Gold is back on tap and available for growler fills as well. I took off the Redstonewall Stout – our stout/vanilla cinnamon mead blend. But don’t worry, it will be coming back and we will be doing several events around San Diego with it including events at Hamilton’s, Toronado and West Coast BBQ and Brew. The event at Hamilton’s in South Park will be on Thursday, October 9th and will feature several draft meads (honey wines) from Redstone Meadery in Boulder, Colorado in addition to the Redstonewall Stout.
Speaking of events in San Diego, we do have some casks coming up later this month. On Thursday the 18th both O’Brien’s and West Coast BBQ and Brew will tap wet hop casks. O’Brien’s will have the only cask of Star B Fresh Hop Pale topped up with several ounces of fresh picked Star B Chinook hops at 5 pm. Just before that, West Coast BBQ and Brew will tap a cask of ZP Fresh Hop IPA with some fresh picked Star B Nugget and Columbus in the cask. I plan to be at both tappings that day. It is very likely that there will be some draft kegs of Nickel Beer at both spots.
Beer and Cigars
We will be hosting our first Cigar Afternoon at the brewery with our friend Maurice, owner of Transit Van Shuttle and V12 Cigar Club on Sunday, September 21st. The event will run from 1-3 pm and you are welcome to bring your own cigars or Maurice will have some for sale. I will be tapping a preview keg of our Rum Barrel Aged Kupfernickel Barleywine for the weekend to pair up with the cigars, though I also think the Stout and the Devil’s Copper will work very nicely.
As an added bonus, Maurice and Transit Van Shuttle are offering FREE transportation from Ramona to the brewery and back. The vans will leave Ramona at 12:30 and return around 3:30 pm. The vans will also be running into town from the brewery if you have a significant other who might want to shop in Julian. To take advantage of the free Ramona-Julian transportation, please call Transit Van Shuttle at 760-789-7252 or email them at transitvanshuttle103@gmail.com.
You are free to bring your own snacks to enjoy with the cigars and even your own chairs or ash trays if you would like. We’ll have some pop up tents around for additional shade on the patio. It should be a great afternoon to enjoy a beer and cigar in the fall in Julian.
Grape Festa
Julian’s version of a wine festival, the annual Grape Stomp, will be at Menghini Winery on Saturday, September 6th from 11 am to 7 pm. There will be about 10 local wineries pouring and you know I would not be mentioning this if we did not have beer there. Look for Julian Pale Ale and Devil’s Copper on tap – the new batch of Devil’s Copper is particularly nice. You can also stomp actual grapes in a huge wooden tub. For more information visit: http://www.julianca.com/Grape-Stomp.html. Tickets are available at the door or VIP tickets can be purchased in advance. The entire event is a fundraiser for the Julian Chamber of Commerce, so you can drink for a good cause guilt-free.
That just about does it for this email. Jeremy’s on the Hill is moving the Fried Chicken special that featured our Julian Pale Ale to Thursday nights. Jeremy’s is still carrying Julian Pale Ale and Weekender Wheat but look for one of our local wet hop beers to be on tap there soon and then some Apple Pie Ale in October. I expect the Apple Pie Ale to be on tap by the 18th of September. We’ll also have Nitro Stonewall Stout and Habanero Red, White and Brew on tap in the near future.
We’ll see you soon for a great Julian brewed beer and some Chargers football. Cheers, Tom