Hello Nickel Beer Fans!
I have new beers, brewery events and some events down the hill to tell you about (including a rare cult favorite). For you dark beer fans, the Filthy Paws Porter is back on tap and currently pouring on both regular draft and nitrogen (extra creamy finish). This black beer has lots of dark chocolate notes with hints of smokey caramel. It is rich and full flavored but only 5.5% alcohol making it easy to enjoy. We’ll have a special version coming up over President’s Day weekend, but more on that later.
Super Sunday
This Sunday we will host our annual Super Bowl Potluck Party at the brewery. We’ll have extra seating in the brewery and the game on both big screen TVs. We’ll start setting up the food around 2 pm and the game kicks off at 3:30 pm. Please bring a dish to share. And if you are not into the game, the weather is going to be gorgeous with plenty of sunshine to enjoy on the patio, perhaps with a game of washers. We’ll be open until just after the end of the game, probably around 8 pm on Sunday.
We will have some beer specials on Sunday in honor of the big game. We will be offering $1 off growler fills all day long and 50 cents off any pint or large goblet of beer from 2 to Close. We will also have pitcher specials for $15 and $19 from 2 to Close. I have created an event page on Facebook, feel free to RSVP at: https://www.facebook.com/events/224749921192089/. Stop by anytime and enjoy some great beer, yummy food and friendly company.
Holiday Weekend
Over the President’s Day/Valentine’s Day holiday weekend we will be open normal hours – 11:30 am to 8 pm on Friday and Saturday and 11:30 am to 7:30 pm on Sunday. We will be expanding our hours on Monday the 15th as we will be open from Noon until 7:30 pm.
I will be serving up a special Cask Conditioned version of the Filthy Paws Porter over the weekend with Cacao Nibs which will give the beer an excellent chocolate flavor. Cask conditioned beers are similar to nitrogen dispensed beers in that they have a lower carbonation level. We will tap the cask Friday afternoon around 4 pm and have it on tap over the weekend while it lasts. Since the quantity is limited we will not be selling any of it to go. If you can’t make it by over the weekend, don’t worry, I do have a full nitrogen keg of the Cacao Nib Porter to tap at a different time and we’ll have a cask on tap down in San Diego.
Beer Around Town
Our collaboration with Bagby Beer Company in Oceanside is now on tap in the tasting room. It is named Lion’s Pride Old Ale and it was brewed for the 22nd Anniversary of our pub O’Brien’s in Kearny Mesa. It is a strong, dark old ale with lots of big malt flavors without being sweet in the finish. It comes in at 9.5%. In addition to the tasting room you can find it at O’Brien’s, West Coast Barbecue and Brew in La Mesa and Bagby Beer in Oceanside – and you can get growler fills of it at Bagby Beer. Kegs will also be finding their way to the Toronado in North Park and Hamilton’s in South Park.
Speaking of West Coast Barbecue and Brew, we are getting ready to release Larry’s Place IPA for the pub’s 4th Anniversary this month. The beer will be on tap in the tasting room by Wednesday the 10th and should be on tap at West Coast in La Mesa by the 12th. It is light colored and just over 7% alcohol. The beer was brewed with Columbus hops and a hop blend called Zythos. The resulting beer has both piney/citrusy notes and a hint of pineapple in the aroma and flavor. I for one am very much looking forward to having this unique IPA on tap.
We will have a small Nickel Beer Night with Larry’s Place IPA on Wednesday the 17th at West Coast BBQ. We should have at least 3-4 beers on tap along with some Nickel themed food specials. Hopefully they will be running the amazing Burnt Ends Beef Sandwich. If you are not familiar with West Coast Barbecue and Brew and their 28 tap pub, check them out at: http://westcoastbbqandbrew.com/. FYI, Larry is the name of the very friendly owner of the place.
On Thursday the 11th we will have a cask of the Filthy Paws Porter with Cacao Nibs on tap at O’Brien’s at 5 pm. The pub will be doing a promo with Redstone Mead that night – the meadery we collaborated on Redstonewall Stout with (aka Horchata Stout). It was a blend of Vanilla Cinnamon Mead with Stonewall Stout and it was amazing. I have a very limited amount of this beer left and we will be rolling out one of the last kegs at O’Brien’s on the 11th. It will be a surprise for Redstone Meadery owner David Myers who will be there that evening. I will be tapping the rest at the tasting room in the near future though I have not set a date just yet.
Last Sips
I just brewed a new Imperial Stout this week that should be ready in 3-4 weeks. It will be called Constantine’s Russian Imperial Stout after Russian artist Constantine Cherkas who moved to Julian in the 1980s. You can find out more about him here: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2011/apr/13/russian-colorist-constantine-cherkas-dead-at-91/. It should be just under 10% alcohol and full of massive roasted barley and coffee-like flavors.
We have some new merchandise items in the brewery – 50 caliber bullet bottle openers and 7.62 mm bullet key chain bottle openers. These are made locally by Bullets 2 Bandages and they are very cool. We also now have some black pull over logo sweatshirts.
For you pepper freaks out there, check out our Scorpion Pepper Jerky. I love spicy food and this is certainly one of the hottest beef jerkys I have ever had – but oh so good. The Scorpion Pepper is often rated as the second hottest pepper in the world behind the Carolina Reaper Pepper, it is about 4 times as hot as a habanero.
That is your Julian beer update for now. We’ll see you soon for a great Nickel beer in the mountains. Cheers, Tom