For those who can not make it up to our tasting room in Julian you will be able to enjoy our beers all weekend at West Coast Barbecue and Brew in La Mesa.  We will have 6 beers on tap starting at 4 pm Friday – Tahoma IPA, IPA 342, Highland Brown Ale, Devil’s Copper, Filthy Paws Porter on nitro and Double Dubbel Belgian-style Quad.  All 6 beers should be on tap all weekend.

In addition to great beer, we will have lots of Nickel food specials including our Smoked Nickel Beer Brats, Nickel Reuben (made with Nickel Pickels), Nickel Beer Cheese and Nickel Pickel Patty Melt.  This will be the first time we have had our Devil’s Copper Beer Brats put in a smoker and I can’t wait to taste them.  West Coast Barbecue and Brew is located at 6126 Lake Murray Blvd about 1 mile north of Interstate 8.  For more info and directions visit: http://westcoastbbqandbrew.com/.  If you can’t make it by West Coast this weekend, we will be tapping a cask of Volcan IPA there on Thursday, April 23rd.

If you do make it up to the tasting room, you can enjoy the new batch of C.C. O’Neill’s Irish Red.  I brewed this malty red ale for St. Patrick’s Day but it proved so popular that I decided to brew another batch.  The Highland Brown Ale is back on tap and I expect to have nitrogen Stonewall Stout for the weekend.  For the pepper beer fans we have plenty of Jalapeno Back Country Gold and today we will be putting on a keg of Habanero IPA 342.  I am thinking that the Habanero flavor should shine through this dry, bitter IPA.  It is a good time to stop by for hop fans as we have IPA 342, Volcan IPA, Tahoma IPA and Gowabunga Double IPA all on tap in addition to the Habanero IPA.  I will be brewing a new batch of the Hopster Douchebag Double IPA in the next 2 weeks.

Saturday the 11th is the annual Taste of Julian from 1 to 5 pm.  It is a self guided tasting tour through Julian’s restaurants, wineries and of course Nickel Beer Company.  All inclusive tasting tickets are $20 in advance and $25 on the day of at the Town Hall.  There will be a free parking lot to use in town along with a shuttle service that can be used for a small fee.  We’ll be pouring samples of our beers and serving up bites of Nickel Pickels.  For more info and to buy tickets, please visit: http://www.julianmerchants.org/#!taste-of-julian/c22kl.  It is a great way to experience what Julian has to offer.

We will be doing another little league fundraiser Barbecue on Saturday the 18th from roughly 12-5 pm.  Last time these guys came up they had delicious pulled pork and sides.  I am not positive what the menu will be this time, but you can be sure that I will post it on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NickelBeerCompany.  We are trying to book more food events at the brewery now that the weather is more consistent – if you have any suggestions, please send them my way.

That is your Nickel Beer news for now.  We’ll see you soon for a great Julian-brewed beer.  Cheers, Tom