Beer News: Life of a Drinker/Alpine Brewery

(note: occasional SD:Dialed In contributor Jonathan started this blog post on August 11. He finished it today. With that pace, we should hear about GABF by Christmas. And no, he never posted about World Beer Cup. He's lucky I checked his typos. I didn't realize that people could actually slur in print.)

As always, I find myself on the hunt for the next great beer or the next nibble of food that makes my eyes roll back and add that extra inch to my beer gut. I guess it has been a while since I have last spoken. I have been busy brewing, travelling and of course eating. My schedule is packed, (my brew schedule that is). I have been working on my new beer fridge, feeding hops to my beers and visiting every beer festival all in one long hot summer. The Great American Beer Fest is coming up. And as always I will bring you a close up and personal perspective of what GABF is all about from a perspective of a brewer and a drinker. I will talk more about it but you can read about it here in September. Did I write about my time at World Beer Cup in Chicago? I don't remember. Honestly, we are in the most beer blessed city in the world. I am working with the planning committee for the National Home Brew Conference that will be here in fall of next year. Please, please buy tickets for the pro-brewers night when it gets announced. Follow @nhc2011sandiego for details on twitter. On to the reason for this post.

Anybody been up to Alpine lately? With the release of Exponential Hoppiness on Friday the 13th and Pure Hoppiness the weekend before who hasn't? The Alpine Brewery opened its long awaited Pub as well as finally making available some long awaited releases. I sent a few growlers to friends as pre-xmas presents. With all the wait, I went up to check out the cuisine and sample some of the in-house beers that would be served up for this special occasion. The beers released with the opening included Great 2005, 2008 and 2009. Great is the barrel aged barley wine that was last seen during a bottle release earlier this year and served at last years VIP session during the SDBW Brewers Guild Festival. All the food was ridiculous. The proteins are smoked (rumor says they use a blend of hickory). The beans were the highlight; I swear I tasted molasses but was told there weren't any mixed in. The potato salad reminded me of what my grandma used to make. The meat is smoked continuously during the day to keep up with demand. I suggest a lazy Sunday to get up there before it gets crowded. The prices are cheap for what you get. Make sure to order the large sizes and ask for lids cause it always tastes better as leftovers!