Part I (Friday 4/15) is here.
Saturday, April 16th:
We woke up early to get a head start on the day, with the first stop being the famous San Diego Zoo. I really only wanted to see the pandas, so when we bought our tickets I cried a little inside having to pay $40 a person. OUCH. Our good ole’ Houston zoo is only $12, but then again we don’t have pandas.
San Diego Zoo
While waiting for the official opening we chatted with a zoo employee about the pandas and learned, much to my dismay, that this weekend was the only weekend in the year that the parent pandas had a chance to do their thing and make another baby, so they would be unavailable for viewing. However, the juvenile panda, at ten months old, would be there. I’ll take it. Then, after a a silly opening speech and a few bird releases across the park (white doves and parrots of some sort) we made our way directly to the pandas. We saw a male peacock just hanging out on the path to the pandas putting on a show for the ladies, absolutely gorgeous! After a short walk we saw him, the little baby panda. He was sleeping in a tree with his back to us, apparently he had woken up, eaten some bamboo and was now napping. He has a hard life, y’all. We snapped some pictures, chatted with the panda exhibit leader and made our way back to the exit via the gorillas and other monkeys. Right before we left we saw the flamingos and took a quick walk around the reptile cages, snakes aren’t my thing in the slightest.
L to R: Peacock, Panda, Flamingos
After the zoo, we made a trip to a nearby mall to go to H&M, since we don’t have one in Houston. We were also killing time before lunch and some beers at Alpine Beer Company, about 30 minutes east of San Diego.
Alpine Beer Company Pub/Brewery
After a short drive we arrived in Alpine, a small quaint town that embraced their rural location. Alpine Brewery and Pub is located in a little shopping strip, the right anchor was the brewery/merchandise shop/tasting room, while the left anchor was the pub. We decided to grab lunch and some beers at the pub, then visit the tasting room to buy some beers and brewery swag. It didn’t take long to get a table, but while we waited we had a beer on the back patio. The pub is a cute little diner complete with bright red swivel chairs at the counter and vintage signs posted all around.
Alpine Willy Vanilly
I chose the Willy Vanilly to start with which is their regular Willy Wheat Ale that has been brewed with vanilla extract. I like wheat beers just fine, definitely not my go-to beer but I thought it would be a good idea to start our Saturday filled with beer plans, with a light beer. Not only was it a good idea, the beer was just fantastic. It was light, crisp and refreshing like a wheat beer should be, and the vanilla flavor was amazing. The flavor was so rich in such a small ABV (4.9%) beer, and in my experience that is not an easy feat. I could easily drink this beer pool-side all summer long (if I didn’t love Victoria so much as my session beer).
Lunch: We started with some fried pickles, and I ordered the pulled pork sandwich (yes, we got BBQ in California…) and John had a combo platter with sliced beef, ribs and something else that apparently wasn’t very memorable. The BBQ was okay, at best. The meat was all very tender, but seriously lacking in any flavor at all. The pulled pork was only saved by the sauce they mix in with it and the coleslaw. sigh. What were we expecting anyway?
The important part was the tasters we both had. John picked all the IPAs and hoppy beers and I took the rest. My taster included:
1. Willy Wheat Ale
Exactly what I expected, especially since I had already tried it with the vanilla added. A light bodied wheat beer, nothing too special about it, a good session beer.
2. Captain Stout
Interesting, at only 5.5% ABV it was flavorful but very drinkable. It is described as a “Chocolate Oatmeal Dry Stout” which makes sense, although neither chocolate or oatmeal was the first thing I got out of this beer, mainly coffee flavors from the roasted malts, but not a bad stout.
3. McIlhenney’s Irish Red
An Irish Red Ale weighing in at 6% ABV, brewed with 11(!!) malts and a medal winner from GABF and World Beer Cup. This beer had a touch of sweetness from all the malts used, but not overly so. I didn’t get much hops (only 10IBU’s on this guy) which is fine with me.
4. Mandarin Nectar
It was cool to see a fruit style beer on the board here, not the most popular style to say the least. Alpine calls it an “Orange Blossom Honey Ale”, an ale brewed with orange zest, coriander and orange blossom honey. I definitely got fruit in the aroma and taste, but it wasn’t overpowering at all. I didn’t get all of the complexity this beer is supposed to have with the coriander and other ingredients, but it was nice to try something different than your standard beers.
L to R: Willy Vanilly and a set of Alpine tasters
AleSmith Brewing Company
After leaving Alpine, we headed directly Northwest to AleSmith Brewing Company to try and buy (there’s that whole buying directly from a brewery thing again) some beers! In an unassuming little industrial business park (very similar to Ranger Creek in San Antonio) sits AleSmith Brewing Company. They have two suites, one is the tasting room and the other is where they actually brew. The lady serving our first tastes told us all about their current expansion project, the number I have long forgotten, but she was quite knowledgeable on the beers and the brewery operations. I decided to go with the Old Numbskull, their barleywine and John had their ESB on cask.
Alemsith Old Numbskull Barleywine
As y’all probably know, I love barleywines, so my thoughts on these may be biased… Sitting heavy at 11% this was no exception. It was big and boozy with hints of dark and citrus fruits, but well balanced with a subtle hop bitterness. We got a bottle to take home and age! There also may or may not be matching shirts. bwahahahaha ;)
Alchemy
After a quick nap, we headed to dinner at a small restaurant specializing in fresh and local ingredients in the South Park area of San Diego. Alchemy is filled with paintings by local artists and an interesting metal tree sculpture right in the center of the dining area.
We started with the bone marrow, roasted with thyme and served with grilled lemon pugliese bread. The bread’s flavors were great, a little too strong as it overpowered the bone marrow a bit. The bone marrow was chunky and flavorful, a great appetizer to start with and not get too full. We also apparently had some local oysters but, alas, I forgot a picture. I do remember us agreeing that they were no gulf oysters!
I ordered the lamb shank smothered in a tomato lamb jus, served with a saffron couscous topped with fava beans and grape tomatoes. The meat was fall off the bone tender and delicious. The portion was so huge but almost unavoidable in this particular presentation, good thing I had help!
John had the deconstructed pork belly carbonara, served with fettuccine and peas topped with a perfectly done egg yolk. The pork belly was cooked perfectly, crispy on the outside and tender in the middle without being mushy. The egg yolk was a great pair for the pork and the pasta.
For dessert we had the “Coffee, Donuts & a Cigarette” plate. The “coffee” was a mocha creme brulee topped with a whipped cream accompanied by two homemade powdered mini donuts and finally, a chocolate “cigar” wrapped in phyllo dough. A sweet way to end a fabulous meal.
L to R: Bone Marrow, Lamb Shank, Pork Belly Carbonara, Coffee/Donuts/"Cigarette" Dessert
Hamilton’s Tavern
Right next door to Alchemy is Hamilton’s Tavern, a small bar with a huge beer board. It wasn’t too packed when we arrived after dinner and we got a spot at the bar right in front of the beer board (strategy!). After being asked for my ID the bartender was excited to tell me we shared the same last name and that his mother is from the Houston area! A twilight zone moment was going on. Pretty sure we aren’t related….
I started with my second barleywine of the day from Napa Smith, a brewery I had never even heard of. The beer isn’t listed on Beer Advocate or Napa Smith’s website, strange… I can’t say I remember too much about it, other than it was definitely barleywine-esque. This rare moment of memory loss (ha!) probably has to do with the fact that as we were having our first beer, a change was made to the board. They had just tapped a fresh keg of Russian River’s Supplication. woot! I have had this beer from a bottle, but never on draft. Since I was on a sour kick in San Diego, I just had to have it! Supplication is a 7% American Wild Ale that poured an orange color with a small white head. It was tart, bubbly from the carbonation and a little sweet from the cherries. It is aged in French oak Pinot Noir barrels and brewed with Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. It has won 2 Silver medals at GABF, quite a beer!
Churchill’s Cigar Lounge
We didn’t drink any beer here (not even sure it was available anyway), I opted for a few glasses of some red wine while John smoked a cigar. I included it though because it was a nice night cap. Clearly we didn’t even get there until late, but there were still plenty of people perusing cigars and enjoying them on their outside patio. The lounge is located in Historic Old Town San Diego, a very cute little area of town. It was a nice change of pace from driving all over town during the day drinking! I bought some logo wine glasses and we headed back to the hotel for some sleep before the main event on Sunday- Oakquinox!
