drink like a pro slightly stoopid

issue #1 | san diego, ca
october/november 2015
slightly stoopid
drink like a pro
An Exclusive Interview:
Local Legends x Local Brews
With Grant Tondro of
Urge and Mason Aleworks
Plus...
+ Super Sophisticated *Non-Drinking* Games for Full-Grown Adults
+ Local Model Ashley Campbell
+An Exclusive Giveaway With Ralupulus the Beer God
PRESENTS
NOVEMBER 6-15
Get ready folks... our 10-day celebration
of San Diego craft beer is coming!
Tickets for the VIP Brewer
Takeover, Guild Fest and more
SDBW.ORG
Funded in part (or in whole) by the San Diego Tourism Marketing District Corporation with
City of San Diego Tourism Marketing District Assessment Funds.
Photo Credit: Dave Tawil - www.davidtawilphotography.com
table of
contents
credits
6
Craft Fitness with Stacie Rosati
22
Drinking Buddies with Kay Shep
8
Slightly Stoopid Local Legends x
Local Brews
27
Hop Damn! with local model
Ashley Campbell
11
Drink Like a Pro with Grant Tondro
of Urge Gastropub and Mason
Aleworks
34
Craft County’s Official Guide to
Beer Trading (On The Low…)
16
Craft County’s Super
Sophisticated *Non-Drinking*
Games For Full-Grown Adults
38
Beginnings with Ralupulus the
Beer God
Published by:
Sound House Publishing
Editor in Chief/Written by:
Eddie Gurrola
Graphics Editor:
Tenaya Senzaki
contact
4
For any inquiries:
[email protected]
For even more fun stuff, check
out our website:
craftcountysd.com
Contributors:
Kay Shep: Drinking Buddies Column
Stacie Rosati: Craft Fitness
Peter Lin: Featured Photography
Dave Tawil: Cover and Table of
Contents Photography
Darrick Ingram: Ralupulus Illustration
For updates and extras, check us
out on social media at:
facebook.com/craftcounty
twitter.com/craftcounty
and
instagram.com/craftcountysd
letter from
the editor
Hey guys,
Thanks for picking up our first
issue! We’re excited for you to turn
the page and see exactly what this
whole new thing is about.
I’ve lived in San Diego almost
my entire life, so I’ve been lucky
enough to get a firsthand glimpse at
how the craft beer scene has grown
over the years. When I was in high
school, Ballast Point moved right
down the street from us to their (then)
new location in Scripps Ranch. I
remember thinking, “One day, I’m
gonna try some of those beers.”
I finally tried Black Marlin Porter,
along with cool local stuff I could
get at BevMo, like Lost Abbey’s Hot
Rocks Lager and Stone’s Double
Bastard, when I was in college at
SDSU. Then I got deeper into the
game when I officially turned 21. My
friend and I drove down to Imperial
Beach to South Bay Drugs and Geoi
(now of Bine and Vine) helped us pick
out some stuff we had never heard of
before. And we never looked back.
From there, the scene expanded,
right at a point in my life where I was
expanding my drinking prowess.
Pour It Black…Urge Anniversaries…
O’Briens for IPAs! Alesmith trips
with my Dad…Bottle shares with my
friends…Beer festivals with the whole
family!! The Brewer’s Guild Festival…
The Duck Duck Gooze Release…
TORONADO HAS CITRA ON TAP!!!
Needless to say, it’s been a great
past few years.
What follows isn’t necessarily a
craft beer magazine. It’s a magazine
for people who live in San Diego,
and happen to drink craft beer all the
time.
We hope you enjoy. The beer
gods have blessed us with plenty to
be happy about.
Cheers,
Eddie Gurrola
Editor-in-Chief
Craft Fitness
We at Craft County are big fans of
fitness trainer Stacie Rosati not only
because she’s awesome, but also
because she’s no-nonsense, and cuts
straight to the facts. Unfortunately,
there is no magic trick for getting into
better shape. The bottom line is: you’ve
got to move more, and eat healthier. Since craft beer is a considerable
portion of our caloric intake, we sat
down with Stacie to compile a list of
five easy, common sense workarounds
that will help us get started losing the
beer gut.
Beer or Dessert - Not Both
far as caloric intake goes, craft beer 5
top 5 beer fitness tips 3 As
can be devastating. So make yourself
1
Walk to the Bar
Did you know that just walking, at any
pace, will burn about 100 calories per
mile? “If your local bar is in a safe
area, grab a friend and take a stroll,”
says Stacie. We’re big fans of putting
in as little effort as possible, so this
one seems like a no-brainer. “Plus,”
adds Stacie, “now you won’t have
to worry about getting a designated
driver!”
a deal and at least skip the other “nono” of the eating world – dessert –
when you go out drinking. “Some of
these beers have as many calories
as a bowl of ice cream,” says Stacie. “You wouldn’t eat three bowls of ice
cream a day and expect to be in good
shape. If you’re doing a big night of
craft beer drinking, it’s essential to
keep the other junk food down to a
minimum.” On that note…
a Beer After the Gym
4 You’re Out
2 Grab
Having trouble finding the motivation
Stone World Bistro, Urge Gastropub,
Try Healthier Food Options While
to go to the gym in the first place? Stacie suggests using your craft
beer hobby as part of the reward
system for working out. If you make
it through your workout, treat yourself
to a beer at the bar afterward. “The
truth is, you’ll probably end up
drinking that beer later on at home
anyway, so don’t worry about cutting
out beer entirely,” says Stacie. “If
you’re getting a good workout in,
you’re burning lots of calories, which
will later make up for at least some of
the calorie intake of your beer.”
6
Hamilton’s – just a few of the city’s
top beer bars that are serving up
healthier, but still great, eating
options. Consider taking them up
on their offer next time you go out. “Hummus plates, salads, soups,
seafood – all of these are great
choices,” says Stacie. “Beer tends to
make people hungrier, so if you find
yourself looking to satisfy a sudden
spike in your appetite, go for a grilled
protein – chicken, fish, even steak if
you want. Foods like that will actually
satisfy cravings and keep you full,
unlike something like chips and salsa,
which always ends up turning into a
bottomless pit.”
Switch to Light Beer
Just kidding. We’d never suggest
something like that. But if you’re
looking for a healthier craft beer
option, keep in mind that the biggest
factor in a craft beer calorie count is
the alcohol content (ABV.) “Some of
these 10% ABV beers can go up to
400 calories for a pint, and if you get a
5% beer, you’ll cut this number about
in half,” says Stacie. But we like the
high alcohol content beers the best! “Then have a policy with yourself
where if you’re on the fence about
which beer to get next, automatically
opt for the one with less alcohol
content. If you do this even a few
times a week, you could easily save
yourself 500 calories.”
For more fitness tips, or to set up
a consultation and get into tip-top
bar-fighting shape, e-mail Stacie at
[email protected]
In our next issue, we’ll head to the
gym as Stacie shows us some bad
ass exercises to get our metabolism
moving at a reasonable rate again.
Bringing Bizarre, Unique, Rare, Scary
and Wild Cinema to San Diego!
Don’t miss another screening
Hifilmfest.com/events
Photo: Jeff Pliskin/Raised Fist Propaganda
Photo Courtesy of Chris Scott
Photo: Amanda McCarver
Local Legends x Local Brews
Known for pioneering the chill, reggae-meets-Southern-California-rock sound, Ocean Beachbased group Slightly Stoopid are one of the biggest acts to ever come out of San Diego, and
they’re still going strong. We caught up with drummer Ryan “RyMo” Moran, the unofficial beer
spokesman of the band, to discuss the group’s new album Meanwhile…Back at the Lab, the local
craft beer scene, and a whole lot more.
Meanwhile…Back at the Lab, at your own studio facility
in Mission Valley. How long have you had that spot?
We’ve been in that area for four or five years now. It’s a big
warehouse in a corporate business park, and it’s cool. It’s
kind of like a recording studio, meets storage facility, meets
man cave. We have a TV room with Xbox and all that, and
we had a skate ramp in there a while back. It’s a fun dudespot.
That sounds awesome, and that’s also funny, because a
lot of the local breweries are in industrial areas too. The
business park is San Diego’s best kept secret.
Yeah, almost all of them are in those corporate business
warehouses. That’s pretty interesting.
Do you go out beer tasting pretty frequently?
Yeah. My wife and I, for date night, typically go out for a
happy hour beer or two. I’m up in the Carlsbad area, so
we’ve been to Pizza Port Carlsbad a bunch, and we really
like their porter. We also go to Stone quite a bit, [as well as]
Iron Fist, Aztec, Lost Abbey, Mother Earth, and Bagby up in
Oceanside. We try to go to one or two every month or so
and try them out.
Do you have any favorite local beers?
Lately, I’ve been really into the Saint Archer Blonde and
Iron Fist’s Logan Lager. Also, Bagby had a really good
unfiltered lager [Killer Keller] on tap last week, which was
just awesome. [Personally,] I kind of went full circle. I went
from being really into the heavy, syrupy porters and stouts,
to going through an IPA phase, and now I’m back to the
pilsners and the more refreshing beers. But for the darker
stuff, we like the Belching Beaver Milk Stout and their
Peanut Butter Milk Stout.
I can’t think of another group that sounds more San
Diego, or Southern California, than you guys. Is it
important to you guys to record at home in SD?
It definitely is now. In the earlier years, we had a much
different approach. We’d go out and record a whole album
in a week, a month, or however long, and we’d basically
camp out up in LA, in Texas, or in Philly with the G. Love and
Special Sauce guys, and just work, work, work. But then
you’d come home and you’re like, “Oh, now I have to go on
tour again.” So now that we have our own space, we can
book in dates when we’re feeling up to it, and when we’re
in the right state of mind. We’re on the road so much that
Stoopid
I Heard you guys recorded the entire new album,
Slightly
when we’re not touring, everyone wants to be at home with
their families. Now, it’s more important to be as close to
home as possible.
Cool. Well, Meanwhile…Back at the Lab just dropped in
June, but are you guys already working on a follow-up?
We’re always working on different stuff. We’ll probably get
something out, if not next year, definitely by 2017. And
we’re keeping pretty busy on tour. We’ve got a tour that
kicks off right around Halloween and comes back around
Thanksgiving. Then we’re doing a holiday event, Closer to
the Sun, in Cancun this December.
Tell us more about that event, because it sounds pretty
awesome…
Yeah, we’re working with a company called Cloud 9 that
does destination festival events outside the US. This year,
it’s us, SOJA, Ozomatli, Pepper, and Iration headlining.
Basically, it’s an all-inclusive thing. For the admission, you
also get the hotel, and it’s all-you-can-eat, and all-you-candrink. It’s four days, and there’s shows going on between
noon and midnight every day. Each band plays two sets,
but since we’re kind of hosting the thing, we’ll be doing three
sets. There’s also different side excursions you can go on
while you’re there. You can check out the Mayan Ruins, go
ziplining, go snorkeling, and stuff like that.
Sounds like you need to stock up on beer for the trip
down there. Is the fridge on the tour bus constantly
filled with some good stuff?
Back in the day, we would just buy beer, wherever we were,
for the tour. And we still have some staples on our riders.
We drink a fair amount of Stella and Corona, and I like to
have some Guinness on the rider as well. But over the past
few years, we’ve become friends with some of the guys from
Lagunitas. They’ve grown considerably in the last couple
years, so now they send cases to our studio, and also out to
us on the road. We’ll get a shipment about once a week of
about eight to ten cases of their stuff. We drink that a good
amount on the road, and I want to give them a shout out.
They’ve been taking good care of us.
That’s bad ass. What are some of your favorite beers
from Lagunitas?
I like their Czech Pils. It’s not too heavy, but it packs a pretty
decent punch for a lighter beer. And of course, I’m a big fan
of the Hop Stoopid. *Laughs*
Slightly Stoopid’s new album, Meanwhile…Back at the Lab, is available now. To get more information
on their Closer to the Sun event in Mexico this December, go to www.closertothesun.com
9
How do you run three (going on four) local
restaurants, collaborate on the most talkedabout beer of the year, start a new brewery of
your own, and still find time to chill?
Wouldn’t you like to know.
Urge Gastropub, Brothers Provisions, The
Barrel Room, and Mason Aleworks co-owner
Grant Tondro can teach you a thing or two on
how to...
Drink
Like a
Pro
11
If
you’ve met Grant Tondro before, chances are it was
only for a few minutes. For example, we knocked
out our photoshoot for this feature during a quick
20-minute-window. He somehow charged back to Urge
in under 15 minutes during rush hour after a meeting he'd
just had in San Marcos. And another scheduled sit-down
will start just moments after we’re done. Later on in the
evening, he’ll be packing for a two-week European trip
with his family - which I’m sure was no easy task to plan,
much less take at all, given that he has a brand new
brewery and restaurant opening next month. But Grant never seems like he’s in a rush. I told him I
wanted to shoot something goofy, so he comes up with
an idea to pick up and balance two empty kegs under
each of his hands. He laughs his ass off as one of the
kegs inevitably slams on the ground, and we scare half
the Urge staff as we run back into the restaurant. One of
the first questions I asked him when we sat down for our
interview the week before was something I’d just been
dying to know personally. How do you find time to relax,
hang out, and actually enjoy craft beer while you’re constantly working and running all of these restaurants? “I don’t know if you’re the same way,” he replied, “but
when I really get into something, I’m like a freight train. I
will drink that knowledge in as quickly as I possibly can,
and I’ll find any way I can to learn more.” He laughs. “I
get really into something when I’m into it. And I’m into
the spirit of craft beer.”
Although Grant had been drinking craft beer since
graduating from Rancho Bernardo High and attending
college at the University of Missouri, (“It’s Budweiser
Country out in Missouri, and instantly I was like, ‘This
isn’t for me. There’s got to be something better out
there’”) he started his career in wine, not beer, when he
moved back to SD after school. He became a certified
sommelier and worked in wine and spirit sales before
getting together with two of his friends, Zak and Nate
12
Higson, to open wine bar and restaurant The Barrel
Room in 2007. His big entrance to the craft beer game was not as
calculated as one might think. “We came up with the
concept for Urge basically because we were trying to
make something that was as different from The Barrel
Room as possible. I was like, ‘Okay, we’ve got a huge
wine list already. So why not do craft beer and burgers?’” Fast forwarding five years later, Urge is now one
of the most respected and popular beer bars in the
county (read: the world) and Grant has gone from wine
connoisseur to certified beer nerd.
The success of Urge is, “as much dumb luck as
anything else,” he says, and he chalks some of it up
to being, quite literally, in the right place at the right
time. “The timing was completely fortuitous, because
we opened right before the craft beer movement really
blew up in San Diego. There were 34 breweries in San
Diego when we opened, and now there’s 85 more. The
thing was, a lot of the people working in the craft beer
industry just so happened to live around here in Rancho
Bernardo. Yuseff Cherney from Ballast Point lived right
around the corner at the time, and Steve Wagner from
Stone lives right around the corner from us now. So all
of these brewers were coming in all the time. It was their
local bar.”
In other words, Grant suddenly found himself in the
most bad ass position possible. He had a one-of-a-kind
networking platform, and he was able to learn everything
there was to know about craft beer from the best in the
business. “When Stone had people they distribute for
come in from out of town, those guys would go to the
World Bistro one night, and then they’d come here the
next night. That’s how we met Martin and James from
Brewdog, for instance. I’m sure there’s tons of people
in North Park who feel like Rancho Bernardo is half way
to Temecula, but at the time when we opened, this is
where everybody in the craft brewing industry lived. It
just happened to be that the consumption was going on
down on 30th Street.”
IPA, and Berliner-Weisse for our core canned beers, but
we’re also getting stuff in the barrel right away for barrelaged and sour releases next year,” says Grant. Eventually, Grant started collaborating with some of
his new friends on one-off exclusive beer releases for
Urge’s now legendary anniversary parties. That type of
work reached a new zenith (pun intended) this summer,
when the Alesmith/Urge/Mostra Coffee collaboration
Velvet Speedway (“Peter Zien from Alesmith also lives
around the corner”) set the internet on fire and became
one of the most talked-about craft beer releases of all
time. “The goal was to make a white whale from the beginning,” Grant admits, “But it went so far beyond anything we could have possibly imagined. We got 172,000
page views the day it went on sale, and we only made
600 bottles.” Grant swears he only kept 12 of those
bottles for himself. “Maybe I can hold onto one of them
and put my kids through college one day,” he says. The brewery, with Mike Rodriguez of Lost Abbey and
Boulevard Brewing fame at the helm, will be housed in
the same facility in Oceanside as the brand new Urge
Gastropub and Whiskey Bank, which will offer 42 taps,
over 300 whiskeys, and another special surprise. “The
building has an old bank vault in it,” Grant says, “So
sometime next year, we’ll be launching a small speakeasy in there too.”
A sour collaboration with The Ale Apothecary in
Bend, OR has already been brewed and is aging now
for next year’s anniversary. You can expect that beer to
be a hot commodity as well. “We’re not doing any draft
of that beer, and we’re only making 50 cases. 20 cases
will probably be sold at the anniversary, so we’re looking
at just 30 cases to sell online as bottles to go.”
In the meantime, the freight train will continue to barrel through. Grant and his business partners are wasting
no time parlaying their expert knowledge of the industry into a full-fledged brewery operation of their own:
Mason Aleworks. The brewery is scheduled to open in
November, and don’t expect Tondro and the Boys to
offer the same boring five styles of beer you’d see from
most new outfits. “We’re planning on having a Pale Ale,
The more time I spend with Grant, the more I realize
how irrelevant and black-or-white that question I asked
at the beginning of our interview was. There were no
magic tricks involved with his scheduling process. He
is busy all the time, and he’s working his ass off. He
doesn’t find time to chill out. He chills out in the midst
of doing what he loves. That’s the trick, if there was
one. And then he hits me with another story. “When we were going through the trademarking
process for Mason Aleworks, we found out that there
was already another brewery in Bangor, Maine that had
the same name. My attorney said immediately, ‘Pick
another name. There’s no way anyone will sign off on
this.’ But I e-mailed the guy and explained the situation. He got right back to me, and said he’d sign off on
everything, no problem. His only condition was that he
wants to do a collaboration with us one day, and call it
the 2 Masons or something.” He smiles, fully aware that
he’s in the best business in the world. “All in the spirit of
craft beer.”
13
grant tondro: hop hitting facts
Hometown Cred: Rancho Bernardo High grad; co-owns three local restaurants
(Urge, Brothers Provisions, and The Barrel Room,) with a fourth facility in Oceanside
– Urge Gastropub and Whiskey Bank, which also houses the new brewery Mason
Aleworks – opening in November.
Favorite Go-To Beer: “It’s so hard to go wrong with [Ballast Point] Sculpin. When
we first opened Urge, we were one of ten accounts that could get Sculpin, and
now I can get it anywhere. It’s at Islands now. That’s awesome.”
Favorite Beer/Food Pairing: “I like a Belgian Golden Strong with popcorn,
because the saltiness plays off of it.”
Favorite Way to Get Your Beer Buzz On: “When I’m drinking a high ABV beer
that’s been aging for a few years, and it’s turned from super hot to kind of mellow,
I get a different kind of buzz. I call that my happy place. Last year at Urge, we did
a [Three Floyds] Dark Lord dinner where we had a 04-14 Dark Lord vertical. By the
time we hit ’09, I was in my happy place.”
Weirdest Beer of All-Time: “A tie between Brewdog’s Tactical Nuclear Penguin
and Sink the Bismarck. Tactical Nuclear Penguin [a 32% ABV Imperial Stout]
tastes like melted tires, but I was impressed by how much hop character is still in
Sink the Bismarck [a 41% ABV IPA,] especially since it’s been freeze distilled so
many times. Everyone should try these beers once to check it off their list.”
Favorite Beer of All-Time: “[Alesmith] Speedway Stout. And this is completely
biased, but in particular, the Velvet Speedway we just did, because it has a special
place in my heart. I’ve always been the biggest Speedway fan, and to be able to
work on a version of it really meant a lot to me.”
Grant’s Advanced Drinking
Tips for Rookie
and Veteran Beer Nerds Alike
On cleansing your palate…
Coming from a background of being a
certified som, cleansing the palate is a
big deal. I advise against using water,
because it changes the pH levels in your
mouth. And using crackers makes your
mouth too dry. Really, it comes down to
finding something that you’re used to. My go-to palate cleanser is Diet Coke. It can always bring me back to a neutral
place where I can tell what I’m drinking
afterwards. I grew up in a household
where all we drank was diet soda, and
I’ve always been used to that, which
might be why it works for me. The moral
of the story is, you have to find that thing
for you. But break the pre-conceived
notion of water or a piece of bread.
14
On facing an all-day drinking event…
As a veteran beer drinker, you’ve got to
realize that it’s a marathon, and not a
sprint. I’m not a fan of session beers. They have a place, but it’s not what I
want to drink. The only way I can break
it up is, every time I have a beer, I have
a pint of water after with no exceptions. If you throw that much water into it, it
will slow you down and get you more
full. This will prevent you from getting
drunk in the morning, and then have that
3 o’clock drag ass hit you when you’re
trying to pick it back up and finish the
night off strong. Alternate with water, and
you can get there.
On playing it cool…
I was at the Great American Beer Festival
[in Denver] in 2011, and I went to this
dinner that Euclid Hall puts on with Avery
Brewing called Breakfast at Midnight. It’s a food pairing where they have table
after table of rare, vintage Avery beers
that are like 15% and up. I’m half in the
bag already from drinking at the festival
during the day, and I look around and
realize I’m sitting at a table drinking with
Adam Avery, Greg Koch from Stone,
Ken Grossman from Sierra Nevada,
and Kim Jordan from New Belgium. I
had no business being in the room with
all these people. I got up and tried to
lean for the table behind me, and in that
process, I knock over like 15 glasses
and all these bottles. I mean, this is rare
stuff I just destroyed, and I’m standing
in front of this “who’s who” of the craft
beer scene. It was like the moment in
high school where the record drops and
everyone looks at you. I couldn’t think of
anything to say, so I pointed at some guy
next to me and said, “He did it!” They all
just started laughing, and that’s when I
realized everyone else was just as drunk
as I was.
SCHEDULE Nov. 6th-15th
Check out our
Website
for More
Event Details
Friday Nov. 6th
Keep the Pint - 3pm
Wednesday Nov. 11th
Sour Day - 3pm
Saturday Nov. 7th
Dark Side Brews - 3pm
Friday Nov. 13th
Keep the Pint - 3pm
Sunday Nov. 8th
Dark Side Brews - 1pm
Saturday Nov. 14th
Cake vs Coconut
20 Rotating Taps
Tasting Room Hours
M-F:3-8:30pm
S-S: 1-7pm
9835 Carroll Centre Rd #108 Miramar -San Diego, CA 92126 - www.intergalacticbrew.com
Super Sophisticated
(
Craft County’s *Non-Drinking* )
Games For Full Grown Adults
this month’s
featured game
Fantasy Beer: On Draft
We know you’re pumped that NFL football is back in full swing, so why not use this opportunity to play a different type of
“fantasy” game? Below are the names of 12 different “fantasy” beers we’ve made up to commemorate the 2015 season. It’s up
to you to pick the style, special ingredients, and ABV of each. Feel free to either be serious (i.e. - Lights Out Triple IPA at 15%) or
get goofy with it (i.e. The Emotions of Jay Cutler Saison aged on Lemongrass, Rose Petals, and Coriander – 0% ABV.)
Fantasy Beer Name
Beer Style
(Ex: Pale Ale; Quintuple
Moonshine-style IPA)
Special Notes
(Ex: on Nitro; with Sour Cherries; Aged with
the Ashes of an Era Now Forgotten)
ABV
(Ex: 5.8%,
10%, 110%)
LT Forever
________________________ _________________________________________ ___________
Shandy Dalton
________________________ _________________________________________ ___________
An Al Michaels Experience
________________________ _________________________________________ ___________
Lights Out
________________________ _________________________________________ ___________
Special Teams
________________________ _________________________________________ ___________
Romo Down!
________________________ _________________________________________ ___________
Tom’s Cell
________________________ _________________________________________ ___________
Cheesehead
________________________ _________________________________________ ___________
The Emotions of Jay Cutler
________________________ _________________________________________ ___________
Philip Rivers’ Extension
________________________ _________________________________________ ___________
Beast Mode
________________________ _________________________________________ ___________
She-Lie Manning
________________________ _________________________________________ ___________
DID YOU COME UP WITH A PRETTY AWESOME NAME? SEND IT TO [email protected]. OUR PERSONAL FAVORITE WILL WIN A PRIZE!
1.
BESOYTBAL
(two words)
____ ____ ____ ____
2.
3.
Below are six beer/local brewery-related words or phrases. Work together with
some of your fellow beer drinkers to unscramble them all!
____ ____ ____ ____ ____
ORINT
____ ____ ____ ____ ____
RDLBEGEAAR
(two words)
____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ - ____ ____ ____ ____
4.
ABDPEILUO
(two words)
____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
5.
6.
____ ____ ____
SEAMTHIL
____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
PNSHEOOSNL
(two words)
____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
____ ____ ____ ____
Answers on Page 34
Word Scrambles
The 3 Second Rule
Halloween Edition
Put your glass down on the page, and sit across the table from a friend, lover, or family member.
It’s time for a face off.
If you can – also get two extra glasses from your friendly server or bartender.
To play, pick one of the 30 different categories below. You and partner will then go back and forth naming off one thing at
a time that falls into each category. For instance, if the category is “Ben Stiller Movies” – you say “Meet The Parents,”
your partner says “Zoolander,” you say “Dodgeball,” etc.
The hitch?
You only have 3 SECONDS to respond once it’s your turn, or YOU LOSE!
The best of 3 rounds wins a 3 SECOND pour from your partner’s glass, in that extra glass you so wisely grabbed from
your bartender before you started playing. If you’ve got more than a party of two, feel free to trade off, or grab an extra
magazine and do multiple head-to-head matches.
Your Drink Here
Your Drink Here
Toys and Games from the 80s
Craft Breweries NOT from
Southern California
Guys’ Names Starting With ‘R’
Classic Rock Songs
Horror Movies
Cuts of Beef
Britney Spears Songs
Famous People Who Have Been
To Jail/Prison
Historical Battles
Steven Speilberg Movies
IPAs
(name the Brewery and the Beer)
Girls’ Names starting with “M”
Rap Songs
Local Craft Beer Bars
Famous Monsters
Olympic Athletes
Types of Soda
Breweries off the 78 Freeway
Adam Sandler Movies
Types of Halloween Candy
Famous Authors
Local Mexican Food Joints
Yoga Poses
Mass-Produced Non-Craft Beers
Local Bottle Shops
US Cities starting with “B”
Robert DeNiro Movies
Southern California Cities
Boy Bands
Pumpkin Beers
(name the Brewery and the Beer)
17
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What Makes a Great Lei?
The following sponsored article is brought to you
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The Great Lei IPA is Vista brewery Belching Beaver’s latest unique
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How did you guys come up with the concept for the Great Lei?
We wanted to make something different. We love the grapefruit, orange, and citrus-note
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How would you describe the taste of the beer?
Personally, I think it’s San Diego in a glass. The Mosaic, Amarillo, and Simcoe hops
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Post-fermentation, we throw in more toasted coconut, kind of like what you’d have
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end up tasting in the beer. We then use whole coconut reduced pulp, and juice it
down to a really creamy texture that’s water soluble. The same with the pineapple.
Using all natural ingredients gives the beer that clean, crisp, hoppy bitterness,
surrounded by a sweet coconut pineapple finish. “Do you like pina coladas?”
Well, it’s really something else, and our hat’s off to you, because it’s quite tasty!
At the risk of sounding too corny, what’s the best way to enjoy a Great Lei?
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Room in North Park, to try it on tap!
Vista Brewery:
980 Park Center Dr, Vista, CA 92081
North Park Tasting Room:
4223 30th St, San Diego, CA 92104
www.belchingbeaver.com
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Drinking
Buddies
with Kay Shep
As your friendly neighborhood moderator on the SD Beer
Friends group (Facebook.com/groups/sdbeerfriends) and the
/r/sandiegobeer page on Reddit (Reddit.com/r/sandiegobeer,)
Kay Shep has plenty of friends around town to talk craft beer
with. But being that this is our first issue, we decided to make
things as complicated as possible for her. So we asked Kay to
start this column off by interviewing herself. Aided by an infinite
supply of San Diego’s best beer offerings, here is the result.
Twitter: @Sh*tKorynSaid
This wasn’t my idea, not exactly.
Like a lot of things in my
life, this started off as a joke. I’m bouncing column ideas off of
Eddie and trying to be interesting (hard!) so I pitched a “drinking
buddies” suggestion that was an expansion of an idea I started
in San Diego Craft Brew Social Society (a Facebook group I
started.) Basically, I had people make “bios” for Social Society
because we may, unknowingly, have a lot more in common
than just beer. Beer, of course, is what brought us together and
what we bond over. But there’s more to know than that, and
that’s the genesis of the idea for the column: to chat with a new
drinking buddy every month, and find out more about their life
beyond craft beer. He likes this idea. Problem: the deadline is
coming up soon.
So who am I going to interview?
HAHA- me!
No, seriously…Good idea…
So now, here I am, taking a break from looking at pictures
of cats that look like Game of Thrones characters, writing this
column. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t my first choice. In fact, I wasn’t
my first “interview.” Unfortunately, my first was, as with the
proverbial first times, less Earth-moving than expected. I’ll get
around to reporting that one, but it’s not how I want to start. I
want to start with the drinking buddy I know best - me!
I really want to pinpoint how I landed on beer. Partly, nothing else (cocktail-wise) really connected with me. I wasn’t a big
drinker when I was younger. Also, I’ve always been a bit of a
tomboy. I think beer held that “one of the guys” appeal for me
(and it still does.) I started off with a Black and Tan. I’m a fan
of Irish pub music, and Guinness is obviously a staple of the
Irish Pub. That’s where it stayed for a while.
Thankfully, I live in an amazing beer town which would not
be satisfied with this limited beer taste. I moved to San Diego
to go to law school in 2004. Some years later, breweries began
cropping up like mushrooms around San Diego, and the craft
beer world began to open to me. Trips to Green Flash lead to
inquiries about other local breweries. This lead to Stone’s Beer
U: “Beer 101” class. If nothing else, this was the real spark. In
this “class,” I was exposed to something that would change
my beer drinking life: the sour stout (Jolly Pumpkin’s Madrugada Obscura.) A beer both dense and rank that I have, with a
straight face, described as having a vomit-like bile background
flavor: of which I, unflinchingly, am a fan. I prefer Tart of Darkness to M.O. though, if you’re keeping score.
From that, I jumped in head first. I tried everything once (still
do,) went to events, met other beer people, and just became
a student of beer and beer culture (especially local.) That’s
how I got involved with /r/beersandiego. I noticed there were
so many beer events in town all the time, but no one place
22
to find them. There are so many sources that one would
need to follow. So, I decide to distill all of that information
into one resource. That led to joining SDBeerFriends, and
eventually being a mod, which then led me to my own beerrelated Facebook pages. I also made it a goal to visit every
brewery in San Diego, which I had accomplished through
Benchmark’s opening. This also led to two trips to Denver
for the Great American Beer Festival. I also try to find local
beer when I travel. I’ve successfully found craft beer in two
cities in Alaska, in Canada, and in Cabo San Lucas. Like
any good beer junkie, I want to get to Belgium and Germany (for Oktoberfest, of course.)
Over time, I’ve learned some things.
Beer is uniting
There is a beer out there for almost every palate and
the beer community is full of great people who are caring,
generous, and collaborative.
Beer has potential
I’ve watched so many amazing people make a career out
of beer. From brewing, to art, to crafts/clothing, to tours,
to food products, to publications, this is a cultural phenomenon that has inspired so many creative people and driven
entrepreneurs.
Top 5 Things I've Always Wanted to Know About
Kay but Was Terrified She'd Hit Me if I Asked
So, Kay…
Yes, other Kay?
Q: Do you have an Untappd account?
A: I did, but never use it.
Q: Why?
A: I don’t need no stinking badges.
Q: If you couldn’t drink craft beer, what’s your beverage of choice?
A: Coffee - preferably locally roasted.
Q: So you just gotta be hipster about everything…
A: *Glare*
Q: Do you drink non-craft beer?
A: Out of desperation, I have.
Q: What is the go-to?
A: I’ll sometimes settle for a Blue Moon or Shock Top. I’ll admit though,
after Tough Mudder last year, Dos Equis was handing out beer. We
bashed on it the whole time. But, after 13 miles and 5+ hours in the sun,
it was the greatest beer I’ve ever had.
Q: What’s with the black streak in your hair?
A: My hair is so kick ass it has its own black belt.
Q: Seriously?
A: That, or it’s the dark side showing through.
Q: What’s your favorite glassware?
A: I have a Trolls glass that I really like. It’s actually the one in the picture
with this article.
Q: Really?
A: LOL! Yeah! What did you think I was going to say? A goblet, fashioned
from the skull of an enemy?
Q: Is that the real answer?
A: …Yes…
And finally…
I still don’t like IPAs. Sorry guys. I just can’t develop
a taste for IPA. I’ve tried. In fact, this “challenge” is
exactly how I met one of my best drinking buddies, and
future article subject, beer alien Terry. “Oh, you’ll like
this IPA. Try it.” While I did not garner a new found
appreciation for the IPA, I did find a kindred spirit. And
that’s what beer has really meant to me. It’s brought
people into my life and that’s what I’m hoping to share
with you through this column: my friends, my fun, my
experiences, my love of the local craft beer culture.
And a bit about me. Besides being a beer fan and
social media junkie, I’m also an attorney and gym rat. I
have two gym memberships (24 Hour and Art of Eight
- for boxing/kickboxing/jiu-jitsu) and still climb at Mesa
Rim from time to time and do some archery and shooting. I did Tough Mudder last year and am doing it again
this year. I also do some event planning. I like to watch
the UFC. I’ve attended ComicCon in costume - twice.
I like to read, and have had some poetry published (in
school.) I like fast cars and motorcycles, but used to
drive a pick-up. On the girlier side, I like shoes, MAC
lipstick, and corsets. My favorite movies are The Godfather, Dangerous Liaisons, Tombstone, Clerks, Army of
Darkness, The Shawshank Redemption, and Spaceballs.
And I’m way into Game of Thrones.
And now, some questions from the audience…
Q: What are your least favorite beer trends?
A: Over-hopped, bitter AF beer, bourbon/whiskey barrel-aged beer
(generally, though not across the board,) and “Session” anything when
the style should not be low ABV. To clarify, I don’t dislike all barrel-aged
beers. I just don’t really enjoy it when the whiskey or bourbon is overly
strong. Let’s just say the rule “Don’t give Kay whiskey” is in place for a
reason.
Q: What are your favorite beer styles?
A: Sours (Gose, Gouze, Berliner Weiss, Fruited Sours all day,) Stouts (New
English Zumbar Stout, Lost Abbey Serpent Stout, Ballast Point Victory At
Sea, and Maui Coconut Porter,) and a solid Nut Brown.
Q: What about your favorite local brewery?
A: Mother Earth for the people (Who else would keep me company while
waiting on a Vista jail release? And I’m a big Sintax and Cali Creamin’
junkie - or Calitax.) Also, Lost Abbey, Bagby, and Modern Times for the
beer varieties. My newest intrigue is Toolbox for the sours (but I’m keeping my eye on Belching Beaver since they have a new sour program with
Toolbox’s former head brewer) and Abnormal, because I expect Derek to
really show us something awesome.
Q: How about the most underrated local breweries?
A: Intergalactic, 2Kids, and also Nickel because they’re a bit far.
I’ll leave you with my beer pick of the month: Autumn from Mother
Earth. Celebrate the equinox. Yeah, so I like themes. I’m not gunna
apologize.
November 7
Pint Night
November 11
Cask Night
Join us in our tasting room!
Wed 3:00 - 9:00 pm
Thur 3:00 - 9:00 pm
Fri 3:00 - 10:00 pm
Sat 1:00 - 10:00 pm
Sun 1:00 - 8:00 pm
8680 Miralani Dr. #123
November 12
Mystery Science
Thursday 3000
November 14
Stoutfest
www.2kidsbrewing.com
®
Hop Damn!
San Diego native Ashley Campbell
opens up to Craft County
about the craft beer scene, the
latest Chargers season,
and her passion for long
photoshoots on the beach
Photos by Peter Lin: www.coventryautomatik.com | www.instagram.com/coventryautomatik
27
28
You’ve modeled for American Eagle Outfitters,
E! Entertainment, and you were Miss Oceanside
Princess 2014. So naturally, our first question
is, how did we get so lucky to have you here for
our first issue?
Eddie saw some of my photos with Peter - who is
amazing to work with, by the way - and approached
me. It sounded like a really great opportunity to talk
about one of my favorite places in the world and
where I grew up…San Diego!
When you’re doing a shoot, there must be long
bouts of silence where you’re holding a pose
and no one’s talking. What’s a tip for keeping
the awkwardness to a minimum?
I don’t think any part of modeling is awkward to me.
This might sound weird, but when I’m modeling, I
feel super at peace. At times I do get really sore
afterwards from holding poses for so long. But
that’s when you know it was a great shoot!
There have to be random thoughts that pop into
your head while you’re holding a pose and no
one’s talking. Share a recent one with us…
“Oh my gosh, that dog is so cute!” I absolutely love
pups! I have a husky, lab, and golden retriever back
at my family’s home. My brother, sister, and I even
taught our lab how to play soccer and fish when we
were younger. I moved to LA about two months
ago, and I miss my dogs so much that I’m starting
to volunteer at an animal shelter on the weekends.
Of course I will always be a fan, but I hope they
stay. Especially while you’re growing up, having
the Chargers in San Diego is a big deal. All of my
friends had huge Charger decals on the back of their
cars, and we always wore Chargers jerseys when
there was a game. I hope that future generations of
San Diegans will get to experience that.
Now let’s talk about the other important pillar of
San Diego culture: craft beer. We know you don’t
drink, but as a local observing the expansion of
all these once small, and now giant, breweries
over the years, how do you feel?
It’s really amazing that they’re so big now. And
it’s even better that we have these big, nationally
recognized companies that originate in San Diego.
We’re already known as one of America’s most
beautiful cities, but they’re helping us get our name
out there even more!
What’s next for Miss Ashley Campbell?
Acting has always been something I wanted to do,
and now that I’m in LA, I can fully pursue it. As for
modeling, it’s always random and new. I have a
lot of auditions, but I don’t usually talk about them
because I don’t want to jinx myself! You can always
view my newest work on my Instagram.
Our last question for this segment will always
be the most serious. Do you think, one day, San
Diego will take over the world? And we’re not
talking just beer wise…
I’m pretty sure San Diego is already dominating. I
mean, we have the best sunsets.
ashley campbell
ashley
campbell
As someone who’s pulled a “Potential San Diego
Chargers” and left us for LA herself, what’s your
take on that situation? Will you still consider
yourself a fan if they move?
For more of Ashley, visit
TheAshleyCampbell.com
and
Instagram.com/TheAshleyCampbell
Check out more of Peter’s
photography at
Coventryautomatik.com
and
Instagram.com/coventryautomatik
29
31
“I’m pretty sure San Diego is already dominating.
I mean, we have the best sunsets.”
SAN DIEGO BEER WEEK
EVENT SCHEDULE
11/6 Venissimo Cheese Event
11/8
Nomad Donut Pairing
11/11 Beer Trivia
11/12 Belgian Night
11/13 IPA Lounge
THORNSTREETBREW.COM
3176 Thorn St., San Diego, CA 92104
O’ Sullivan Bros. Brewing Co.
9879 Hibert St., Ste F
San Diego, CA 92131
(858) 577-0350
VISIT OUR TASTING ROOM
HAVE AN AWARD WINNING BREW
MAKE NEW FRIENDS
LOCATED IN SCRIPPS RANCH
Tours, Club Events, Company Events, Private Parties, Home brewer Events, Merchandise
Word Scramble Answers: 1. Lost Abbey, 2. Nitro, 3. Barrel-Aged, 4. Double IPA, 5. Alesmith, 6. Nelson Hops
34
...on the low
Beer Trading
Craft County’s
official guide to
Thanks, Government!
After issuing new legislation earlier today (like, seriously, two seconds before you started reading this
article) the Feds have now made beer trading (shipping beer without a license) a serious felony, carrying
the penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole. But we know you still want that Surly
Darkness. And it’s obviously still worth it.
With that in mind, we interviewed thousands of local beer trading experts, and with their help, we’ve
compiled a sure-fire guide for how to avoid becoming another victim of victimless crime laws.*
Tip #1: Maintain Complete Anonymity
Tip #2: Make New Friends, But Keep The Old
The internet, IP addresses, and all that crap are easily
traceable, so you’ve got to cover your tracks even
when arranging for a trade in the first place. “That’s
why I got a second job at Burger King,” says Johnnie
Walker, beer trading aficionado. “I can use the
computer in the back to arrange trades while I’m on
break. The best part about it is, I just keep switching
jobs every couple weeks. By the time the Feds get
hip to the location I’m using, I’ll already be working
at Del Taco.” And the secret to getting the job in the
first place without using your real identity? “Dual
Canadian citizenship. I applied for it after stealing
the driver’s license of this kid who used to beat me
up in the 4th grade. The process was a breeze, and
it’s comforting to know that if anyone eventually goes
down for this, it’ll be him.”
A big package sent across the country via FedEx? Suspicious. A
big package sent across the county…to somebody you already send
stuff to all the time? Not suspicious at all. “I started a ‘Beer Trading
Relationship’ with this dude named Chris from North Carolina about
a year and a half ago, and we’re finally about to pull the trigger on
our trade,” says Brian McKnight, who first linked up with Chris after
searching for Cigar City’s Double Barrel Hunahpu. “At first, we’d just
send random stuff to each other every week. I sent him a copy of
‘Kingpin’ when it came out on Blu-ray, because he had never seen it
before, and I was like ‘Whaaat?’ Then he sent me a teddy bear, which
frankly made me uncomfortable. But eventually, we got past it. We
even exchanged Christmas cards last year.” When asked if bothering
to send a Christmas card through FedEx would in fact make things
seem more suspicious, Brian laughed at us rather pompously. “The
collective mind of the federal government works similarly to that of a hot
chick. As long as you keep them guessing, they’re happy.”
Tip #3: It’s All In The Packaging
Tip #4: Use One Of Those “Mission: Impossible” Masks
When prepping the beer for shipment, you’ve got to
put more in the package than just bubble wrap and
old newspapers. We recommend throwing something
else in the box that will encourage FedEx employees
to look the other way. “I’ve been putting whole fish
in the box that I buy from the Farmer’s Market down
in Little Italy, and the response has been great,” says
Robert Frost, award-winning trade wizard. “I shipped
three local barrel-aged stouts last week, and instead
of wrapping the beers in bubble wrap, I took a fish,
opened the mouth of it, and jammed it down on top
of each bottle, so it acted like an organic sleeve. The
guy I traded said the fish odor seeped into the bottles
a little bit, and added a subtle ‘nutty crab cake’ type
of taste to the back end of the beer. Needless to say,
we’re already arranging another trade.”
After you’ve paid for your shipping label online (via a debit card linked
to an untraceable foreign bank account,) the riskiest - and final - task is
that all-important drop off at a local FedEx facility. Since there’s security
cameras up the wazoo at every FedEx center, and they’ll be looking for
you, the only logical option left is to adopt a completely new identity. “I
got fitted for a mask that works exactly like the ones Tom Cruise uses
in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ movies – you know, where he look like an
old man or something, but then he rips off the mask, and he’s Tom
Cruise again,” says Dave Osborne, locally respected beer trading guru. “It cost me two grand, but that’s totally worth it, especially if this trade
I’m putting together for a couple cases of Heady Topper ends up going
through.” But what if you become nervous about getting caught once
you walk into the store? “That’s not an issue for me, since my mask
turns me into Kobe Bryant, and he has too much money to worry about
those types of things.”
If paranoia does set in during the process, and it feels like you’re truly
going to get caught and sent to jail for the rest of your life, do yourself
a favor and take a deep breath. It’s just a beer. Be cool, man. They’re
not gonna catch you.
*Craft County, the bar or brewery you picked this publication up in, the City of San Diego, and everyone
else, everywhere, does not encourage you to trade beer in the first place. It’s totally illegal, bruh.
35
3207 Roymar Rd Ste E
Oceanside CA 92058
www.TapThatKegNow.com
Nov 6th = IPA Night (e menu will feature some of the best IPA's San Diego has to offer)
Nov 7th = Travis' Beer Week Birthday Bash. Nov 8th = Beer Week Kill the Keg Special. 10+ Beers for $3 Pints
Nov 9th = CLOSED
Nov 10th = Ice Cream Float Night featuring Karl Strauss' Peanut Butter Cup Porter
Nov 11th = Beer Trivia Night
Nov 12th = Beers and Bingo with Belching Beaver Brewery
Nov 13th = Beer and Chocolate Pairing with e Lost Abbey and So Rich Chocolates
Nov 14th = Blind Taste Challenge Nov 15th = Barrels and Breakfast with Ironfire Brewery (619) 448-3773 www.beverages4lessinc.com 9181 Mission Gorge Rd, Santee, CA 92071
a w a r d
w i n n i n g
shuffleboard
b e e r
ping pong
Tasting Room Hours: Wed-Sat 3-8
7408 Trade St. San Diego, CA 92121
Entry located in rear of building
www.division23brewing.com
Illustration: Darrick Ingram - www.darrickingram.com
Beginnings
To begin…
Well, Young Beer God Apprentice
Why not ask?
Where is the start?
Beginning something new
Implies the end of the past
To the logical mind
Ralupulus’s
October Offering
for Craft County:
2012 Three Floyds
Dark Lord
Crack your favorite beer, breathe out, and
peer toward the water with Ralupulus, one
of many beer gods in Craft County, as he
shares his perpetually-brewing wisdom
with you.
But logically, one can’t begin again
Without the wisdom
Of what’s behind
So celebrate it all
And raise your glass
You’re new. You’re old
Yes. It’s you that lasts
Embarking on a new journey? Taking a
step toward the next chapter in your life?
Let us give you something to celebrate that
with. Go to craftcountysd.com/ralupulus
and share your story with us. We’d love
to hear about it! One lucky participant
chosen at random, will win Ralupulus’s
October Offering. Cheers!
BEER WEEK IS MY JAM
39
OPENING SOON
HOME OF MASON ALE WORKS
A CRAFT BUILT BREWING CO.