Last Wednesday's Drinkabout

When you hear "it got a bit out of hand" or "it jumped up a notch real fast" it could have easily referred to last Wednesday's marathon of beering. The day started out innocently, as my Wednesdays off usually do, with a couple pints at O'Brien's while taking in the Champions League matches for lunch. I always tell myself I want to try something new when I go here but invariably end up ordering whatever ends in "IPA". This day involved a Green Flash West Coast IPA and a Pliny the Elder, the latter of which I don't partake in much anymore, but this one was pretty fresh and nice. I usually stick with the awesome 3 Grilled Cheese but I revisited the Spicy Pepper Jack burger which is a delicious burger (it has chili paste or something in it).

I usually retire back to my place for an afternoon nap to recover for whatever may present itself at night, but instead headed south towards SDSU for a visit to KnB Wine Cellar which the Booze Reviews crew always raves about. It's a cool little wine/beer/liquor store with a nice indoor/outdoor lounge area. They have about 10-12 beers on tap, mostly very high quality, although there was PBR also (on special to boot). I was shocked to see Flying Dog's Raging Bitch on tap so I immediately ordered one. The girl began to pour it and said the keg had kicked so I got a little taster glass. At that point I had to text my friend Brian in Maryland who happens to be the unofficial (or is it official yet?) spokesman for Raging Bitch. I also received a message that part of the Booze Reviews crew would be joining me at KnB in 45 minutes, so I had to order up another round- another Green Flash West Coast IPA.

When the rest of the crew arrived at KnB they inquired about Raging Bitch having had kicked, and guess what, it hadn't. Must've been a pressure issue before or something, I dunno, but we ordered another round of Raging Bitch. This beer is a delicious hoppy Belgian brew. I was amazed at how different the bottled and tap versions smelled, though both really hoppy and good, they had a different character each time. This time on the tap I got much more of a Belgian yeast thingy as well. After some appetizers and a couple rounds it was somehow decided that we should hit Blind Lady Alehouse for some pizza to wait for the DrinkAbout shuttle.


Blind Lady was offering a Twitter drinkabout special of $5 Margherita Pizzas if you mention the secret word. That was a great deal and the pizzas were much needed before what ensued. We also quickly downed half liters of Apline Nelson as the drinkabout bus was waiting outside. My beer drinking manhood took a bit of a hit as I think Ashley had to help me finish off the last of my Nelson to catch the bus in time. Thankfully they are sympathetic to someone who had a head start.



The first stop we decided to take off the drinkabout bus was Small Bar, a bar in north North Park owned by the Hamilton's people. This is where I had my worst beer of the night, Napa IPA. It was pretty bad and I didn't finish it (everyone else thought the same). The horrible Napa IPA does not change my view of the Small Bar though, I really like that place. Their food is really good too. After the quick round we hopped on the next bus to catch a ride to our next destination.

The next place we decided to visit was Live Wire, new to all of us I believe. It's a very dark/divey sorta place but they had a good set of taps there, even including Raging Bitch. More Raging Bitch was ordered here, along with Allagash Curieux. I don't even remember what I had here, that was the state I had entered after about 7 hours of beering at this point.


We took the next bus all the way down to Hamilton's, even though the word "Sea Rocket" had escaped our mouths at least 10 times earlier that night. I had never heard of Sea Rocket before and I'm still wondering what the hell the Sea Rocket is like. Anyway, the usual Hamilton's craziness ensued but I didn't even remember hitting Hamilton's until the early morning rehash as I was being driven to my car which was parked at KnB.



Back on the Bus.....

The night ended back at KnB for a round of Ballast Point Sculpin IPA. For as much beer as we'd drank by this point Sculpin still tasted really good. Oh yeah, the night actually ended with Sun Tacos. Can't forget that.