crazy packed (photo by geoff)

so dave, geoff, and i arrived at the ballpark and was greeted with two crazy lines to get into this REALLY small setup (it was right behind the kids’ baseball field)

so ridiculous — i really LOVED the idea of them having a beerfest, especially coincided with the brewers’ visit. however, i think the marketing folks underestimated the number of people who would be at this event.

in one word, it was a clusterf*ck… people were annoyed by how cramped everything was. it was discouraging to see people just cutting in line

we lost dave for a moment, but then i spotted him at the friggin’ anheuser-busch booth… i didn’t get outta work early to drink bud light — f that

i think about 30-45 minutes after we arrived, geoff and i finally got our first beers: “why ? not” american wheat beer by new english brewing co. got two of those each so we could jump into another line and get more.

this next line for green flash was a lot quicker… or was it just the beer that we were pounding? (btw, i really hate drinking beer like that — a microbrew must be enjoyed, not pounded… anyway. got to the front of the line and was the LAST PERSON to get a beer… hop head red ale (got two of these, but like a good friend, i gave one to dave… errr… sold one to dave)

we make our way to the hill at the park at the park and catch a small glimpse of the broken lizard guys (sans jay chandrasekhar aka ramathorn — booooo)

i needed to eat at this point so we go to one of the hot dog spots behind the batter’s eye… as i’m in line, my eye is caught by none other than channel 4′s jenny cavnar. i was caught between getting a hot dog and taking a picture with her… what did i end up doing? well… if you follow my twitter account, you’ll know that i didn’t get the picture — missed opportunties!

tho i did get this pic at least:

bastard gave me fleas!

in all… they can only go up from here… maybe reserve a bigger area for the lushes and have the breweries bring enough for the two hour event

the plus sides: i got my swarm badge and the padres won with a bell save… keep it rollin’!

the name alone makes my thirsty

store: stone
type: american double/imperial stout
abv: 9.20%

oatmeal stouts are tasty… and this is no exception… this is over the top flavor in a glass.

you get some beers that say one thing on the label and it tastes nothing like that… but this actually does taste like bitter chocolate (like baking chocolate) and oatmeal. and being a stout, there were flavors of coffee as well.

i would definitely get this again… i wonder if it’s still being sold? only one way to find out — i need to make a trip to my local stone brewery!

beeradvocate: A-
me: A

more like "kill me"

store: bevmo
type: american adjunct lager
abv: 4.90%

oh those american adjunct lagers… they’re sooo run of the mill and this one is no exception…

sure it was made in the same country as my favorite national soccer team (one of ‘em at least), but this one was “ho hum”… no need to go further with this one i guess… you get the point

i do remember that juan and andy brought this over when we watched pacquiao put the beat down on cotto… it was supposed to be a filipino beer (san mig) and a puerto rican beer, but apparently, those aren’t easily found at your local bevmo… so argentina was thrown in as a substitute… it’s all the same tho — all brown right? (that’s racist)

beeradvocate: C-
me: C

i'm koo koo for coconut porter!... sorry

store: stone brewing co.
type: american porter
abv: 5.70%

first time i had this was at stone… such a strange idea for a beer — coconut. surprisingly, it’s not overpowering, but you can definitely taste it…

it pours a very dark brown with a dark brown head… it tastes like coconut, some coffee, perhaps some chocolate (as most porters are wont to do)

it’s an awesome beer to drink — seems like a dessert kinda beer to me… i highly suggest this

…and so does zane:

beeradvocate: A-
me: A+

so i’m gonna start putting them in… in no particular order

if i can’t figure out what to write about it, i’ll just put the basic info… tho i’m sure when i see the picture, it’ll all come back to me…

…yea right — i have such a crappy memory…

so for next year, i’m gonna do a “year of coffee” — with the overall goal of being able to order a cup of coffee at a starbucks and not sound like a re-tard… i wanna know the lingo… i want to say “skinny” regarding my drink for some reason…

hot, cold, whole bean, ground, sumatra, java… if it’s coffee, i’m gonna try it out

should be fun… i already know some places i wanna try out for some home “brewing” — world market, trader joe’s

hell, i think i’ll even get a french press… i hear they’re all the rage

just found out that josephsbrau == trader joe's

store: trader joe’s
type: kölsch
abv: 4.80%
suggested by: debbie morales

wow — didn’t realize i hadn’t posted this up yet

well i wasn’t much of a fan of this brew… i was hoping for a refreshing mild (in flavor) taste, but it wasn’t like that.

flavor was boring… it wasn’t terrible… just didn’t make me say “ooh that’s nice” — i wouldn’t get this again.

hell, i even tried drinking it outside while cleaning my car (whilst wearing daisy dukes and uggs) — now get that image outta your head!

beeradvocate: B-
me: C

had to take a half day at work and even got “wellness formula” from jimbo’s (per chaunce) — the pills taste nasty, but i think it might’ve helped (more on this later)

so i meet up with mark, dwight, tim, and mitch at the stone brewery 13th anniversary over at the csu san marcos campus…

this was my first time going to one of these things, and boy… i’ve been missing out. it was such a slick time — my only gripe was that it was effington hot… “mike’s beer cheese” was amazing

i still think coconut+porter is a great mix!

we all got sloshed for 3 hours and decide to walk across the street to have some stir fresh mongolian bbq

we get a few feet from the place and mark and dwight suddenly want to chase me down and beat me up… wtf? so i immediately channel adrian petersen and i fuckin’ run… i run and i juke… i almost get hit by cars in the parking lot and on my last juke… i hear a loud THUD behind me… i turn around and i see a mangled mess of limbs and whiteness — it’s mark

he friggin curbstomped himself

he gets up and blood everywhere — dripping from his chin onto his shirt

quickly we get him to a mr. taco bathroom where he washes a little bit — to the disgust of the patrons… as we’re leaving, everyone’s eyes are on the tall white bald bastard and his entourage… i whisper to them, “yea… i kicked his ass”

so then — even tho we were hungry, we decide it’s in mark’s best interest to go to a hospital — i see a “pph” sign (palomar pomerado health — the only reason i know this is because tomlinson does a commercial for them) and we start walking

frick — it’s closed… mark starts whining, “waah… my chest hurts…  waah… i’m losing a lot of blood”

so i have to do a quarter mile windsprint back to my car (drunk no more — adrenaline and i sweat it all out) and drive back to the closed clinic and take us to a kaiser permanente

never knew about "intermediate care"

once inside, we are loud and belligerent… so much so that we get kicked out of the waiting room… (actually, tim and i — the quietest of the bunch… the ones who were half asleep — us)

his shirt was white before the fall..

so we ended up going to the lobby and tim actually does something i never knew he could do — sleep… and i try to take a nap… meanwhile, dwight commandeers a wheelchair (three of them actually) and does a tour de france all around the hospital and around the perimeter

mark finally gets out with 8 stitches in his chin, some scrapes and bruises, but nothing else serious

overall… best stone anniversary ever! (it was kinda like the hangover… but not as funny)

oh so if you wanna see the gash (pre-stitches), click here — very graphic tho — looks like a vagina in mark’s chin… it’s breathing too! PIC (if you don’t wanna click on it, it reminded me of kuato in total recall)

tasted very hwheaty (spelled correctly)

store: gordon biersch
type: kölsch
abv: 4.6%

so this was a consolation beer after waiting roughly an hour for district 9 (and then getting turned away) with geoff.

this is currently the seasonal beer at gordon biersch and it’s definitely worth a shot — i really like wheaty beer… there’s a crisp, refreshing flavor…

it went awesome with my meal: cheeseburger and garlic fries (appetizer of beer cheese soup)… the beer cheese soup is AMAZING… the cheeseburger kicked my ass tho — i dunno what it was. i still maintain that the bun was a bit “tough” (for the lack of a better term)

oh well… it’s still good beer AND they’re on twitter! AAAAND they respond to tweets (cont’d)!

(i’m currently asking them what the abv of this beer is — let’s see how fast they respond)

UPDATE: they responded!

beeradvocate: B+
me: A

it didn't taste like milk surprisingly

store: trader joe’s
type: american amber/red ale
abv: 5.50%
suggested by: debbie morales

at first taste, i wasn’t a huge fan… but since i had six of ‘em, it kind of grew on me.

it’s kind of funny — the different things i’ll notice the second, third, fourth time i drink a beer — it’s a bit on the hoppier side, but it has a slight creamy finish as you progress through the  bottle, which is nice.

i’ve ended up eating a snack whenever drinking this — try it with those lays jalapeno kettle cooked chips – that’s a good combo… well, they’re good chips overall – ha

i think that fat tire is a bit smoother to drink, but this one is alright.

beeradvocate: B-
me: B+