Intermission II (Back at school)

What was I doing yesterday at 11:00 am at Cal State San Marcos?


Attending the XII Anniversary party of the St0ne Brewery, of course!


And with the opportunity to try 10 different beers from the world with the souvenir glass you get with your ticket and the party after that at KC's house, it was a good place to be.

KC got me tickets to the party, but everyone of the people that was supposed to go, either cancelled or could not go (I still feel it for will, but we had a taste of the XI anniversary beer on Friday night).

It was a little difficult to get up on Saturday morning; the party session started at 11:15 am, in San Marcos and I had to get to KC house in Escondido at 10:00 am. After several false wake up calls I finally got up at 8, woke up Vicky, who accepted to join me (since she likes speciality beer too, unusual for a girl) and we left home around 9:00. Bonita, Mediana and Pinka were to go buy the school uniforms; the school decided to change the uniforms completely (a bummer because is Mediana's last year at this school) and we waited until the end of vacations to avoid buying the wrong sizes (they had grown so much since the end of the school year); anyhoo, they were going shopping, Vicky and me were going beer sampling (to avoid saying drinking!).

Got to KC's house on time, went to pick up Dave (a Londoner who lives closeby and works at the same place than KC) and went to take the train to the place (police were patrolling the university and after drinking, driving would have been dangerous!). We did not count it was a 15 minutes walk from the train station to the party site, but we got there at 11:00, waited 15 minutes in a really LONG line (I believe close to 1000 people got there before us) and 10 more minutes to get in and then we started the sampling; we had three hours to try 10 different (or same) beers, so we pace ourselves. Here is a list of what I had:

1) Green Flash West Coast IPA -> Good, hoppy beer.
2) Alesmith Brewery IPA -> Even better than Green Flash one.
3) Lost Abby Witch's Wit -> Terrible, terrible beer. Tasted like a Michelada gone really wrong. It's not even listed on their website.
4) Tijuana Morena -> Just to take out the taste of the previous one.
5) Duvel -> This was really good.
6) La Trappen Bockbier -> I have a fixation with Bock beers; from the Mexican Nochebuena (seasonal Christmas beer), I always try to taste them.
7) Stone Arrogant Bastard -> Needed to get back to something I knew.
8) Russian River Pliny the Elder -> Last year I had a Pliny the Younger, I remember it was better.
9) Stone XII Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout -> Bitter, chocolate-y, good enough.
10) Brouwerij Verhaeghe Vichte Pils -> First sample of the day, with the sun and the heat it was really good.
11) Pizza Port Carlsbad Chronic -> Amber Ale, from San Diego. It was OK.
12) Ommegang Three Philosophers -> The best of what I had today.

Ate half a hot-dog, half a tri-tip sandwich, Arrogant Bastard onion rings and tried the Napalm Beer Cheese Spread (from Mike, the St0ne "Cheesemaster") for second consecutive year, it is really good, I hope they decide to sell it.

So, a little bit tipsy we started our travel back to KC's home. 20 minutes walking this time (to the train station) and 15 minutes on the train made the trick. By the time we got to the Escondido Station everyone was feeling better (besides the sampling glass is a 4 ounces! not enough to get you really drunk).

At KC's home, the beer was waiting for us. Oaked Arrogant Bastard (bitter than the original one), a Stone Cal-Beli (never heard of it, but it was OK, like a Heifenweizen) and I also tried a little of Wells Bombardier (Premium Ale).

Food was there too; pulled pork sandwiches in Cuban style (with ham, cheese, mustard and a pickle) and sweet potato fries. Really good time. I hope next year there will not be something that prevents more people to attend.

See you around.