Rock & Roll Happy Hour

It was a tropical blast in the studio from the moment Erik from Good Pressure Brewing craked the top on the growler. Huge aromas of guava and oranged bast your senses and that rolls right into the taste!

We FINALLY got to the IPA from Good Pressure Brewing! Althought visison of yesterday's Blonde still dance on my taste buds, this IPA stands up! IF a San Diego IPA history lesson could be poured in a glass this would be in, color similar to a the legendary Green Flash West Coast IPA but a body and bitterness profile that is more in-line with what IPA drinkers now enjoy.

Part of starting a brewery is knowing what you want to be known for, for Erik at Good Pressure Brewing it's a beer he's been constantly building in his head for the last 15 years. Say "hello" to Good Pressure Brewing Blonde, a beer that grabs the best parts of multiple categories to make one ridiculously drinkable all day kind of beer.

Two things Erik from Good Pressure Brewing likes to focus on are drinkability and having options for all, with today's Limeade Hard Seltzer he demonstrates both! An easy drinking 5% AVB Hard Seltzer with real lime makes this a very "Zippy" beverage on tap and a great selection for any non-beer drinker that finds their way into the taproom.

Wrapping up Last Call for 2025 with a brewery to watch for 2026! Started by Erik and his wife, Good Pressure Brewing in Grantville is cranking out great vibes and great beers to serve East County and their local nbhd. This week we'll get into this new spot that just opended thier doors at the start of December and we'll start with a traditional German Pilsner.

Santa Tom brought a stocking stuffer! A bonus beer he brought out after our last tasting. Taking a trip down south to La Cerveceria Minerva for their Stout that hits with flavors that you can't find in San Diego.

It's only fitting since in the past Tomme Arthur held down Beer Santa responsiblities that Tom Nickel brings a Lost Abbey beer to end the week of Santa Tom's Christmas Beers. A rich barrel aged Old Ale that delievers on big dark fruit charactereists and a lot of booze. A great beer to age or as Tom puts it, gift to a friend and then invite yourself over when they open the bottle.

This is the absolute MUST HAVE Belgian Christmas Ale. It's the liquid form of fruit cake; full bodied, furity with zesty season aromas, St Bernardus Christmas Ale is the perfect co-pilot for holiday adventures just mind the ABV.

Santa Tom is upping his game again for our hump-day Wednesday! Showcasing what expert barreling can do to an already amazing stout, pouring out Nickel Beer's 12th Anniversary Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.

Santa Tom Nickel is back with more Christmas cheer from across the pond! A legendary brewery Huyghe Brewry in Melle, Belgium that's known from it's pink elephants on the bottle of Delirium gives us this amped up version of the infamous Belgian blonde with Delirium Noel. Smooth and full of dark fruit flavors it's hard to beleive that this beer hits at 10% AVB.

It's holiday beer time and Tom Nickel aka Santa Tom has swung in with his best wears from O'Brien's and Nickel Beer Company! All week he's making the yule time beery with choice slections like this perfect San Diego Christmas beer from Brasserie Dupot called Avec Les Bon Voeux. Intense aroma of ripe banana with a hint of citrus and baking spices.

Breathe deep of the terroir of El Cajon! Naturally fermented from the Burning Beard Cool Ship, In Praise of Flanders is the Beard's answer to other more syurpy flanders, the tiny bubbles and cherry sweetness dance on your palate with a subtle earthiness that can only be East County.

It's back and perfect for the holidays! Burning Beard has a fresh batch of Banksy ESB on tab for all the Extra Special B.....Peoples. As Jeff put's it, "Its an English hug that's perfect along side your Spotted Dick."

This is one of those few moments where we get to drink that last of a beer. Created for Wet Hop season, Burning Beard's Wet Hop Dankness is a super sticky-icky, weed-adjacent IPA that will wreck your tastebuds and have you begging for me. Now that I'm thinking of it, I probably did you a favor drinking the last of it!

IYKTYK, there is a secret menu at Burning Beard! Today's beer is one you won't find on the menu but if you talk to your beer-tenders at the Beard they may have let you in on the secret. Brain Damange is a blend of two different Hazy IPAs. But, blending wasn't always welcome at the Beard, Jeff talks about exactly how this once forbidden practice became a flavor playground.

Back after a long Thanksgiving week with our friends from Burning Beard! This weekend they are kicking off a three day benifit at the brewery; Friday and Saturday Punk Rock Saves Christmas and Sunday Hip Hop Saves Christmas! We get into the nitty-gritty over a often overlooked Germanic style of beer called Sticke with Something Sticke In My Eye.

A perfect way to end a great week of NA beers from Athletic Brewing! With the holiday season it can be difficult to satisfy that "winter wamer" category with a Non-alcoholic option, but Athletic nails it with their Winter Wonder Winter Warmer!

Being a memeber has it's benifits with Athletic Brewing, like today's hoppy monster Triple Palm Triple Hopped IPA. Today Chris, John and Chris brought a memebers only beer that will have hop-heads asking, "how quickly can you sign me up?"

I've always said drinking beer for a good cause is the best reason to drink beer. Well Athletic Brewing takes that a step further, so I can drink beer for a good cause and have it be a little better for me because its non-alcoholic! Every year Athletic partners with Yakima Chief Hops and a armed services orginization to creat a beer that gives back to our military heroes. The beer is called Ready Front IPA and this years beer is second to none!

Music and collabs are in the very blood of Athletic Brewing, so it was an easy partnership for Althetic and The Warpped Tour to collab on a Hoppy Pale Ale called Side Stage. Bright citrus flavors with a hint of citrus and tropical hop flavors all balanced with a clean finish will have you asking your self, "are you sure this is a NA beer?"

Coming down from San Diego Craft beer week it seemed like a good idea to take a break from beer. But, I didn't want to take a break from beer so I invited the crew from Athletic Brewing to showcase what they've been working on in Beer-amar! With 5 days of non-alcoholic beers to get into, Johnn, Chris and Chris started in easy with their Golden called Upside Dawn.

Tom was gushing over what he called one of his most perfect beers while we were talking about DDH Pliny the Elder and as soon as we fired off into Tom Waits, he pulled out a bottle of Russian River's Shadow of A Doubt. Sit back and relax as he breaks down why this is only one of three beers he wouldn't do anything to change.

There's a lot of San Diego connections with Russian River including one part owner that calls Julian home. So, they make it a priority that The Pub at Lake Cuyamaca is always stocked with Russian River beer, more so this week as for SDBW they are featuring the Santa Rosa Brewery! One of the special beers on tap include this double dry hopped version of Pliny the Elder.

San Diego Beer Week is a tribute to the camaraderie amongs brewers from San Diego and beyond! Tonight O'Brien's celebrates that was a night to Kern River Brewing and friends! Lots of like-minded hop-forward brewers coming together to share the passion of their craft. Tom has brought one of the beers that fits into the bill, a collab with Brandon from SanDiegoBeer.News and McIlhenny Brewing called Highest Five IPA.

Leave it to San Diego to have an oddity like being home to possibly the only Schaerbeek Cheery grove outside of Belgium. Chad who's behind Lyon's Peak Brewing has painstakingly bought them to Jamul to focus on one time of beer, the Handgeplukte Kriek.

The first weekend of San Diego Beer Week is behind us, which means that we've got a full week of celebrating San Diego Beer left! Tom Nickle is back from O'Brien's to talk about all the different events you can be a part of starting with a fine selection from The Lost Abbey! Kicking off our week with a light freshing sour ale that showcases Peaches and White tea called Peach Afternoon.

It's the kick off of San Diego Beer Week! That means a lot of sharining and a lot of collaborations go do with all the local makers! To celebrate that BC and Scones from Kilowatt Brewing brought a collab with a former Division 23 Brewer called San Diego Dream Extra Pale Ale.

More then anything the Kilowatt crew loves to play with styles and flavors, they demonstrated that with the Pickel Beer...today BC and Scones brought a twist on the Gose style with Watermelon, Lime and a hint of Tajin. This beer may need a warning because it could be habit forming!

Playing with new hops is a brewers dream and we get the reap the rewards! The former "Experimental hop" got a new name, Dolcita so Kilowatt Brewing deicded to Live la Dolcita Loca with their new Hazy IPA. This peachy-pineappley Hazy give you all the juice with a dry and crushable finish.

It's a fad in the same way the hazy IPAs were once a fad! Today Scones and BC brought their take on a Pickle Beer, light bodied, slightly dilly with a little salinity and a WHOLE bunch of garlic. This beer is one that you'll either never touch after first sip or obsess over to the point of contemplaing your next tattoo.

The countdown to San Diego Beer Week is on! With the kick off on Friday, I figured it would be cool to have one of San Diego's more "energetic" brewies in for Last Call. Scones and BC from Kilowatt Brewing are back and swinging for the fences with their flagship IPA on a Monday. 250 KWH IPA is a 10 year old San Diego staple that rides the line between Old School and New School IPAs.

Truly a ghost of years past, one of the most beloved Double IPAs ended it's production run with Mother Earth Brewing, but the taproom in Vista is keeping the dream alive! Still brewing small batches of Hop Digitty, Andrew brought a growler of this strawberry-jam like IPA to toast Halloween with.

Project X from Mother Earth Brewing is a very cool limtied run beer that pairs visual art along with brewing arts. MEBC brewers always try and take inspiration from the art and translate it to the beer. Like with Mystical Misfit, you get all the resin notes from the Pacific Northwest Hops PLUS an almost intersteller depth thanks to Southern Hemisphere Galaxy hops.

Halfway throught the week and Andrew from Mother Earth double down on the hops (kind of). Not only did he bring their latest flagship modern IPA called Ascent, but he's also poured out something clear and very hydrating with their tasting room only offering Hop Water...but this water has it's secrets!

It always a treat around this time of year to try all the different Wet Hop beers in the market. Mother Earth does Fresh As It Gets Wet Hop IPA every year to honor that special time. Always a single hopped beer to showcase it's flavor, this year focused on the Simcoe wet hops.

It's been too long since we've seen Andrew from Mother Earth Brewing Co. in the studio! All this week we catch up on what MEBC has cooking in both their core line up and tap room exclusives, we start with not a beer....Mother Earth's tap room only Hard Seltzer.

Evolving from their surf break series, the crew from Coronado Brewing chose a bright note to end the week on. Still named after legednary surf spots, Costa Azul Grapefruit IPA takes all the best parts of the fruit and jams it togeter with a modern IPA. If you've shy'd away from grapefruit in the past, this beer just might change your mind.

A long time friendship and a one time collab turned into something beautiful. Coronado brewing has long partnered with the C4 Foundation to help Navy Seals and thier families, with Aloha Warriors IPA they put that parnership to liquid form. This beer is unique because it balances OG Dankness with modern tropical flavors.

Aidan from Coronado Brewing shocked me last year when he introduced their Nice & Dry Hard Cider, it was so well recieved that started doing seasonal one-offs which eventually spun off Super Fruit! Semi-sweet, fruit forward and packed full of blueberries.

It's always a blast to see what different brewries do when they get fresh hops. The crew from Coronado Brewing knocked this one outta the park with their Hazy IPA, Fresh Hoppurtunity.

Fresh off a trip from Denver, the crew from Coronado Brewing Company have come back with some metal from The Great American Beer Festival! All this week Aidan, Brendan and Bart swing by to share what they've been working on, starting with their Bronze Medal winning Blonde Ale, Salty Crew.

With O'Brien's Wet Hop Festival ofically kicking off Tom has rolled out the big guns! A storied single hop double IPA that still uses all wet hops. It's big on flavor, big on hops and if you don't get your fill before its gone will leave a big hole in your palate.

We've gone 180 deg around from where we were yesterday! Nickel Beer Co My Way IPA is a more in line with how IPA's are brewed today. Ligher malts and tropical hops make every sip of this beer an experience that you can only get during wet hop season.

Throwing to back to the old school. This was your Dad's IPA. Classic malt bill with those infamous "C" hops. High Country Wet Hop IPA is a modern take on what IPA's were "back in the day."

Sierra Nevada Harvest is universally accepted at the original wet hop IPA, but since they don't distribute that outside the brewery fans in San Diego have to make their own versions. Nickel Nickel from O'Brien's and Nickel Beer Co is one of those fans! Rolling out his own Harvest inspired beer, Children of the Rye plays on that Harvest inspiration but puts a little more kick in the malt bill with some rye.

It's Wet Hop Season! Like grapes hops are harvest once a year and before they become pelletized, Cryo-ised and Dynaboosted growers will set a side a portion of the harvest to ship directly to the brewers so that the flower goes from cut to kettle within 24-48 hours. For brewers that like to play around with the different flavors that hops yeid, this is playtime! Tom Nickel from Nickel beer brings one of his own Wet Hop beers that features Ramona grown hops that he called Valley of the Sun Wet Hop Pale Ale.

Peter from AleSmith teased us on Monday about this, a new cocktail in a can! Speedway Espresso Martini. A perfect nightcap for the evening; Vietnamese Coffee, vodka, demerara sugar and served under nitro makes this a classy way to wrap up the night or get one started.

AleSmith Speedway Stout is an iconic San Diego classic. Ominous dark color thanks to a hefty dose of malts and a healthy dose of coffee. This beer offers a wide open canvas for flavors and experiences. This variation features Vietnamese Coffee and Coconut!

AleSmith Party Tricks IPA on it's own is a fantastic IPA full of cirtus and passion fruit notes. During wet hop season you can take an already fantastic beer and kick it up a notch and that's what the brewers did! This brewery only Wet Hop Party Tricks IPA gives you all the expected flavor with this little added hint of lemon.

It always rises from the grave around this time, a beer so red that you might beleive it was brewed in blood. If you don't see it first you'll know it from it's intense aroma of pine and citrus, AleSmith's Evil Dead Red is back and we take a bite out of this hoppy seasonal beer that's perfect for your Halloween party.

It's been far too long since we've had Peter from AleSmith in the studio, so this week we get him to take a break and drink some beers as we get ready for the Rancho Beer-nardo festival this weekend. We kick things off with an amazingly crushable lager that might have you convinced that you're enjoying a Peach soda or maybe even a peach seltzer.