Rock & Roll Happy Hour

Just because it's Summer, doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy a nice bold Imperial Stout. Another Nickel Beer Co award winner Constantine Imperial Stout rounds out the week as Tom brought some Nibble chocolates to pairing along with this robust yet easy drinking stout.

With the roots O'Brien's has is Futbol it only makes sense for Tom and Tyson to team up for a Nickel Beer Company and San Diego Brewing colab, Raise the Cup IPA!

This beer seems to keep popping back up on the show and for good reason, a medal winner at the beer fest and magical anytime beer Carlsbad Crush from Burgeon is true San Diego favorite. SD Fair Craft Beer Experience Curator Tom Nickel even has a very surprising comparison.

Tom and Tyson drop by with another award winner that you can find at the San Diego Craft Beer Experience at the SD Fair this year. OB Brewing is not a brewery that will be pidgon-holed into a single IPA sytle of brewing, they make a vast array for styles one of them perfect for the fair or the ocean breeze, Rooftop Hef.

Summer is here along with the San Diego County Fair and with that a brand new Craft Beer Experience curated by Tom Nickel and Tyson Blake. All week these to icons of local beer will showcase what you can expect to enjoy when you head to the fairgrounds, starting with an award winning beer from Tyson's on San Diego Brewing Company, San Diego Gold.

Wrapping up a week worth of breweries you'll find at Rhythm & Brews this June 28th we end with "The Party Planner" Kylie from Pure Project! We get one more sample of what to look forward to with a crushable San Diego beer that is a staple for summertime, Tropical Mist.

The song goes the first cut is the deepest, but when you put you hand where it doesn't belong that cut might take a pinky. Atleast that's the case for Roadies head brewer Peter. To mark the event and give a little levity they named their latest Hazy IPA Deepcuts. It's balance makes this a perfect festival that you can enjoy at this year's Rhythm & Brews.

Another person who has seen their fair share of Rhythm & Brews Festivals Kris from Prey Brewing was a part of the SDBG and helping with the planning of the event before COVID shut it down. Today he drops by the studio to talk about his experiences and preview what Prey Brewing will be pouring June 28th!

Burgeon Beer just dropped a brand new tasting room in Vista, so it makes sense to feature them today for the Rhythm & Brews festival! Pouring a staple to their line up and a beer you'll find at the festival, we toast to a Tuesday with Carlsbad Crush.

It's finally back after a long post COVID hiatus the San Diego Brewers Guild has brought back the Rhythm and Brews festival on June 28th! All week we're featuring different breweries who will be pouring at the event. We start the week off with the brewery that originated the festival, Mother Earh Brewing.

This week has been all about Duck Foot Brewing's 10 anniversary on Satruday but it's also been about their breweries diversity. One of the things that head brewer Matt excells in making true to form fresh Belgian style beer in San Diego. His take on a Belgian double shows off why this is such a popular style of beer across the pond.

At first glance the baloon dogs on the label of Duck Foot Brewing's Sour on Love is innocent enough, untill you look closer....kinda like this beer a Berliner weiss style with a metric ton of fresh pink guava and mango.

What came first the can art or the beer? Matt from Duck Foot Brewing's answer is "yes." Today we get into a very cirtus forward crushable IPA that is big on flavor, low on ABV and comes with a Price is RIght kinda twist.

Isn't this a punny beer for a Tuesday...Matt and Brett from Duck Foot are back again as we draw closer to their anniversary this weekend. Another beer from the Duck Foot arsenal is a very unexpected brew in both style and name as they introudce us Bowling Knight American Stout.

Hard to beleive that this weekend celebrates the 10th Anniversary of Duck Foot Brewing! One of the very first breweries to feature a full line up of gluten reduced beers, Duck Foot flexes on a very diverse line up of beers. We start this week's journey with a beer as iconic as the can art, 2 AM Tacos Mexican Style Lager.

Cody from Michi Brew Co saved the most intriguing for last. Chelan West Coast IPA again bucks the trend of where IPAs are going and blends it where IPAs have been. Blending the best of the origins of the West Coast IPA and what the West Coast IPA has become makes this beer nostalgic and new with every sip.

True to form what Michi Brew Co has been offering up all week, their Hazy IPA called Memphre is an experience all to its own. Where many local breweries take a West Coast hop forwardness to their brews, Cody goes for something more to how Hazy IPAs started out.

Another light and crushable beer served from Cody and Michi Brewing! Today he deleivers his take on a Mexican Style Lager, but he's got a few tricks in the brew process that set his apart from others you may have tried. Listen to find out what they are.

Cody from Michi Brew Co continues to impress with his light and crushable beers! After the XPA yesterday he doubled down with a Rice Lager called Akita that checks all the boxes!

San Diego has a new brewery in North County and they've got a big idently. Tapping into the robust local tiki community Michi Brew Co has been met with raucous fan faire. But it's not just all imagery, it's a lot to do with the beer as all week we hang out with Cody and talk about how Michi came to be. We start with a perfect style for Summer in San Diego and their XPA called Mungo.

It began today! A Memorial Day Weekend in San Diego and the real party is in Alpine at McIlhenny Brewing as all weekend they celebrate year 4. Just like last year Shawn and Jamie have brought a BIG special beer to wrap up the week and kick off their party, a very smooth an easy drinking Bourbon Barrel Aged Barley Wine with the name Malt Head Mayhem.

It's hard to make a good IPA, its even harder to make a lot of good IPAs that all taste different! Shawn from McIlhenny Brewing does it with ease! A beer that started out as a collab with Burgeon Beer, Parallel Paradise has taken over a life all of it's own.

It's the "gateway" IPA you'll find at McIlhenny Brewing. Wizards Wand IPA is the beer bar tenders give to people who say, "I don't like IPAs" and the turn them into fanatics. It's easy to see why, light bodied and easly crushable, with low bitterness and a lot of hop flavor makes this a must have IPA.

Appologies to Jamie and Shawn from McIlhenny Brewing for accusing them of poking the smot in the parking lot, but the studio smells like marajuna! That's the magic of this new beer they are rolling out just in time for 4:20, I mean summer, Is really is how amazingly drinkable Nectaron Express is with that kinda sticky-icky armoa.

It's Memorial Weekend in San Diego so it's time for one thing, the McIlhenny 4th Anniversary Celebration! It's a 3-day Weekend long party that honors the tradition of family beer making! We start things off a beer perfect for the warming weather and Shawn explains exactly why their Brite Lites Helles is so damn intriguing.

Down to our last beer as Tom Nickel from Nickel Beer and O'Brien's fumbled the ball at the one yard line and forgot the chocolate pairing! He did bring the most important part of the evening, a inspired Serrano pepper infused version on Nickel Beer's Stonewall Stout.

IT really is amazing how many of these local brewers that make fantastic pepper beers tie back to one place. Tonight we explore that commonality over a Chipotle and Pasilla pepper Porter called Dark Knight. It's also paired with a very unexpected taco from O'Brien's

With pepper beers, food provides a lot of inspiration. For today's beer from OB Brewery it was the want to make the perfect "taco beer" and they did it in a very sneaky way. Mixing both raw and roasted jalapenos in a traditional Belgian Saison base beer makes this a sneaky beer with a lot of flavor! Of course we had to pair it with the huge flavor of O'Brien's Ahi Nachos.

It's like a bonus Cinco de Mayo! Taco Tuesday and a Jalapeno Lager from Weir Beer called Double Dog Dare Ya! It's a light crushable lager with a subtle pepper flavor with zero heat. This beer begs to be paired with a fish taco from O'Brien's...so that's exactly what we did!

Somehow after years of resisting pepper beers, Tom Nickel from Nickel Beer Co has worn me down and to celebrate Cinco de Mayo all week we're going to try different pepper infused beers made in San Diego. We start with a twist on a popular Nickel Beer Jalapeno Gold, with Jalapeno in Paradise paired along with some scallop ceviche from O'Brien's Pub.

We're down to the swan song! Last beer of the week and we get to taste the terroir of El Cajon. Created in a naturally fermented vessel called a Cool Ship, In Praise of Blackberries is as wild as a beer gets!

It's a big juicy hazy bomb from Burning Beard! Whips & Furs takes it's name-sake from a song from The Vibrators of the same name. Much like the it's inspiration this beer seeks to be memorable enough to dig deeper into what it has to offer.

It's a brewery and family favorite and again it's another "happy accident" beer from Burning Beard. Today as we dive into who's playing their 9th Anniversary party we pop the tops on a couple of Circle of Hops!

Prompted by Jeff from Burning Beard's recent stay in Ireland and inspired by the Irish rap group Kneecap, he decided to tap local institution Tom Nickel from Nickel Beer Company to brew Burning Beards very first Irish Red. The resulting beer "Kneecap" is a easy drinking yet full bodied red ale that clocks in just under 4% ABV!

It is time once again for the Burning Beard crew to celebrate their awesomeness! Nine years of happy accidents as a brewery and the party is set for April 26th. As we hang out with Dylan and Jeff all week and get the scoop on this years debauchery we toast a Monday with a beer that wasn't suppose to still be around, but it was so popular they had to keep making it, Coffeecore Pilsner!

What a great way to wrap up the week with Tim from Chula Vista Brewery, a fancy wax top bottle. A small batch beer that normally only gets as far as the Chula Vista Brewery Mug Club, a bourbon barrel aged Belgian Trippel that doesn't drink like it's 12%!

Turning it to 11, as Tim from Chula Vista Brewery brings a louder version of his War Planes Hazy Pale and completely forgets there's a standard IPA between Hazy Pale and Double Hazy IPA. This beer is everything War Planes is but more...more hops, more body and more ABV!

Tim from Chula Vista Brewery continues to drop bombs (figuratively). War Planes Hazy Pale Ale is a collaboration with another veteran owned business Warplanes that makes wood surfboards that pays tribute to their military service and the POWs with a light bodied, easy drinking, floral pale ale that gives you all the feelings of a Hazy IPA with a lower ABV.

Flexing on not only their core beer line up, but also their collaborations! Tim from Chula Vista Brewery pops the top on a brand new collab with Seek Brewing, a Mexican Style Dark Lager called Shoot From The Hip. This incredibly small batch beer is one to see out for those who love a crisp malty lager on a warm San Diego Spring day.

This week we are South Bay all the way at Tim from Chula Vista Brewery drops in to showcase what the brewery has been up to for the last 8 years. Our first intro into his world is their Light Blonde Ale Guerita, that is super crushable at just over 4% with a very light body and crazy drinkablity.

Last beer with Steve from Dos Desperados before their 11th Anniversary at the brewery tomorrow in San Marcos. He's got one last trick a single hopped IPA using nothing but Citra called Most Wanted.

Dogs and beer go together like peanut butter and chocolate! So, why not put them together? Dos Desperados takes their inspiration for their Hazy Daisy Hazy IPA from the brewers dog "Daisy" and just like the picture of the super friendly Golden Retriever this hazy beer is easy to love!

There really is no bad time for a well made Red Ale! While Reds may not be as sexy as IPAs or Hazys they make a really good pairing for food! Once again playing into the fun behind their beer, Steve from Dos Desperados shares his Ruffian Red Ale which is kind of an enigma because it straddles the line between two very popular variations of the style.

Yesterday Steve was talking about his secret to keeping Dos Desperados up and running for almost 11 years and it was fun. Today's beer was something that started out as a fun family collab IPA and changed into a fun light bodied but incredibly drinkable and flavorful Blood Orange Blonde Ale.

It takes a commitment to make great beer in San Diego to last in this hop driven town! One of those North Country breweries has been doing that and having a good time doing it for the last 11 years. Dos Desperados in San Marcos is closing in on that landmark anniversary on Saturday. Steve from Dos Desperados joins us all week to share what his brewery has been up to and we start with their love of light beers and their Palomino Pilsner!

Kicking off the push for the O'Brien's three-peat win as USA Today's Best Beer Bar in the Country! Tonight we wrap our week with a very happy accident, the very last Bagby Beer to roll off the line before it transitioned into Green Cheeks, a collab with Nickel Beer the Lion's Pride Old Ale that spent 5 years in the barrel. The flavor is something to be experienced especially when paired with a Double Dip Torta.

A vote for O'Brien's Pub is a vote for Pedro! By that Association Pedro is the best head chef of all the beer bars in America two years in a row! To acknowledge this achievement, Tom, Tori & Tyson have brought in the #1 sandwich on the menu, their Chipotle Crispy Chicken Sando with SDBNA Best Brewery in SD East, McIlhenny Brewing and Nothing But Nelson IPA>

In addition to being the day after the big SanDiegoBeer.News Awards (where O'Brien's was the afterparty host) it's Wings-day!!! Today as we continue our party for O'Brien's second year in a row being named the best beer bar in the Country from USA Today we drink one of the OG IPAs from Russian River and put it all together with some WINGS!

A lot of people through the years have got the chance to experience their first Belgian Beer thanks to O'Brien's. Tonight we tip our glass to O'Brien's second straight year as the number one beer bar in the country with Westmalle Trippel and my personal favorite pairing...Ahi Nachos!

O'Brien's does it again! Back to back years named USA Today's top beer bar in the country and this week we celebrate why with Tom, Tori and Tyson! Tonight we kick things off pairing not a beer but Serpentine Cider's Guava Apple Cider along with O'Brien's world famous Pork Belly Bites.

It's been a fantastic week sitting with Brandon Hernandez from the SanDiegoBeer.News Awards! Tonight we close out a week with a toast to the host of the official after party, recently named number one beer bar in the USA by USA Today, O'Brien's Pub! Of course we have to toast with a big award winning beer from last year's ceremony from GOAL. Brewing, Year of the Mamba Filipino Style Lager.