Horror Trailers at the Whistle Stop

We will be screening our fourth annual horror trailers this Thursday, October 29th at the Whistle Stop Bar. The show starts at 9pm. Come and be horrified by all the greatest moments in film horror history with a specific focus on American 80's and Italian horror. Heads explodes, zombies fight sharks, trash roams the streets and more. If you haven't decided on your Halloween costume yet, this is the place to be inspired. View the trailer below for a taste of what's to come. We'll have an intermission set by new-to-the-San-Diego-scene NUDE BOY. We can't believe how fun this is going to be.

Autumn arrives on 30th Street

Fall is in the air and we're celebrating the fact at Sea Rocket with our good friends from Airdale Brewing Company. We'll be featuring three of their beers on tap this weekend and Chef Christy will be preparing a special menu to go with them. We'll have Butternut Squash Soup paired with Afterburner Amber Ale, Autumn Roast Pork Stew with Homecoming Spiced Porter, and our Chocolate Stout Cake with the Dark and Stormy Imperial Stout. Three course with beer for just $25!

Airdale Afterburner, is a beautifully balanced amber ale. Combining a rich, malty aroma and flavor with the subtle, lingering character of perle and amarillo hops, Afterburner delivers a winning combination of sweet and bitter. This beer is a rich ruby red color with a creamy head. Notes of caramel and toffee invade the palate while finishing with a smooth bitterness. At 5.3% alcohol, Afterburner is a supremely drinkable beer while maintaining a full-flavored approach. Amber Ales tend to be more approachable than their pale ale cousins.
5.3% ABV / 34 IBU's / 18 SRM
Airdale Homecoming, is a classic brown porter spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. It starts with hints of espresso on the nose and a light malt sweetness with faint traces of chocolate and vanilla. Caramel notes come through as well. The Holiday spices are faint, allowing the porter's flavor to dominate while the spices enhance the chocolate notes. A light-bodied beer, the finish is smooth with a subtle hoppy bitterness. A wonderful warming effect makes this beer a perfect holiday treat! Available from October thru December.
5.5% ABV / 25 IBU's / 35 SRM
Airdale Dark & Stormy, is an American Imperial Stout. This beer starts with a pleasant aroma of coffee and cocoa. A gourmet flavor of bittersweet chocolate surrounds the tastebuds and melds with the full-bodied beer to make this sensation last and last. Not too dry, not too sweet, Dark & Stormy blends the two into a wonderful semi-sweet taste. The high alcohol imparts a comfortable warming feel, but is perfectly balanced with the flavors and aromas. A nice coffee bitterness lingers on the finish, enticing you to take another sip.
9.5% ABV / 50 IBU's / 65 SRM

Want even more fall specials? How 'bout Coronado Brewing Company's Red Devil on cask? It's an imperial amber ale that is literally a double version of the Mermaid Red - twice the hops, twice the malt for a big, bold red ale.

Ritual Tavern: Tuesday Flight/ Thursday Cask

Ale Flight Tuesday

Last Sunday Ritual offered a flight of seasonal/autumnal beers. The response was so great (nearly went though a case of Smashed Pumpkin) we're doing it again today, Tuesday October 20th. Get your hands on three tasting size goblets and sip Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin Ale with Natural Flavor, Belzebuth Blond Ale with a frightening 13% alcohol content, and the seasonal release from Eel River, Organic Salient de Scotia Brune.

Cask and Oyster Thursday at the the Ritual: Ballast Point Sculpin IPA

Each Thursday the Ritual Tavern features cask ale* from San Diego’s best craft breweries and fresh shucked local Carlsbad Aqua Farm oysters. This week we’re featuring the 2009 GABF Silver Medalist in the American Style IPA category. Chosen from 134 entries, Sculpin IPA is one of the best beers to come out of San Diego, aka, the best beer city in America! Great in the bottle, it’s even better on cask.
Join us, won’t you?


Happy Hour: $3.50 Taps / $1 off select glasses of wine
(Cask Ale not included in Happy Hour pricing)
5:30 -7:30pm Tuesday – Saturday
3:30 – 9:30 Sunday


*“Cask-conditioned beer, often referred to as 'real ale', is brewed from only traditional ingredients and allowed to mature naturally.

The unfiltered, unpasteurised beer still contains live yeast, which continues conditioning the beer in the cask (known as 'secondary fermentation'); this process creates a gentle, natural CO2 carbonation and allows malt and hop flavours to develop, resulting in a richer tasting drink with more character than standard keg ('brewery-conditioned') beers.

Real ale is always served without any extraneous gas, usually by manually pulling it up from the cellar with a handpump (also known as a 'beer engine'). This is the traditional way of brewing and serving beer; only a few decades ago did filtered, pasteurised, chilled beer served by gas become normal.” http://www.cask-ale.co.uk/us/realale.html

Chargers on the big screen at Sea Rocket

We'll be showing the Monday Night Football game on the big screen television in our front room tonight. All our San Diego County draft beers will be just three bucks during the game, plus we'll have barbecued ribs, sloppy joe's and cole slaw too. Of course we'll also have plenty of fresh local seafood as always. Come by and support the local team, local breweries and local foods tonight!

Ballast Point Sculpin on Cask at Sea Rocket

I just tapped a cask of Ballast Point Sculpin IPA, and I must say it's one of the finest beers I've ever tasted.
Ratebeer.com calls it the 5th best IPA in the world.
Ballast Point says:
The Sculpin IPA is a testament to our humble beginnings as Home Brew Mart. Founded in 1992, the Mart continues to be a catalyst for the San Diego brewing scene, setting the trend for handcrafted ales. Inspired by our customers, employees and brewers, the Sculpin IPA is bright with aromas of apricot, peach, mango and lemon. Its lighter body also brings out the crispness of the hops. This delicious Ballast Point Ale took a Bronze Medal at the 2007 Great American Beer Festival in the Pro Am category. The Sculpin fish has poisonous spikes on its fins that can give a strong sting. Ironically, the meat from a Sculpin is considered some of the most tasty. Something that has a sting but tastes great, sounds like a Ballast Point India Pale Ale.
Come by and try a glass tonight!
Also serving fresh, local opah, swordfish, lobster dip (local spiny lobster), oysters, clams, mussels and much more tonight.

Flights of Fancy: Oysters, Beer and Jazz)

Gypsy jazz guitar returns tonight to the Ritual.  Daniele Spadavecchia
has a new venue in our acoustically rich wood paneled dining hall.
You may have seen him play at Urban Solace, the Farmer’s Market in
North Park or at Zia’s Bistro in Little Italy.    Its great to have
lively acoustic guitar back again on the first and third Thursdays of
each month.  

This week’s cask is Old Curmudgeon Imperial Porter from Rock Bottom La
Jolla.    It took a Silver Medal home from the 2009 San Diego
International Beer Competition in the Smoke Flavored & Wood Aged Beer
category.  

Raw Fanny Bay and Mt. Simon oysters are available tonight.  Our entrée
special is Honey Mustard Salmon Filet with organic German butterball
potatoes, cherry tomatoes and sautéed leeks.  Organic Scarlet Apples
are baked into cobbler for dessert.  

Join us on Sunday for a flight of seasonal beers.  Get your hands on
three tasting size goblets and sip Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin Ale with
Natural Flavor, Belzebuth Blond Ale with a frightening 13% alcohol
content, and the seasonal release from Eel River, Organic Salient de
Scotia Brune.  

Beer Week:
San Diego’s first ever beer week is just around the corner.  We are
starting the week with Shmaltz Brewing & Coney Island dinner on
Friday, November 6.  This four course dinner event will feature new
releases from the brewery, Freaktoberfest and Jewbilation 13, paired
with fantastic Ritual courses.    We’re also hard at work collaborating
with the breweries on the final details for our other beer week
events.  

OKTOBERFEST | Stems, not Steins, at Alchemy!

Raise your stems, not your steins, for a unique San Diego Oktoberfest dining experience!

On Thursday, October 15 at 6:30 p.m., South Park restaurant, Alchemy, will be cooking and pouring a special Oktoberfest Wine Dinner. The evening will feature a traditional German menu along with exclusive German wine pairings from Patrick Ballow of Free Run Juice.

Guests will be treated to five different wines to complement four courses of classic German fare including Brautwurst with house red cabbage sauerkraut, roasted venison with herb speatzle and strudel made with fresh Gravenstein apples, candy almonds and German Tslit cheese.

Tickets are $41 per person. Seating for this event is limited. For more information or to R.S.V.P, please call Alchemy at 619.225.0616 or visit www.alchemysandiego.com. Full menu below:

Alchemy Oktoberfest Menu

10.15.09

Executive Chef ~ Ricardo Heredia Wines ~ Patrick Ballow

Reception

Sekthaus Solter 2006 Riesling Brut Sekt, Rheingau

First Course

Kartoffelsalata

Baby Potato / Bacon / Red onion / Beer Mustard dressing / Capers

Josef Rosch 2008 Leiwener Klostergarten Kabinett Riesling

Second Course

Brautwurst

House Red Cabbage Sauerkraut / Green apple slaw

Stefan Gerhard 2005 Hattenheimer Hassel Spatlese, Rheingau

Third Course

Hirshbraten

Roasted Venison Shank / Juniper Jus / Herb Speatzle / Sheep's milk Cheese / Pretzel

Robert Konig 2007 Assmanshauser Hollenberg QbA trocken, Rheingau

Fourth Course

Strudel

Gravenstein Apples / Candy almonds / German Tslit Cheese

Dr. Loosen 2004 Urziger Wurzgarten Auslese Riesling

National Ups

In case anyone didn't see it, Men's Journal called 30th Street "easily the nation's best beer boulevard." We appreciate the recognition!

Find the colors of fall, including Red, Gold and Brown, at the Ritual.

AleSmith brews Evil Dead Red for your enjoyment during this time of year. If you want “Vivid mahogany color . . . Rich, chewy, toasty, malty flavors perfectly balanced by a moderate hoppy bitterness." (AleSmith), this is your pint. The Ritual is serving EDR cask conditioned!

Marty Mendiola won another Gold Medal last month at the Great American Beer Festival. Longboard Brown took the top honor in the English Style Brown Ale category. You can enjoy a pint from a fresh keg of Longboard from Rock Bottom La Jolla with us.

Our kitchen is sending out flavors of fall as well. Find the aroma of Niman Ranch Short Rib in the air, and you’ll be tempted to enjoy this entrée doused in rich beefy red wine demi glace.

In addition to our oyster offerings, we have Duck Chowder featuring pulled duck confit, Fried Calamari, and later this weekend; Crab Cakes.

We will also introduce new entrees including Chicken with Sundried Tomato and Artichoke heart in a White Wine Sauce, and Gruyere Mac and Cheese Gratin. You can also treat yourself to Julian Apple Crumble topped with Vanilla Ice Cream.

The latest issue of Men's Journal named San Diego as the best beer destination City in the US, noting our wealth of breweries and, of course, 30^th Street. We’re planning to make San Diego’s first ever Beer Week an event to remember. These are the evenings we have planned at the Ritual:

Shmaltz Brewing and Coney Island Lager Dinner Friday, November 6

Fullers Griffin Brewery Dinner Tuesday, November 10

Lost Abbey Dinner Wednesday, November 11

Green Flash Progressive 30th Street Dinner Thursday, November 12

New English Brewing Dinner Saturday, November 14