Ballast Point Brewery Tour

First stop on the tour was Ballast Point. They have two locations. This is the first time I've been to their new location. I visit their original facility on a regular basis since it is also my local homebrew shop (Homebrew Mart). Their new facility is significantly larger and their tap room is open later than most. Ballast Point does provide a discount to QUAFF members (10%) which is always nice. Next, we're headed to the Tap Room in PB followed by the Blind Lady Ale House. Sent from my mobile phone.

SD Brew Experience

A group of friends headed down to San Diego to hang out and sample some of San Diego's beers, and they brought a bus with them! The beer bus was scheduled for the evening so that limits our destinations to mostly pubs. This is a 20 person bus and their rates are reasonable. Sent from my mobile phone.

Hop Farm, May 25 2009

Worked on the farm yesterday (May 24th): routine weeding, replanted the bottom section of chinook (Michelle), and rewired the top row. The productive chinook plants began flowering as expected. Two of the plants have been providing a full season of harvest (June-September) for the past 3 years. Rabbits have been chewing on the tips of several mounds but maintaing a bushy-base is working so far. It tends to buffer the center vines while "trimming" the excess that I would have done anyway. *Important tip: Once the tip is damaged, the vine will no longer continue to grow. Irrigation scheudle from last month continues to be sufficient considering the soil is ideally moist. Some nutrient (chicken shit) is still present from last year on most mounds (noticebale when digging up rebar stakes for reinforcing trellis wires). As always, there's more work to do in the upcoming weeks but not much more than routine maintenance and reinforcing the trellis wire for the middle and bottom rows. Michelle had my phone so no photo update this time :-(

Magnum, Hop Farm April 29 2009

I did a bit of work on the farm today. Cleared the remainder of weeds, leveled the soil, replanted two vojvodina mounds, inspected and repaired irrigation (set for 1 hour every 24hrs beginning at 5am), and Michelle mulched all three rows. Still left to do is replant three bottom row chinook mounds, restring several trellis wires, and install some chicken wire or some other form of deterring the wild rabbits. Also, I need to build the box fan dehydrator before harvest. Sent from my mobile phone.

Stone Brewery with Seanywonton

The lighting here really isn't conducive to cell cams but it should convey the theme of the weekend. Seanywonton and Clarissa are visiting us in SD. Though we've known each other for a number of years via the blogosphere, this is the first time we have met in person. My wife and I are strongly considering reciprocating the visit to experience Brooklyn. Sent from my mobile phone.