San Diego Beer Week Chow-worthy dinners

[MrKrispy]

Anyone making the effort to get out and do any beer dinners? I started going thru the jumbled Beer Week website (SDBW.org) trying to find a dinner or two for us and so far I haven't had much luck finding yummy dinners paired with great beers in the central SD area.

A few places that seem interesting (Alchemy for example) don't have much info up on either the beer or the menu plans.

If you have some tips fill me in! Thanks

[JRSD]

While it is not a dinner, the Alesmith and Cheese pairing event at Farmhouse on 11/7 (not on SDBW site) looks amazing.

[Enish266]

The guy I was standing next to in line at Million Zillion had only good things to say. In fact it was the reason he braved the line and the rain (I'm pretty sure about this). Good to see you here JRSD.

[jmtreg]

Its a shame no one is doing anything like the Ba Ren tasting menu. It would be pretty cool to try craft beer with foods that aren't typically served with craft beer.

Tangentially on topic - although I had heard of that stout beer and oysters went well together, I had never tried the two together before last Friday at Tiger Tiger. The two go together surprisingly well.

[Josh]

Were you at the dinner during the 1st SDBW? We did that one at Ba Ren. Last year we did it at Sab E Lee. Next year, if they change the pricing structure for listing, I might consider doing one again.

[jmtreg]

No, I didn't make either, but I wanted to, and would definitely go if there was such an event.

[Josh]

This year's events seem kind of uninspired to me.

I've done dinners the last two SDBWs, but am not doing one this year. For one thing, they significantly raised the fee for listing events which makes it impractical unless you're doing a lot of events.

And with the economy the way it is, it's hard to imagine many people wanting to pony up $60ish or more for a pairing dinner. At least, that's my hunch as to why there seem to be fewer diverse options this year vs. last year.

[MrKrispy]

wow I didn't know that about the listing fees. I've been hearing grumblings about how they are running Beer Week now (and the departure from the original incarnation) and I hadn't heard that yet. I guess it makes sense if they are trying to keep it focused on primarily craft-beer-centric locations, but it doesn't do much for exploring hidden gems or restaurants that cater to beer geeks. Oh well, still plenty of great beers to be drank!

[Josh]

Yeah. I was involved with the first one quite a bit, the second one less so, and now not at all. It's hard to see something you put so much effort into change so dramatically.

The original vision for it was quite different from what it's become. If you ever have the misfortune to run into me IRL after a few pints, you'll get an earful. ;-)

[JRSD]

Do you know if the fee is why Toronado doesn't have any events listed?

[Josh]

Good question, not sure. The fees are now $100 to list up to 5 events, and $200 for unlimited. That's up quite a bit from last year, when it was $50 to list unlimited events. Still, I doubt Toronado is hurting for $200.

If you go to their website, they have a link to sign up for events via email. I wouldn't be surprised if more venues do this instead of using the SDBW site if the rates stay that high next year.

[JRSD]

Not that it meets your time or location criteria, but the Ballast Point beer brunch at Terra looks good.

[The Office Goat]

I think we're going to head to the Linkery for the Green Flash Smokeout on Sunday.

-----
Linkery
3794 30th St, San Diego, CA 92104

Green Flash
701 Thomas Ave, San Diego, CA 92109