CLOSED THANKSGIVING

Yep, we will be closed on Thanksgiving.
Eat, drink, sleep and we'll be open on Friday.

Friday, November 19th at 2pm

Firestone Union Jack IPA won Gold at GABF in 2008 AND 2009!! We'll be tapping a cask of it Friday @ 2pm at the Blind Lady Ale House. Get here early, it's gonna be awesome!

Kristian Dunn is soooo 80s!

Go watch the video of El Ten Eleven covering Joy Division's "Hot Cakes" now! Then download the MP3 for free and play it for all your friends. NOW!

Then go see them on December 17th at Bar Pink!

San Diego Is Home To America’s Finest Craft Beers

Why is San Diego considered one of the top beer cities in the world? We speak to Greg Koch, from Stone Brewing Company, and Pizza Port's Jeff Bagby about what makes their beers unique, and how San Diego has become the premiere craft brewing spot in the United States.

By Maureen Cavanaugh, Hank Crook

These Days | Monday, November 16, 2009

> LISTEN <

Tonight we've got...

SDBW is over, but we've still got some amazing beers on tap:
Allagash White, Black, Curieux, Odyssey, Four, Interlude and Fluxus (yep, all Allagash beers sold separately—not in flights!)
Russian River RRIPA, Blind Pig, Pliny the Elder, and Damnation
Automatic #1 (It's back...for now)
Green Flash Super Freak
Stone Double Bastard on cask

The 25 Best American Breweries of the Decade (2000-2009)

Paste Magazine posted their list of the 25 Best American Breweries of the decade. Read it and see if you agree...

THE MAINE EVENT: PART 2

SUNDAY, NOV. 15 FROM 11:30am-?
ALLAGASH FLIGHTS
We got a hold of some rare Allagash kegs, and today we are going to taste them side-by-side in a flight of SIX 5oz. glasses. Come taste some great draft beer from the crafty brewer in Maine.
Allagash Interlude
Allagash Oddessey
Allagash Fluxus 2009
Allagash Four
Allagash White
Allagash Curieux
These are strong beers, so PLAN not to drive. (Bus #11 and #2 are close by)

RUSSIAN RIVER SHOWCASE
& KEEP THE GLASS
Starting at 8pm, the first 72 people to order a Pliny, Blind Pig, RRIPA or Damnation will get to keep the glass.

We'll also have Consecration and Temptation in bottles.

GREENFLASH CASK @ 2 0'CLOCK

FRIDAY, NOV. 13
GREENFLASH CASK @ 2 0'CLOCK KEEPER PINT & MEET THE BREWER HAPPY HOUR
SOUR FLIGHT TASTING "PRE-EVENT" STARTS AT 7PM
GreenFlash Brewmaster Chuck Silva will be here to tap a cask of his beer (style TBA), and the first 72 people to order a GreenFlash beer will get a GreenFlash Keeper-pint! Come shake hands with one hekuva nice chap, have a tasty and rare beer, and take a nice GreenFlash glass home!
KITCHEN OPENS AT 2PM
Get here early, though...the glasses and the Firkin are limited!


Tonight at around 7pm we'll get an early start on our SOURminiFEST! This will be limited so we have plenty left for Saturday @ 11:30.

Thursday, November 12th : GreenFlash Progressive

Three Courses Paired w/ GreenFlash Beers

1. BACON WRAPPED ARCTIC CHAR
Paired with GreenFlash lil' Freak
Cornbread Stuffing, Watercress, Beuré Blanche $10

2. MOROCCAN BRAISED LAMB OSSO BUCCO
Paired with GreenFlash BELGIAN BROWN
Root Vegetables, Almond Gremolata $10

3. CHOCOLATE PRETZEL CAKE
w/ ESPRESSO SAUCE & BANANA BROWN SUGAR GELATO
Paired with GreenFlash COFFEE STOUT $10

Wednesday Nov 11th : Chimay Keep the Goblet

Chef Aaron LaMonica gets crafty with Chimay, one of his favorite beers. He'll be creating three courses to pair with White, Red, Blue & Chimay Cheese.

First 96 people to order Chimay White, Red or Blue get a Chimay keeper-goblet!

CHIMAY CHEESE PLATE
Met Bier, Grand Cru, Le Poteaupré
Served with Apricot and Cherry Mustarda, Apples, Persimmons, Olives, Crostini, Pecans $8

1. GRILLED SWORDFISH
Paired with CHIMAY WHITE
Brussels Sprouts, Bacon, Potato, Parsnip Purée, Salsa Verde $15.50

2. CASSOULET
Paired with CHIMAY RED
Shell Beans, Cote Chino Sausage, Short Rib, Duck Confit, cooked with Chimay Red $16.50
- Available Vegan
Shell Beans, Soyrizo, Shiitake Mushrooms, Braised Greens

3. CHIMAY GRAND RESERVE PUDDING
Paired with CHIMAY GRAND RESERVE
Dessert by Sharon La Bate of Starlite
Chimay Grand Reserve Pudding with Ginger Snaps and Cookies $14

THREE COURSES $40
THREE COURSES, PLUS CHIMAY CHEESE PLATE $46

World Cup in San Diego?

San Diego needs your support. Show your support for San Diego's candidacy to be selected for the U.S. World Cup Bid. Sign the petition to bring the game to San Diego.

NORTH COAST FLIGHT & KEEP THE GLASS

TUESDAY, NOV. 10

Starting at 5pm the first 72 people to order any North Coast beer get a free Keeper-Pint.
FLIGHTS OF SIX-5OZ BEERS FOR $15
Scrimshaw Pilsner, Red Seal Ale, Pranqster Belgian Golden Strong Ale, Brother Thelonious Belgian Abbey Ale, Le Merle Saison and Old Rasputin Imperial Stout

We'll be serving the VERY RARE and AWESOME
Bourbon Barrel Aged Old Rasputin 12th Anniversary Stout
AND
Red Seal CASK CONDITIONED on the beer Engine

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 11 CHIMAY KEEP THE GOBLET

Chef Aaron LaMonica gets crafty with
Chimay Red, White & Blue as he creates
Chimay Cheese, Beer and Food Pairings.
First 96 people get a Chimay Keeper-Goblet.

Blind Lady DOG House

BLIND LADY DOG HOUSE
DOGFISH HEAD CRAFT BREWERY SHOWCASE
& KEEP THE GLASS
SECOND CHANCE DOG RESCUE FUNDRAISER AND DOG ADOPTION
w/ MARGO'S BARK ROOT BEER
DIRTY DOG PET WASH
& PET ME PLEASE
Our "DOG" theme is in full effect: Have one of the numerous Dogfish Head Beers on tap and the first 72 people, get a keeper-pint) And, For Every Beer Sold, we'll donate a buck of your purchase to Second Chance Dog Rescue.
Adoption Event from 2-4pm

SATURDAY, NOV. 7 : Wooded Beers and Sausages

WOOD/BARREL-AGED FLIGHT
LUNCH PAIRING W/ GRILLED HOUSE-MADE SAUSAGES
Blind Lady Ale House will be featuring 6 unique Wood- and Barrel-aged beers, side by side, in 5oz glasses for just $15. Breweries Featured will include Allagash, Stone, FireStone Walker, New Belgium, Ballast Point, DogFish Head, and Many more.
BBQ & FLIGHTS START AT 11:30AM!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD OUR COMPLETE SDBW EVENTS LIST

Drink the Cask and Keep the Glass

FRIDAY, NOV. 6
KEEP THE GLASS & MEET YUSEF CHERNEY, BALLAST POINTS MASTER BREWER AND DISTILLER

Cask of Porter with Ballast Point Spirits Rum-Soaked Oak Chips
Cask Taps at @ 2 0'Clock

KITCHEN OPENS AT 2PM!!!!!
KITCHEN OPENS AT 2PM????
Yes, we said it twice. The full kitchen will be open for this one.

To Kick Off our Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer Flights, Yusef Cherney will be her tap a cask of Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter aged with Ballast Point Spirits Rum-soaked oak chips @2pm. The First 72 people will get a Ballast Point Keeper Pint glass!

WOOD/BARREL-AGED PREVIEW @ 7PM
Then @7pm, we preview our "Flights" OF barrel-aged beers.
INCLUDING:
Ballast Point Barrel-Aged Navigator
Ballast Point Barrel-Aged Seamonster Stout
Barrel-Aged Double Bastard
Allagash Curiex
FireStone Oak-toberfest
and many more unique beers.

Delirium Tasting Menu and Keep-the-Glass Night

Thursday, November 5th:

We will be showcasing three Deliriums
Offering optional food pairings
And giving away keeper glasses

Check out the menu for Thursdays Delirium Night:

1st Course
Diver Scallops, Sauteed Cauliflower, Raisins, Capers, Brown Butter Sauce, Lemon
Paired with the Delirium Tremens $16
With a 5 oz. tasting pour $13

2nd Course
Duck Confit, Braised Greens, Sweet Potato, Guanciale, Apricot & Cherry Mustarda
Paired with the Delirium Nocternum $15.50
With a 5 oz. tasting pour $12.50

3rd Course
Gingerbread Cake, Raisin Puree, Apple Cider Ice Cream
Paired with the Delirium Noel $14
With a 5 oz. tasting pour $11.75

Or, get all 3 courses with beer for $40 or all 3 courses with smaller tasting pours of beer for $30. Aaron and Rachel make amazing food, come see what they can do beyond pizza and ice cream sandwiches. We will still have pizza, but our normal menu will be slightly shorter this evening.

SDBW at the Blind Lady

BLIND LADY ALE HOUSE

SDBW EVENTS
Details are subject to change.

Download a printable PDF here
THURSDAY, NOV. 5
DELIRIUM TREMENS KEEP THE GLASS
w/ FOOD PAIRING, NOCTURNUM, NOEL & TREMENS

FRIDAY, NOV. 6
KEEP THE GLASS & MEET THE MASTER BREWER HAPPY HOUR
BALLAST PORTER CASK @ 2 0'CLOCK
CASK OF PORTER WITH BP SPIRITS RUM SOAKED OAK CHIPS
WOOD/BARREL-AGED FLIGHT "PRE-EVENT" STARTS AT 7PM

To Kick Off our Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer Flights, we'll tap a cask of Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter aged with Ballast Point Spirits Rum-soaked oak chips @2pm. The First 72 people will get a Ballast Point Keeper Pint glass!
KITCHEN OPENS AT 2PM

Then @7pm, we preview our "Flights" with more barrel aged beers, including Ballast Point Barrel Aged Navigator, Ballast Point Barrel Aged Seamonster Stout, Barrel-aged Double Bastard, Allagash Curiex, FireStone Oak-toberfest, and many more unique beers.

SATURDAY, NOV. 7
WOOD/BARREL-AGED FLIGHT
LUNCH PAIRING W/ GRILLED SAUSAGES: BRATWURST, AUTUMN SAUSAGE
Blind Lady Ale House will be featuring 6 unique Wood- and Barrel-aged beers, side by side, in 5oz glasses for just $15. Breweries Featured will include Allagash, Stone, FireStone Walker, New Belgium, Ballast Point, DogFish Head, and Many more. Friday night we will begin exploring these beers...

SUNDAY, NOV. 8
BLIND LADY DOG HOUSE DOGFISH HEAD CRAFT BREWERY SHOWCASE & KEEP THE GLASS
SECOND CHANCE DOG RESCUE FUNDRAISER AND DOG ADOPTION
w/ MARGO'S BARK ROOT BEER, DIRTY DOG PET WASH & PET ME PLEASE
Our "DOG" theme is in full effect: Have one of the numerous Dogfish Head Beers on tap(and if you're one of the first 72 people, you get a keeper-pint), Adopt a dog from Second Chance Dog Rescue, and For Every Beer Sold, we'll donate a buck of your purchase to Second Chance Dog Rescue. Everyone feels good, and you're sure to leave with something (a warm heart, a Dogfish Head pint glass, or maybe even your new best friend--a dog!)
Pet adoption from 4-7pm

TUESDAY, NOV. 10
NORTH COAST FLIGHT & KEEP THE GLASS
INCLUDING BOURBON BARREL AGED OLD RASPUTIN ANNIVERSARY ALE
Best know for their Old Rasputin Imperial Stout (awesome!) and Red Seal Ale (mighty tasty!), North Coast Brewing Co. has been making great beers for years. Tonight starting at 5pm, we'll set you up with a Keeper-Pint (for the first 72 of you) when you order a North Coast beer.

Get a Flight of six-5oz beers, served side-by-side from the North Coast Line-up, including:
Scrimshaw Pilsner
Red Seal Ale
Pranqster Belgian Golden Strong Ale
Brother Thelonious Belgian Abbey Ale
Le Merle Saison
Old Rasputin Imperial Stout
All that for just $15!

AND we'll be serving the VERY VERY RARE, and VERY VERY VERY AWESOME Bourbon Barrel Aged Old Rasputin 12th Anniversary Stout on TAP, as well as Red Seal CASK CONDITIONED on the beer Engine!

Come check it out, get a glass, and taste some great beers (and great FOOD!)

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 11
CHIMAY KEEPER-GOBLET
Chef Aaron LaMonica gets crafty with Chimay, one of his favorite beers. He'll be creating a lil' somethin' special from the kitchen to go with the Beer & Cheese plate (which gets the first 48 people the Chimay keeper-goblet!)

Come enjoy Chimay Beer and Cheese, Keep the glass, and try some of Chefs great Chimay-incorporated food.

(And we'll have 25 other awesome beers on tap as well...Kitchen is open until 10pm.)

THURSDAY, NOV. 12
GREENFLASH PROGRESSIVE BEER DINNER
3 BEERS WITH FOOD PAIRINGS
Little Freak, Belgian Brown, and Coffee Stout will be paired with Chef Aarons creations from the kitchen.

3 Green Flash beers to be enjoyed as you desire.
3 Dishes to be savored, as you wish.
Try one, or try them all.

We are doing this along with Ritual Tavern, Linkery, and Jaynes GastroPub. Each of our restaurants will be featuring a beer/food pairing with GreenFlash, so you can eat and drink at each place, with no worry about driving or cabbing. It should be a fun time, especially considering that Green Flash is hosting a bus to run a loop around 30th and Adams Ave. (thanks Green Flash!)

FRIDAY, NOV. 13
GREENFLASH CASK @ 2 0'CLOCK KEEPER PINT & MEET THE BREWER HAPPY HOUR
SOUR FLIGHT TASTING "PRE-EVENT" STARTS AT 7PM
GreenFlash Brewmaster Chuck Silva will be here to tap a cask of his beer (style TBA), and the first 72 people to order a GreenFlash beer will get a GreenFlash Keeper-pint! Come shake hands with one hekuva nice chap, have a tasty and rare beer, and take a nice GreenFlash glass home!
KITCHEN OPENS AT 2PM
Get here early, though...the glasses and the Firkin are limited!

Tonight we will get an early start on our SOURminiFEST!
Check out the kegs we have lined up so far--it's amazing:
Russian River Temptation
New Belgium La Folie
Rodenbach Grand Cru
Echt Kriekenbier (cherry)
St. Louis Gueuze Fond Tradition
Lost Abbey Carnevale
....and more TBA.....

We'll have these available in Flights starting at 7pm,
and pull the plug on 'em 10pm...Love sour beer?
You'll want to check this out!

Not so into sours yet? May I suggest one of the other beers we have on tap..please.

SATURDAY, NOV. 14
SOURminiFEST!
Check out the kegs we have lined up so far--it's gonna be super fun!:

Russian River Temptation
New Belgium La Folie
Rodenbach Grand Cru
Echt Kriekenbier (cherry)
St. Louis Gueuze Fond Tradition
Lost Abbey Carnevale
....and more TBA.....

We'll have a selection of 6 sour beers available in Flights starting at 11:30am, and going all day and night...Selection may become limited, as these are limited beers.

Love sour beer? You'll want to check this out!Not so into sours yet? May I suggest one of the other beers we have on tap..please

SUNDAY, NOV. 15
ALLAGASH SHOWCASE THE MAINE EVENT: PART 2
We got a hold of some rare Allagash kegs, and today we are going to taste them side-by-side in a flight!!
Join us as we experience the following delicious beers:
Allagash Interlude
Allagash Oddessey
Allagash Fluxus 2009
Allagash Four
Allagash White
Allagash Curieux

Our Flights are served in SIX 5oz. glasses. We'll also have a tasting sheet to help guide you through the beers as you go. Education with inebriation. These are strong beers, so PLAN not to drive. (Bus #11 and #2 are close by)

Come taste some great draft beer from the crafty brewer in Maine!!!

Halloween at Blind Lady

We will be open on Halloween and we will have candy for the kids (5-8pn) and beer for the adults all night. The candy will be free, but you gotta pay for the beer. We've heard that Rare Hare and Viva Pops will be giving out candy as well.

Plan 1 (The Daddy Plan): Swing by first with the kids and grab some candy, a beer and some food before heading out. Gotta get a good layer of food in them first before all that sugar.
Plan 2 (The No Kids Plan): Turn the lights off and head over for some beers until the kids go to bed, then go home and eat a whole bag of snickers before bed.

Halloween Beers:
AleSmith Evil Dead Red cask - tapped on Friday @ 2pm
Craftsman Edgar's Ale (Edgar Allen Poe)
Firestone Oaktoberfest
Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

Express Yourself

Ever find it just way to hard to explain to someone how your beer tastes? Here's a great blog entry by Fal Allen on his blog Brewing in Singapore that will help you find the right words.
Read it.

He also recently posted an entry on food & beer pairing.
Read it.

Blind Lady in the Press :: Tin Fork Review

Chocolate with Your Beer
By Ed Bedford/Tin Fork : Published Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009
San Diego Reader

Week In Beer :: Oct 20-23

This week we'll celebrate the tapping of these delicious beers:

Tuesday: Pliny the Elder from Russian River.
This Double IPA has a huge hop aroma, crisp hop bitterness, and a ton of hop flavor. Widely considered one of the best Double India Pale Ales available. And it tastes excellent from our taps (all Stainless, Direct Draw)...even Vinnie was impressed.
8.0%ABV, 1.071 O.G

Wednesday: Mothership Wit from New Belgium.
This Organic Belgian Wheat (Wit) ale has a great balance of yeast character and spices (Coriander and Orange Peel). You may be familiar with this style of beer from the popular Blue Moon(MolsonCoors) or Hoegaarden(AB-InBev). This beer, however, is from an Employee-owned American company known for it's environmental consciousness...Does that make it taste better? Not sure, but something does. It's really flavorful, light, and refreshing.

Thursday: Devotion from Lost Abbey.
This Belgian Pale Ale weighs in at 6.25% abv, which is great for having a few. It has an obvious hop character, which is not very characteristic of Belgian beers. The aroma is sweet and Citrus-y. 3 different yeasts are used, but the yeast character is very subdued: It drinks more like a clean west coast pale ale. Hoppy, Dry, Easy to drink, with a pleasant hoppy finish.

Friday: Alpine Tuatara
Every Friday we feature a local breweries Cask Conditioned beer. Cask ales are the most "natural" state of beer: Unfiltered, naturally carbonated from Fermentation, and often with additional ingredients added directly to the specially-designed keg (which is called a Firkin). They are NOT served with CO2 pressure, but instead pulled from the cask with a Beer-Engine (or Hand Pump). These beers are soft on the palate and very flavorful. Each week the selection changes, and each cask is unique, so check out the Chalkboard on Friday, and get to know the beers over an honest pint.

Saturday & Sunday: Pitcher & Pizza
SAT & SUN 11:30am-5:00pm
60oz Pitcher* and a Margherita Pizza
$18.39
*see menu for beer selection

Homebrewers: The California Report

Craft beer keeps bubbling along...
Listen to the complete story on
The California Report

A Busy Month for Lee

Wow…Last month was a weird one…but in very cool ways! Here’s a little review of some of the interesting things that happened, in chronological order:

• Spent a few days working in Vancouver, Canada working on a Brewery Engineering project for a client, then stopped in Portland for a night with friends on the way back.
• Posted the Change of License notice in the window at Blind Lady to become a Small Beer Manufacturer! (Crossing our fingers that this process goes quickly…)
• During a layover in Amsterdam, spent 3 hours catching a train, finding an excellent good-beer-bar, realizing they don’t take credit cards, searching for Euros, finding Euros, then returning to the airport (via train) to quickly spend the Euros on Belgian beers before catching my plane…bummer. But still cool, in an unfortunate way.
• Spent a week in Africa (Nairobi, Kenya) working on a small brewery start-up. Brewed 4 batches of beer, filtered and kegged, then tapped a very-young beer before heading back home. Intense work schedule combined with a relatively-unstable country means that very few interesting photos were taken, and very few “sights” were seen. But still…visited the motherland. And made beer there!
• A layover in Nigeria (a pretty sketchy place) reveals that, for some yet-to-be-explained reason, Delta airlines cancelled my ticket to return to the USA, forcing me to either stay in the Airport for an indefinite amount of time (but at least one night), or purchase a new ticket—a last-minute, one way flight from Nigeria to San Diego--- for $2500! Chose the latter, purchasing the ticket via someones personal cell phone by an unidentified “clerk” said to work for the airline, then promptly canceling the credit card. Last-minute ticket: $2500. Catching the last flight of the night out of Nigeria: Priceless.
• Judged the largest beer competition in the world—ever! This years Great American Beer Festival in Denver saw a record number of entries: over 3300 beers in competition! Spent over 20 hours in a windowless basement tasting and evaluating beers, arguing and debating the beers merits with other judges, and writing lots of tasting notes.
• Co-hosted a class on How to Taste and Evaluate Beer at the Great American Beer Festival. This class, entitled You Be the Judge, occurred 12 hours after having the first of many, many beers of the day in a long judging session (which included 5 hours of barrel aged Strong Ales). Discussion topics were created on-the-fly, and covered everything from Proper Pre-Session Personal Hygiene to Dealing with your Emotions when presented with samples both good- and bad-enough to make you want to shout obscenities of either elation or disgust! The class was fun and hopefully educational.
• Visited Boulder, Colorado: Avery Brewing, Mountain Sun Brew-pub, and RedStone Meadery, then returned to the Great American Beer Festival to taste beers and visit with other brewers. Made some connections to get some rare beers to Blind Lady for SD Beer Week (Nov.6th-15th).

Unfortunately, I was away from Blind Lady for a good number of days, but Jen, Jeff, and Clea stepped up and did a great job in my absence. Thanks to them, and the rest of the BLAH staff. It’s been interesting being away, and it’s great to be back.

Here are some photos.

VOTE FOR US by November 11th

CITY BEAT'S BEST OF SAN DIEGO

We've made into the top 5 for both "Best Pizza" and "Best New Restaurant" in City Beat's Best of San Diego.

GO VOTE NOW!

Keep-A-Breast and Blind Lady Dog House

October 18 - Keep A Breast : 11:30-midnite
Raising funds with Shaney Jo and Keep-A-Breast for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
We will be donating $1 per drink all day and all proceeds from our raffle go to KAB.
The girls from KAB will be here with "boobie" schwag and literature along with their one-of-a-kind plaster forms of the female torso.
JUST ADDED
Joshua Krause will be painting a breast cast live @ 5pm
Black Box labels Zero, Fallen and Mystery have donated decks, shoes and schwag to the raffle.
Get more info on Keep A Breast at their site keep-a-breast.org

November 8th - Blind Lady Dog House
We're turning the Blind Lady into a Dog House to help raise money for Second Chance Dog Rescue. This event is being co-sponsored by the fantastic people at Margo's Bark Soda Co. (who give all their profits to dogs).
JUST ADDED
From 4-7pm Second Chance will be holding an adoption event in from of the Blind Lady.
Our neighbors Dirty Dog, Pet Me Please and Viva Pops will be here helping out and donating to the raffle.
secondchancedogrescue.org
margosbark.com

Beers of the Week :: Oct 6-11

Tue: Aventinus Weizenbock + Dogfish Head Punkin
Wed: Saison Dupont
Thu: Alpine Tuatara (new beer)
Fri: Cask of Green Flash West Coast IPA
Sat: Pitchers from 11:30am-10pm
Sun: Pitchers from 11:30am-10pm

We're working on more for the weekend.
Check back soon, join our email list or follow us on Facebook for constant updates.

Grooving in the Bus Lane

If you live anywhere in uptown you can bus to the Blind Lady. We are located at the corner of Adams Ave and 34th Street.

Route 11 runs from SDSU, to Adams, to Park Blvd to Broadway and beyond. If you want to bus to or from North/South Park (Hamilton's, The Station, Whistle Stop, Toronado, Linkery, Bar Pink, etc) you can take Route 2, it will take you from 30th & A to 30th & Adams where you can walk to 34th or jump on the 11 Bus. $2.25 gets you on the bus, $5.00 gets you a day pass so you can go back and forth all day long.

Check SDMTS for schedules. Download a route map here.

Beers of the Week :: Sept 29 -Oct 3rd

Tue: Russian River Blind Pig
Wed: Bear Republic Racer 5
Thu: Firestone Walker Union Jack
Fri: 2 O'Clock Cask of Ballast Point Sculpin
Sat & Sun: Bring Your Own Stein Event (info below)

Tour de Fat is peddling it's way through Balboa Park this weekend and we'll be celebrating with New Belgium's Mothership Wit and La Folie (NB's sour brown ale) on Friday night.
Listen to Freddie and get on your bikes and ride!

BYO Bier Stein Event :: Oktober 3rd & 4th

All day Oktober 3rd & 4th.

Sick of going to Oktoberfest and having to navigate though and ocean of macrame pot holders and incense booths just to pay way too much for a warm, red cup of beer? Us too!

Join us this Saturday and Sunday for an event Lee wanted to call Drankenstein. Bring Your Own Bier Stein and get...
1 Liter stein fills for $7*
That's 33.8140226 oz of tasty Oktoberfest Bier.

Mom sold your stein at a garage sale?
No worries, we've got keeper steins with bier for only $15 and get $7 fills all weekend*!

*While the Fest Biers last!

UPDATE: Steins Are Here!

The steins for this weekends event arrived and they are HUGE!
33.8140226 oz

Adams Ave Street Fair :: Lots Happening

This weekend is gonna be a little crazy.

This year we'll be opening the bar at 10am so FM94/9 can kick things off with a live broadcast (10am-6pm). Then it's time to eat, drink and get ready for some great bands. We're especially excited about having Republic of Letters, The Creepy Creeps, Get Back Loretta, The Famers, Cash'd Out and The Zeros all playing within 2 blocks of us (we've posted the full schedule here).

We'll also have our Free Bike Valet service in the East parking lot. Ride your bike and the folks from San Diego County Bike Coalition and Adams Avenue Bicycles will valet it for free. Plus, we've heard AABikes will be bringing some tools just in case you need any quick repairs. Oh, and we're working on giving some sort of a discount for riding you bike. More details later.

Wanna Volunteer?
Contact Kathy Keehan at the SDCBC
email: execdir@sdcbc.org

We'd like to thank everyone involved for making this valet service happen.
San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, Adams Avenue Integrative Health, Florman Architects Inc., Rosie O'Grady's, Proprietor's Reserve Wine Bar and Adams Ave Bicycles.

Free Bike Valet at Adams Ave Street Fair

When it comes to winning medals at the GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL

San Diego is no outsider, counting for a ton of California’s over 500 medals

With Lee going back to judge at the 2009 festival
w.e decided to fill the cold box with past medal winners.
SEPTEMBER 23-27, 2009

Presented By

San Diego County Bicycle Coalition
The Businesses of the Wilkinson Block
Adams Avenue Bicycles
Free valet service for over 200 bicycles
during Street Fair hours
Saturday 10am-9pm
Sunday 10am-7pm
in the East parking lot of the Wilkinson Block
on the corner of Adams and 34th
(next to the blind lady ale house)
Show us your wristband and get a discount on food and drink!

This Weekend : Sept 18-20

Friday Cask : Green Flash Double Stout @ 2 O'Clock
1st Place 2008 California State Fair. Golden naked oats mashed with dark crystal and robust roasted malts create a luscious black brew with satin smooth finish. Layering UK Target hops throughout the boil adds pleasant, earthy complexity while higher fermentation temperatures enhance overall flavor with fruity esters. An old-world style, done the Green Flash way. Big, bold, flavorful and complex.
Saturday : Sierra Nevada Chico Estate Harvest Ale
Very Rare. Chico Estate Harvest Ale is one of the very few estate harvest ales produced anywhere in the world today. All the hops in the beer are grown naturally on the premises of their brewery in Chico. 6.7% ABV
Sunday : Pints For Prostates Fundraiser
20% of all drink sales will go to USTOO.org
11:30am - midnite

The Week In Beer :: Sept 15-20

Here's how the week is shaping up.

Tuesday : Lagunitas Lil Sumpin Extra
8.74% ABV American Double / Imperial IPA
Wednesday : Port Trigger Hoppy
7.4% ABV Belgian IPA
Thursday : Craftsman Oktoberfest
5.7% ABV Märzen - A Munich style amber lager
Friday Cask : Green Flash Double Stout @ 2 O'Clock
1st Place 2008 California State Fair. Golden naked oats mashed with dark crystal and robust roasted malts create a luscious black brew with satin smooth finish. Layering UK Target hops throughout the boil adds pleasant, earthy complexity while higher fermentation temperatures enhance overall flavor with fruity esters. An old-world style, done the Green Flash way. Big, bold, flavorful and complex.
Saturday : Sierra Nevada Chico Estate Harvest Ale
Very Rare. Chico Estate Harvest Ale is one of the very few estate harvest ales produced anywhere in the world today. All the hops in the beer are grown naturally on the premises of their brewery in Chico. 6.7% ABV
Sunday : Pints For Prostates Fundraiser
20% of all drink sales will go to USTOO.org
11:30am - midnite

Sunday Night Movie :: Barbarella

Lee's in Africa and Jen is taking over this Sunday's movie and she's picked a winner...

Barbarella
Sunday, Sept 13th @ 10pm
on the Blind Lady Old "School" Screen
Set in the 40th century, Barbarella follows the adventures of its title character played by Jane Fonda. In the film, Barbarella is assigned by the President of Earth to retrieve Doctor Durand Durand from the planet SoGo in order to save the earth. Beyond this premise, the plot is very loose, serving mostly as an excuse for Barbarella to end up in erotic situations. On her quest to find Durand Durand, Barbarella is seduced by a human resident of SoGo, who introduces her to penetrative intercourse (civilized people of Barbarella's society find sexual release through pharmaceuticals), seduces an angel named Pygar, and overloads a torture device (called the Excessive Machine) which kills through sexual pleasure.
Watch the original Trailer

Dekline Keep the Pint Glass :: Thurs, Sept 10th

Our good friend Kevin at Dekline Footwear hooked us up with 48 pint glasses to give away. So, buy a beer and get a free Dekline Pint Glass. We'll also be showing lots of skate videos and playing lots of Elvis "Declan Patrick MacManus" Costello. We're also hoping to show Foundation's "That's Life" on the big screen at 10pm.

The Week In Beer : Sept 8-11

Tuesday: Sierra Nevada's Anniversary Ale and La Chouffe
Wednesday: Pliney the Elder and Stone 09.09.09 Vertical Epic
Thursday: Alpine's Duet. It's also Dekline Shoes' Keep the Glass Night. Buy a beer and get a free Dekline Pint Glass. We'll also be showing lots of skate videos and playing lots of Elvis "Declan Patrick MacManus" Costello.
Friday: 2 O'Clock Cask Arrogant Bastard with American Oak

In Food News:
Clams have replaced the mussels (but they aren't available on Tuesdays) and they are served with our house sausage in a delicious broth with rouille toasts. Stone fruit is on it's way out of season so we will be trying out some new salads this week while we try and come up with something that could replace it. And the Fried Okra Special is on going since okra has been so perfect. It's battered, as are the onions and little peppers and it's crazy tasting good.

The Week In Beer :: On Tap Sept 1-6

Tuesday: Ballast Pt. Sculpin
Wednesday: Rodenbach Grand Cru
Thursday: Alpine Nelson
Friday: 2 O'Clock Cask - Alpine Nelson Cask
Saturday & Sunday: Labor Day Lager Flights
.................................Rogue Maierfest
.................................Hangar 24 Helles
.................................Victory Festbier
.................................Aventinus Weizenbock
.................................Ballast Pt. Longfin
.................................Gordon Biersch Schwarzbier
Sunday: Automatic Brewing Co #1 (It's been off the board since early July!)

Monday: WE'RE CLOSED!

Friday Cask + Air Conditioning = Awesome

Yep, we just tapped a cask of Stone Vanilla Bean Smoked Porter and it's delicious. So come on down and enjoy some tasty pizza & a half-liter of cold beer in the comfort of our awesome Air Conditioning! Maybe, just maybe, we can help you forget how unbearably hot it is.

HELP OUR REC CENTERS

We're so excited about this one, let's get right to it: This coming Sunday is our Adams Avenue Rec Center Event. $1 from every drink will go to fund programs for our local recreation centers. More specifically, it goes to man hours for teachers and leaders to help run workshops and classes for our neighborhood kids. That's pretty cool and we are hoping for a large turn out for this one to support such an amazing and (very) local cause. Come out Sunday, anytime day or night (we're here from 11:30 AM to midnight.) And there will be raffle!

In case you're wondering, no, the rec centers aren't going out of business. We've just heard that funding has been tight and we want to do what we can to make sure our local centers keep on doing what they're doing.

UPDATE: We just got a skateboard pack from Toy Machine, a gift certificate from Riviera, shirts from Ponce's, gift certificates from Viva Pops, Pet Me Please and Tao, and various schwag items to give away! So don't forget to bring some cash for the raffle. $1 per ticket or $20 for your wingspan! See you sunday.

Hangar 24 :: JS Ford Award

"A few years removed from making beer at home, Redlands resident Kevin Wright has won one of brewing's highest honors.

Wright, who works for Hangar 24 Craft Brewery in Redlands, opened a letter Saturday congratulating him on the JS Ford Award, given to the top scorer in the exam given by the London-based Institute of Brewing and Distilling..." Read More

Why not stop by the Blind Lady and taste why Kevin was awarded such a high honor.

The Week In Beer

The Week In Beer
TUE: LAGUNITAS IPA WED: PORT BREWING HOP 15 DOUBLE IPA
THUR: HITACHINO NEST WHITE (ON TAP!)
FRI: CASK OF STONE RUINATION

THIS WEEKEND: AUG 15-16th.
CRAFTSMAN BREWING FLIGHTS.
FROM TRIPLE WHITE SAGE TO SMOKED BLACK LAGER.
$12 GETS YOU SIX 5OZ GLASSES

Campaign For Real Ale :: CAMRA

Date: 6th August 2009

CAMRA would like to announce the winner of the annual competition for American cask-conditioned beer held on the Bières Sans Frontières bar at the Great British Beer Festival.

An international panel of judges agreed that the overall champion cask-conditioned American beer was Cambridge Brewing Company - YouEnjoyMyStout. The head brewer is Will Meyers and the brewery is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The beer is a 10.5% abv Imperial Stout aged for two years in previously used American oak bourbon barrels. Very full-bodied with complex notes of caramel, treacle, and espresso mingled with vanilla and tannin from the oak.

The runner-up was Brooklyn Brewery - East Indian Pale Ale and in third place was Stone Brewery - Levitation Ale.

Bières Sans Frontières featured a record 55 different American cask-conditioned beers in 2009 from breweries as diverse as Stone Brewery in California, Dechutes Brewery in Oregon and Victory Brewing in Pennsylvania.

Bières Sans Frontières is the International bar at the Great British Beer Festival and features 300 different beers from around the world. The bar is organised by Andy Benson and staffed by over 60 volunteers from afar away as America and Japan.

Famers Market on Adams

The AABA is excited to be starting a weekly Certified Farmer's Market on Wednesday, September 9, 2009. The market will be opened each Wednesday evening from 3:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

The Adams Avenue Farmer's Market will be on 40th Street next to Ward Canyon Park just off Adams Avenue.

www.adamsavemarket.com

Blind Lady at the Blind Tasting : GABF 2009

Last year, after years of being invited but missing out, Lee finally got a chance to judge beers at the Great American Beer Fest in Denver! GABF is not only the biggest beer festival in the world (with 1800+ different beers being poured!), but before the fest begins, GABF conducts the largest beer Competition in the USA.
Lee was honored to be judging in 2008, and excited to be invited back again this year!
He's looking forward to sitting in a windowless room in the basement of a high-rise hotel for 2.5 days, evaluating about 100 beers per day from tiny cups, as part of an international team of Professional Beer Tasters.

But this year, it's be even better. The BLAH team forms when Jeff and Bartender Andy arrive to tastes some of the beers at the festival... so when the Judging is over, the party gets started...in a windowless hall on the second floor of a convention center for 2.5 days, enjoying as-many-as-possible beers from tiny cups, as part of an international team of 40,000 less-than-professional beer tasters.
Things could be worse...

Honest Pint Goes National: San Diego's Blind Lady Certified

We just received confirmation from Jeff Allworth at the Honest Pint Project that we've been certified. Here's what he had to say:

"What a perfect exclamation point for this beery week: yesterday I received an email from Jenniffer Chase at the Blind Lady Ale House in San Diego. Attached was this lovely photo. Look carefully and you can see that the glasses are inscribed with a half-liter line, making them the extra-special gold standard of honest glassware. We'll have to update the website to include California--Blind Lady Ale House is now a Certified Purveyor of Honest Pints!
There's been a lot of talk of which city is Beer Town USA, and Denver and Portland tend to think it's a two-city choice. San Diegans differ, and if you click around the Blind Lady website, you can see why. Great food and great beer--just the kind of place to cool your heels with a nice honest pint. Folks in So Cal and folks visiting So Cal should take note and drop in for a pint."

At the Blind Lady Ale House our beers are priced

based on the amount you get in your glass.
We pour .25L into every piece of stemware and .5L into our Willi.
Glass sizes may vary, but the amount of beer you get doesn't.

A good head on a beer is a wonderful thing.
It allows the beer to open up and share its most subtle aromas with the drinker.
An expert pour will leave a head that is about the width of two fingers.
Most brewers take great care during the brewing process
to maintain a beer's proper head-forming properties.

HOP FLIGHT JUST ADDED FOR SAT & SUNDAY

This Week at the BLAH

Tuesday: Firestone Walker's Union Jack IPA
Temptation, from Russian River, it's $35 a bottle and only available on, you guessed it, Temptation Tuesdays.
Wednesday: Hangar 24's Amber Alt and Helles. FC Barcelona vs Seattle Sounders FC 7:30 p.m.
Thursday: Alpine's Pure Hoppiness. RFTC RIP DVD showing at 10pm and we're giving away passes to NPMT and local band merch courtesy of Merch Lackey.
Friday: Cask of Alesmith X at 2pm. Real Madrid vs Toronto FC 4:30 p.m.
Saturday: It's Saturday! $15 local pitchers from 11:30 am - 6 pm. What else do you need?
Sunday: Real Madrid vs D.C. United @ noon along with $15 local pitchers 'til 6 pm.
Pitcher This: NOW ALL WEEK LONG! $15 local pitchers Tues-Thurs 5-6 pm, Fridays from 2-6 pm and Sat & Sunday 11:30 am-6 pm. Sharing beer makes it taste even better.

North Park Music Thing :: RFTC from the BLAH

Thursday August 6th

We've been into local music for years and we're excited about this weekends North Park Music Thing. In fact we're going to unofficially kick things off on Thursday August 6th by playing tons of local music all night, drinking plenty of local beers, and we'll be giving away some NPMT passes to the Street Fest on Sunday while we show the RFTC RIP DVD will full sound blasting at 10pm. We also are getting some local band merch from our friends at Merch Lackey to give away as well. Giveaway will happen after 10pm.

The North Park Music Thing - San Diego Music & Media Conference and Festival is a three day music event, which is scheduled to take place August 7-9, 2009 at the Lafayette Hotel. On Saturday, following the workshops, NPMT will showcase nearly 150 musical acts from the Southwestern United States, on 20 stages in San Diego, California.

www.sandiegomusicfoundation.org

Urban Bike Ride

The ride with the Urban Bike and Social Club and the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition was a hit. There were upwards of 45-50 who showed up for the 1 hour long cruise through uptown.
Thanks for everyone who showed up, thanks to Jeremy for putting it together and thanks to Velo Cult for joining in.
Check out Christa's photos.

FRIDAY 2 O'CLOCK CASK :: 30TH STREET

We just got confirmation for a cask of 30th St.

Beers Beers Beers and Bikes

THIS WEEK AT THE BLAH:
Tuesday: Saison Dupont on Tap
Wednesday: Pliny the Elder
Thursday: Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor
— Gold Cup: Opening the bar early for USA vs Hondurus @ 4pm (FSC ch.325) then Mexico vs Costa Rica 7pm (KBNT-17 Univision) followed by le Tour de France at 9pm.
Friday: Cask of Ballast Point Even Keel
Saturday: (and Sunday if supplies last): Ballast Point $12 Flights featuring Piper Down, Dorado, Black Marlin, Even Keel, Big Eye, and a Brandy Barrel Aged Navigator Doppelbock.
— Tour de France: Saturday's stage should be amazing.
Sunday: Urban Bike Ride - Everyone is welcome to sign up for this one. Meet at 4:00 at Velo Cult, ride leaves @ 4:30 sharp and will wander through uptown until arriving at the BLAH around 5:30. Then, drinking, eating and socializing! Maybe even watch the last stage of the Tour. This is put on by the Urban Bike and Social Club along with the San Diego Bicycle Coalition Social Crew. Get more info and sign up here. It's free.
— Tour de France: The last day!

10News.com A-List : Best Beer Selection

We've been nominated for "Best Beer Selection" in San Diego by 10News.com. Pretty cool!
We work super hard to make sure we have a tasty selection along with the cleanest lines possible to ensure they stay that way.
You can vote here.

Thanks for you support!

Meetup for Urban Bike and Social Club :: July 26th

This just in from our friend Jeremy:

Announcing a new Meetup for Urban Bike and Social Club!
What: Group party ride from from Velo Cult with social hour at Blind Lady Ale House!
When: July 26, 2009 4:00 PM
Where: Velo Cult 2220 Fern St, San Diego, CA 92104

Hello Bicycle Peeps,
So it seems like there are a few of you out there whom want to ride bikes, like to have fun, and want to meet new poeple just like I do. Well here is our second event:
On Sunday July the 26th Urban bike and social Club will be joining the San Diego Bicycle Coalition Social Crew for a group party ride from Velo Cult Bicycle in South Park 2220 Fern St 92104. The ride will leave promptly at 4:30pm and will tour through some of urban San Diegos coolest urban neighborhoods for about an hour. The ride will culminate at one of San Diegos best new craft beer and pizza joints The Blind Lady Ale House (Normal Heights area) for a few cold beverages and some socializing! Hope you can make it should be a really good time and a good crowd.
Hope to see you all there, and don't feel shy to bring a friend or two!
Learn more here:
Urban-Bike-and-Social-Club/calendar

Somtheing for every day of the week...

We've got something happening each day this week, check it out.

Tuesday: Hitachino Nest White
Wednesday: Green Flash Le Freak
Thursday: Alpine Duet
Friday: Cask-Conditioned Stone Levitation w/ Simcoe hops
Saturday: Cask-Conditioned Stone Ruination w/ Amarillo hops
Sunday: Project Mercy Fundraiser, see below!

Gold Cup July 18th & 19th

Quarter Final
18 July
Canada vs Honduras @ 2 : 00
United States vs Panama @ 5 : 00
19 July
Guadeloupe vs Costa Rica @ 1 : 00
Mexico vs Haiti @ 4 : 00

PROJECT MERCY :: JULY 19TH, 11:30am-MIDNITE

SUNDAY JULY 19TH, 11:30 AM - MIDNITE
PROJECT MERCY FUNDRAISER

On the Eastern edge of Tijuana lies an area of wide valleys and rolling hills. Spread through these hills are a number of colonias, shantytowns where the poorest of Mexican families bravely try to forge a better life for themselves and their children.
The cost of land and food is high and wages are low. The hills are dotted with flimsy shacks with dirt floors, no windows and leaking roofs. Children are at high risk of bronchial pneumonia and disease and bites from the vermin that crawl under the walls where they sleep.
Project Mercy builds basic but sturdy houses for these impoverished families. We purchase most building materials in Tijuana and bring together a wide spectrum of US volunteers and Mexican residents in a bi-national effort to overcome the precarious conditions that prevail.
In addition to house building, Project Mercy’s main activity, the project builds latrines, and supports a local non-profit daycare center. Project Mercy has recently built an auditorium for one school, a library building for another and has made repairs on school buildings. You may find more information by visiting the project’s web-site at www.projectmercy.net
Project Mercy has an overhead cost of under 10% of its total revenue.

FOR EVERY BEER SOLD WE WILL GIVE $1 TO PROJECT MERCY

YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THE PROJECT MERCY FUNDRAISER ON JULY 19
AT THE BLIND LADY ALEHOUSE WILL HELP TO PROVIDE FUNDS THAT
WILL BE USED DIRECTLY IN THE HOUSE-BUILDING PROGRAM.

Crust Is a Canvas for Pizza’s New Wave :: New York Times

New York Times : July 7, 2009
Pizza connoisseurs bicker endlessly about where to find the best pies, and now they have more serious local contenders than ever to bicker about. Frank Bruni, The Times's chief restaurant critic, assesses eight of the notable artisanal pizzerias that have sprung up in recent years around New York City — a town obsessed with pizza. READ ARTICLE

Automatic Brewing Co. #1 :: ON TAP

We are happy to say that tonight we will be putting a keg of our first house beer back on tap, but it won't last long! So come and get it.
Automatic Brewing Co. #1
An organic belgian style single ale w/ ginger, coriander and American oak.

7/13/09 update:
That's the fastest we've sold any beer. Thanks for coming out and supporting us.

Gold Cup and Le Tour de France

We are doing our best to show Gold Cup games and nightly re-caps of Le Tour.
GOLD CUP:
For a complete Gold Cup schedule you can check ussoccer.com. Most of the games are on FSC and Univision, so we can put them on.
LE TOUR:
Our plan is to run the 9pm re-cap nightly. This way we can still air the Gold Cup games while presenting the more compact airing of all the legs.

AleSmith Weekend :: July 4th & 5th

JULY 4th & 5th
SAT & SUN 11:30am-MIDNITE

2008 Great american beer festival

“Small Brewing Company of the Year”

$12 gets you a flight of SIX–4oz samples
X (Extra Pale Ale, 5.5%)
Lil Devil (Belgian Single, 5.5%)
Nautical Nut Brown (Brown Ale, 5%)
YuleSmith Summer Release (Double IPA, 9.5%)
Horny Devil (Belgian Strong Ale, 11%)
Speedway Stout (Coffee Imperial Stout, 12.6%)

Tasting Notes:

"Keep the Glass" :: Tonight :: Thurs, July 2nd

This just in...
Thursday night BLAH will be featuring Green Flash Brewing Co.
Saison, West Coast IPA, Le Freak, and 30th St.
First 90 people to order one gets a keeper glass.
Show up early!

Hitachino Nest White Ale : Tapping Tuesday the 30th

We just received a delivery with a couple of Hitachino kegs! We're super excited about it because until now you couldn't get it on draught in SD. We'll be tapping the first one this Tuesday the 30th. You might have had a chance to taste this one out of a bottle during our "Whites Wits Wheats Weekend," but in case you missed it, Hitachino Nest White Ale is a refreshing mildly hopped Belgian styled beer with a complex flavor of coriander, orange peel and nutmeg.

USA in Confederations Cup Final vs. Brazil June 28th

We'll be showing the game live on our old school screen at 11:30am on Sunday, June 28th during Taste of Adams. So, drop by for a "Taste" (if you've got your badge) and stick around for the game.

Taste of Adams :: Sunday June 28th

This Sunday is Taste of Adams. Tickets are now available online. The tickets are $25 per person in advance and $30 the day of the event. Tickets purchased on-line will be held at “will call” located at the corner of 34th Street and Adams Avenue in the parking lot of the Normal Heights Masonic Lodge (across from Rosie's). Tickets will also be available at the BLAH.

Trolleys provided by Old Town Trolley Tours. So jump on board, swing by the BLAH to samples some tasty beers and check out a few new spots.

We're pretty excited about everyone checking out our new friends over at ¡Viva Pops! and the new El Zarape Restaurant.

Participating Restaurants:
Adams Avenue Grill, Bleu Boheme, Burger Lounge, Blind Lady Alehouse, Café 2121, Café Cabaret, California-Antilles Trading Consortium, Casa Adams , DiMille’s Italian Restaurant, El Zarape Mexican Restaurant, Great Panda Restaurant, Incredible Cheesecake Company, Jayne's Gastropub, Kensington Grill, Kensington Cafe, Lestat’s Coffee House, Mariposa Ice Cream, Pinto Thai Cuisine, Ponce’s Mexican Restaurant, Proprietor’s Reserve Wine Bar, Rosie O’Grady’s Pub, Senior Mango, The Antique Row Café, Twiggs Bakery & Coffee House, Viva Pops!, Zia Gourmet Pizza

Joe Girandola : Duct Tape Drawings

A lot of people have been asking, so we thought we'd tell you a little about the new artwork hanging on our walls. Our good friend (and fellow pizza enthusiast) Joe Giandola creates these amazing pieces out of duct tape—yep, we said duct tape—and has loaned us two of our favorites. You can check out his complete portfolio at DuctTapeDrawings.com.

Recent BLAH Press :: Alice Q. Foodie & SDNN

Alice Q. Foodie gave us a review this past month (read it). We also heard something about her having her b-day party at the BLAH.


UT/SignOnSanDiego.com Editor's Pick. Read Erin Garin's Review.


Amy T. Granite's "Through thick and thin: Eight great San Diego pizzas" includes the BLAH along with some of our favorite SD pizza spots. Read Article

Help Our Community Grow : Sunday June 21st

PLEASE JOIN US FOR OUR “3RD SUNDAY EVENT”
SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2009 11:30am-MIDNITE
AS WE HELP RAISE MONEY FOR VICTORY GARDENS SAN DIEGO

$1 PER LOCAL DRAFT SOLD will go to create a
front yard victory garden for a family of eight in South Park.

Victory Gardens San Diego is a collaborative effort of many individuals and several gardening, farming, educational and food-justice groups that help develop sustainable, healthy, earth-friendly gardens for homes, communities and schools throughout the San Diego area.

Victory Gardens San Diego is a project of several organizations including San Diego Roots’ sustainable food project, a non profit that works to strengthen the local food movement.

VICTORYGARDENSSANDIEGO.COM • SANDIEGOROOTS.ORG

Budweiser in a Footed Pilsner?

Have you seen the new Bud commercial? If not, we just thought you might want to see that even AB likes the way we pour.

The only thing more disappointing than watching Brazil spank the USA this morning was seeing The Great American Lager in a footed pilsner.

Wonderful Whites, Wits & Wheats Weekend : UPDATE

SATURDAY (6/13) & SUNDAY (6/14) 11:30am-MIDNITE

The line-up for this weekend is looking pretty Awesome, FUN, and Refreshing.
But how about this for diversity: These beers are representing So & No Cal, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Southern and Northern Germany, Netherlands, Japan, and Belgium! Yes, we said Japan!

$12 Taster Flights

Flight #1
Alpine Willy Wheat
Mission Hefeweizen
Hangar 24 OW
Ballast Point Wahoo Wheat
Victory Whirlwind Wit
Hitachino Nest White Ale

Flight #2
Craftsman Heavenly Hefe
Karl Strauss Windansea Wheat
Lagunitas Lil Sumpin Summer Wheat (new to SD)
Avery White Rascal
Koningshoeven Trappist Witte on Saturday (new to SD)
St Bernardus Wit on Sunday
Dogfish Head Festina Peche (new to SD, sour Berlin Style wheat, with Peaches)

Remember to wear all white and win.
Everyone who wears all white will wind a special prize (while supplies last).

Wonderful Whites, Wits & Wheats Weekend 6/13-6/14

Our Allagash tasting event was such a hit that we're back at it again.

Starting this Saturday at 11:30 we will kick off our first White, Wit, Wheat Weekend. Why? Because it's almost summer and these beers are the perfect daytime, warm weather drink. We will have taster flights, too. Some of the beers included are the Ballast Point Wahoo Wheat, Craftsman Hefeweizen, Avery White Rascal, Hitachino Nest White Ale, St. Bernardus Wit, Alpine Willy Wheat, Mission Hefe and the Karl Strauss Windansea Wheat. There are more and this list is subject to change, but admit, it whets your whistle, doesn't it? Wear all white and you will get a special prize. The WWWWeekend will go through Sunday, till we run out. And remember, we serve lunch on the weekends from 11:30 on.

Alex's Lemonade Stand

Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation evolved from a young cancer patient's front yard lemonade stand to a nationwide fundraising movement to find a cure for childhood cancer. Since Alexandra "Alex" Scott (1996-2004) set up her front-yard stand at the age of four, more than $25 million has been raised towards fulfilling her dream of finding a cure for all children with cancer.

Normal Heights Stand will be open Saturday June 13, 2009 11:00 am - Sunday June 14, 2009 3:00 pm at 35th st. and No. Mountain View

Crows Pass

Several of us had the opportunity to go out to Temecula and visit our friends at Crows Pass Farm. After and afternoon of picking strawberries, checking out the veggies, drinking a few tastey beers and hitting some balls in the batting cages, we're pretty darn happy about working with such great people. Check out our fotos on our flickr page.

New Stemware

Our new stemware and tasters showed up. Now it's off to North Park Trophy to have Dutch engrave the pour lines!

The Maine Event : Sat, June 6th

We stumbled into some treats from Allagash in the form of 6 different kegs, but I only have one keg of each:
Curieux
Hugh Malone
Victor
Victoria
Confluence
Allagash White

These are all on draft, and we have yet to taste a few of them--pretty excited!

Starting at 11:30am on Saturday June 6th.

So come on by, and try some beers that you (probably) haven't had yet... (We know you haven't had them from an all-stainless-steel Direct-draw draft system into a freshly rinsed glass!:)
We know a few of these are going to be awesome!

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
EVERY WEEKEND
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

And we'll have 16 more craft beers on tap if Allagash isn't your thing.

$15 LOCAL PITCHERS : Weekend Days 11:30am-5pm
We now do pitchers of locals on Saturday and Sunday days only until 5pm.
It's kind of like our version of Happy Hour. Because they cost only $15.

LUNCH : Weekend Days at 11:30am
We're open for lunch every Saturday and Sunday at 11:30am. It's a great time to get in and get a table. Plus, you can enjoy the $15 pitchers and give to a great charity on Sunday.

Weekend Events : May 23-24th

CASK DAY : Saturday
It's our first, of hopefully a regular thing.
We will be serving Pizza Port's traditional English style ESB in the traditional serving manner.
Starts at 11:30 and goes till we run out.

PINTS FOR HOPE : Sunday
This is a benefit for local MS patients. You buy a local beer, we give $1 to Walk MS Team Mom's Angels. All monies goes directly to Southern Californian patients for in home care, medical equipment, home modifications and all that stuff that they need day in and day out. There will also be a raffle with lots of great prizes. More Info
We open at 11:30 and it goes all day and night.

$15 LOCAL PITCHERS : Weekend Days 11:30am-5pm
We now do pitchers of locals on Saturday and Sunday days only until 5pm.
It's kind of like our version of Happy Hour. Because they cost only $15.

LUNCH : Weekend Days at 11:30am
We're open for lunch every Saturday and Sunday at 11:30am. It's a great time to get in and get a table. Plus, you can enjoy the $15 pitchers and give to a great charity on Sunday.

ON TAP : As of Saturday Morning
Russian River Pliny the Elder
Foret Saison
Eel River Amber
Hanger 24 Orange Wheat
Automatic #1
Alesmith X
Alesmith Nautical Nut Brown
Victory Prima Pils
and 13 more tasty brews..

Get Updates : Click here and sign up for our mailing list to get updates.

PINTS FOR HOPE

Join us along with WalkMS Team "Mom's Angels" for
PINTS FOR HOPE
To help provide support for San Diegans living with MS
Sunday, May 24th
11:30am - Midnite

$1.00 per local beer purchased
Goes directly to local MS patients' healthcare
Including in-home care, counseling, medical equipment and home modifications.

MS Pacific South Coast Chapter

5 from Alpine this Saturday the 15th

THIS JUST IN:
72 Alpine Keeper-Pints and $15 Pitchers
This Saturday starting at 11:30am.
Order a Pint of any Alpine beer and the first 72 people keep the glass.

Pure Hoppiness (8% Double IPA)
Badboy IPA (9% Double IPA)
Alpine Ale (5.5% Extra Pale Ale)*
Captain Stout (5.5% Chocolate Oatmeal Dry stout)*
Willy Wheat (4.9% American Wheat with over 50% malted wheat)*

Pitchers of the * beers can get 4 Alpine Keeper-Pint glasses and a pitcher of beer for $15!!!

It's Bike To Work Week

Bike to BLAH Day

IT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN
BIKE TO WORK DAY
MEETS
AMERICAN CRAFT BEER WEEK
Friday, May 15th
2pm*-midnite
(*kitchen opens at 5pm)

RIDE TO THE BLAH & SHOW US YOUR BIKE HELMET
GET 15% OFF**
(** DISCOUNT APPLIES TO HE WHO OWNS/WEARS THE HELMET)
AND ENJOY MOVIES FROM 2pm-Midnite

In fact, we'll be showing bike movies on our old school screen all week long.

MOVIE LIST SO FAR:
Pee Wee's Big Adventure, The Bicycle Thief, Breaking Away, Quicksilver, American Flyers, Beijing Bicycle, The Flying Scotsman, 2 Seconds, The Cyclist, and more....
(Thanks to our Erik at Kennsignton Video for you help!)

While we've got your attention, check out these bike links:
ADAMS AVE BIKES is the official Normal Hieghts “Pit Stop”
FIND YOUR BIKE ROUTE
HELMET INFO
TONS OF BIKE INFO
SAN DIEGO VELODROME ASSOCIATION
VELO CULT

Crazy Clowns & Pterodactyl Cakes

Our newest bartender Joe was recently surprised by his friends and a psycho clown aka a good friend in full circus regalia for his birthday. The pictures are classic.

Um, that's a pteradactyl cake.

Organic Tees & Beer

The Surfrider Event on Earth Day went super. We sold 288 organic beers, resulting in $288 going towards the San Diego chapter of Surfrider as well as $277 from the raffle, for a grand total of $565 to the cause. Plus, fun was had by all. Thanks to all that came out.

In other organic news, the latest edition of our t-shirts are in fact, organic. They are printed on American Apparel's "Sustainable Edition T." They claim to be the softest, smoothest, best-looking organic cotton T-shirt available anywhere. You be the judge.

SurfriderSD + Earthday

We had a great time yesterday with our B4B fundraiser. Now it's time to get back to it and get ready for Earth Day with our friends from SurfriderSD....



Wednesday, April 22, 2009 5pm-midnite
We'll have as many organic beers as possible on tap.
Representatives from SurfriderSD will be here spreading the word.

We'll give $1 per organic beer sold to our local chapter.

We be showing the surf films all night long on our new movie screen, including "Sprout" and "One Track Mind."

Raffle:
Woodshed Films DVDs
Case of Mission Blonde and t-shirts
BLAH gift certificates
Limited Edition Jack Johnson Silkscreened posters

movies showing that night will be:
sprout
one track mind

New flickr Photos

We've posted some new photos on our Flickr account taken by our very own Jen Thomas.
Check 'em out.

Beers for Books, Sunday, April 19th

BEERS FOR BOOKS
April 19, 2009 11:30am-Midnite
RAFFLE AT 8:00 PM

AT BLIND LADY ALE HOUSE
3416 ADAMS AVENUE
SAN DIEGO, CALIF 92116

We're partnering this month with ROOM TO READ,
an organization that helps local communities in developing countries
create local language children's books, schools and libraries.
FOR EVERY BEER YOU BUY
WE WILL GIVE $1 TO ROOM TO READ.
Each dollar donated provides a book for a child in Nepal, Zambia, Cambodia, etc.

Room to Read will be on hand with sample books from their "Local Language Publishing Program." These books are in English as well as Khmer, Hindi, Lao, Nepali, Sinhalese, Tamil and Vietnamese.

WE'LL ALSO BE RAFFLING OFF SOME GREAT PRIZES INCLUDING
A 1.5 BOTTLE OF CHIMAY GRAND RESERV

BEERSFORBOOKS.ORG • ROOMTOREAD.ORG

***

Info on our Earth Day Event with Surfrider SD coming soon!

VISION FOR CRAFT BEER

There's a great reason to pick up the UT today. Inside the Night&Day section you'll find a very nice write up about the Blind Lady by Peter Rowe.

"My best friend's middle school was run by Irish nuns, a no-nonsense bunch with unforgiving standards. Once B.F. had the gall to question her grade on a history test: 99.
“Sister Bede, what did I get wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Why isn't this 100 percent?”
The nun tut-tutted, then lowered the theological boom: “Only Jayzus is pairfect.”
Keep that in mind if you visit Blind Lady Ale House...." read more

We couldn't have said it better. We're an order-at-the-counter, scout-out-a-table and hang-out kind of a place.

SO MUCH MORE LIFE

So here is the short version: Little Zara Soleil Brazel and her parents are familiar faces at Mystic Mocha, one of our favorite coffee shops in town. We heard Zara was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in February from the good folks at Mystic and just felt crushed for her and her family.

Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is a type of cancer in which the bone marrow makes a large number of abnormal blood cells. Zara will spend the next six months undergoing chemo at Radys Children's Hospital in San Diego. As you can imagine this puts not only an unbelievable strain on the body and soul but Zara's family will spend day and night at the hospital to be by her side, putting a very real financial burden on her strong, seriously courageous and loving family.

We wanted to help out, so we are having a Zara Fun(d) Day this Sunday, March 22. We open at 11:30 and go till Midnight and we will give 15% of money made to Zara's family, in addition to the tips for the day/night. Come by and have a pint or a pizza, or both.

To read more about Zara and check in on her progress, go to the website the family has set up at http://www.zarabrazel.com. You can donate there to the cause as well. Thanks, all. Hope to see you Sunday.

Fridays at 2pm: It's a Spring Thing

Mc Chouffe up there is saluting the bounty because the first day of Spring is this Friday, March 20th. We've decided in honor of Spring to open our doors a little early on Friday afternoons, at 2:00. Food won't start till 5, but you can hang out, have a pint or three and kick off your weekend with a good local beer. Last time I checked we had (among MANY others) a Russian River IPA, a Saison from DuPont, Old Rasputin (served with chocolate!) and more on tap.

BLACK TUESDAY

We ain't Irish, but we love beer.
So on March 17th we are opening at 2:00 so that you may start your drinking early (food will be on after 5) and we have a lot of local stouts tapped or on deck to be tapped, including a few from Ballast, the Old Rasputin from North Coast, Hangar 24's Porter, Lost Abbey's Serpent, Alpine's Captain and Pizza Port's Truck Stout. Oh and from now on the imperial stouts will be served with a small square of dark chocolate (until we run out!)

And of course the Ould Sod's pint o' Guinness is just a block away (and Rosie's next door will be doin' it green-style as well.) It's a nice street to spend St. Patty's Day on.

GLASSES, BEERS & FOOD

GLASS ARE IN:

The big news this week is that we (finally) got our real glassware in.
Long ago, before we opened, we ordered these beautiful half liter glasses so that we could serve you a larger glass of beer -- with a pour line -- and still have room for a nice head. They have finally arrived and will be replacing the non-stemware glasses that we currently use for the the 37cl serving size.

Some key points to take pleasure in:

• These are intentionally over-sized to 63 centiliters (0.63L, which is 21.5 oz), so that we can serve a true half-liter (0.5L, or 16.91ounces) of beer, and still have room for some foam on top. So yes, that means you will be getting a beautiful 0.13L of foam on top of your beer--all the while not getting short-poured any beer.

• The shape is great for function. It's big enough to allow your nose into fit into the glass, so you experience the beer more completely. Also because the upper edge tapers in (a bit like a coffin-shape), you can swirl the beer around while the taper helps form a nice foam on top without spilling out like a standard pint glass does.

• And, wait till you see it full of beer. It's really, well... sexy!

Thanks to Dutch at North Park Trophy for the engraving.


NEW BEERS ON TAP:

Hangar 24 beers are back! These guys don't have a distributor in the area, so they drive down some kegs every now and then for us and a few friends. We have the ORANGE WHEAT, PALE ALE, and IPA set to tap during the week.

Not exactly new, but a change: the Bruery's Berliner-Weisse is now being served with a splash of St. Louis Belgian Framboise (the Raspberry Lambic ale). This better mimics the German presentation, where Raspberry (or Woodruff) syrup is added to this style of beer to soften the acidic bite. Our use of a little Framboise in place of the syrup is an excellent touch: The result is a pinkish, slightly mouth-puckering sour ale with a lot of complexity, and a touch of Raspberry Lambic flavor. Where Syrups add a lot of sweetness, Framboise adds flavor. It is fantastically refreshing, and I hope it sticks around for a while...

We added Alpine's Willy Wheat, an American Wheat beer that is clean and refreshing. A nice, easy-drinking beer from our friends in rural east county.

And, of course, the Blind Lady's first house beer-- Automatic #1 will continue to be available until the batch runs out! This is the Organic Belgian single ale, with Ginger, Coriander, and Toasted Oak that I brewed at Mission Brewery last month. Complex and Refreshing.

NEW IN BOTTLES:

Now, we don't want to carry many bottles, but this one is special: Russian River Brewing's Consecration is here! This is a Barrel-aged (6 months) sour ale with Currants added. It's really quite amazing... and also $35 a bottle. Since the supply is very limited, we are only selling it on Sundays. No really, only on Sundays.

NEW IN FOOD:

We've added an Avocado Citrus Plate this week. We got some beautiful Oro Blanco grapefruits and Blood Oranges from Crow's Past Farm in Temecula and Aaron has paired them with avocado, mint, pecans and a chili vinaigrette. It's crazy good and delicious with the Framboise or the aforementioned Berliner-Weisse.

Our current hours are:
Tuesday-Friday
5pm-Midnite

Saturday-Sunday
11:30am-Midnite

Monday
Closed

*But the kitchen closes at 10pm.

Blind Lady on Twitter

You can follow Lee's Blind Lady twittering by heading over to https://twitter.com/LeeChase and signing on. He's been twittering new beers when we tap them so if you're interested in the most recent up to the minute info on what's in house today, that'd be the ticket.

How We Pour

At the Blind Lady Ale House our beers are priced

based on the amount you get in your glass.
We pour .25L into every piece of stemware and .5L into our Willi.
Glass sizes may vary, but the amount of beer you get does not.

A good head on a beer is a wonderful thing.
It allows the beer to open up and share its most subtle aromas with the drinker.
An expert pour will leave a head that is about the width of two fingers.
Most brewers take great care during the brewing process
to maintain a beer's proper head-forming properties.

Our Beer is Here

who: brewed by master brewer & co-owner lee chase on the equipment at mission brewery (thank you Dan! thank you Ray!)
what: an organic belgian style single ale w/ ginger, coriander and American oak
where: blind lady ale house, 3416 adams avenue, normal heights, calif
when: now
why: because we love beer!



ps. if you read the small print than woo hoo! we're gonna tap a keg this tuesday at 5:00 too. but shhh, it's a secret.

GRAND OPENING

200+ pies and countless beers were served last night
Thanks to everyone who came out.

We will be open for lunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday.

We'll post more about the weekend soon. Now we've gotta go make dough.

Soft Opening Pictures, Last Saturday

Shot by the oh so talented Erin Pennell of Rare Hare Studio, the wonderful K-12 (and family) art studio just a few blocks away at 3316 B Adams Avenue.

GRAND OPENING WEEKEND

Come one, come all! Just one week away...

Friday, January 30th we will open at 5 pm.
Saturday will also be a party, but that one starts at noon.
We will be open for lunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday.

Our hours will be Tuesday - Friday, 5 pm - Midnight.
And Saturday and Sunday 11:30 - Midnight.

We may not have it down yet, but we will be trying hard.
We will post the menu, beer and wine lists in the coming days... stay tuned!

About Brewing and Serving Beer at the Blind Lady

A couple months ago, as The Blind Lady project was getting closer to *happening*, we knew that it would be a while before we'd get the brewery installed. I was talking with the guys at Mission Brewery, and Dan mentioned that I might be able to brew a batch or two on his brewhous. Last week, I got a chance to sit down with the Mission Brewery guys, Dan and Ray, and sort out the details over a couple of Alt beers... and we came to some terms on making the first Blind Lady ale!

The Beer: I settled on a style I really like to homebrew-- An Organic Belgian Single. Ray and I are working on the details to get the batch brewed, and we think we could get it into the fermenter in the next couple of weeks.
The Malt: I'm super excited to use Organic malt on a whole batch of beer! I've played with it in the past, but only on a homebrew scale. I've tasted a number of Award-winning organic beers at the World Beer Cup and GABF. I judged both of those events (which are "blind" tastings, i.e. they don't tell you who brewed it, or that they are organic when judging), so I know that Organic is not only great for sustainability, but can also produce world-class beer. Considering other crops, Organic usually leads to more flavor than the commercial counter-part.
The Yeast: White Labs, a local yeast producer, will have the yeast ready next week. I love this yeast! This is a special yeast strain, which really gives a distinct character to the beer (hmm...maybe we can experiment with some Belgian-Yeasted pizza dough or focaccia...could be interesting...).

So keep an eye out for the beer in the next month or so...

In the meantime, I'll be installing the faucets and draft-system into our new cold box. We're not going to serve a lot of bottled beers, so the draft system is really important to me. We'll be rotating our draft selection pretty often, so I'm going kind of overboard on this... I really want the beer to be as clean as possible. This is a direct draw system, which will have the following features:

* A LOT of stainless steel parts in the draft system! Most (if not all) of the beers will not touch brass at all.
* A glass chilling/rinsing station, which will rinse out the trace amount of sanitizer in the glass. (I'm particularly sensitive to sanitizer in the glass, and it just bothers me that these great beers are being obscured by such a small thing. We'll get it out.)
* A strict line-cleaning/faucet-rinsing schedule, with a fairly custom-designed system to be sure that the lines are cleaned properly.
* And of course, the direct draw system, which has very short beer-lines to minimize the surface-area that needs cleaning.

So, with only a single beer currently on tap (you know, testing it out...) I'd better get going. We should have all this up and running soon! Check back for updates...

Cheers-
Lee

Candice Woo Preview on sdcitybeat.com

Food news good enough to eat

The progress of The Blind Lady Ale House and the rest of this week's foodie gossip

By Candice Woo

The restaurant that I’m most anticipating in 2009 is the Blind Lady Ale House, which is aiming to be open and ready to feed people by the end of January. A partnership between locals, including writer Clea Hantman and beer guru Lee Chase, the Blind Lady is housed in a 1920s brick building in Normal Heights and will serve Neapolitan-style pizza topped with fresh-made mozzarella, local veggies and sustainably produced meats. The aim is for a family-friendly food spot, with a finely curated lineup of local and craft brews, plus house-made root-beer floats made with ice cream from Adams Avenue neighbors Mariposa Ice Cream. www.blindladyalehouse.com.

http://www.sdcitybeat.com

We also got a review on sdurban.com

Blind Progress on Day 2

More Pizzas, Made at Home

Remember, these were made in my 1969 brown electric double oven at my house that has seen better days. Still, they look nice. We've made a bunch of variations on the dough, but the best is the original.

Egg cracked on. White was hard, yolk was soft.

After reading something about asparagus being extra good for digestion...


Jeff wanted me to try putting the proscuitto on before instead of the RIGHT way, after. In other words, it shouldn't cook. He thought it was tasty. It was better when we added the soft proscuitto with a bite. The saltiness was nice with the artichokes.

Look! Browning! On the bottom! In my sad oven!
All the pizza blogs show a side photo so I figured I should too. Some bubbles, some air. This crust has a really nice chewiness yet it's thin and crisp as well.
Tonight's artichoke and roasted mushroom.

The Day it Became Ours, Officially

Other Pizza Places We Like

Apizza Scholls in Portland
http://www.apizzascholls.com/menu.htm
They use an electric oven and get that kind of char. Nice.



Ken's Artisan Bakery
http://www.kensartisan.com/pizza.html
Wood-fired


Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix
http://www.pizzeriabianco.com/
Wood-fired