Get Stung

Day #547 Stingray Point IPA / Coronado Brewing Company, San Diego, CA

Previously from this brewery: Orange Avenue Wit, Golden, BadaBing, Islander IPA

I'm wide awake on a quiet Sunday morning, so I figure I'll spend some time blogging.  Might as well be productive instead of just watching videos of cats playing the piano, right?  I'm sure there's a million other things I could do around the house that need to be done, but..... it's either cats playing the piano or blogging.  So here we go.

Play him off, Keyboard Cat!

Oh, right.... I said I was blogging.  My bad.  Your beer for the day is a Stingray Point IPA from Coronado Brewing.  You see an bright gold hue, with a thin but persistent white head.  The aroma is more sweet than I'd expect from an IPA.  The taste has traditional IPA elements like grapefruit, lemon, and pine, with a dry, bitter finish.  However there's more of that sweetness tucked inside, with notes of honey coming through.  Not a bad beer, if you're looking for an IPA that doesn't punch you in the face with hops.

Shazam.

This beer doesn't show up on Coronado's website, but from some quick internet research it looks like this was a one-off beer which was named for a secret bayside point only locals seem to know about.  Seeing how my beer didn't come with a map, I'm guessing this place might still be a secret to tourists.

Thing to Think About Today:
I guess Stingray Point gets you..... Sting?  Well, Sting and the rest of The Police, anyway.  Why not kick off your Sunday with something fun, such as this fun live version of So Lonely from 1979.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwnMG5yGJls

All Gold Everything

Day #542 Coronado Golden / Coronado Brewing Company, San Diego, CA
Previously from this brewery: Orange Avenue Wit, BadaBing, and Islander IPA

The weather in Philadelphia was absurdly glorious today.  A great day to drive with your windows open and your head in the breeze.  You know.... like this:

Who let the dogs out?

The weather today felt more like San Diego than Philly, so I'll give you a beer from the West Coast to get in the proper mood.  Tonight's review is Coronado Golden, a pilsner from Coronado Brewing.  In the unnecessarily small glass (more on that later), it showed a pale straw color, with a thin white head.  There are light aromas of grain and bread, and when you take a sip, you find a refreshing mix of easy malt sweetness, bread, grass, and grain with the tiniest bit of hop bitterness.  Great beer for a sunny day... and from what I understand they get a few of those in San Diego.

Solid Gold

So Bainbridge Barrel House.... I get that it costs money to haul beer from San Diego some 2,750 miles to your front door.  However, selling a ten ounce pour of a session beer for $6.50?  That needs to be a bigger pour, guys.  C'mon!

Thing to Think About Today:
A golden beer and some golden weather deserves some, what, maybe Black Gold from Soul Asylum? Sure!  Great song to crank up when you roll down the windows.  Try it yourself and see what I mean!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpiFDrFEGvE

"Won't you fill up the tank / let's go for a ride"

Day 541: Coronado BadaBing

I marked the final leg of my trip home by ticking off the reasons I will not visit various restaurants along the Main Line. This one has attempted to survive with the dumbest configuration ever. One restaurant on the street-side and another, not-so-successful one in the rear. Oddly the one on the street-side closed first. Go figure. I think the site is cursed and was gratified to see the next tenants making moves which look like they're leveling it and starting over. Hopefully they burn some sage at the site and rid it of its bad mojo.

There's the one that thinks prosciutto belongs in a sushi roll. No dice. There's the one that hires 19 year-olds to describe its relatively decent beer. Imagine how that goes. I could go on, but it's far too depressing.

One place that I'll definitely be revisiting is the Bainbridge Street Barrel House, however it's not a Main Line haunt. It's located at 6th and Bainbridge in Philadelphia. I missed their Coronado Brewing tap takeover on Saturday night, but managed to scarf up some leftovers at Sunday Funday. I started with the BadaBing cherry porter.

It poured a dark brown color ale with a thin but cream tan head. It had a cherry aroma with a little chocolate  thrown in. It drank with a thin mouthfeel but was quite flavorful. There's lots of bitter roast, solid amount of cherry and some coffee with a hint of cola now and again. Overall this is a great beer but it made me miss San Diego.

Beer stats
Style: Porter
ABV: 5.4%
IBUs: Unknown
Rating: Excellent

Previously reviewed from Coronado
Islander IPA by Mr. Blog Named Brew
Orange Avenue wit by me

More America!

Beer #204 Islander IPA / Coronado Brewing Company, Coronado, CA

Spending some time with the family today for a belated Father's Day and birthday celebration, which should be a lot of fun.  Not looking forward to going outside in this heat wave, however.  Much less fun.

Reaching back to the early part of vacation for today's beer, the Islander IPA from Coronado Brewing.  My notes on this one are painfully brief, as we had spent a long day brewery hopping: "Good citrus, grapefruit and orange, with a nice hops balance and bitterness."

So much prettier in person than this murky picture from my phone

So, yeah.... not my best Ernest Hemingway imitation.  We visited Coronado in person at their Orange Avenue location, which is a really nice brewpub, although we already ate so we didn't sample any of the food.  Due to increased demand for their product, they do have a larger production facility and tasting room on the mainland.  If you ever visit San Diego, I recommend staying out on Coronado - a little more laid back, easy access to the ocean (and the bay), and just a short drive over the bridge to downtown and beyond.  And of course, if you're staying in Coronado, there's absolutely no reason not to visit this brewery!

Thing to Think About Today:
America.  Nothing says "America" more than Neil Diamond.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFwSzZQ4MVI

Neil Diamond attended NYU..... on a fencing scholarship.  We dare you, enemies of America, to bring it on and get your ass kicked by Neil Diamond and his saber!

Beer 188: Coronado Brewing Wit

So much good beer...I don't even know where to begin.


Let's start with the Orange Avenue Wit from the Coronado Brewing Company. This one is brewed on Coronado Island, which also happened to be our home base for the first two days. Great location and great beers.

The Orange Avenue Wit is named for the street on which the brewery is located. It appears to be a pretty small operation; however, we can pretty regularly find Coronado beers on draught at TJ's back home. The color is very orange and hazy and it's served with an orange wedge. I hate fruit garnishes in my beer. Oh well.

The aroma is very strong on orange and the flavor is smooth and very malt forward. It is just a bit hoppy with citrus notes and some spice. A lot of the other reviews I read mentioned honey but I didn't pick up on that. Overall a solid beer. I also heard from another patron that pretty much everything they serve at the accompanying restaurant is fantastic. I can't personally attest to that but based on looks I was impressed.

Onward and upward folks...I'm off to San Fran!