Hamilton’s Tavern - Home

SF Beer Week starts 2morrow thru the 14th! Great brewers, breweries, bars and city.  http://www.sfbeerweek.org/

Churchills Pub in San Marcos unveils their labor of love with 50 taps!  Ivan seriously has been working on this project for what seems like a year and it’s done! On March 6^th he’s doing a little grand re-opening and trust me he’s going to have all the good stuff on!  For those that may or may not know Churchills is one of the best bars in San Diego and hands down the the best pub in north county.  Not just great beers but solid spirits, delicious pub fare and a warm and inviting atmosphere and a great staff.  If you haven’t been it’s definitely worth a trip on a weekend! Churchill’s Pub and Grille, 887 W San Marcos Blvd, San Marcos, CA 92078 

I hope that 2010 is a little smoother than 2009 (economically speaking).  I hope everyone had a great xmas and are able to hang out with close friends or meet new ones this New Years Eve!  We’re not really a traditional NY Eve destination but we have our champagne on ice and will be ready to ring in the NY like usual as the ball drops. On a special note:  We’ll be open @ 1pm on New Years Day just as an FYI and will be tapping a discounted Cask to celebrate.   To be honest this last year has went by like a blur for me but looking back on the year Im extremely happy to bring a lot of people really great beer and ber centric events.  I was happy for all the hard work our staff has done and I was happy we can continue the passion we have for a better quality pub experience this new year.  Far too often people lose sight of the objective in between the white noise but I know we haven’t and hopefully this year we will really step it up.  I can say we ‘ve been steadfast in our goals and our approach to business has not waivered or changed from our intent day 1. So thanks for being part of our team and know that it’s always a privilege to have you visit and have you in our home each and every time you choose to stop by.  Good luck in 2010 from our entire Hamilton’s family we wish you nothing but the best in the future months to come!

Our good friend Adam Avery is coming down in December with reindeers not really. He’s going to do 2nd Saturday @ Hamilton’s and a very special private dining Avery Experience @ Small Bar.  It is a pre sell event and tickets are limited.  It will sell out so I would get them asap.  Tickets are purchaseable @ brown paper tickets.com. To see more about this beer dinner and the information associated with it check here:

 http://www.smallbarsd.com/events/2009-12-09/avery-experience-beer-dinner

Great 10 days that seemed to blow by but also seems like they happened so long ago!  SD Guild Fest was awesome this year with the 3 sessions allowing for people to avoid the mass crowds!

 CityBeat came out with Best of and we were lucky enough to get voted Best Beer Bar San Diego. Very flattering so thanks to all that recognized our extra effort for craft beer. We’ll continue doing what we do for those who enjoy it. 

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Friday
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Guinness
Alpine Expo
Marin White Knuckle
 Stone Dbl Bastard French Oak 2006
Hamilton’s 2nd Annie Palate Wrecker
Avery White Rascal
Alpine Bad Boy
Stone 13th Annie
Damnation 23
Alesmith Evil Dead Red
Marin Chocolate Airporter
Rouge Glen
JW LEE HARVEST ALE
Deschutes Mirror Mirror
Rogue IMP YSB
Coronado Cherry 13th Annie Smoked Brown
Pliny
Hamilton’s SD Small
Alesmith Nautical
Magnolia Proving Grounds
CBC Idiot
Stone 07 Old Gauridian
Elemental
Telegraph Reserve Wheat
Firestone Walker Abacus
Rubicon Wheat Wine
BabySham
Blackthorn Cider
Sanctification
Allagash Confluence

CASKS

Brewdog Hardcore IIPA
Port Plant to Pint

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Saturday
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Guinness
Alpine Expo
Marin White Knuckle
GF Brandy Barrel Barleywine
Hamilton’s 2nd Annie Palate Wrecker
Avery White Rascal
Alpine Bad Boy
Stone 13th Annie
Damnation 23
Alesmith Evil Dead Red
BP Victory At Sea 08
Avery Dugana
JW LEE HARVEST ALE
Deschutes Mirror Mirror
Brewdog Tokio
Coronado Cherry 13th Annie Smoked Brown
Pliny
Hamilton’s SD Small
Alesmith Nautical
Magnolia Proving Grounds
Black Lie
Stone 07 Old Gauridian
Elemental
New Belgium Eric’s Ale
Consecration
Temptation
BabySham
Blackthorn Cider
Gueze Fond Tradition
Boon Marriage Parfait

CASKS

Palate Wrecker
Alesmith Evil Dead Red

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Sunday
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Guinness
Lightning Old Temp 08
Marin White Knuckle
Deschutes Abyss 2008
Hamilton’s 2nd Annie Palate Wrecker
Avery White Rascal
Rogue Imperial Porter
Stone 13th Annie
Damnation 23
Alesmith Evil Dead Red
BP Victory At Sea 08
Rogue Charlie
GF Belgian Stout
Rogue Old Crustacean 2006 
Brewdog Tokio
Synbrychoff Porter
Pliny
Hamilton’s SD Small (Hitachino White if Small blows)
Alesmith Nautical
Port Plant To Pint
Black Lie
speak easy apple jack old godfather
Elemental
New Belgium Eric’s Ale (La Folie if Eric’s Ale blows)
Stone IRS Red Wine Barrel 08
Stone RIS 08
BabySham
Blackthorn Cider
1809 Prof Briems Berliner Style Weisse
Liepsiger Goze

CASKS

Green Flash Double Stout
Brewdog Smokehead RIS aged in Ardberg SM Scotch BBL

HOPLESS - Staying on the brewing line Saturday Dennis, Myself and Jeff awoke at dawn and met Chuck Silva and Ben Spencer (Magnolia Brewing Co in the Haight) @ Chuck’s brewery (Green Flash) to brew Hamilton’s official 3^rd anniversary ale.  It was clear from the minute we walked in that something special was in the works and chuck greeted us with a smile and said “you boyz jest entered “Gruit Country” an affectionate term Chuck coined in a southern tone.    Matt Navarre showed up early in and started doing his thing and we were excited to see Dean from SD Brew Co cruise out for half the day.  Here is a little history:  This beer almost happened last year but I whined and whined because I really wanted Chuck to rock a massive high ABV hop monster we can just call a TRIPLE IPA in our 2^nd anniversary ale we named “Palate Wrecker”.  Im still really pleased that I did because Palate Wrecker is the Sickness.   So PW completely set the table for this year and us tobrew the beer Chuck was thinking about last year in this gruit.  A Gruit is an old world /celtic style beer with the use of NO HOPS.  He had talked with Ben a bit back about having him down and 10-03-09 and Ben makes a killer Gruit called Weekapaug  @ Magnolia.  Before hops the use of herbs/botanicals we’re used in the ale for their medicinal, aphrodisiac, stimulating and hallucinogenic characteristics.  This beer is just going to be unique and tasty especially for San Diego.  It was a lot of hard work and tt was a really fun beer to make and we’re soooo looking forward to trying it in the next couple weeks as it finished out.  Think about this:  We used around 5-6 different grains such as Golden Promise, Honey Malt and Special B.  We also used about 6 different herbs/botanicals such as Yarrow, Elderflower, Sweet gale and Heather.  The wort was probably the best tasting wort I’ve ever had.  I can tell you right now the beer is going to have deep rich color and a nice malty backbone.   We’re hoping you get a nice citrus aromatic in the nose as well.  Anyway,  it’s time for the yeast to do it’s thing and we’ll see what comes out but I can tell you the process and the day couldn’t have been more enjoyable. As always we thank are brother chuck and overly stoked Ben was part of it and we hope you guys enjoy it so be on the look out for this special ale in the next couple weeks!

Lil Big Beer - This past Tuesday Adam Carbonell (Hammies Head Brewer) went up to Karl Strauss Carlsbad and brewed our first beer.  “San Diego Small” we designed and constructed the beer to be aflavorful, medium modied beer that is light in color, heavy hopped but with a lower/sessionable ABV around the 3.8-4.5% range.  We’re hoping we meet our targets and the beer is  DONE FEMENTTING This is our first run @ this beer and we look forward to bringing several unique and flavorful beers each quarter but we hope to be serving this beer Saturday for our Anniversary Celebration!

With all the mindful and great beer spots we we’re lucky enough for all of the hard work to be recognized with kgtv’s 1st place best beer selection 2009.  Quite flattering.

http://kgtv.cityvoter.com/winners/best-of-10news-com-s-a-list/4742/nightlife/beer-selection

This is the 3^rd specialty release  in this series from  Port. Jeff Bagby and Noah @ Port Brewing designed and crafted this ale using their proprietary Belgian Yeast Strain and spiced with Lemon Zest.  The reunion series and the kegs sold were for the Institute of Myeloma and Bone Cancer Research and it’s my understanding that 100% of the profit generated from Port’s sales of these kegs goes to cancer research.   hen you drink this wonderful ale @ Hamilton’s a portion of the proceeds we make will also go towards this Institution.  Help research by enjoying delicious ale.  Find out a bit more @ www.reunionbeer.com and www.imbcr.org.  We will be serving it today Tuesday 17th and should be on for the next week and a half or so!