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Field Report: AleSmith night at Holiday Wine cellar

Posted December 20th, 2008 by Nate
Holiday Wine Cellar

Creative Commons License photo credit: nicmcc

Last night we had the privilege of attending the all-AleSmith tasting at Holiday Wine Cellar in Escondido last night.  This was probably the most well-catered and most crowded event we’ve seen at the Wine Cellar, and there was surely good reason. 

Before this event I had only sampled a few of AleSmith’s basic offerings, so I was looking forward to this event, although none of their stuff had blown me away in the past.

The food was excellent: sliders, coconut shrimp, onion rings, empanad, and taquitos laid a nice foundation for the beers. Wine Cellar made sure you got your $25 worth here.

Pete and Danielle from AleSmith were on hand to pour, explain, and answer questions.  They were very nice and I got a real kick out of listening to Pete talk about his beers.  The guy has passion. Pete took us through a progression of damn near every beer they’ve ever brewed.

They poured X, ESB, IPA, Grand Cru, Wee Heavy, Yule Smith, Summer Yule Smith, Old Numbscull, Oaked Old Numbskull, Horny Devil, ’07 Barrel-Agend Speedway Stout, and the new (unreleased) Decadence (which pretty much blew everyone’s minds).  

The Wine Cellar does these about every month.  Sometimes they feature local brewers (they had one for Lightning a while back), and sometimes they’re themed (Oktoberfest, Belgians, etc.).  The ones that feautre local brewers seem to draw a larger crown and better beers, but it’s always a good time.

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