Bus it. San Diego isn’t known for its public transportation, and the transit system is indeed spotty in a few areas. But some of the most efficient bus routes happen to run right by many of the key beer week locations. If you’re heading to events at Blind Lady, Toronado, Small Bar, Hamiltons, and even O’Briens, try hopping on one of these bus routes:

The 2 line. San Diego’s hippest bus line (it even has it’s own blog), the 2 line runs up and down 30th Street, aka the “Nation’s best beer boulevard.” The route runs through four neighborhoods: Downtown, South Park, North Park, and Normal Heights, and has stops within feet of Hamilton’s, Whistle Stop, the Linkery, True North, Toronado, Ritual Tavern, and Jaynes Gastropub. Heck, beer week doesn’t even seem complete without a ride on the 2 line.

The 7. This is the key bus to keep in mind for the SD Brewer’s Guild festival, as it is the only bus that runs past the World Beat Center in Balboa Park. Pick it up downtown and take it to Hillcrest, North Park, or City Heights.

The 11. The 11 is like the 2-line’s hipster-aspiring younger brother. The route runs from east of downtown, through downtown, up Banker’s Hill, through Hillcrest, and over to Normal Heights along Adams Avenue. It swings by several key beer week locations, including Neighborhood, Downtown Johnny Brown’s, Small Bar, and Blind Lady. Give it a whirl this week!

The 27. The 27 is O’Brien’s magic number. This route drops you off within a block of the Kearny Mesa bar, and is a pretty key resource if you’re trying to visit without driving. The 27 runs to and from PB to the Kearny Mesa transit center, which means you can transfer to it if you are taking the 120 from downtown. We use it often–it’s not the fastest ride but it is handy now and again.

If you’re heading to other locations, don’t give up on public transit without at least looking to see if the bus or coaster can take you close by. The trip planner on sdcommute.com is pretty reliable, and google maps offers public transit directions for San Diego — which is especially handy with a mobile phone.

Cab it. The locations participating in beer week are pretty spread out, so why chance driving after a few beers? Here are just a few cab companies and their numbers to print and keep in your wallet this week:

Yellow Cab — If you’re calling from a 619, 858, or 760 area code. just dial 444-4444. In a loud bar? You don’t even have to go outside to call – Yellow Cab has a texting service. Simply text your address and city to 777222. You can also arrange a cab 24 hours ahead of time through their website.

Johnny Cab. The blogging cab company… that also guarantees a cab in half an hour or less from when you call. Make online reservations 24 hours in advance or call them at 619-275-5500.

Orange Cab accepts plastic, which is a huge plus if you’ve spent all your cash on beer or merch at the bar. They also allow you to call for van cabs–key if you are with more than four. Call them at 619-223-5555 or 619-291-3333.

Shuttle It. If you’re with a large party and know your agenda for the day, arrange your transportation ahead of time through these shuttle companies:

Wherever Shuttle. Wherever Shuttle is a biofuel-powered shuttle company, with all of their vehicles (including a hummer limo) running on vegetable oil. Veggie oil-powered beer week transportation? Yes please. Call them at 619-599-3225.

Brewery Tours of San Diego. Specializing in, well, brewery tours, this company is a must-call if you are thinking of heading out to some of the breweries during the week.

EZ Ride Shuttle EZ Ride Shuttle runs charter shuttle services that can be arranged ahead of time. Call them at 800-777-0585 or 619-297-7463 to set things up.

Buy a designated driver. “The Drunk Driver” is a company that specializes in driving you and your friends to and from bars. Advance reservations required, but somehow you get to BYOB  in the van… call em’ at 619.847.0102.

Lastly, get a limo. Seriously. When’s the last time you called a limo? With enough people splitting the bill, they are more reasonable than you think. And they’re often available at the last minute–as long as it’s not prom season. Not that you need another reason to make beer week memorable, but we guarantee this will make beer week memorable.

Ok kids, that’s lots of options for getting to and fro your beer destinations safely. So go forth and enjoy your craft beer…responsibly!

For each agenda, we tried to whittle each day down to the events that really matter–although there are still plenty of tough decisions to make. And if you’re a beer geek AND a food lover, well, you’ve got some major contemplation to do.

Before we introduce the agendas, a few basics to help you with your own research. Here’s the SDBW flickr group, facebook page, twitter buzz, and official website. Oh and here’s the tentative beer list for the Brewer’s Guild Festival on Friday and Saturday–these agenda’s don’t include the festival, as we’re guessing you’re probably going to at least one session.

Now here is part 1 –Friday, Nov. 6 through Tuesday, Nov. 10, of each agenda:

Agenda #1: The Beer Geek

You know who you are. You know every brewery and every venue participating in beer week. What excites you are the special releases, the events with the brewers, the chance to learn more about the craft that you love.

Friday, Nov. 6. The serious beer drinking starts early. Stone opens at 11 am with a rare opportunity: all 10 vintages of Stone Imperial Russian Stout from 2000-2009.   Later in the day, head to O’Briens at 5pm for a vertical tasting of Exponential Hoppiness. Not a hop head? Hit up Blind Lady at 7pm for a taste of wood–as in a flight of 5 barrel- and oak-aged beers for $15.

Saturday, Nov. 7. Ok, this is a high ticket and sold out event, but if you are one of the $125 lucky ones, it will be a memorable evening at the Port Brewing/Lost Abbey third annual barrel tasting night. Otherwise, there’s rare Stone vintages at Holiday Wine Cellar with Stone head brewer Mitch Steele, and barrel fever at both Stone and Blind Lady.

Sunday, Nov. 8: Our beer geek vote for today is the local beer and cheese pairing class at Taste. The cheese pairings that Mary Palmer and Tomme Nickel (yes, of O’Briens) put together will open your eyes to another dimension of the eight local beers poured during the class. Have time before the class? Head over to Sea Rocket at noon for a showing of Beer Wars (also, see our suggestions for Sunday on the foodie agenda below).

Also, this has been sold out for a while but we have pestered the friendly folk at Home Brew Mart so many times with silly questions, that we wish this All Grain Brewing Class was offered when we started.

Monday, Nov. 9: Yes we know it’s only Monday, but this is no night to lay low. The Tomme Arthur experience is at Stone, New Belgium’s wild ales are at Toronado, Unibroue is at Small Bar, Barrel-Aged Ballast Point is the theme at their Linda Vista location, and Green Flash Night–including Palate Wrecker, Coffee Stout, Super Freak, and the hop-less gruet–is at O’Briens. Go forth and try at least one beer you’ve never before tried.

Tuesday, Nov. 10: It’s five days into beer week and you haven’t hit up Hamilton’s yet! Head on down to South Park for their Small Brewery Norcal Night. Then hop on the 2-line up 30th street, for some otherwise east-coast-only Dogfish Head beers at Toronado.

Stay Tuned for Drink the Craft’s beer geek agenda for the second half of beer week!

Agenda #2: The Foodie

You love craft beer… almost as much as you love food. And you can’t get enough of the creative things chefs and brewers are doing to bring the two closer together. You’re looking at this week as an adventure for your palate.

Friday, Nov. 6: Head on over to Neighborhood at 7, for a series of tapas paired with Lost Abbey beers. Four beers plus four tapas will set you back $25, not a bad deal, especially if the tapas are anywhere close to as good as Neighborhood’s burgers or sweet potato fries.

Saturday, Nov. 7. Head to Extraordinary Desserts between 5 and 11pm for a special dessert menu crafted with Rogue Chocolate Stout, Maui Coconut Porter, and St. Peter’s Cream Stout. We wish they were local beers (Victory at Sea? Green Flash Double Stout?), but we’re still a fan of the creativity.

Want dinner beforehand? George’s California Modern, is running a Stone beer pairing menu for all 10 days of beer week. $80 buys you five courses with beer.

Sunday, Nov. 8: Yikes. We hope you are hungry on Sunday. There are more food events going on than one person could hit up in a day. Our favorites include the local beer and cheese paring at Taste, co-hosted by O’Briens, the Green Flash Smoke Out at the Linkery (more info here), and the Ale Smith Brunch at the Pearl (ok, we’re a sucker for Croque Monsieurs).

Monday, Nov. 9: There’s a beer-pairing dinner at Quarter Kitchen–and it looks like Chef Nathan Coulon is pulling out all the stops with an amazing five-course menu–but we can’t help but have some reservations about the beer pairings. We like Chimay and Duvel, but would hope to see something more exciting than Stella Artois with the first course. If you need to feed your inner foodie, our rec is to go more casual–we are intrigued by the thought of Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans paired with Phil’s BBQ, as well as by Sea Rocket’s “Cooking with Beer” $30 prix fixe (plus $3 pints and Jackie Chan playing in the background)

Tuesday, Nov. 10: Sorry folks, but there are some tough decisions to make today. Luckily (in a consolation-prize sort of way), many are already sold out, making last-minute decisions easy. The amazing-albeit-sold-out lineup includes Vinnie Cirulzo at Stone and the six-course szechuan beer dinner at Ba Ren. But then there’s Green Flash dinner at JSix, the Mission Brewery dinner at Cafe Chloe, Fuller’s at Ritual Tavern, and Alchemy’s Stone-inspired menu (with live jazz!).

We don’t know about you, but we’re worn out just thinking about the first five days. We’ll be back early next week with our agendas for the second half of beer week!

Lagunitas A Little Sumpin Extra. This was the surprise of the night. A hoppy IPA brewed with 30% wheat, this beer is light in color, explosive in aroma, and citrusy on the palate. It’s just being released in 22-ounce bottles a kegs for the bars, so keep an eye out for this one!  Here’s the flyer from the brewery.

Pizza Port Carlsbad Little Black Lie. This is a beer with a storied past—it was first made in early 2007 to commemorate the 7th anniversary of the Liars Club. Digging through the vault, I found Louis’s original announcement from a February 2007 email: “I am also very excited to have Jeff Bagby (of Pizza Port Carlsbad) create our very own 7th Anniversary Ale called Black Lie. It is an India Black Ale (wtf?) – a super hoppy black ale.” The beer is super hoppy indeed. It’s jet-black in color, yet the dark malts take a backseat to a bold hop aroma that makes it hard to believe you are drinking a dark beer. It’s excellent rendition of this innovative style, and it’s good to see Pizza Port continuing to make it.

Green Flash Double Stout. I have to admit, when it comes to Green Flash beers, I tend to stick to the hoppy side of the equation. But when several people raved about the double stout on Friday, I decided to risk the increasingly mob-like crowds and stand in a 20 minute line to try it. It was well worth the wait. A melange of roasted malts give forth a sweet complexity, with coffee and chocolate tones that mask the beer’s 8.8% ABV. This is a quintessential after-dinner drink, yet it also begs to be paired with food—I’m thinking plump, succulent scallops, roasted butternut squash, or a creamy slice of pumpkin pie.

Note: This article was originally posted on Drink the Craft’s tumblr site on September 20.

We visited on the first Sunday the bar was open, and yet, from the first few minutes of walking in the door we felt like we had been going there for years. The bar exudes character, with black walls, red lighting, and subtle yet poignant red accents, including a ribbon around the front wall that proclaims, “one small bar for man, one giant bar for mankind.”

We saddled up to the bar before settling in at one of the burbon barrel tables in the center of the space, and were greeted by a friendly face: Louis of the Liars Club. When I told Louis how excited I had been to sample Pizza Port Carlsbad’s Black Lie at the SD Beer Festival (the beer was first brewed for the 7th anniversary of the Liars Club a few years ago), I was delighted to find it was also on one of the bar’s 40 taps. So I ordered fairly quickly, although the beer—as well as cocktail—lineup leaves plenty of time for contemplation.

Like Hamilton’s, Small Bar features a sprawling chalkboard behind the bar, with the current tap selections including price and ABV. The selection is diverse—premium Belgians like Rochefort 10 lie among craft beer staples like Pliny and Alesmith XPA, peppered with unique seasonals like the Black Lie and New Belgium’s Hoptoberfest. Several Anchor beers are included in the lineup, and Dennis explained that the plan was to have Anchor Small Beer as a permanent fixture, as a playful nod to the bar’s name. (Although having such a unique session beer always available is a plus in its own right.) At 3.3%, Small Beer is an excellent option for anyone wanting to go light on the alcohol but not miss out on flavor. (The beer is made from the second runnings of Anchor’s barleywine).

Unlike Hamilton’s, Small Bar has a full liquor license, and the owners have taken full advantage with an enticing mix of specialty cocktails as well as premium whiskeys. The bloody mary alone justifies the liquor license—the pint-sized drink is made with vodka, Guinness, steak sauce, bacon, and every accoutrement known to a cocktail bar (and then some): cherry tomatoes, gherkins, pepperoncini, pearl onions, pickled green beans, and, for good measure, shrimp. Oh, and the drink (inexplicably) comes with a bag of pork rinds (don’t worry—Louis made sure we weren’t vegetarians first).

If you’re still hungry after your bloody-mary-soaked skewer of snacks, Small Bar is open for lunch and dinner, and their menu features a flavorful selection of slightly (just slightly) upscale bar fare designed to be served quickly. Our order certainly lived up to Dennis’s claim—nothing on the menu takes more than 10 minutes, even when the bar is crowded. The prices are all reasonable, especially when you consider that the burgers are made with TallGrass Beef, and steaks are supplied by Hamilton meats. The beer mac and cheese was especially tasty—resonating with undertones of dark beer and generously spiked with pieces of bacon—as was the blue cheese burger, served on a soft, aromatic rosemary bun (that i’m pretty sure was Sadie Rose?). We also sampled the poor man’s cheese plate, which was a great option for noshing when you’re not sure if you’re staying for dinner.

The juke box is an exact replica of Hamiltons, so there was no shortage of good music playing throughout our visit. If the noise level inside is too loud (which it threatens to be when packed to capacity), Small Bar has soon-to-be-opened patio seating and plans for an outdoor beer garden out back (Dennis estimated spring 2010).

Many times when a bar first opens, there are plenty of things that seem like they need to be worked out. Not so with Small Bar—there was not a moment during our visit where I wished things were differently. It will be interesting to see how the space can accommodate larger crowds (most of the tables seat no more than 4 or 5), and I’m looking forward to the outdoor tables, but other than that, this bar has it down. Dennis and Blair know what they are doing, and they certainly know how to give San Diego another essential craft beer bar—one that we didn’t even know we were missing.

Note: this article originally appeared on Drink the Craft’s tumblr site on September 21, and morphed into a more formal piece, published on SDNN on October 2.

“It is essential to the livelihood of craft beer that more and more people get turned on to it, and this can only happen with a more welcoming, inclusive attitude from those who claim to be most enthusiastic about the stuff.”

(-mentioned here, by Tammy Tuck and Bruce Falconer, who write the Lagerheads column for Washington City Paper)

Not that this is a novel idea or anything … collaboration is fundamental the craft beer world. Craft breweries have been teaming up for decades—to foster creativity, to help each other out, and to help get more people interested in the craft. Just think of any beer festival, beer and food pairing dinner, or the increasingly common collaborative brewing effort (take this beer, or this one, for example). It’s pretty obvious that brewers need little reminder that comaraderie is an essential element of the craft.

But what about beer enthusiasts? Can we humble beer drinkers help ensure the livelihood of the craft beer world? Sure, we can gladly spend our hard-earned dough on a pint, but can we really help foster the craft in the long run? We at Drink the Craft think the answer is yes, and we think we’ve decided how: keep up the conversation.

We’ve all had the conversation. That gushing enthusiasm over a pint—“wow, this is so…grapefruity!”—or that excitement about a new release: “I just picked up a bottle of 13th anniversary!” But how often do we have that conversation with someone other than our regular drinking buddies? Think about the last time you were excited about a beer—were you sitting around a familiar table? looking at familiar faces? Um, we were.

Enthusiasm among friends is great, but one of the primary goals of Drink the Craft is to take that conversation and run with it—move it forward, dig it deeper, and have it with more and more people. So, from time to time, you’ll see us chatting it up with other enthusiasts in the beer scene—and sharing the conversation with you.

Last week we caught up with Jeff Gordon, who runs the San Diego-based website Taphunter.com with his wife Melani. Talk about beer enthusiasts who are willing to share—Taphunter is an amazing resource for any craft beer fan. The premise is simple—the website is a constantly updating source of which beers are where at any given moment. You want to see if Sculpin is still around? Boom—it’s at Hamiltons. Have been meaning to try Green Flash’s Fizzy Yellow Beer? Looks like you can head to Toronado. You can search by bar, brewery, or beer; can pull up the website on your phone; and can even sign up for an rss feed of beer-related events. It is eminently useful, increasingly addicting, and a boon to any craft beer enthusiast living in or visiting San Diego.

So we were curious. Who are the craft beer lovers behind this website and why are they working so hard to help us drink good beer? We couldn’t help but ask a few questions. Here’s what we found out:

Drink the Craft (DtC): Can you tell me a bit about how the listings work? How are they updated?
TapHunter (TH): It really works a number of different ways: a location will keep their list updated on their website; or we’ll work with a location to give them access to edit their tap list directly in our system, we’ve built a pretty cool management console for locations; or we work with the website users to keep the list updated.

DtC: It looks like you have over 900 beers in your database. How did you compile them initially? How often do you add to the list and how do you decide what gets included?
TH: The beers are added as we track them. Our database is only built out by the beers that locations have had on tap, an amazingly diverse selection, huh?

DtC: What’s been your favorite part of running the website so far?
TH: Being able to connect with the people who use the site. The people are as passionate about great beer as we are and I love that.

DtC: What challenges do you face in trying to maintain up to date listings?
TH: If there’s anything we’ve learned it’s that having an accurate and updated tap list is great marketing for a location. Putting a great new beer on tap and pushing that information out there is going to drive business. The challenge of fresh data really stems from bar owners/managers not realizing this. We take an educational approach to the problem, most locations are very interested in marketing their businesses any way they can and with a little education about [our website] they “get it.”

DtC: What can craft beer fans do to help contribute to the site?
TH: If we don’t track the taps at your favorite bar, tell them about us! Did you visit a location because you saw they had a specific beer on tap? Tell them about us! Word of mouth marketing is a powerful thing!

DtC: What are the best ways for beer fans to access taphunter on the go? Are any phone apps existing or in the works?
We have an iphone application that’s in the Apple approval process (as of 8/28) and should be released soon. The app is not an exact clone of the website and we built a few extra features into the application that really play well with the mobile nature of it. We’re excited for its release! The site is also compatible with mobile phone browsers, so if you have a blackberry, android, palm pre, or other smart phone you can access all the site features while on the go.

DtC: What are your future plans for taphunter? it looks like you are going to eventually expand into other cities—is there anything else you plan to roll out for San Diego?
TH: Yes, soon we’ll be expanding into other markets that have thriving craft beer communities. We’re also working hard to build more user interactivity to the site.

DtC: Have you had any beer discoveries since starting the site—new bars or beers or breweries you hadn’t know about before?
Th: For sure! That’s one of the best parts of running the site. There are so many new places that are embracing the craft beer movement it’s hard to keep up. The users of the site have been great at letting us know when new places start serving great beer.

DtC: I love the “Beer for Books” concept. What made you decide to include “giving back” as part of the TapHunter model?
TH: Giving back has always been part of our plan. We both really value and recognize how fortunate we are. In the fall of 2008 we went on a trip to Costa Rica with Melani’s parents. It was our second time to Costa Rica so this time we decided to do something a little outside the tourist realm. We connected with a couple in South-Eastern Costa Rica who run an organization that provides education, food, and microloans to the indigenous families in their area. We brought a few large boxes supplies down for them and got to meet a few of the families. We also got to hike into the jungle to visit their home. It was an amazing experience and it really motivated to include “giving back” in all endeavors.

Beers for Books is a fundraising concept that supports Room to Read. It’s a great program because it benefits everyone; the attendees get to drink great beer, the bar donates $1 per beer purchased and gets a tax write-off, and that $1 equals a local language book for a child. Room to Read is an amazing organization and we’re very happy to be able to contribute.

The next Beers for Books is going to be at Anthology on 9/16, the event page is here.  We encourage everyone who can to come out and have a beer!

DtC: What are you drinking these days? have you found your tastes expanded or changed since running the site?
TH: Well, we’re both pretty big hop heads so IPAs and double IPAs are always in the rotation. Lately I have been following a lot of the local breweries and trying more traditional styles, especially Belgian styles like sours. Right now? I’ve got a Hopnotic in my hand, SD Brewing Co just put a fresh batch on tap today! Melani’s favorite is the Port Hop 15.

DtC: I know you started TapHunter in San Diego because you live here, but what do you think makes San Diego so unique when it comes to beer? what do you like best about the area?
TH: I don’t know that San Diego is necessarily unique. I think what’s really unique is the passion that the craft beer community has as a whole. It’s an amazing and diverse group of people. I really see San Diego as a concentration of those craft beer brewers and fans, just like many other cities: Portland, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Austin, etc! Now, I’m not impartial, so I do think San Diego has some of the best breweries in the US; and being a hop head there’s really not a better place than California.

DtC: Is there anything you’d like to see happen in San Diego when it comes to our beer scene?
TH: I’m looking forward to SD Beer Week. I think marketing San Diego as a beer destination, with the beer week being the opportune time to visit, is a great concept. I’ve seen that other cities are already successfully executing on this idea and it’s exciting. Some of the events during that week that have already been announced sound amazing.

Note: This article originally appeared on Drink the Craft’s tumblr site on September 2.

Drink the Craft is lucky enough to be based out of the North Park neighborhood in San Diego, one of the most beer-friendly neighborhoods in one of the most beer-friendly cities in America. If it seems like much of the content on this site tends to gravitate toward the amazing craft beer scene in our area, well, sometimes it’s hard to ignore. But despite our affection for our local breweries and beer-friendly establishments, we are fans of craft beer made and enjoyed in all corners of the globe. Know of something you think deserves mention? Drop us a line!

But enough about us when there is so much to discover about craft beer. Please, have a look around. Cheers!