“NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM” BIG-SCREEN MOVIE AT ALLIED GARDENS PARK SAT. AUG. 8–FREE!
Printer-friendly version August 3, 2009 (San Diego)—Movies in the park have emerged as this summer’s hot new trend for free family fun. This weekend, Allied Gardens Community Park (just north of I-8) installs a 15 by 20 foot inflatable screen and professional sound system to bring you a first-rate Hollywood movie in the park at dark. Navajo Events, sponsors of the film showing, invite you to watch a big-screen presentation of “Night at the Museum” starring Ben Stiller. In the movie, newly recruited night security guard at the Museum of Natural History discovers that an ancient curse causes the animals and exhibits on display to come to life and wreak havoc. The movie is rated PG (for mild action, language and brief rude humor). Full movie details can be found at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477347/. The theatrical trailer can be viewed at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1742996249/. The movie is sponsored by MME Event Productions Inc. (www.mmeevents.com) The show starts around 8:30 p.m. or at dusk. Allied Gardens Community Park is located at 5155 Greenbrier Ave. in San Diego. The event is free, however Navajo Events, organizers of this and other community events in the neighborhood, welcome donations navajoevents.com. Printer-friendly version
ALPINE BEER COMPANY: AN EXCELLENT BREWERY JUST A HOP AWAY FROM HOME
Printer-friendly version By Ryan Lescure August 3, 2009 (Alpine) — I found Pure Hoppiness a month ago, largely by accident. I strolled into the local watering hole and attempted to order my usual beer. I was informed by the bartender that they had just run out. After regaining my composure, and wiping the tears from my eyes, I settled on Pure Hoppiness, a double India Pale Ale brewed by the Alpine Beer Company. I was so taken with the hoppy, yet smooth taste of Pure Hoppiness that I made sure to look up Alpine Beer Company after my walk home. Upon visiting their website, I was astonished to discover that were based in Alpine, California. Despite being past the apex of my collegiate career, critical thinking sometimes escapes me. It was at this point that I had a stroke of genius: Alpine is in East County, I am an intern for East County Magazine, and I really like beer. I decided that the next logical step was heading east and interviewing the owner of Alpine Beer Company, Pat McIlhenney. I drove out to Alpine on a Saturday with my friend, Mike Fogarty. We found a parking place right outside and, not knowing what to expect, walked through the front door. Upon entering, I awkwardly looked around, realizing that we had arrived twenty minutes before the time Pat and I agreed to meet. “I’m looking for Pat!” I blurted out, turning the heads of all of the employees in the building. I was informed that he was around the property somewhere. I waited for a few minutes and was told to go outside, walk down the hall, and go through a white screen door at the other end of the hall. Mike and I did this, noticing that the room that we were now in appeared to be a pub in the process of being constructed. We entered the room and were instantly greeted by a swirling blend of industrial fans and Pink Floyd blasting out of the speakers. Behind the bar, mending the taps, stood a man clad in a baseball cap and a t-shirt. His manner of dress and mustache fit perfectly with the brewery owner image that I had in my mind. We introduced ourselves to each other, as Mike and I sat on the stools at the bar opposite from Pat. He immediately struck me as being a friendly, laid-back person, and I knew my interview with him was going to be enjoyable. I began the interview by asking Pat a bit about his background as a brewer. “Brewing was until just recently more of a hobby job as opposed to a serious full-time career type job, because I had a full-time career as a fireman, which I just retired from,” Pat responded. I smiled as I realized that the baseball hat, t-shirt, and mustache look could just as equally fit a brewer as it could a firefighter. “Brewing is a passion that is more than just a hobby. I take it very seriously, and I started home brewing a long time ago with not just the intent of making beer for myself, but to open a brewery someday,” Pat told me, before outlining the steps he took prior to opening Alpine Beer Company. He took a job at a home brew supply store, signed up for seminars about opening a brewery, enrolled in extension classes through U.C. Davis while on vacation from the fire department, and volunteered at a local brewery. Pat also told me that he improved his recipes by entering his beers in amateur competitions. He would pay attention to the judges’ notes and then make alterations to his recipes accordingly. “I was developing recipes that were tried and true in the home brew world that actually turned out to be very good in the professional brewing world as well,” Pat said. The history section of the Alpine Beer Company’s website mentions that Pat opened the brewery in the middle of his home town in the nick of time, since he was growing tired of commuting from Alpine to the AleSmith Brewing Company in Miramar, where he was making his own beer at the time. I asked Pat if there were any other advantages to operating a brewery in Alpine besides the commute improvement. “I like the home town aspect of being in a small town and being a small brewery. That is what we cater to…the immediate area,” Pat responded. One of the ways he caters to the immediate area is through the sale of growlers, a glass jug that is filled with beer on-site for the purpose of being enjoyed at home. Growlers provide the environmental benefit of being in a reusable container, he explained. “I love Alpine. I found this place while I was in high school and I’m still loving it–I just love the community,” Pat added. After he had finished answering the last question, I asked him to name his favorite Alpine beer. Upon seeing his exasperated facial expression, I realized that this was a poorly planned question. Pat told me that his preferences change seasonally, but then he gave me a great response: “The one in front of me.” He told me that although it seems that the owner of a brewery would get to drink all the time, he mainly just tastes his beers during the brewing process, taking only a sip or two. I then asked Pat what sets Alpine Beer Company apart from other breweries. His response was quite straightforward: “Well, I know our philosophy: beer. The beer should be the focus. We’re not an ad campaign. We find advertising to be detrimental to our operation. I am not interested in saving money because I can buy this ingredient cheaper. If it’s not better, I have no interest in it whatsoever. I let the beer speak for itself.” Curious about the partially constructed building we were in, I decided to ask Pat about