By Dr. Ink | SDUN Columnist
San Diego Beer Week came and went. But at Hamilton’s Tavern in South Park, its burgeoning beer inventory of nearly 250 labels affords customers an ongoing suds bath year round.
“It’s our honor to treat people to a total beer experience,” said owner Scott Blair as he poured Dr. Ink and friend a rare and unfiltered Kubelbier from Germany that dates back to the Middle Ages. The rich, yeasty ale tasted fantastically pure with a finish of sweet pecans.
“You don’t see a lot of commercial examples of this in the States,” he added, which rightfully explained why it wasn’t discounted for happy hour.
Between 5 and 8 p.m., several local brews from the taps are $1 off and certain bottled beers of domestic and international origins get marked down by 50 cents. The deals are minor but excusable, given the impressive plethora of choices that change frequently as well as the tavern’s jolly atmosphere that greets drinkers of all legal ages with a warm glow of neon beer signs and bead lighting.
My cohort started with bottled Pliny the Elder, a gently carbonated brew from the Russian River with pleasing bittersweet hops. It was love at first sip. I chose a Pumpkin Ale draft from Green Flash, brewed expressly for Hamilton’s recent fourth anniversary.
“Can you taste the nutmeg and allspice?” my friend exclaimed after stealing a sip.
“Not right off the bat, but perhaps at the very edge of the finish I can.”
Just as well. I wasn’t expecting nor desiring beer that tasted like liquid pumpkin pie. The faint hint of oranges swaddled by medium hops kept me cheerfully sated. Round two, please.
So extensive and exotic is Hamilton’s beer list that “bartenders” are called “beer ambassadors.” And while the happy hour selections cater well to aficionados, those with bucks to burn can jump off the bargain wagon and opt for wine-size bottles of things like 1996 Anchor Christmas Ale for $40 or a 2008 Rodenbach for $32. (Dr. Ink’s holiday stocking runs deep, so listen up friends and family.)
In amassing the beer collection, which remains ever-growing, Blair stretched his palate sipping and sampling brews of every stripe. But the beer bell was set off on San Diego turf, he recalls, when drinking from a Carl Strauss sample kit.
“That’s what changed my life – Strauss’ real craft beer,” he says. “I then moved on to the more aggressive beers of Stone. Now, about 50 percent of our beer list is based on my world travels.”
Hamilton’s bar food is equally enthralling, although when I laid eyes on the listing for Buffalo chicken wings that reads, “A little piece of the Anchor Bar right here in South Park,” my interest was piqued. Blair spent time in Buffalo, N.Y. (and so have I), so he knows that the Anchor Bar is the divine birthplace of hot wings. Better yet, he knows how they should taste. These indeed put all other San Diego knockoffs to shame.
The little bell at a corner window near the pool tables is where customers order their chow. Things like spicy beer-cheese soup, grilled “hop” sausages, vegetarian Baja dogs, snazzy grilled cheese sandwiches and many other items makes Hamilton’s just as much a food destination as it is a darn good ale house.
Hamilton’s Tavern
1521 30th Street, South Park
(619) 238-5460
Happy Hour: 5 to 8 p.m., daily
