Last week my performance ensemble, a little group of handsome butches I like to call Butchlalis de Panochtitlan, had a gig at the lovely University of California, Irvine campus. Wouldn’t you know it that we had arrived an hour before we were granted access to the space where we would be performing “The Barber of East L.A.” (the full-length play penned by yours truly) that evening. So what does a group of three thirsty 30-somethings go to kill a little time? We go to the godsend on campus known otherwise as the Ant Eater Pub with our lovely hosts, Mr. Lilz and her entourage of undergrad organizers!
What's on the Ant Hill Pub News Board
The Anthill Pub and Grille is the only one of its kind in the University of California system and every other campus is dry. I am not 100% sure about Berkeley though but I know there’s a pub at Cal State Fullerton. ANYWAY…
I was besides myself and utterly captivated by the on-tap selection of the most beautiful beers, mostly microbrewed numbers. I felt like that Jay-Z song “Girls, Girls, Girls” but it was for beer. I went up to the counter to order from a young co-ed that had that classic deer-in-the-hop fields look when laying their eyes on a masculine female ordering a Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale. I love that beer because it’s light with just a hint of bitter to anchor its taste proper. I wish we had had more time because I would’ve been all over Lagunitas Brown Suggah like a vampire to blood.
Mari, my Butchlalis collaborator, came up wanting to order a Stella Artois, to which I said no way dude, you can’t order that when there’s all this miracle beer in close proximity. So I suggested she get the Allagash White in the Belgian style beer, brewed in Portland, Maine.
ABV: 5.0%
Original Gravity: 1048
Recommended Serving Temp: 34°F to 50°F
Claudia also got the Allagash. Others in our circle got a strange unenlightened blend of Hefeweizen and Raspberry cider–I wish I liked Abita’s Raspberry offering but I don’t and I feel bad about it because I would gay marry Abita Amber in a second.
There was also this creepy white guy in uniform shorts and jacket that looked like he was just there all afternoon, eyes bloodshot and lip curling in a scary way. Like if he weren’t totally blitzed he might have taken a swing at me or something. He looked like that chubby white guy Howdy Doody-type from the movie O, the modern day adaptation of Othello, the guy that gets shot…anyway.
Currently on tap…
Paulaner Oktoberfest
A great session beer, it isn’t just for Oktoberfest.
Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
An imperial IPA at 9% alcohol, with hops added continuously during the 90-minute brewing process.
Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA
A favorite California IPA from the Bear Republic brewery up in wine country. 7% alcohol, citrusy with piney hops. It’s good.
Lagunitas Brown Shugga
A delicious barleywine clocking in at 9.9%, hitting the tongue with a hoppy burn followed by a sweet and fruity finish.
Alesmith Nautical Nut Brown Ale
Finally back! Sort of like Newcastle but a million times better.
Mammoth Brewing Co.
Real McCoy Amber joins returning favorites Double Nut Brown and Floating Rock Hefeweizen, on tap later this week.
Moylan’s Dragoon’s Irish Stout
Okay, it isn’t really from Ireland and we’ve actually had it for a while, but the brewmaster has worked out the nitrogen issues and now this amazing beer pours perfectly.
Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale
Stone Pale Ale
Deschutes Black Butte Porter
Allagash White Lagunitas Czech Pils
Craftsman 1903 Pre-Prohibition Lager New Belgium Trippel Mammoth Real McCoy Amber Mammoth Double Nut Brown Mammoth Floating Rock Hefeweizen
Paulaner Hefeweizen
Paulaner Oktoberfest
Great White Wheat
Abita Purple Haze Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale
Bear Republic Racer 5
Big Sky Moose Drool Brown Ale
Dechutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Kona Longboard Lager
New Belgium Fat Tire Avery IPA
Guinness Irish Stout
STRONG ALES
Anderson Valley Brother David’s Trippel
Lagunitas Brown Shugga Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
CIDER
Fox Barrel Apple
Fox Barrel Pear
Wyder’s Raspberry
ASSORTED PREMIUM BOTTLES
Ommegang Three Philosophers
Chimay Blue Hair of the Dog “Adam” Duchesse du Borgogne Flemish Red Unibroue Fin du Monde
2 responses so far ↓
melissa // March 6, 2009 at 3:40 am |
way to go fella! so au contraire, may i speak as a UC baby myself. uc berkeley does have a pub on campus (Pappy’s Pub) and i love drinking there still! and UC san diego also has its own pub, right on campus, and happens to offer some of the best of san diego local and regional beers. they even started carrying some belgian bottles. i had some of my best times drinking great beer there at UCSD’s campus pub. so now you know…there are other very un-dry UC campuses! (you actually made me want to go all the way down to irvine, dude!)
CalBears // August 23, 2009 at 12:52 am |
Melissa is correct! Cal has an amazing on campus pub. While it used to be called Pappy’s Pub, it’s now called The Bear’s Lair Pub. If you’re ever in town on a Friday during the term, head down to the pub and check out Beat the Clock.