San Diego

cmadd · Post by **cmadd** » Fri Jul 08, 2011 6:39 pm

Hamiltons Tavern is definitely worth checking out.

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 12:38 pm

Hello from San Diego!

Hell of a weekend so far, have been to a bunch of stops:

Stone: incredible place, one of the most impressive brewery / restaurants I've seen. The restaurant has a full garden which the seats in the patio go into. Super cool. Could spend hours and hours there.

Lost Abbey/Alesmith: both fun spots, basically tasting rooms built into their breweries which are in industrial parks. Tons of beers on tap, too much to try. Lost Abbey has a taco truck out front which is cool.

Pizza Port: really fun spot, made it for pizza at the Ocean Beach location. Felt like 'California', lots of surfer and beachy types. Great pizza and beer, lots of house beers plus all kinds of guest taps.

Neighbourhood: cool downtown beer bar, very chic. But killer lineup of beers.

La Jolla Brewhouse: does not seem like a functioning brewery, but a decent pub with some good beers on tap nonetheless.

Also did a run down to Tijuana and had dinner at Mision 19, a spot that's been getting a lot of buzz as helping to rejuvenate TJ's reputation. Certainly a long way to go but a really awesome Mexican restaurant.

Unfortunatey SD is very spread out and there's no transit, so without a DD it is very difficult to try lots of places.

Hope to try one or two more before I leave!

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 3:04 pm

A couple more final spots we were able to hit before heading home:

Pacific Beach is a nice area and a couple of good beer bars are really close to one another. The TapRoom on Garnet has a really great beer selection with a focus on local, so lots of Stone, AleSmith and the like. Nice place.

A couple of blocks away, right off the beach is the PB Ale House. This is a brewpub with about 6-8 house beers and a few local micro guest taps on top of that. Large inside space and rooftop patio. Looks like it would be great in the daytime as you'll be able to see the water.

Overall San Diego is an awesome place to visit and a top-tier beer destination. My only wish is that places were closer together (or I had a DD). Looking forward to heading back for the CBC next spring!

Sil · Post by **Sil** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 9:21 am

We'll be in San Diego/OC next week for my birthday. I've hired a Brew Hop tour for myself and friends . It's really too spread out to use public transit and we can drink in the limo (woo!). We've set up a custom itinerary:
Green Flash
Ballast Point
Lost Abbey/Port
Stone
(maybe Alesmith if time)

I've been to Stone previously and it rocks. Other stops planned later during the week:
Pizza Port Carlsbad
The Bruery

In the OC/LA area:
Lucky Baldwin's
Beechwood Brewing
Blue Palms
Surly Goat
Yard House (maybe, we'll be across the street)
Alcatraz (if dragged. friends really like it)

I'm looking forward to the trip. I get out to So Cal every few years to visit friends, but this is my first full on 'beercation' to the area.

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:28 am

Have a great time. Alesmith is worth it if you can make it by, lots of their beers available and some special one offs.

Father's Office was a really great spot last time I was in LA.

inertiaboy · Post by **inertiaboy** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 10:59 am

Cass wrote: Pacific Beach is a nice area and a couple of good beer bars are really close to one another. The TapRoom on Garnet has a really great beer selection with a focus on local, so lots of Stone, AleSmith and the like. Nice place.

A couple of blocks away, right off the beach is the PB Ale House. This is a brewpub with about 6-8 house beers and a few local micro guest taps on top of that. Large inside space and rooftop patio. Looks like it would be great in the daytime as you'll be able to see the water.

My wife is attending a conference in the PB area and visited both the PB Ale House and Taproom on Monday night. She enjoyed both places a lot and mentioned that the food at the Ale House was really good and that the tap list at the Tap Room was extensive. She stuck mostly to the delicious San Diego IPAs. I expect that she will be making return visits over the next few days.

Thanks for the tips, Cass!

El Pinguino · Post by **El Pinguino** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 3:59 am

Going in two weeks.
While my time there will be way too short to sample even half of the places I want to visit, I thought I'd throw this link into the mix for San Diego area beer tours, it looked more interesting than some of the others I've seen. (I'll be hopping on one of their tours and will report back.)

http://www.brewerytoursandiego.com/

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 7:49 am

El Pinguino wrote:Going in two weeks.
While my time there will be way too short to sample even half of the places I want to visit, I thought I'd throw this link into the mix for San Diego area beer tours, it looked more interesting than some of the others I've seen. (I'll be hopping on one of their tours and will report back.)

http://www.brewerytoursandiego.com/

Yeah, something with transport is critical as SD is so spread out.

Report back any new findings, th CBC is in SD this year so lots of Ontario beer folks will be heading down!

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 8:04 am

El Pinguino wrote:Going in two weeks.
While my time there will be way too short to sample even half of the places I want to visit, I thought I'd throw this link into the mix for San Diego area beer tours, it looked more interesting than some of the others I've seen. (I'll be hopping on one of their tours and will report back.)

http://www.brewerytoursandiego.com/

I looked in to that when I was there last year and decided against it. In hindsight, I wish I had done that tour. Make sure you visit both Stone and Lost Abbey/Port.

El Pinguino · Post by **El Pinguino** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 11:40 am

Thanks guys....will let you know where I get to, I've had a couple of reco's on newer places...can't get everywhere but I'll try, haha!

El Pinguino · Post by **El Pinguino** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:07 pm

Hey folks,
Had a great time down in San Diego area. I spent a day in Carlsbad, a few in the Point Loma / OB area of San Diego and a few out in the desert enjoying nature.

Some of the beers I enjoyed....Pizza Port Jetty IPA, Iron Fist Dubbel, Ballast Point Sculpin, Russian River Pliny the Elder, Alesmith Speedway Stout, Lost Abbey Deliverance, Port Brewing Old Viscosity....

The list goes on.....

Places I stopped in at:

Carlsbad - was short on time...went to Karl Strauss first...was packed, a bit of a dressed-up to impress crowd on a Friday night, so left and went to BJ's. It reminded me of the Flying Saucer chain. Great beer selection...huge/average menu for food. Their house beers were ok, but they had plenty of CA brews on tap.

How is this for a beer dinner too...they had this running the next Monday:
- 5 course meal - nothing fancy but - pulled pork swich, calamari, flatbread pizza, baked beignet and kung pao chicken
- 7 Sierra nevada beers, including the Ruthless Rye IA, which I really enjoyed
- Cost? $30

Lil Piggys BBQ in Coronado is well worth a stop. More than 100 bottles and great BBQ. Loads of Alesmith, Port Brewing, Coronado, etc.

Pizza Port in Ocean Beach was my main spot. Great pizza, but they offer more food than that now. Quite a young crowd...communal tables, fun vibe. Very busy, any day of the week. Closed a bit early though. Their own brews were great, but they had Russian River IPA on tap and a host of other goodies too. $3 local pints on Mondays

Toronado was my favourite spot though. Smallish, but spacious and great servers who know their stuff. Crap location, but worth it. Something like 30 taps I think...about a dozen different breweries, all but 2-3 from CA (they had 5 Chouffe beers on tap for a special event when I went). Pliny the Elder is pretty much a fixed offering here. Funny aside: They had DDC beers in their 'discount beer' fridge.

Stone Garden/Bistro place is insane. Worth going to Escondido. It's a massive building on an industrial road. I arrived at 11:40 on a Saturday and the wait for tours was already 2 hours. Their beer menu is insane though...go there and enjoy it. I picked up some merchandise from the store too...good times.

That's about it....I had too much fun wandering around the city and desert that I skipped any official brewery tours.

Really, it's hard to go wrong wherever you grab a burger or meal...there is local craft stuff everywhere. Great city(ies). I never even went to downtown San Diego....Ocean Beach was too much fun.

I grabbed bottles at a few places...some BevMo's and Olive Tree Market in OB.

andrewrg · Post by **andrewrg** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:20 pm

Just got back from SD today. Some of the highlights:

Stone: awesome location, excellent bottle list and food
Blind Lady Ale House: great bar, with a tap list that had stuff many of the other bars in SD didn't have. Also excellent food, pizza and cheese/charcuterie plates. It was crazy busy when I went, but still worth a look. There's also a great liquor store nearby just called Beer & Wine that I didn't see on BeerAdvocate anywhere.
Lost Abbey: in the middle of nowhere in an industrial park, but food trucks park outside frequently, and they had a great tap/bottle list of all Port/Lost Abbey beers, many of which I didn't see in any liquor stores.
Neighborhood: Nice bar, busy, younger crowd, interesting food/tap list.

There was other stuff but I can't remember it right now. Basically, San Diego is an awesome city for beer.

iguenard · Post by **iguenard** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 8:23 pm

Hey guys, I am headed to SD in February, staying near Seaport village with the family.

I want to go visit Alesmith, Stone, and Lost Abbey, but I am wondering whether the family can get in these places. Are they family-friendly?

Also, I have heard of San Diego beer tours, any options available for a guy that may be going alone on a free day?

Thanks guys!

andrewrg · Post by **andrewrg** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 9:09 pm

I don't know about Alesmith, but Stone is almost certainly family friendly. It's a really big restaurant type thing. Lost Abbey is pretty much just an area of the brewery with a bar, no food, chairs, or anything like that.

Alpine is a bit more family-friendly since it's got a sit down area and chairs and stuff. Personally, I'd hit Alpine before I'd go to Stone and Lost Abbey, but eh.

grub · Post by **grub** » Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:43 am

andrewrg wrote:Personally, I'd hit Alpine before I'd go to Stone and Lost Abbey, but eh.

if you love hops, i'd definitely say Alpine is a must-visit. they make some of the best hoppy beers around, and fresh from the source they can't be beat.

stone is definitely an experience. the first time I was in the area, we went twice on back to back nights. it was just that good.

lost abbey is different. as indicated, it's really just a corner of the brewery to stand around, sample some brews, and bring a few things home. the least family friendly of the bunch. they seem to have a love/hate thing... some ignore them entirely, others are full-out fanboys. their sours and barrel aged stuff is pretty great. lots of experiments in the middle that don't necessarily do it for me. and the port brews, especially the hoppy ones, are tasty.