Visiting San Diego, LA - what beers?

Discussion in 'Pacific' started by beerguy2784, May 1, 2012.

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  1. beerguy2784

    beerguy2784 Initiate (0) Apr 4, 2012

    I'm visiting San Diego and LA in a few days and I'm wondering what beers to look out for. So far, what I have in mind is RR Blind Pig, Alpine Pure Hoppiness, Alpine Exponential Hoppiness, and Alpine duet IPA. I don't know how hard it is to find those Alpine brews though, so I might be sol. I like IPAs, so any of those recommendations would be good, but I also like to try different beers that are well-regarded. I want to drive up to RR and pick up some beat, but it's just too far.

    When I recently visited Washington, this is what I took home... http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/4954/20120414093729.jpg
     
    #1 beerguy2784, May 1, 2012
  2. evilc

    evilc Initiate (0) Jan 27, 2012 California

    You won't be getting Exponential Hoppiness but the rest will be easy.

    I'd get:

    Alpine Nelson
    Coronado Idiot
    Port Mongo
    Ballast Point Sculpin
    Green Flash Imperial and West Coast, maybe Palate Wrecker


    Good start.
     
    #2 evilc, May 1, 2012
  3. banger1228

    banger1228 Initiate (0) Dec 18, 2010 California

    If you want alpine beers your should go directly to the brewery in alpine SD which is worth the drive. I know Pat put a limit on the bottles when you are buying at the brewery to 4 bottles per person. Also you should swing by ballast point for the Sculpin IPA.
     
    #3 banger1228, May 1, 2012
  4. beerguy2784

    beerguy2784 Initiate (0) Apr 4, 2012

    Nice recommendations.. I LOVE Ballast Point Sculpin and Green Flash West Coast, but I can get them on the east coast (NJ) pretty easily.
     
    #4 beerguy2784, May 1, 2012
  5. nanobrew

    nanobrew Initiate (0) Dec 31, 2008 California

    can you get Alesmith? Other great IPAs to try would be at the Pizza Ports, they are all on draft no bottles
     
    #5 nanobrew, May 1, 2012
  6. MichaelGV

    MichaelGV Initiate (0) Apr 2, 2008 California

    You can drive to Alpine for a delicious BBQ lunch (there are usually several rarities on tap in the cafe, too), pick up some Alpine bottles and then head over to the Alesmith tasting room. It doesn't get any better than Alpine and Alesmith in San Diego County.
     
    #6 MichaelGV, May 1, 2012
  7. beerguy2784

    beerguy2784 Initiate (0) Apr 4, 2012

    There's no Alesmith or Alpine in NJ, so I think I will definitely visit them. We have Port Wipe Out and Mongo, but I might try out some of their other stuff.

    Any recommendations for non-IPAs? It doesn't necessarily have to be a San Diego area brewery, it just has to be available there.
     
    #7 beerguy2784, May 1, 2012
  8. 01Ryan10

    01Ryan10 Initiate (0) Sep 10, 2011 California

    For non IPA, go with one of the best stouts on the planet....Alesmith Speedway Stout.
     
    #8 01Ryan10, May 1, 2012
  9. UCLABrewN84

    UCLABrewN84 Initiate (0) Mar 18, 2010 California

    Haha, the stuff you got in WA is the same stuff you will find down here too.
     
    #9 UCLABrewN84, May 2, 2012
  10. ddcapps

    ddcapps Initiate (0) Dec 22, 2010 California

    Try Stone and Lost Abbey ( 3 miles apart ) for some non-IPAs
     
    #10 ddcapps, May 2, 2012
  11. beerguy2784

    beerguy2784 Initiate (0) Apr 4, 2012

    I visited Alpine last night and they had exponential on tap, so I had some exponential and pure hoppiness there and got some pure, duet, and nelson to go. Exponential was great, I'm glad I was able to have some.

    Today, I'm off to bev4less, then to alesmith, and finally Lost Abbey/Port. This is my new list for stuff I'm looking out for:
    alesmith - speedway stout, yulesmith, grand cru, X, horny devil, anvil,

    pizza - old viscosity, older viscosity, high tide, hop 15, midnight expression, hot rocks

    lost abbey - duck duck gooze, cable car, framboise de amorosa, deliverance, cuvee de tomme, angel's share

    I'm guessing I'll only be able to find a couple of the Lost Abbey ones at best.
     
    #11 beerguy2784, May 5, 2012
  12. nanobrew

    nanobrew Initiate (0) Dec 31, 2008 California


    most of those should be easy to find. Yulesmith is a little old since it was brewed in December and the next batch comes out in July. No chance on finding Duck Duck or Cable Car to go. Toronados has Cable Car (I believe $55 for the recent one), no idea about DDG. Since you are going up to Lost Abbey, Alesmith will be on your way. You can stop in there to pick up some bottles, plus they have had some Speedway variants on tap.

    P.S. most locals stay clear of Bev-4-less. There are plenty of great beer stores with honest/friendly staff, Bev-4-less is not one of them.
     
    #12 nanobrew, May 5, 2012
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  13. evilc

    evilc Initiate (0) Jan 27, 2012 California

    poor Freddie , lol, ok not really. =)
     
    #13 evilc, May 6, 2012
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  14. beerguy2784

    beerguy2784 Initiate (0) Apr 4, 2012

    hah I didn't realize duck duck and cable car hadn't been brewed in a while. Can you get bottles to go at Toronados? I called them and they didn't answer. Lost Abbey was a big disappointment... They didn't have stemware or angel's share or older viscosity. Luckily I found older viscosity elsewhere. Freddie seemed pretty nice tbh, the prices were a bit high, but he did recommend that I stay away from hop 15 since it was flat this year, so I appreciated that at least.

    I know I'm crazy now, but I'm driving to Russian River for some Bling Pig and beat.
     
    #14 beerguy2784, May 6, 2012
  15. gklover1

    gklover1 Zealot (555) Oct 18, 2009 Colorado

    THIS.
     
    #15 gklover1, May 6, 2012
  16. beerguy2784

    beerguy2784 Initiate (0) Apr 4, 2012

    lol it serves me right for driving so far, but when I got to rr and asked for beat, and they say they ran out 30 min before I got there. Awesome. The customers were nice, the ambiance was good, and the beer was good, but no beat was a huge let-down. I had RR IPA and perdition there and picked up some hop stoopid since I'm in the bay area.
     
    #16 beerguy2784, May 7, 2012
  17. beerguy2784

    beerguy2784 Initiate (0) Apr 4, 2012

    Anyways, this is what I brought home.
    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]
     
    #17 beerguy2784, May 11, 2012
  18. 01Ryan10

    01Ryan10 Initiate (0) Sep 10, 2011 California

    Make the Palate Wrecker your last beer of a drinking session. It's a fitting name.
     
    #18 01Ryan10, May 11, 2012
  19. ParchedNeedBeer

    ParchedNeedBeer Initiate (0) Feb 21, 2011 California

    I'll be in San Diego for the Track 5 release. How difficult is it to get some bottles at the brewery on the release?
     
    #19 ParchedNeedBeer, May 11, 2012
  20. nanobrew

    nanobrew Initiate (0) Dec 31, 2008 California

    drinking bottles there is not an issue, they usually last a week or so. However, they do not sell the track series o go.
     
    #20 nanobrew, May 11, 2012
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