Beer on San Diego beaches

Out of luck - all San Diego City, County, and all state beaches within the county have an alcohol ban.

 

I think it is pretty much illegal everywhere.

I guess you could risk putting it in a water bottle that wasn't clear, or a thermos or something.

 

I suspect if you drink cans covered with a cozy and are cool about it, you won't get bothered.

 

That is dependent entirely on how cool the cops on patrol are, and based on what I've seen happen, not a good strategy. I don't even bother trying it but I've seen people get tickets with a beer in a koozie, a beer in a paper bag, red keg cup (dead giveaway), etc. Unless you want to drink beer through a straw, your options are very limited and carry a high risk. Adding a cooler into the mix makes it a complete non-starter.

If you really want to drink on the beach, mixing hard liquor into a soft drink or iced coffee is your best option, and if you do, be sure to mix it before you get to the beach and don't act like an idiot. Even that has risks as some cops will ask what's in your cup and attempt to test for alcohol.

Some beaches would be better than others - for example, Coronado is much lower traffic with less police presence - but you're running a risk wherever.

 

San Diego used to be the only spot in Southern California you could drink canned alcohol. I've sent many a 4th of July drinking on mission/pacific/ocean beach but those days are long gone. Too many d-bags who can't handle themselves ruined it for the rest of us.

 

I've found that, in addition to the cheap thrill of hiding in plain sight, filling a Super Big Gulp cup or jumbo fast food cup with beer and drinking it through a straw is more satisfying than you might think.

 

Hit up a bar on the beach, there are plenty and a few of them have reasonable beers. Where in SD?

 

Thank Kevin Faulkner, freedom hater. And he'll soon be able to add losing the NFL to his resume along with the beach ban.

 

Depends on what you like and where you're staying/going.

 

Though I agree he (and his buddies on the city council) are mostly to blame, those keg partying douchebags are pretty much who gave them the ammo.

 

Well, at least he's batting .500 on major issues - that's better than most politicians.

 

The ban happened during Jerry Sanders term and it really was spurred on by the City Council. Mostly Donna Frye and her bud Ron Roberts. But the PB D-Bags were mostly to blame and 4th of July marshmallow fights.

 

You can actually buy beer on the beach and drink it on the beach in front of the Hotel del Coronado. They had servers come out to take our order and bring us the beer. Maybe it was because my in-laws rented some expensive-ass beach chairs for an hour, but we weren't actually staying at the hotel.

 

This sucks. I honestly feel for you guys. I will never again take for granted the quiet, unpatrolled beach i go to. Good luck.

 

You can drink on the beach in south Camp Pendleton, if you want to drive that far north (assuming you are staying in the city of San Diego).

 

Helpful hint, if you quote the post you're replying to, the person will get an alert and will (generally) be faster to respond.

There's a number of places in PB that have nice ocean views, with varying levels of craft beerness. One of the best for beer is probably Cali Kebab which hosts Amplified Ale Works. You'll deal with quite a bit of bro-ness in PB, which a lot of craft beer geeks seem allergic to, so be forewarned. There's some gem beer spots there though, and the scenery is pretty spectacular. George's in La Jolla has an amazing ocean view on the terrace and some reasonable options, though not strictly a beach view.

I'm sure there's somewhere in OB as well, though I spent most of my time there at Pizza Port.

 

Faulkner ran his campaign for City Council saying it was a mayoral issue and he was going to stay out of it. Then it was the first first thing he took charge on when he got elected. It was all him, and I'll never forgive that freedom hating POS.

There were so many other options that would have eliminated the PB issue, but we don't need to get into that here.