Visiting San Diego - Winter 2016

Thanks for the great thread, are there any beer bars worth hitting up downtown/gaslamp area?

 

Hopping Pig is decent as well and right in the middle of everything. Not going to have anything mind blowing or rare but solid if your starting or finishing in the gas lamp. For dinner and a quick uber, 10-15 min walk, you can always go to Little Italy and hit up bottle craft as well

 

One more question, where can I find the best tacos in the San Diego area? Thanks

 

Ha, makes sense as I've done a bit of research and the number of options was quite overwhelming. I appreciate the help and will probably check out Tacos el Gordo and try to track down a California burrito at a "bertos".

 

Depending on how drun...err hungry you are, all of those places have Carne asada fries (typically not listed on the menu). They always hit the spot for me.

 

I gotta say Fall has moved to one of my favorite breweries in the area. Walkability for me is a huge reason why and I can see why they wouldn't stand out from a beer geek perspective. Everything the brew is really solid, very drinkable, and most beers have in check ABV so I can have a couple and be ok

 

If near Alesmith Rigoberto's is my go to for pre and post drinking burritos. If you are feeling fish, ppl will tell you to go to Supernatural Sandwiches instead (same little strip mall).

 

Getting ready to leave for road trip to Alpine. Haven't been since the new pub has opened. So it's been a few. Interested in trying their new IPA's and maybe bringing back a few growler fills. I must have 6 or 8 of their growlers. But noticed they now have 32oz growlers. Not sure where to hit up next after Alpine. Been stopping at Societe on way back to OC most of my Alpine visits. But I don't really see anything new. Plus my local BBQ place down the block has Societe on tap almost every week. So I can get my Societe fix here in HB. I was thinking about stopping in at BottleCraft Little Italy and checking them out. Is it worth the stop? Maybe have one for the road back to OC. And check out the bottle selections. I don't have much time. ST Archer opens at 4 (too late). Been to Modern Times Point Loma but not North Park. Worth a stop in? Or should I skip it and just hit up BottleCraft LI and hit the road back to OC. Got to be back around 4ish. That gives me 3-3 1/2 hours for my visit to SD. Thanks.

 

I would say hit up Bottlecraft over MT Point North Park unless you want to get the full experience. I have not been to the north park location but I tend to stay away from north park anyways.

Although if you haven't hit up Abnormal yet I recommend checking them out. They may even have their collab with Bruery on today if any was left after the dinner last night.

You are also hitting up Alpine on a good day since Keene Idea is going on today.

 

Unless MT NP has something on tap you need to get (or need to check out their floppy disk coaster selection), definitely go to BC LI. MT's taplist is ontheir site and BC uses taphunter.

 

I'm a huge fan of Quad Alehouse. Never too crowded and always has a couple cool things on tap as well as open windows overlooking the street.. The bbq/food is fucking fantastic as well. They have a old school hip hop night on Thursdays I need to check out soon.

Neighborhood will always have at least 1 tap from Russian River and Noble. Fair warning. Hipster central.

Downtown Johnny's is definitely no frills, but they have good beer for cheap. I think I had a full 16oz. pint of Pliny for $5 last visit.

 

Just got to Alpine. Nice Pub. Having tasters of Singled Out w/Citra, HFS, Firemans Friend and Keene Idea. Def digging on HFS so far.

 

Only a taster of Keene Idea? What the hell is wrong with you?

 

Now now. Yes only a 4oz of KI. But brought home 2 growlers of it. Also 2 growlers of HFS and a 32oz of Odins Raven.
Stomach wasn't feeling all that hot today. I got some kinda bug going on inside. So wasn't sure about eating at the pub, which I did anyways. Plus this was the first time at the new place and trying their new IPA's. I thought the Fireman's Friend was awesome too. But I could only get so many growler to bring back for playoffs and Super Bowl. Another great road trip from HB to ABC. New pub is great. But the $$ did go up for the menu. Growler fills at the tasting room went up a little bit. But on their specialty releases it's still only $17+ tax. $15 for the core beers. 22 for gas. Still a great deal IMO. They had a bunch of GF bottles in the cooler. No six packs of Duet yet. Heard they have been out or coming out soon.

 

Growlers make it all ok. Lol

 

Just back yesterday, stayed strictly North County with the exception of the drive to the airport.

My take:

Rip Current - Engaged staff and great atmosphere.
Barrier Reef Nut Brown was unexpectedly well executed, and BA Black Lagoon was next level.

Mother Earth - A huge place - much more like a bar. Don’t expect the intimacy of other tasting rooms.
Imaginationland golden stout was impressive.

Bagby - Big space with a sprawling menu; the server couldn’t really tell us what their core beers or house style was. Came across kind of soulless.
Abockalypse was a terrible example of a weizenbock.

Toolbox - Knowledgeable staff and cool décor.
Free Range Lettuce was good for a hoppy sour but Bramble on Rose was superb.


Other tips:

• Barrel Republic’s self-service pay-by-the-ounce model was new to me. Sometimes you do want just 3oz of some 11% RIS…
• Modern Times got missed because they closed early on Monday for a party; another bartender said that happens a lot. Worth calling ahead or checking Twitter.
• SAN Terminal 2 has a Stone cafe just past security with a full range of (expensive) bombers that they’ll sell unopened - you can take beer home (if you're flying direct) without stuffing your suitcase.

 

Nice list! I frequent SD a lot as I have a buddy who has lived down there since 2003 so I always have a free place to crash. My most recent trip was two weeks ago and I was able to hit up Bagby (Bacon & Eggs and Stout Your Engine), Societe (Debutante, Butcher, and the Madam), MT (Devil's Teeth, Monster's Park, and Sleepless City) and finished up with Rip Current NP (Chocolate Mustache, BA Black Lagoon, and Palomar Chocolate Porter). Also swung by New English on the way back up to pick up a bottle of the Zumbar (one of my all time favorites).

Also I second Tacos el Gordo and Oscar's as well

 

Funny story about BA Black Lagoon...

Bartender at Rip Current said they labelled the bottles as 11.5% but noticed that people were getting pretty trashed on it in the tasting room, so they sent it over to Port for testing.

Came back as 15.8%! So that’s the actual ABV, as posted on the chalk[surf]board at the brewery: