Alpine, you have a problem

i'm not really a hess fan. personally, i like the idea of them being so close to my work. i like the prospect of them possibly putting out something remarkable in the future, but right now, their product doesn't really earn my dollars. which is fine. but i hope someone else props them up so at one point they might make something i like

same with ballast point. although i will say that i do order ballast point when i'm at petco

 

Hess started out strong. Last Intrepidus I had was an astringent mess.

 

Hess should make some strong headway once they get Nate Sampson brewing their batches full-time. They're having issues getting their new brewery finished. I think they picked a beast of a building with a ton of concrete removal necessary for the plans they have. But it will be a beautiful space, and a much-needed North Park/South Park brewery to hit up. Grazias is the best (only?) cream ale in town (although I don't think they do any lagering). Grazias Induresco is one of my top twenty San Diego beers. Does vary from batch to batch.

Once that new brewery does open, be prepared to see their beer everywhere around town. Did hear some interesting news about their staffing this weekend, though. We'll see how that shakes down. They might actually be less friendly (with the exception of one just-departed staffer) than almost any other brewery in town.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love Alpine, but thats a bold statement.

 

It is- but I can remember where I was and what I was doing the first time I tasted Nelson. Not many other beers out there have made that kind of impact on me. It's all relative, and I'm sure plenty of other folks remember different beers. But they made an impact on me.

Of course, there are plenty of nanos across the country that I've never tried

 

Heh, at the rate that I've spent money there, I should probably have a stake in the company! Speaking of which, just about to leave work to head out there...

 

I gotta say, I love most every brewery in San Diego. Most of them would be amongst the best breweries in many medium-sized cities around the country. But many good breweries means that it is our job to become as educated about beer as possible, so that our selections at the tap and the bottle shop help them decide what they need to focus on. You can't pick a better town to get a craft beer education.

 

They're unquestionably bigger than a nano.

They also have QC issues larger than most. Their range of "excellent" beers is limited exclusively to hoppy beers.

All of that would preclude them, to me, from being discussed as the best nano brewery, let alone the best brewery on the west coast. Wouldn't even be in the discussion.

That said... I'd say they quite clearly make The Best IPAs. Period. Other breweries make great ones, maybe even one or two I'd rank ahead of some Alpine beers. But I can't think of another brewery that makes so many legitimately great IPAs (and Pale Ales, hello Hoppy Birthday!).

All of which makes it all the more perplexing that Exponential Hoppiness just isn't very good.

 

Great points. I'm not sure what their annual output is, but it has to be somewhere on the small side of micro, and since we have to contend with the likes of Stone, New Belgium & Sierra calling themselves microbreweries, I tend to label anyone who has limited bottling capacity/distribution as a nano.Anyone out there

Expo can be awesome on tap- it suffers in the bottle, and every bottle I've had has tasted a bit different. Sometimes leaning towards thick and dank, sometimes thinner with little carbonation but some nice hop aroma. Nothing beats a growler of Bad Boy, a growler of Hoppy Birthday and a good Premiere League match.

There are several breweries that put out a more stable, higher quality lineup but I can't think of a brewery that creates a greater furor on tap in San Diego. Except for Russian River in February.

 

Elaborate?

 

I've had nothing but awesome experiences with literally every person at the brewery and pub.

 

He's talking Hess...

 

Oh, ok.

Nothing to say about Hess.

 

That's good to hear. Love the pub staff, and still trying to warm up to the brewery staff. I'll talk to them a bit more next time I'm up there.

 

Steve is awesome. Say "whales bro" and you're in.

 

Steve is the man.

 

I've heard a couple of things that I don't want to believe. Keep an eye on the twitter feed- notice it hasn't been updated in a few days. Hopefully, all will be back to normal in a few days. If not, the friendliest member of the staff might be gone. I've always had an issue talking beer with a lot of the Hess team. It might be the fact that I don't get up there very often- literally once or twice, since I work weekends and have Mon-Tues off. I've always believed that you have to treat every patron like a regular. Maybe that is the midwesterner in me. But it's not a bad way to get people to feel at home, and to make your place a second home.

 

I've found two people there to be friendly, but one definitely comes to mind. I haven't seen him at the tasting room the past few times I've been there, but I was under the impression that was because they were training the person that was supposedly going to be running the counter at the North Park operation.

I'd probably stop going there at all if they screwed this guy over for no good reason.

 

Yeah- he did point out that Expo had been added to the bottle list on the morning of the secret release. Let me by the first four bottles. And he's damn good at keeping up with facebook posts. They're all Midwesterners up there.

 

I sent my wife up to buy expo - posted a pic I took of her on the webcam - he saw it before she even left and wrote evilc on the box!