San Diego and Vicinity (2023)

Animals

 

I’ll be in Sun Diego next week Monday 18 for a concert in El Cajon. That’s a day after I see the same band in Tucson, AZ. And on Tuesday in LA. Not sure if I’m driving to Tucson or flying yet. If I’m driving I’ll be stopping at Mcilhenney in Alpine on way to Sun Diego to meet up with some buddies who’s going to the El Cajon gig. So after checking in to the timeshare we’ll hit up North Park and Seek before ubering to El Cajon for the show. Just heard about Seek. Of course I’ll be stocking up on some cans from Mcilhenney and NP. Hopefully NP’s wet hop Strata Rocket will be available. Maybe another wet hop on draft? Any recs on food between NP & Seek?
Edit: Untappd shows it came out last year around September 13/14.

 

Just moved to Carlsbad (basically on the border of Encinitas) and was wondering if people had any bottle shop recommendations for the area?

 

Texas Liquor in Carlsbad, Bottlecraft in Oceanside, Lazy Acres at the Encinitas Blvd exit. Wish there were better options, as none of these get NPBC or McIlhenny (unless Bottlecraft does and just doesn't post about it). The closest legit shops are Holiday Wine Cellar and San Diego Wine and Beer Co. We're in a bit of a bottle shop dessert up here. What I wouldn't give for a Bine and Vine to be nearby.

 

Village wine and spirits on Encinitas blvd and Jimbos in Carlsbad often have a nice selection. Jimbos does get North Park.

 

The food at North Park Bankers hill is super good. Smash Burgers, Wings , and Tenders are all fire!!!

 

make sure you hit GOAL as well.

 

Anything worth hitting up in El Cajon nearby The Magnolia Theater? Were staying next the new North Park Beer Co. So were stopping there before heading to the Magnolia. Just checking to see if there is anything nearby we can get a quick pour before the gig.

 

Burning Beard is probably the closest thing worth anything. And they aren't really that great.

 

Raul will be in De Mar for the next few days. Any suggestions on anything and everything? Thanks.

 

In the general area, can cruise north to Solana beach and hit up Culture and PizzaPort.

Head east of the 5 to the One Paseo mall thingy and goto Harland and then Salt&Straw for some ice cream.

AirShow this weekend, so try to avoid 805 around the Mira Mesa/Miramar area; however, Alesmith has 2nd weekend of their Oktoberfest with beer/custom mugs/food/music/games.

If a car is available would recommend to head south and hitup GOAL, Seek, and that 3rd middle brewery I can never remember the name and it really isn't much better than homebrewer stuff but you are already there so might as well try it.

Edit: the Alesmith mugs were 15 and included a fill of either pils/oktoberfest/festbier and then although the website and email say $6/fill after that, the sign inside said $5/fill and they were doing anything less than 8%. So in theory....$5 394 fills in the mug all day.

 

I find this helpful when I'm beyond north county where I normally roam. It has a nice zoom in feature.
https://www.sandiegobeer.news/brewery-map

 

In addition to what @SDReaper said, Westbrew has a pretty great location, right on the Del Mar strip, and while their beers might not all blow your doors off like a NPBC, they're solid and occasionally great.
Another rec is Eppig in La Jolla, since it's fairly close, although on a weekend sometimes could be annoying to get to with traffic.
Viewpoint Brewing is also super close and a great venue. The beer's pretty meh, but the food's great (although they got rid of my scotch egg so I'm kind of boycotting).

 

Ah so we boycott the same place but for different reasons. I've boycotted them ever since they "totally didn't steal a mailing list, you signed up to receive our spam" from Abnormal back during Derek brewing days. They came out and totally denied they stole the list until I provided them proof, then they got really quiet hoping the issue would just fade away. It basically did but I haven't forgotten. =P

 

What are the best SD beer week events to hit up Friday and Saturday??

 

If you are talking about the 10th and 11th...Alesmith Grand Prix (I'll be there on the 11th).

 

What were the highlights?

 

German chocolate cake speedway.
East African Hammerhead speedway (but only when it warmed up. when cold it was basically just a one-note so couldn't get all the flavors that the blend was attempting to showcase)
Banana Vanilla speedway (although the speedway coffee blend I think muted the thai banana more than it should have)

Lap 4 was changed, I guess they went through a lot of beer on friday night so instead we were offered
2023 BASS
BASS double fudge edition
BASS New Orleans Cafe edition
BAVSS w/ vanilla

and then they also had another 3 BA offerings on draft that you could swap over to if you wanted. I don't recall all three but I replaced my new orleans (because it had chicory in it) with ba kali trippin.

Taco Shop gets an honorable mention for being nearly as terrible as the Ex-Girlfriend speedway they did years ago.

Overall, definitely a fun event, even when they blends are horrible it is still fun to see what they come up with. Plus, it is an easy place for me to bring all the extra Halloween candy I have when trick or treaters don't show up. Just leave a box of candy at the bar and walk away. =)

 

I saw that variant and audibly laughed. So gross.

 

Heading to Valley View Casino this Tuesday for 2 nights. Anything new or interesting in the surrounding area? Specifically Escondido/Vista area. Thought about NPBC or Mcilhenney, but trying to keep the drive time down to a minimum. Not interested in Stone. Maybe lunch somewhere and a stop at a brewery.