IPA do bring home from San Diego

Tell him to go to Alpine or tell him to go to bed.

No joke...get a few bottles of Nelson, Duet and Pure Hoppiness.

 

Must have IPAs and DIPAs from San Diego? Wow...he better be ready to take a lot back home. This list includes all brews that he can buy in San Diego. Not all breweries are based in San Diego.

Alpine Brewery:

• Nelson
• Exponential Hoppiness
• Duet and Pure Hoppiness are good, but not sure if they are "must haves"
• Bad Boy and Hoppy Birthday, but these are very limited releases, so he probably won't find them

Ballast Point:

• Sculpin

Stone:

• Enjoy By
• Stone 15th (there might be some bottles left floating around out there)
• Sublimely Self Rightous

Port Brewing:

• Mongo (some will argue due to sediment, but it's still really good. Just be careful not to poor the sediment)
• Hop 15 (same sediment issue)

Bootlegger's Brewery

• Knuckle Sandwich (It may be a stretch to find bottles of this in San Diego area)

Noble Ale Works

• Nobility (It may be a stretch to find bottles of this in San Diego area)

Russian River

• Pliny the Elder
• Blind Pig

Bear Republic

• Racer X
• Racer 5 (perhaps not quite "must have")

Knee Deep Brewing

• Simtra

Firestone Walker

• Double Jack

Green Flash:

• West Coast IPA

Lagunitas

• Hop Stoopid

Moylan's

• Hopsickle

Sierra Nevada

• Hoptimum (2012 batch much better than 2011)

There are a lot of seasonal and very limited releases that are too many to list, but he probably won't find them right now anyways. The ones I listed are attainable, some easier than others.

 

Some Fresh Sculpin or any Alpine would be great...also maybe Pupil from Societe, just drank a growler of that last week and it was awesome

 

Do not buy a single bottle of Sculpin. It absolutely SUCKS out of the bottle no matter how fresh. BP has ruined this beer and it is absolute garbage. Big Eye is better and 2/3 the price in the bottle. For some reason kegged Sculpin is still "OK".

Shelf beers to buy:

Knee Deep Simtra
RR Pliny the Elder
RR Blind Pig
Bear Republic Racer X ( should still be there )
Alpine Nelson ( near impossible to find unless he goes to the brewery which is usually out also )
Alpine Duet ( near impossible to find unless he goes to the brewery which usually has it )
Avery DuganA ( very easy now and very awesome )
Kern River Just Outstanding IPA ( this is usually not available but I just bought 8 at Texas Liquor in Carlsbad and have seen it elsewhere )

 

I just recently had Rough Draft's Hop Therapy and I was impressed. Not necessarily the best IIPA, but definitely delicious and I would recommend it.

p.s. I recommend having your friend going to Olive Tree Market in OB (if he is in actual SD and not just SD county) and asking for Mike. If he goes there sometime in th afternoon on the weekend he should be able to locate him.

 

Most on your list is not local of San Diego (great list though). Many are great beers but there are many others here that are local that are just as good. Rough Draft Eraser IPA is amazing. Check out Mission Shipwrecked DIPA for a nice malty hop bomb. "Duet & Pure Hoppiness are good but not sure if they are must haves". ????????? They are must haves if you live in the east coast. He will not find Expo (sorry). Coronado Idiot is a wonderful DIPA and you can find it at many stores these days which is great. If you want growlers of local fresh amazing IPAs in a growler check out Societe (though they can be a bit $$$) and Latitude 33. They make some great IPAs..

 

http://www.seekabrew.com/distro/index.html

 

If he is going to that, also tell him to bring back a canister or CO2 - you will surly need it.

 

ABC (or go to bed)

 

Nelson's (Rye IPA) only available right now in growlers, but if you can make it travel, do it. All of Alpine's IPAs are extraordinary! You can't go wrong with them.

 

Alpine is out of Nelson bottles until later next week. Duet and Pure are available in bottles.

 

Get as much alpine as possible so some local schmuck named brett cannot have any. Also tell all your freinds to do the same

 

I am really surprised more people dont talk about Rough Draft Eraser IPA. It is pretty damn good. You can get it in bottles now.

 

I find all of Rough Draft's stuff to be overly sweet.

 

Till the issues are fixed
Dead horses will be beat
They make world class beer, but a dash of QC with the hops would not hurt.

 

If he is willing to fly back with a growler, there are lots of awesome Pizza Port IPAs. OB and Carlsbad tend to have consistently great selections. Fills are expensive (pitcher prices), but at least the glass is cheap ($3).