San Diego hidden gems

Bottleworks is in Seattle, Washington. Olive Tree and Bine and Vine will make good substitutes, though. If people tell you to visit Hess and Iron Fist, ignore them. I recommend you visit Pizza Port Ocean Beach, which is down the street from Olive Tree, and drink some Back & Eggs.

 

Hess is solid, regardless of what HopHead said. Their coffee beers and their stout are excellent.

And it's always a good idea to head out to Alpine.

 

Hess is next to Alesmith (1 block away). Worth checking out if you're in the area anyway, and you can report back as to whether or not you think it's a worthy stop.

I cannot comment on what bottles are available as I haven't been to SD in over a month.

 

Good choices. I've never been to White Labs but it sounds interesting.

 

Go to alesmith and get your fill of the BA Nutbrown, including the mini growlers togo. I bet this beer will pair perfectly with Thanksgiving dinner.

I 2nd HopHeads recommendations on OTM and PP-OB. I also really like Societe, and recommend hitting up O'Brien's which is nearby and usually has some Alpine on tap.

 

Quality of beer aside, Hess is certainly very close to Alesmith. You can't take that away from them at the moment. OP, since you're already going to Alesmith you have little to lose (aside from your time which is limited since you're on vacation, your limited palate resources, your finite sobriety, and your money) by stopping by Hess. I'd just spend more time at Alesmith if I were you or head to Ballast Point across the freeway after White Labs.

 

Societe is also close to Alesmith and their stainless steel growlers would definitely survive the trip back to Fla. - heartily recommend the Pupil if you enjoy IPAs.

 

If you are planning on driving between the two late in the afternoon, I strongly suggest going Societe to Alesmith rather than the other direction. Miramar Road eastbound gets jammed, and it can take a half hour to go barely a mile.

 

White Labs it really interesting for beer nerds. It's a mile away from Alesmith. Ballast Point is also a mile or so away from White Labs. BP usually has an interesting cask on once a week, around Thurs.

 

If you just want interesting beers to try, there should be some good knee deep stuff around like simtra, hoptologist hop shortage and imperial tanilla. All solid. Might find some racer x or just outstanding around, but less likely, and otger cool stuff in bottles that you might not get back home Id recommend Logsdon stuff, Midnught Sun, Jester King, and Drakes. On tap I'd definitely look out for Societe stuff, the Butcher and pupil are my favorites, and maybe head over to Amplified Ale works/California Kebab for a nice taplist and some awesome food.

 

They've got a bit of an ocean view there, too.

 

Sounds like someone has a personal vendetta against Hess...

 

Where's the "not again..." button?

 

Nope. It's just that I can think of like 20 other places I'd recommend someone from out of town visit before going to Hess.

 

They why didn't you? Instead you suggest

before anyone else even brought them up.

How exactly is steering a potential customer away from a nano that doesn't even bottle or distribute (yet), beer advocacy? Are there sales hurting Alesmith, Ballast point, Lost abbey, or the dozens of other great San Diego breweries? Hardly imo. OP asked about Hidden gems, with the exception of White labs new tasting room & Soceite (both good suggestions) but Ballast Point & Alesmith are hardly hidden.

Anyway, thread derailed enough from the OP request, will just go on until locked, we can agree to disgaree on Hess, just doesn't seem neccesary to deride them when unsolicited imo.

 

In many of these threads I observe an oblivious outlander asking trusted locals how best to spend their limited vacation time in our fine city, and invariably people list Hess and Iron Fist along with true San Diego classics like Alesmith, Pizza Port, Stone, and Ballast Point. If you're visiting for a weekend, I do not think these places are worth your time. If you're visiting for a month, hell, hit Iron Fist, Hess, Rock Bottom, On the Tracks, go wild. I pick Hess and Iron Fist because these are the names that come up repeatedly. If people were consistently listing El Cajon Brewing in these threads I would add them to the list of places not worth visiting when time is finite that have a strangely strong following given the abundance of superior alternatives. I could give you a long list of places that are worth your time, but there are countless other threads on this subject and most places you would end up visiting are probably going to be good.

I think it's a benefit to the consumer. Call it beer advocacy on behalf of the consumer.

I don't mean to deride either of the breweries I listed, they're simply places I'd skip if I were visiting and knew what I know as a native, and I always scratch my head when they pop up in these threads. I think all these places are worth visiting at some point, and I'm sure they're making better beer than they were when I last visited them and will continue to improve.