San Diego hidden gems

yeah monkey paw!

and also yay societe and white labs. white labs is a great place to taste beer. societe is a great example of a brewery that belongs in san diego and will continue to see success while others start failing in the next few years.

 

another plus of monkey paw, it has the best of hamiltons and small bar combined but with half the crowd!

 

Their coffee beers Grazias Induresca and Brunus Induresco and their stout Ex Umbris are really good and definitely worth trying. They use coffee better than most breweries (dry-beaned and not over-roasted); think cold brewed or Blue Bottle vs. Starbucks. Definitely hidden gems of SD, especially if you like dark beers and/or coffee in your beer.

The rest of the beers are hit-or-miss, but their convenience next to Alesmith makes them worth the stop.

 

I had their BA Sour Pet Monkey last night. It was super good.

 

To the OP, in 2012 17 new brewries have opened. So as far as hidden gems go...yes.

And Hess Brewing is now Mike Hess Brewing.

Total Noobery around here.

 

The homebrewer in me wants to go to White Labs my next time in SD, but I don't want to go there and taste simple beers just to taste the effect of yeast. What is interesting is what they might do with they sour blends.

 

As a homebrewer, that's the only reason to go to White Labs. Sure, it'd be great if they made world-class beer, but the point is to see tangible differences in their products so you can apply them to your beers. I've done the same at home - taken one base wort and added different yeast strains to see what happened. Really nice to have the manufacturer do it for you.

That said, I don't recommend White Labs to someone from out of town unless, of course, they homebrew.

 

i minimally homebrew and do not care to pick out new yeast strains at white labs, but really like actually tasting the yeast!! i think its really fun there

 

Yeah Monkey Paw! Thanks guys, I feel loved.

 

OP, if you're still around tomorrow, monkey paw and the neighborhood should be on your agenda. At least as of last night, both places have stone enjoy by available (8.50/bottle at MP, 6.50/pint at neighborhood) as well as some interesting stone variants. They're roughly half a mile apart, and each has some pretty tasty food.

 

when i went to Societe in May they only had 2 beers to taste. I was pissed. i then went to greenflash, hess, alesmith, ballast point, monkey paw, Mission, Lost Abbey, and stone all in one day. i was drunk, very drunk.

 

Societe and Alpine are my 2 favorites in San Diego. Alpine is locked solid for life. Societe has me with Pupil and Apprentice, the latter the one I prefer. Those are the main 2 breweries I'd recommend.

Alpine - go to the brewpub and eat excellent food and drink world class beer.

Societe - up and comer, excellent IPAs. SA Deli makes amazing meat pies - right around the corner. Bring one into the brewery.

Hess is a waste of time. Alesmith is worth the visit.

 

You must've missed it - he already went.

 

Lemme guess - you are an IPA guy? Should've gone to Alpine!

 

they opened in may, cut them some slack

 

No, they should have had 14 worldclass beers on tap the first 2 weeks that they were open.

I'm entitled to great awesomeness beers all the fucking time dammit!

 

I wrote them off day one since their sours weren't ready... f*in amateurs