just found out about this spot on saturday while at helms, and decided to check them out on my way home. i tried the free range ipa, and it was right up my alley. anyone else have any experience with these guys?
Just tried them out yesterday in fact, and was pleasantly surprised. None of the 5 beers I tried were mind-blowing, but they were all solidly good and there weren't any duds. Everything was very measured – e.g., the breakfast stout was notably more roasty and less sweet than some other local breakfast stouts, which I really appreciated. The head brewer also sounded like he's knee deep in the sciencey aspects and is sweating the details.
A lot of people were sad to see the Knight Salumi Company go away, but if he is cranking out nice beer, then it's all worth it. If he starts doing salami again and has it in his tasting room, I'm making trips eastward.
I went down and hit up them and BNS, Butchers was by far the stand out. Everything I had was solid, like SageO said not a dud in the bunch, however I did think a few were fairly mind blowing. Free Range was really reminiscent of an Alpine beer, big Nelson dank to it. The Fair Weather Friend was soooo quaffable... awesome tropical aroma in a session ipa package. With all these hyped out breweries opening up around town I think they got lost in the shuffle...
i guess they've only been open a month or so, and they are doing that NKOTB fest tomorrow so they may get a little more exposure. either way, i'm just happy that there is another brewery with stopping at in east county.
Did they start contract brewing before they had a tasting room? I see that I tried Double Shaka in July 2012 from a bottle.
ZITO! I had them last night at NKOTB2 and REALLY enjoyed them. They had a full body stout that was a pleasant surprise.
Why? Santee has some of the best machine shops in the entire United States. Not surprised to see it friendly to another industry.
Not that at all. Santee is very business friendly. My comment was based on the perception most of the county has of Santee. As in, "Eww, Santee." Most of what people know about Santee is what they heard it was like 30 years ago (including me before I moved here last year). Maybe a brewing mini-cluster will change the minds of the cool kids in the mid-city and on the coast. But hopefully not enough to make them move here...
Yup we were mostly doing his Pale Ale & Double Shaka before and even did some brews right up until he got the tasting room ready.
