Less Talked About San Diego Co. Breweries

After visiting most of those, I would say only some of them stick out.

Amplified has great food and usually good beer
Acoustic Ale Works is okay, they have improved a lot
Monkey Paw always has variety so I like that, plus a killer guest list
Resident was good from what I remember but I only had the Coconut IPA
Pure Project is good usually
North Park is new and I like their hoppy beers so far, plus you can't beat that it's pretty much the center of North Park and all the breweries there
Prodigy has tasty beer, but they're not open yet, I think they used to contract brew or be production only or something and then moved to San Marcos so hopefully they come back full force
Rough Draft was good every once in a while but I haven't been there in a long time and have not heard much about them lately

All others range from me not wanting to walk in them ever again to "Meh" if I am in the neighborhood.

You got most of them. You might find some barrel aged stuff on tap at Ballast Point or one of the Karl Strauss locations. Culture sometimes has wilds/sours on tap that are decent/good. I have heard Stumblefoot does sours sometimes too but have never tried one.

 

What's Bay City Brewery? Is it a shout out to the group Bay City Rollers?

 

It is behind the sports arena, a few blocks from Modern Times. You can see it from I-8.

 

I know. I saw it yesterday as I parked nearby there to go to MT to pick up cans and have a glass. But I didn't go in. Had to drive back to OC.

 

I checked out Pure and Amplified in Miramar, what a mile from Alesmith.

Pure was nice. Their beers were a little odd, IPA with agave, japanese rice, etc. Decent, nothing crazy.

Amplified (right next door, kinda weird) was quite good, their IPAs were all very solid. Kinda low key.

Worth a visit, but not sure I'd go out of my way. It makes for a nice time to go to those two, along with Mikkeller and Alesmith as they're all so close.

 

I've been to Bay City twice. I thought the beers were mostly good. They had a coffee blonde (if i remember correctly) the one time I was there that I thought was really good.

 

Has anyone else tried BNS recently?

 

Had Gatling Gun stout at Hamilton's a few months ago. It was solid

 

Pure was good but it looked more like a Spa than a brewery. I was expecting someone to come out and serve cucumber water and massage my back.

Also Duckfoot Brewing is right around the corner too.

 

Duck Foot makes some nice beers, certainly worth a try.

 

Kensington, Groundswell and Benchmark are all less than a 1/2 mile from me. My go to is usually Groundswell. Kensington would be second. I don't get out much but a couple others that caught my attention were Helix and Burning beard... Cheers

 

Good timing reviving this since Magnetic was talked about earlier in this thread:
https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/aug/17/beer-magnetic-brewing-closed-eviction-notice/

 

I would add Eppig to all of the above lists
Great lagers

 

I haven't been to Kensington or Groundswell yet. I always skip them for Benchmark.

 

poor Magnetic. RIP

 

Bump this thread.
I just received a bottle that says Welk’s Resorts (Welk’s Stout). I know it’s a Iron Fist bottle. On the back label it’s Velvet Glove Imp Stout. Now I haven’t had a Iron Fist anything since year one of Iron Fist. Are these bottles exclusive to this Welk’s Resorts? And what did I just get? Any good?

 

Border X is pretty unique. Their beers are Mexican-inspired and a little on the sweet side but tasty. Also, really good tacos and mulitas. And...if it ends up not being your thing then you can walk over to the Iron Fist Barrio Logan taproom.

 

Booze Brothers is quietly making some great beers these days. Pale ale game is really strong.

 

Don't quite get why no one mentions Aftershock. They're older than karl strauss (& them being almost 30 years in the scene next year) yet, these guys put up some pretty good stuff especially their craft soda. I suppose staying low key is a good thing though the drive to temecula is a bit off when you live in the south bay that's why I usually drop by when going to visit the in in laws or family back at home. Don't overlook these guys. I'm not a fanboy but I don't condone some saying that their beer sucks.

 

Sad to revive this forum with the news that Council Brewing announced they are officially closing their doors forever on December 15th. Liz and Curtis are good folks. I was rooting for them. Sad to see them go.