Well, three locations way farther north than we intend to go… also, that is kind of the point of a recommendation thread while planning for someone not familiar with the local beer scene…
Just got into SD and have time for one maybe two stops tonight. Ballast Point on India St is the most logistically sensible. Big thanks again to all of you for the suggestions and guidance.
Day 2: Harland - South Park TapRoom Beer Company Pure Project - Balboa Park East Village Brewing Company The Church by The Lost Abbey Societe Brewing Company - Mission Hills California Wild Ales (Sherman St) Deft Brewing Modern Times Flavordome Original 40 Brewing Co Belching Beaver Brewery - North Park Seek Beer Company Barley & Sword Brewing Company Poor House Brewing Company Fall Brewing Company - North Park
For me, the driver, and facing the daunting task of I-5 and similar…. I had to tone down my list a bit. We were there in July. My favorites were Pizza Port Ocean Beach and Alesmith. Great tips off of this thread helped a lot!
…..and honorable mention to Stone at Liberty Station. Beautiful digs and great tap list. Best food of the trip.
Final Trip Count: 36 Breweries in about 2.5 days. Day 1 - We didn't arrive until ~10PM local time (1) Ballast Point (India St) (2) North Park Beer Company (Flagship) Day 2 (3) Harland - South Park (4) TapRoom Beer Company (5) Pure Project - Balboa Park (6) East Village Brewing Company (7) The Church by The Lost Abbey (8) Societe Brewing Company - Mission Hills (9) California Wild Ales (Sherman St) (10) Deft Brewing (11) Modern Times Flavordome (12) Original 40 Brewing Co (13) Belching Beaver Brewery - North Park (14) Seek Beer Company (15) Barley & Sword Brewing Company (16) Poor House Brewing Company (17) Fall Brewing Company - North Park Day 3 (18) Abnormal Beer Co (The Cork & Craft) (19) AleSmith Brewing Company (20) Fall Brewing Company (Distribution Ave) (21) Embolden Beer Co/Shogun by Embolden (22) Mission Brewing - Miramar (23) Duck Foot Brewing - Miramar (24) Karl Strauss Brewing (Scranton Rd) (25) Hopnonymous Brewing Company (26) Pizza Port - Solana Beach (27) Stone Brewing (Escondido) (28) Burgeon Beer Company (Carlsbad) (29) Green Cheek Beer Co (Oceanside) (30) Kilowatt Craft Beer (Oceanside) (31) Stone Brewing Tap Room (Oceanside) (32) Craft Coast Beer & Tacos Day 4 - Left around 11 AM local time, so limited options on a Monday (33) Fox Point Brewing (34) Hodad's Ocean Beach (35) Ocean Beach Brewery (36) Pizza Port - Ocean Beach Once again, a huge thank you to all of you for the suggestions navigating an unfamiliar beer scene. I think we covered it pretty well. Definitely in need of a detox. Cheers.
I expected to be disappointed by AleSmith, and I was very happily wrong. Definitely one of my favorite spots.
What a list! As someone that goes to SD often there are several on this list I've never heard of (Deft, Original 40, Hopnonymous) and others I thought were long gone (California Wild Ales?!?). Any standouts either beer or atmosphere wise in addition to Alesmith?
Don't mean to sound skeptical, but 15 breweries a day on Saturday and Sunday? When I was there a couple weeks ago, most places didn’t even open before 10 or 11 am. The travel time involved between breweries and then the actual time at each place... I'm trying to figure out how you fit it all in. And then there's the liquid consumption. Even if you just got a single beer or a tasting tray at each spot, you're talking about a lot of alcohol. When we visited Pizza Port Ocean Side a couple weeks back, it took a while just to place our order and get our beer. Then I had to actually drink it. Going thru something like that 15 times throughout the course of a day is really hard to picture. I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around this. Sounds like you would have had to be on the go from 10 am to 2 am closing on both days. I'm surprised you didn't need to have your stomach pumped after your weekend.
I hope you get to visit San Diego again at some point in your lifetime, and that you are able to experience one of the premier US cities outside of its beer. If someone in your party was the designated driver, you owe that to them. If you did not have a designated driver, shame on you. If you claim to have taken public transit or ride share everywhere, I simply don't believe you with 15 breweries per day. Two beach days and a couple sessions at Blind Lady Ale House crush this itinerary qualitatively.
Arrived at 11:05AM, 5 min after they opened. Left just after 12PM. Almost a full hour. Mr Padre 2000 (8 oz pour) Mr Padre 3000 (8 oz pour) Anvil Pilsner (full lukr pour)
Deft is exclusively focused on European styles (Irish, German, British, Belgian flags behind the bar). German/Belgian focused by also a scottish export on cask. It's located in a larger biergarten style area with food truck style stands and a meadery (which we obviously skipped). I went for the Deft Poets Society (Czech-style Pils), Deft Not Daft (English-Style Pale Mild), and Austere Abbot (Belgian Single). Favorite of the three was the Austere Abbot. Not amazing traditional styles, but a pretty good showing for a range of styles you don't see very often and a nice break in the mix. Original 40 seemed to be themed around San Diego Wave FC. A mural of Kyra Carusa on the wall outside and a big theme inside. Patrons as well. Busy vibe downstairs, but they had a rooftop patio out back with a nice selection of seating. Only went after two beers here (Drifting Dial - WCIPA collab with RŌM & People's Crown - Bavarian Pilsner). Pretty standard taproom feel. Hopnonymous had the standard taproom inside the brewery feel to the space. Industrial and cozy. Some outdoor seating out front. I went after Stein O' Mite (Festbier), Rindstone Cowboy (Grapefruit WCIPA - grapefruit bomb, which I enjoy), and Island Dreams (Fruited Sour). Wasn't blown away by any of the beer, but certainly didn't have anything that I hated either. We went to the California Wild Ales on Sherman St, which was an industrial building with barrels on the ground floor in addition a bunch of oversized bartop games (shoot the moon, etc). Bar seating was upstairs. We were the only ones there at the time. I didn't really enjoy any of the three I had (PBR Sour, Bike Lane Lager, Experimental Saison #1). I also saw they had a more traditional taproom in downtown Ocean Beach, but they weren't open when we went through. Someone on the thread had suggested Karl Strauss if we were looking at OGs. The location on Scranton Rd was a gorgeous space. I also enjoyed the food. Patio seating overlooking their little koi/lily pond. Fox Point Farms/Brewery in Encinitas was a neat concept. Beer was whatever, but they opened early and it was a beautiful day to sit outside in the garden/farm. I imagine on busier times it gets a little dog/child crazy, as they had a designated stroller parking area over by the bathrooms.
Skepticism is fine. I appreciate you being polite about it at least. You are accurate that most places don't open until 10/11 AM and most close by 10 PM, but not all. You are also correct that Sat/Sun were definitely full day, open to close, days. There's a lot of planning that goes into brewery specific trips (see picture below if it works) to minimize travel time, to ensure places are open and not waste time, and to try to stay in places with a concentration of spots in order to Uber/walk to them. Sometimes a new spot gets tossed into the mix that was unplanned out of sheer convenience (e.g. Barley & Sword and Seek being next door to each other). https://imgur.com/a/sd-brews-7B6davK To your point on liquid consumption, I think you can get a good feel for a brewery from 3 beers (opt out of 3 if the first two are really poor). We always share those 3. I don't like flights (3-4oz in improper glassware doesn't feel like a proper serving style to evaluate a beer). Most breweries don't advertise half pours but are happy to serve them (8-10 oz). I stay away from anything high octane. Also, as long as I finish a review, I am happy to leave the rest of the beer behind. It would be impossible to do marathon days if I tried to finish every beer. A waste of money, but better than drinking something I don't want. Sitting at the bar vs a table definitely speeds up service time. Getting served from a bartender is a lot faster than waiting for a server. Also, ordering 3 at once and closing out helps to leave as soon as you want. We didn't make it to Pizza Port - Oceanside, but we went to PP - Ocean Beach on a Monday. There was no wait at all.
San Diego isn't a hard place to visit and certainly a place I will return to. There were plenty of things I was interested in doing, but the point of this trip was to experience the beer scene. I don't really understand the judgment on how someone wants to spend their free time. I am very lucky to have a partner that enjoys doing these brewery trips together and mostly just samples beers. I agree that I owe her big time for this trip. The reason we plan these in such detail beforehand is to hit perimeter locations first, and then use transit, walking or ride share to get around the rest of the day. Judgment again. I'm glad two beach days and visiting a fantastic beer bar crushes this itinerary for you. My personal preference isn't to spend two days sitting on the beach. That wasn't the point of the visit.
