Im heading out to San Diego for work end of April for the first time. Won't have much time throughout the day but will want to hit up a few places to grab some beer to bring back East with me. Looking for some hazy IPAs in particular but really just want to find some good stuff. Ill be staying in the Gaslamp District. Any advice will help! Thanks.
I would recommend reading this: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/visiting-san-diego-winter-2016.372021/ It is just a touch out-of-date, meaning that a few more places that we would recommend have opened. But give it a look first and then we would be able to answer any more specific questions you may have. Also staying in Gaslamp area....I'm sorry.
You have Ballast Point and Bottlecraft a couple of miles away in Little Italy. Modern Times and Bay City Brewing are about a 10 min drive depending on traffic. North Park is around 15 min from you and they have a ton of breweries. San Diego is a piece of cake if you have a car.
Taxi will be your best friend for the time being. my suggestion? the thread burrito reaper posted but to make things easier: best damn beer shop is closest. from here, hop on trolley & go to bottlecraft little italy then go & explore north park (modern times, toronado, rip current/sublime, north park brewing co. amongst others you should also try dunedin) lastly go to modern times however due to your coverage area, your easiest bet is modern times there as mentioned otherwise I'd suggest the main modern times location instead. Should you go that route, try gaglione bros as well. Cheers.
Didn't want to start a whole new thread on this subject, but wanted to get some advice for a family trip we're going on next week. I'm no stranger to San Diego, but when I go with friends we hit the usual spots (Ale Smith, MT, and such). I'm trying to put together a plan to hit up places while with my family. I'd call it "A Craftbeer Man's guide to Surviving a Family Vacation with two kids and a wife who doesn't really approve of the Life Style and will most likely guilt trip you for even asking if a quick stop to a Craft Brew friendly establishment would be possible...a Love Story" Here are my circumstances, apart from the info in the title of my upcoming book. Spending Thursday through Sunday I'm not a fan of taking the kids to a brewery unless they serve food. Like a Karl Strauss, but with drinkable beer. Gonna be staying at Legoland Hotel for most of the trip Won't have buy in from the wife if it takes me away from the family for any significant amount of time. We will make a stop at MT to pick cans and bottles. The wife hates nothing more than losing money, so the prospects of losing out on $270 due to forfeited brew is out of the question. Yeah I can go on yelp and look for places that meet the following criteria, but I've found the best places from actual people, like the ones on this forum. Here's what I need help with: Bottle shops and/or restaurants close to Legoland, with a quality tap list. I'm only concerned with distance when it comes to bottle shops. A strong stout line up would be preferred. Solid brewery/restaurants that serve food, in the general San Diego area. Places other than" Pizza Port" and "Cork and Craft". Restaurants/breweries with a kid friendly environment and/or free wifi. Rock n Brews in El Segundo have a kid's play area. Something like that would be cool. My kids are 5 and 2. They're not big on sitting down and playing board games. Why other places don't do that is baffling to me. I'm not worried about them being wild. I make it a point that they behave in public, but don't want them bored either. Thanks in advanced. All I can offer in return is a promise that, on your death bed, you will receive total consciousness.
Pizza Port Bressi Ranch. Solid pizza and obviously solid beers. Bring quarters so your kids can play video games. Bring cover-up so you can hide the bruises from the nightly wife beatings for going out to breweries. Belching Beaver, I heard (haven't checked it out for myself), has a nice restaurant now. Can cruise on over to Sublime Ale House in San Marcos for a wonderful taplist and food, also Urge. But of course no kid play area at these locations.
I feel like these days, if you want to hit all the styles, do MT, Alesmith, Mikkeller, and Pizza Port. You'll get some haze and BA beers at the first two, some funkier European influenced stuff at Mikkeller, and then classic west coast IPAs (and food, and beach!) at Pizza Port. And then somewhere in between hit up O'Briens or Toronado and try some stuff from other places in California that you might not otherwise have access to.
For the MT pickup, how about dropping by Liberty Station? There's the bottlecraft at public market, stone and a ton of outdoor space and a park for the kids.
Urge in San Marcos has a solid tap list and has games like giant connect four and bocce ball. Lots of room outside for kids to run around. I think they even have bowling alleys inside. Bagby in Oceanside is another good restaurant option, with a shit ton of options on the beer list. Since you're in north county, I wouldn't think of Liberty Station, but it sounds like you'll be at MT, right down the street, so you should consider it, because it has a "kid ventures" place that's a potentially useful way to trick your wife into letting you hit Stone and/or Bottlecraft. Unfortunately you can't just drop them off there, but your wife could watch them and you could go get beers from Bottlecraft, which I believe you could easily bring into the kid place and consume, whether or not it's "allowed". I thought they sold beers (cans like bud light, maybe sierra) at the little cafe there, but maybe I imagined it. Actually, there might be some program where you can drop the kids there and employees supervise them. I've only gone with my wife's parents, where they watched my 3 year old, so I'm not fully aware of the other options. Stone in Escondido has a big outdoor area where you can bring food and beer you order from the bar.
