San Diego Brewery Tour

Alpine Beer Company. Do that, then go elsewhere. Showup at the brewpub at opening. Every other brewery is secondary.

It is tiny, unimpressive, a dump, far away from the rest. Best San Diego beer and food ( for a brewpub ) bar none imo. It's about the beer, right?

 

I would check out Soceite as well. They are basically brand new and still very small, but their IPAs contend with the best on the West Coast.

 

There are simply too many awesome places to hit in San Diego to do a one-day trip. The three you listed seem fairly reasonable. Everyone and their mothers told me to go to Pizza Port Carlsbad as well when I was down there, but sadly we weren't able to fit it in. Not sure if you're doing the tour at Stone, but if not, I would try to hit Pizza Port on your day as well!

Also, Alpine is definitely worth the trip!

 

When we went, we got there right at 11:45 and just got in line before a group of 15 showed up and filled the rest of the group.

 

Their food is nothing to write home about. Standard fried apps and bbq sandwich entrees. Their beer, on the other hand...

I'll be there this weekend. For the beer.

 

Dude I love the BBQ, brewer's plate, fried pickles. Nom.

 

Fried green beans... mmmmmm.

 

Fried pickles + Alpine Nelson + Alpine pub = Heaven on Earth
I'll take that to my grave.

 

Oh and the caveat is there: "for a brewpub". It blows away Stone's overpriced nonsense, and the food trucks at other breweries.

 

Killing me. I'm on a cut right now. Haven't had a damn beer in 10 days.

 

BRB on dat dere dreamer bulk. forever bulking.

In all seriousness OP you are going to have a great time no matter where you go. SD is very blessed.

 

lol. I've tried to cut while drinking "only on weekends". That turns into serious binges.

 

This is what myself and two other buddies did this past Saturday.

1. Buddies wife dropped the 3 of us off at Green Flash.
2. The 3 of us split a taxi to AleSmith ($15 total)
3. We walk around the block to Hess
4. We take taxi from Hess to Ballast Point ($10)
   • We wanted to go to White Labs first but dropped it due to time constraints
5. My friend's wife picks us up from Ballast Point and we go to Port/Lost Abbey. We arrive there at 8pm and did not realize they close at 8pm, so we go back to Stone.
   • Sorry, but Stone was a buzz kill. Way too much showmanship for what we wanted to do. It's a great place for a date night, but not the kind of place you'd want to go with buddies on a brew hopping tour.
6. From Stone we drive up to Pizza Port, San Clemente and finish our brew tours there.

We drove down from Orange County at 10:30AM and got to Green Flash at Noon. We Left Pizza Port at roughly 11:30PM to go back to the OC.
It was a stellar day!!!

 

Yeah it's solid if that's what you're looking for. I can't compare it to other BBQ in SD because it just doesn't compare - BYOB at Phil's would rule. Speaking of BYOB, try the Salt Link in Austin - BYOB and awesome BBQ. Cat Head's in SF is a decent spot too right downtown...grab bottles at City Beer and head down a couple blocks for some BBQ.

Stone is def overpriced, but their food can be really good. The improved menu at Rock Bottom is actually pretty damn good, and you can't go wrong at Karl Strauss for solid brewpub food. Pizza Port is killer too - Beer Buddies are excellent.

 

Dude, I don't want to be an ass, but Phil's BBQ is the most over-rated place in the state; and it's not even BBQ. To be BBQ the meat has to be smoked. Phil's is just meat parboiled and roasted until it breaks down and then slathered in sauce. Why people in this town love it so much will always be a mystery to me. I give Alpine a ton of credit for actually having a smoker to prepare their BBQ, my only knock is that their results tend to be inconsistent. It'll be great one day and dry the the next. At least it's real BBQ and you get to wash it down with one of the best beers on the planet.

Has anybody been out to West Coast BBQ in La Mesa yet, Tom Nickles' new place? I need to check that out. Imagine good BBQ and an O'Brien's style beer list.

 

I have been to West Coast a few times. BBQ was mediocre before the takeover and has been getting better and better to where it is definitely solid. The last time I tried the brisket it was much more moist, and they are adding fries, onion rings and other apps similar to what O'Briens has.

Totally agree about Phils, although I really like the onion rings there.