Hey BAs - Apologies as I saw a lot of San Diego threads. I dug through a few and got some good recommendations, but I wanted to make sure I'm not missing out on anything. I'm in San Diego until Monday, and I'm hoping to experience as much as the beer scene as I can, as very few Pacific-region beers make their way to me in Grand Rapids, MI. Specifically, I am in Mission Valley (Friars/Mission Center) with limited transportation. I do have access to a car, but it may only be available at night and I've got full days to kill. The trolley looks like it can get me just about anywhere, though, which is fantastic. So here is my plethora of questions: 1. Best bars for selection, especially sampling? 2. Any must-see/must-visit breweries for unique atmosphere/food? 3. Dog-friendly stops? 4. Interesting events going on this weekend? 5. Bottle shop where I can pick up some singles? Ended up at my first BevMo last night and was overwhelmed by the selection, but unfortunately they didn't sell singles. More than enjoyed a Sculpin IPA and Speedway Stout bomber, though. And my one stupid question: how hard is Pliny the Elder to find (on tap or in bottles)? I've always assumed it's like KBS out by me, where the idea of finding it is laughable, but it's probably my #1 most wanted so I gotta check. If you can answer any of those, you have my eternal thanks.
Toronado is a great beer bar. Must see: Stone Bistro and World Gardens for food/atmosphere. I don't know about dogs. Bottle shops: Best Damn Beer Shop, Bottlecraft are two I hit up. Pliny shouldn't be hard to find, it's usually on tap at Toronado. SD locals will help you more but that's where I go when I'm in SD. PS: Where are you staying, that will help zero in targets for you.
1. Best bars for selection, especially sampling? The Tap Room in Pacific Beach generally has about 50 tap handles with a focus on local beers and sells tasters and flights. O'Brien's in Kearny Mesa usually has good stuff on and sells half-pints. I don't think Toronado generally sells small pours but they usually have a great selection. You can see what's on tap at the Tap Room and O'Brien's by going to their websites. For Toronado, Untappd will give you some idea of what's on. 2. Any must-see/must-visit breweries for unique atmosphere/food? The original Stone in Escondido has a unique atmosphere and is a cool place to go, but the food is iffy and it's a haul from Mission Valley. The new Stone at Liberty Station is also pretty cool and more convenient to Mission Valley. I don't know how their food is, but Slater's 50/50 is steps away and has great burgers and good taps as well. 3. Dog-friendly stops? Hamilton's in South Park is dog-friendly and has good beers. The Coronado tasting room on Knoxville is also dog-friendly and usually has about 20 Coronado beers available for tasters, half pints, pints and 32- or 64-oz growler fills. 4. Interesting events going on this weekend? I don't know much about it but there's a San Diego Beer Festival at Liberty Station on Saturday. 5. Bottle shop where I can pick up some singles? Ended up at my first BevMo last night and was overwhelmed by the selection, but unfortunately they didn't sell singles. More than enjoyed a Sculpin IPA and Speedway Stout bomber, though. Olive Tree, Bottlecraft, Bine and Vine. Have fun.
A quick cab ride will get you to Ocean Beach where in walking distance are several beer stops: Pizza Port Olive Tree Market, bottles and tasting room Newport Pizza always has interesting taps Trolley can get you to possibly a brand new brewery: Benchmark Brewing, contact them for closest trolley stop Also can take the trolley to Old LA Mesa to Hoffer's Cigar Bar, plus 20 excellent taps Going downtown you can take the trolley ton the County Admin Stop then walk north and find Bottle Craft bottle shop Quick cab ride to 30th & University puts you near Toronado/Tiger!Tiger! For bars and a brew satellite of Belching Beaver Brewing plus another Bottle Craft bottle shop. Can also take the trolley further into downtown and work your way over to Monkey Paw brewpub. Lots of options.
Oh and take trolley to Morena exit and from there walk to Ballast Point Brewing (also.known as Homebrew Mart) tasters only. And then you can hoof it up Morena to the Coronado Brewing Knoxville location. Tasters and pints. Hell...you can hit a lot along the trolley these days.
Bottlecraft (North Park, not India Street) and Toronado are both < 30 minutes by bus from that area and are close to each other. As for Pliny, Toronado has it on pretty regularly, and Obriens has it on like 99% of the time. Both places also usually have at least one Alpine beer on tap. If you manage to make your way to Obriens, then you MUST go to Societe since it’s only a couple blocks away and serves some of the best IPAs in SD right now. Most (but not all) breweries are dog-friendly.
The trolley is your friend. Green Line: Manzanita and Butcher's are between the Gillespie Field and Santee stops. About a mile walk from either stop. San Diego Brewing Co. is about a mile from the Grantville stop. As mentioned, Ballast Point of a couple blocks from the Morena/Linda Vista stop. Bottlecraft (dog friendly store) is a few blocks from the Little Italy stop. Karl Strauss is a couple blocks from Sante Fe Depot. Orange Line: Downtown Johnny Brown's is couple blocks from the Civic Center stop. Monkey Paw is about a half-dozen blocks from either the City College or Park & Market stops. Mission Brewery is across a large parking lot from Petco Park, near the 12th & Imperial transit center. You can take the trolley to Old Town, get on the Coaster, and hit either the Solana Beach or Carlsbad Pizza Port locations. You could also continue to Oceanside and get on the Sprinter, which will take you inland along Hwy 78. That would get you within walking distance of several breweries, including Lost Abbey and Stone. This requires a significant investment of time.
Don't buy a hoppy beer from BevMo unless it's something you know is fresh, like a new Enjoy By or something with a bottle date. The last few times I've stopped there and checked bottle dates on hoppy beers I've found them to be 4-6 months old. blah.
Awesome stuff, all. I know stuff like this pops up all the time but this helps to narrow the scope. Afternoon #1 was spent at the Tap Room, enjoying my first-ever Pliny the Elder(s). Taking a few hours off and heading to some of the stops downtown. Almost everything here is a good trolly-ride away, cheap and practical. I do have access to a car at nights, so I'll be sure to hit up as many of these as I can. Can't figure out why I'm suddenly craving a reuben, though.
Anyone have any experience with the chauffeured brewery tours? These are the few I found online. Any advice would be appreciated. http://www.brewerytoursofsandiego.com/dailytours.html http://www.sandiegobrewtours.com/public-tours.html http://www.lajollawinetours.com/beer-tours/guided-brewery-tours/ http://www.brewhop.com/sandiego.html
Brew Hop is the way to go. Used them many times for out of town guests and their service has been amazing!
