San Diego Train ride.

The Amtrak doesn't stop at the Old Town station - you'd need to use the Coaster or the trolley to stop there. I am unaware of any large concentrations of hotels/breweries that are close to any particular stop. Bagby, PP Carlsbad, and PP Solana Beach are pretty close to stations, and the Little Italy and Gaslamp spots aren't *too* far from the downtown station, but you'd probably need a cab/Uber.

 

The train does stop in old town, just not every one. Its about two a day each way in the morning and evening. Ive got off and on many times there .

 

Sort of like they added a few stops a day in Sorrento Valley, too, I guess. Sorry for the bad info, whiskey. Not that there is anything beer wise in Old Town. You aren't that far from Modern Times there - maybe about a 10 minute walk.

 

If you take the train down, you can get around via the trolley.

As mentioned, there are Coaster stops in Carlsbad and Solana Beach.
Ballast Point/Home Brew Mart is about a block from a trolley station.
Bottlecraft and Ballast Point Little Italy are a few blocks from a trolley station.
Acoustic is at a trolley station.
Stone on Kettner is next to Santa Fe Depot (Amtrack/Coaster/trolley station) and Karl Strauss is a couple blocks away.
Mission is a few blocks from a trolley station.
Monkey Paw is several blocks from (I think) two different trolley stops. The walk is fine during the day, less so after dark.
Benchmark and Groundswell are about a mile from two different trolley stations.

If you want to spend extended time on trains, you can take the Coaster/Amtrak to Carlsbad, then the Sprinter inland. I think Mother Earth is the only brewery within a couple blocks of a station, but several others are within a mile or two. My familiarity with the Hwy 78 brewery locations is admittedly poor.

SD seems to be used by those not from San Diego more than San Diegans. It is not quite like Frisco.

 

Also the remodeled Ballast point is about same distance as modern times. I think id rather stay in that area then dtown as its more central located. But to each their own!!

 

For some reason, the freeway makes the BP Home Brew Mart further away than it is, but yes, it is right there.

 

Yeah it is really close, Modern Times is definitely closer, but I'm surprised by how close those two are to each other. There's just so much activity in that area, transit-wise, that they feel worlds away (also distinctly different neighborhoods).

Also, OP, if you have smartphone use Lyft or Uber if you need to get somewhere more than walking distance from a trolley/train station. It's usually less expensive and more convenient.

 

Hey Jesse. Looking at Amtrak schedule it looks like they stop at Old Town. 2 hours out from Fullerton. Might not be to bad going out of Fullerton to SD Old Town. I wonder if you can get off at Carlsbad and hit up Bagby, PP and Stone and then jump back on the train to Fullerton. Once for back in Fullerton yo can walk over to Bootleggers…..(remember when the Boot was bad?

 

Best bet is to follow toroislander on instagram/twitter. He usually posts some of the highlight beers they have on tap when he is working.

 

http://websta.me/n/toroislander Try that. Dont need to create one to follow

 

Pizza Port.

And Guman's post is misleading. You'd get off at Oceanside to go to Bagby and Stone (and Breakwater if you are so inclined), and Carlsbad to go to Pizza Port Carlsbad.

 

I don't think Amtrak permits hopping on-off on the same ticket. Metrolink does but their trains don't run that often and don't hit SD. I haven't tried it yet, but I think you could connect in Oceanside from Metrolink to a Coaster train to get south.

A cheaper alternative on the weekends is the Metrolink day-pass. $10 and you get to Oceanside where there's a Stone tasting room, or San Clemente for Pizza Port. In comparison Amtrak is $56 for the same trip LA Union to Oceanside.

 

I might use these tips when I go up to LA/Anaheim for a couple ball games for a weekend from downtown SD.

Coaster, SD --> Carlsbad for PP.
Uber to Oceanside for Bagby, etc
Metrolink, Oceanside --> LA/Anaheim

 

would it be a lot slower to take metrolink than amtrak?

i too am interested in doing this some time

 

I think you all should check out the metrolink schedule first. It runs from oside to la and back for the work commute times but for maybe once on weekends and during the day if that . I always tried but they dont seem to try and cater to day trips and such

 

Not any slower since Amtrak shares the tracks and trains going the same direction don't pass each other. But I'll echo what @imyourhero21 said - there aren't a ton of trains on the weekends. If you plan a day trip chances are you'll find options that give you a good half or full day. And you can always split Metrolink one-way, Amtrak back, and it will still be cheaper than a round-trip Amtrak ticket.

Here's the metrolink schedule, scroll towards the bottom for Saturday/Sunday trains
http://www.metrolinktrains.com/schedules/line/name/Orange County/service_id/1152.html

I'm surprised no one's brought up the "drinking on Amtrak" topic yet.