My wife and I – Ohioans – are heading to San Diego next weekend (a work trip for her, a credit-card-points-redeeming trip for me). I created this map of all things beer to plan our stay: http://g.co/maps/z68bs Two questions, then: – How do we prioritize our visit? – Would we be foolish to try to bring some beer back on the plane? If not, what is a good online resource for packaging bottles for flight? Thanks so much, and I hope the map can be useful for others, as well!
Not foolish at all to bring beer back. Just throw them in your checked luggage. If you want to bring a lot back, bring an extra suitcase, fill it, and check it. Will be cheaper than shipping.
Well, Hwy 78 is hell and gone from your hotel, so that's a lot of driving, remember that when returning. You've got a lot of bars listed and often, they have some of the same lineups. Brewery wise I'd probably hit Alpine/Alesmith/Green Flash as part of 1 day. Skip Bev-4-Less and Main Tap tavern. Former is run by a jerkwad and the later I've never heard raving reviews. Do hit Hoffer's instead, but think about where you'll be. Likewise I'd skip O'Briens and instead focus on 30th St. Toro/Hammies will have some of the best beer lineups, but Hammies can get CRAZY packed. If it's packed, I'd hit Monkey Paw (same owners, but this is their brewpub). I like Small Bar (also in the same family as Monkey Paw/Hammies) and instead hit Blind Lady Alehouse, why? Because Bine & Vine bottle shop is 2 blocks away, 2 birds, 1 stone. All about economics of a short trip. Up north you want to haul buttocks out there early as it's over an hour away from your hotel. Most Def hit Lost Abbey, while their bottles have wildly varying carbonation, their beer is fantastic on tap. Stone is stone, I say skip it, but also call in to see if their rennovations are done, that might really affect dinner plans there. I've never been impressed with Churchill's, if anything skip it and hit Pizza Port Carlsbad OR Pizza Port Ocean beach. You cannot go wrong there and I'd hit either over Church's (and even Stone). Replace Encinitas Ale House, there beer is pricey as I'm told unless it's happy hour. A PP is a great sub-in option. Likewise I'm not that big of a fan of the Regal beagle, but Ballast Point is nearby, the 1st location and also homebrew mart. In fact, without a PP on your list and the fact they're a brewpub that doesn't bottle, make sure you hit one of those. I'd sub in Monkey Paw for Regal beagle in a heartbeat. Best Damn Beer shop is also nearby if you hit MP up. My 2 cents.
MacNCheese – Holy crap that is so helpful. Thanks for the effort and expertise! tyrsis (or anyone) – Thanks for the confidence. Do you have any specific recommendations for packaging bottles for a rough 2000mile ride?
When doing our beer tours in SD the general thought is 3 breweries +1 brewpub is managable. My girlfriend lives in Denver and we visit a LOT of breweries. What we do is order a sampler and she and I split it. Cheaper and what we're looking for is 1 or 2 beers that we want a pint of. We order different pints and split those as well. This is about the only way you can really visit many breweries and still drive. Keep that in mind, esp up north. For the 78, I'd start at Holiday, check out what they have, then Stone/Lost Abbey/Pizza Port Carlsbad, then drive back south. As for traveling with beer, Holiday should have a 12pack wine shipper, I take these on planes all the time, they're your best bet for bring back many bottles. Plus extras in your luggage. Oh, you have to check the wine shipper. When visiting Alpine, you want to be there when they open, do your sampling, buy bottles, then haul booty out to Alesmith, then Green Flash, then down to 30th st and probably hit BLAH 1st for food, then Bine & Vine, then down to Toro. Not sure how many days you're in town, but you're attempting to hit a lot of places quickly. On the night you arrive and get your car, I'd hit Monkey Paw first since it's not that far from the airport OR go to Ocean Beach and hit Olive Tree (and their tasting room), get bottles, hit Pizza Port OB for dinner, then up to your hotel. Lots of options, great beer everywhere!
skip beverages 4 less and maybe even palms add in bottlecraft which is located in little italy/downtown and add in the best damn beer shop/super jr market also located downtown. better service and better locations. i hear a lot of bad things about beverages 4 less SKIP MAIN TAP IN EL CAJON! there are way better beer places in san diego and their beer is mediocre (but is getting better good for them) id also skip hoffers and regal begal. cool places, but adding in places like blind house or tiger tiger are smarter for a days drinking excursion up and down 30th street "beer corridor". like macncheese said even adding monkeypaw is a great start you get a lot of what hamiltons and small bar have to offer with less crowds and they have been brewing since november and making some EXCELLENT beer! you might even get a chance to try the rich mans iipa which is wonderful! i also say ditch encinitas ale house and drive a little more down to solana beach pizza port! if you need any food recommendations in any of those areas let us know
Just to clarify – we don't intend to visit every location on the map. Not even half of them. It's just meant to help us choose how to apportion our time / travel / money / etc. This thread is a large part of the narrowing-process, and just a few comments in it's already incredibly helpful! MacNCheese, thanks for the additional recommendations and advice for flying beers. I'll be less tentative about it now. pinkgrenade, your advice is also valuable – we'll definitely hit the beer corridor, because taking a bus and walking to several places is better than driving! I'll add all of the given suggestions so the map later today, and we'll see how this goes – thanks, everybody!
Good deal, how many days will you have? I also put Monkey paw above The Neighborhood, if you want to hit a brewpub. The philly cheesesteaks are top notch, my fav is the Blairsteak. Monkey Bones are good too. Also with the 12 pk shipper, bring a small roll of packing tape, once your beers are snug inside, wrap the tape around the box to create handles...makes managing the big thing much easier and the airport people will love you. Although in some airports they do cut them, so keep the tape in your bag and simply make new handles when you pick your bag up. TSA will open the box almost always, but it's not illegal to pack beer and I'v enever had anything stolen. There's simply a ton in SD and some of it is really spread out, with all the new breweries opening as well the choices are endless. Hell I live here and still haven't been everywhere. Also check the calendar to see what's going on, and get on some mailing lists of the bars to see if they'll be doing anything special, that may influence your destinations as well.
oh and packing beer in your suitcase is super easy. bring ziplocks and put them in there and then wrap them in your clothes. i havent had anything stolen or broken yet! i always look like a crazy person when i get my luggage and rip it open and rip out all my clothes as soon as it comes off the baggage claim
Oh, how helpful this has been. If nothing else, it's resulted in a pretty bitchin' map, too: http://g.co/maps/rvq5q Thanks again!
Some good tips in here already. Everyone's got their biases, but that's to be expected. One thing I'll add is ... if you want to try a bunch of SD beers in one place, I'd suggest the Tap Room in Pacific Beach. They usually will have 4-5 beers on tap from Green Flash, AleSmith, Ballast Point, Stone, Karl Strauss and Pizza Port/Lost Abbey. That's 4-5 beers from each of those breweries. Plus a lot of rotating taps. And you can get flights so you can sample a lot of different stuff. The food is pretty good, too. The lobster mac and cheese will fill you up for sure. It's six blocks from the beach and Crystal Pier, so you can go for a walk after drinking if you like. If you make plans to meet any BAs while you're here, bring some fresh Columbus IPA to share.
