Toolbox Brewing Co. - Vista, CA

I went here after the Veritas release based on this thread and some comments in another thread and I think I expected more. The Tart X with apricots was by far the best thing they had and it wasn't even close. We tried that, the normal Tart X, Sweet Baby Trey with passionfruit, Virgin Cherry, Purple Drink, Milk Fed Lettuce and My Cousin Strawberry. With the exception of the last one, they were all were okay but nothing special. My Cousin Strawberry was straight up bandaids.

 

Bummer. I was actually thinking of visiting when I'm down in June, but my wife doesn't like Sours. Oh well, I will just hit Booze Brothers instead (along with Pizza Port and Lost Abbey).

 

Thanks. I will do that. Rip Current looks to have a nice selection of Porters which my wife and I both like.

 

Had the EXACT same experience with the same list of beers sans SBT w/ passionfruit. MC Strawberry was the poster child for the reputation strawberry beers have as being a tricky brew.

I do like what they are going for, and hope that on any future visits, things will have changed I'll become a believer.

 

Yep. I definitely like the idea. And I will be back at some point.

 

Looking forward to adding this to my visit place next time

 

Visited there last week. Loved it. Definitely on to something. Nobody in San Diego is doing farmhouse ales. I'm predicting big things from this brewery. They are going to be blowing up. Check them out.

 

I love what they're doing in concept, really hope to see bigger and better things happening for them, definitely will continue to keep an eye on them and keep stopping by probably every time I'm down in San Diego...

BUT...

... For a brewery that is banking so heavily on brettanomyces, I get a surprising lack of FUNK in most of what they're doing. I know it takes time, and I suppose in some ways the "control" they have demonstrated in some of these beers is a virtue, but for my money, I want to see much more Brett character-- aroma, complexity, rustic farmhouse earthiness....

Bring on the funk!

 

Drinking a growler of apricot X right now. Clean, crisp, fruity. The base beer really lets the fruit shine. Considering they are just getting started I really like what they are doing. Looking forward to big things from them. They seem to do a good job separating themselves from other San Diego breweries which isn't easy to do.

 

@cquiroga I see what you're saying, but brett primary ferments have a magic of their own. Getting more funk out of brett requires different techniques when you don't use brewer's yeast to start the fermentation. I really hope they help educate customers about what they're drinking. Too many misconceptions about brett out there. Unfortunately last time I was at Toolbox, the bartender couldn't even tell me what hops were in any of the IPAs...

 

Peter is a double handful. Very good grip.

 

Will be there Sat for GFL pick up.

 

will be at RRBC on Sat missing Toolbox...but not missing it too much

 

X Lupus is pretty darn tasty.

 

There's going to be a lot more bottle releases from them in the near future.

 

3 more to be exact.

 

It's going to be 1-2 a month from here on out. More of their beer will be bottled and there will be less growler fills (or maybe none).

 

Virgin Cherry releasing on the 18th at noon on bpt.