I will be visiting San Diego from Chicago August 8-20 for work. Will have a car to get around but won't have time to drive more than 45 minutes from the city. Looking for recommendations on breweries, events during these dates, bars (will be staying in Gaslamp for part of the trip and Ocean Beach during the other part), bottleshops near where I'm staying, beers I need to pick up while I'm in town, etc. Thanks in advance for any responses. Cheers!
45 mins from wherever you are in San Diego will get you everywhere in the county. You can go from Oceanside to Chula Vista in 45 mins. Just maybe not during rush hour.
Downtown you can't go wrong with a lot of great breweries that aren't far to get to. Downtown - Stone - Classic West-Coast style IPAs and solid overall lineup. Kettner tasting room downtown is chill and fun to visit. Half Door - Eastern Downtown, pure hazy IPA spot and great for their dry Irish stout. Resident - Inside The Local, great hazy IPAs and other beers are solid too. They do some west coast style IPAs too still. Karl Strauss - Aurora Hopyalis is one of the modern West Coast classics. If you like ambers, Red Trolley is a staple and their wit is one of the best in town. Great restaurant downtown. Skip Ballast Point and 10 Barrel. Ballast Point recently sold and 10 Barrel is pretending to be local. Not far from Downtown - North Park area - North Park Brewing - Great West Coast IPAs and solid beers across the board Rip Current - Excellent West Coast IPAs, stouts, and German styles. Modern Times - Hazy IPAs, Imperial Stouts, house roasted coffee, sours, and kettle sours. Fall - Great West Coast IPAs, stouts, and lagers Belching Beaver - Great West Coast IPAs and stouts. If you like sours, take the trip up to Council Brewing in Clairemont area and stop by Societe at the same time. Both also do solid West Coast style IPAs though personally Societe is the winner on IPAs while Council is the winner on sours. Societe's sours are more subtle generally from what I have had. If you go with just those breweries, you can add in some stops at Hamiltons, Toronado, Small Bar, or other local spots to get some beers from further out of the area without travelling too far.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/visiting-san-diego-winter-2016.372021/ Still accurate ... add Fall Brewing to the list
As far as events go, there's the Stone Anniversary festival on the 19th: http://www.stonebrewing.com/events/...tion-invitational-beer-festival#ageGatePassed
When in Ocean Beach, I recommend Mike Hess, Culture, Pizza Port, and Kilowatt. Near Ocean Beach is Modern Times, Stone Liberty Station, and Bay City. For bottle shops, there is a Bottle Craft in Liberty Station, near Stone, and there is Baron's in Point Loma, and Olive Tree Market in Ocean Beach. Chris's Deli in Ocean Beach is good for local beers, too. Make sure to eat at The Joint and Pizza Port in Ocean Beach. The Joint has excellent food and a great tap list.
As to the above, Culture and Kilowatt are solid spots if you don't want to leave the area. Kilowatt is great for adjunct stouts and Culture has some solid beers. They don't beat other breweries in town but if you don't want to leave OB they are worth a stop. I'm personally not a fan of Mike Hess beers but they are done well. Pizza Port has both the house beers, great pizza, and guest taps. Liberty Station is great as well for all the options suggested.
Having just spent two nights in San Diego, I'm going to have to add Border X Brewing to that list of recommendations. It's in the Barrio Logan area of town so it's a short bus ride away. I thought they had some really solid beers on tap and one of the standouts for me was their berliner with lime and cucumber. It was like a tart, boozy cucumber beer and I was into it. They also have two buck tacos, which aren't so bad.
Don't miss Half Door in the downtown/Gaslamp area. Killer NE IPAs and great food in a very cool old house made to look like an Irish pub with a great view of Petco park and fun outdoor seating.
Oh....and whatever you do, DO NOT skip the fish tacos at South Beach Bar and Grill in Ocean Beach. Hands down the best fish tacos you'll find in SD and if you go on Tuesdays, they are only $2.75 each (Wahoo, Mahi Mahi, Ahi Tuna, Swordfish, Shark)
As for bottle shops, there is a Bottle Craft in Little Italy, which is just a few blocks NW of the Gaslamp (like a 5 minute drive) and is right next door to Ballast Point (2 birds with one stone).
Anyone got recommendations for a good bottle shop out towards/in Poway? Was gonna post in "the thread", but it's closed.
