breweries to check out in San Diego?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jotakah

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2011
Messages
247
Reaction score
15
Location
Olympia
Hey all,

I'm heading to San Diego for a conference tomorrow (Friday) through Tuesday. I hope to check out some breweries while I'm down there, any tips?

I'm definitely hoping to get to AleSmith and Ballast Point. Any locals have other tips, or maybe some great taphouses that have awesome selections? Or specific brews I should try?

Maybe somebody will want to meet me for a beer? :mug:
 
Check www.westcoaster.com. They have a comprehensive list of all the county breweries as well as an events calendar. There aren't any I'd say to stay away from, but the must see breweries are Alpine, Stone, Ballast Point, Alesmith, and Lost Abbey. I'm sure I left some out. No offense to those fine breweries.
 
If you goto any brewery in SD, make the trip to Alpine -- one if the best brewery on the West Coast, if not US.
 
i was gonna say how now one said stone yet!?!

never been there but one of my favorites behind firestone walker. Paso robles not sure how far that is but if your in the area i would say thats 100% #1. There barrel aging program is topnotch.
 
You say "San Diego" but SD is actually a huge region and you are literally getting recommendations from North County (Lost Abbey and Stone) to more the heart of SD (Ballast Point, Green Flash, Alesmith) to east county (Alpine). If you have lots of time to drive, then my words are falling on deaf ears (or blind eyes in this case?). There are great beer bars in San Diego too, but someone else will have to chime in with that.

Also giving a big vote for any Pizza Port location. There are 3 in various areas of San Diego (not including their San Clemente location, which is just north of SD county). They all brew their own beers, and all make beer worth seeking out and drinking. Carlsbad (again, in North County) is arguably my favorite, but they're all worth having a beer or 3 at.
 
What somethin different?
Societe is one of the best upcoming breweries out there in san Diego...
Welcome to ipa land!!
Igotsand
 
Absolutely. The best local brewery you're going to find by far is the Breakwater Brewing Company in Oceanside. Absolutely AMAZING beers, great food and super friendly bar. Not too far of a drive from San Diego proper either.

Breakwater Brewing Company
101 North Coast Highway
Oceanside, CA 92054
(760) 433-6064
:tank:
 
Yea, it really depends on where you're staying. Downtown is fairly sparse, but north county (up to an hour plus from downtown) is also rich in breweries. If you're downtown, drive 20m and hit up the Miramar area:

Ballast Point
Green Flash
Alesmith
Karl Strauss
Hess
Rough Draft
Wet 'n Reckless

And Societe just a few exits down the 15
 
Absolutely. The best local brewery you're going to find by far is the Breakwater Brewing Company in Oceanside. Absolutely AMAZING beers, great food and super friendly bar. Not too far of a drive from San Diego proper either.

Breakwater Brewing Company
101 North Coast Highway
Oceanside, CA 92054
(760) 433-6064
:tank:

Breakwater wouldn't be my first choice. IMO- Alesmith is making the best beer in the country right now, and Green Flash shouldn't be ignored. People really love Societe as well. Alpine's a bit of drive from here, but also has some interesting stuff. Ballast Point has some awesome specialty offerings and one of the biggest beer boards of all the tasting rooms.
 
For the homebrewer's interest, check out White Labs's tasting room. http://www.whitelabs.com/tasting_room.html

Would definitely recommend Stone, Green Flash, The Lost Abbey, Ballast Point, etc.

Hess Brewing is a small guy that just expanded from 1.5 barrels to 30 barrels and would also be worth a trip if you have time.
 
For the homebrewer's interest, check out White Labs's tasting room. http://www.whitelabs.com/tasting_room.html

Would definitely recommend Stone, Green Flash, The Lost Abbey, Ballast Point, etc.

Hess Brewing is a small guy that just expanded from 1.5 barrels to 30 barrels and would also be worth a trip if you have time.

Dang it! Every SINGLE time I forget to mention the WL tasting room. Super cool. Hess is neat, but the 30bbl location won't be open for a while. The nano is still an awesome visit though.
 
For the homebrewer's interest, check out White Labs's tasting room. http://www.whitelabs.com/tasting_room.html

Would definitely recommend Stone, Green Flash, The Lost Abbey, Ballast Point, etc.

Hess Brewing is a small guy that just expanded from 1.5 barrels to 30 barrels and would also be worth a trip if you have time.


+1 for this. The WL tasting room was one of my favorite places while in SD. They have the recipe book there so you can actually see what ingredients went into the beer you are drinking. Awesome to see how big a difference yeast makes in a beer as well.
 
Port/lost abbey is great. The people there are cool too. Ballast point is always a must. You green flash is great. Huge tap room and really friendly beer tenders.
 
Stone is a must go, amazing place. Only 30 minutes (Cali speeds) from San diego. Also in San Marcos (just west of Escondido) is Sublime, which does not brew there own, but has an incredibly selection of local craft brews, good grub too.
 
Breakwater wouldn't be my first choice. IMO- Alesmith is making the best beer in the country right now, and Green Flash shouldn't be ignored. People really love Societe as well. Alpine's a bit of drive from here, but also has some interesting stuff. Ballast Point has some awesome specialty offerings and one of the biggest beer boards of all the tasting rooms.

I don't know man, I absolutely love Breakwater. I'll have to go by Alesmith next time I'm back home though, haven't been through that one yet, or Ballast Point. Not a fan of Societe personally. Where is Ballast Point?
 
Stone is a must go, amazing place. Only 30 minutes (Cali speeds) from San diego. Also in San Marcos (just west of Escondido) is Sublime, which does not brew there own, but has an incredibly selection of local craft brews, good grub too.

I always forget to tell people about Sublime Ale House. If you only have time to hit up one place then that actually would be a good way to go as they carry brews from a several different local brewers which would give you a way to try several without being locked into just one.....IF you're short on time of course.
 
Pizza Port Ocean Beach
1956 Bacon Street
San Diego, CA
(619) 224-4700

Definitely. Great atmosphere, Probably over 50 taps.
Personal favorites:
Bacon and Eggs (beer, not breakfast)
Retox Pale Ale
Mongo IIPA

Oh and great Pizza, their plain cheese pizza is actually the best (I usually go for supreme everywhere else).
 
WOW! awesome recommendations! catching my flight soon, thank you all so much! I especially appreciate the tips about the beer bars/pizza places that I wouldn't have thought to check into.

I'll try to hit as much as I can in 5 days and will report back
 
WOW! awesome recommendations! catching my flight soon, thank you all so much! I especially appreciate the tips about the beer bars/pizza places that I wouldn't have thought to check into.

I'll try to hit as much as I can in 5 days and will report back

Sounds good. Just a heads up too, most of the owners/brewers in the area are cool enough that if you have a way of getting it back with you, and are there at the right time, will have no problem giving you a tube of their yeast as well.
 
Blind Lady Ale House & Automatic Brewing is also worth visiting. Excellent bar with a nano in the back. If you're just looking for a bar, Toronado is hard to beat.
 
wow- San Diego was fun!
*Green flash was amazing.
*Gordon Biersch was underwhelming and WAY too snobby
*Hess brewing had the best DIPA
*since I don't like belgians too much I didn't love the selection at Alesmith but was impressed nonetheless
*Coronado brewing was tasty enough in a cool location
*Ballast point was a mixed bag. Sculpin was incredible but their other IPA was not so good

when I head back next year i'm renting a car and checking out Alpine, Stone, and much more, thanks all for the recommendations!
 
Back
Top