I don't know much about San Diego. When researching where to do, what to do I fell back on my two favorite searches: "coffee" and "microbrewery". I found a decent list from San Diego Reader but then I caught a local news list which stated that San Diego has seven of the top one hundred microbreweries in the U.S. per www.ratebeer.com. It became overwhelming trying to determine what microbreweries to visit. I found this guide from www.vinepair.com that aggregates microbreweries by San Diego geographical areas.
Let me get my two microbrewery critiques out at the top. First, I can't stand warehouse microbreweries. I like visiting microbreweries as much for the neighborhoods they lead me to as the beer that I drink. I like that microbreweries have helped to revitalize neighborhoods and become a source of civic pride. Microbreweries in warehouses defeat my purpose for visiting a microbrewery. San Diego has a lot of warehouse microbreweries. My second gripe about microbreweries are certain brewers desire to take what essential are four simple ingredients (grain, hops, water, and yeast) and "personalize" their brew with flavors like honey suckle and pine sap. I checked Rate Beer for Philadelphia area listings and Tired Hands, over in Ardmore, made the list at Number 13. Tired Hands has beers with honey suckle and pine sap. I've been to Tired Hands three times. I've never had a good beer. It makes me question the entire Rate Beer rankings. Fortunately, the San Diego breweries I visited simply made good beer, no crazy flavors added. I am actually encouraged to consult the Rate Beer rankings on future trips.
Let me get my two microbrewery critiques out at the top. First, I can't stand warehouse microbreweries. I like visiting microbreweries as much for the neighborhoods they lead me to as the beer that I drink. I like that microbreweries have helped to revitalize neighborhoods and become a source of civic pride. Microbreweries in warehouses defeat my purpose for visiting a microbrewery. San Diego has a lot of warehouse microbreweries. My second gripe about microbreweries are certain brewers desire to take what essential are four simple ingredients (grain, hops, water, and yeast) and "personalize" their brew with flavors like honey suckle and pine sap. I checked Rate Beer for Philadelphia area listings and Tired Hands, over in Ardmore, made the list at Number 13. Tired Hands has beers with honey suckle and pine sap. I've been to Tired Hands three times. I've never had a good beer. It makes me question the entire Rate Beer rankings. Fortunately, the San Diego breweries I visited simply made good beer, no crazy flavors added. I am actually encouraged to consult the Rate Beer rankings on future trips.
I headed to Miramar. To say that Miramar has a great collection of microbreweries is a bit of an overstatement. Because...well...that would imply the microbreweries stretch across and throughout Miramar and that they aren't all collected in a single warehouse district across the street from the MCAS Miramar airport. Which they are. The more appropriate thing to say is "There's a warehouse district across the street from the MCAS Miramar airport that has AleSmith #6, Ballast Point #61, and Mikkeller #65, three of the top one hundred microbreweries in the U.S. located in it." Within the same district area are also Duckfoot, Saint Archer, 32 North, Rough Draft, Mike Hess, Pure Project, Division 23, Little Miss, Thunderhawk, Rough Draft, and I'm sure one more has opened since I visited two weeks ago. These microbreweries are all within a mile diameter of one another.
Anyway.
First stop, AleSmith, the highest rated of the San Diego breweries. I went with the .394 Lager, their flagship beer. .394 is Tony Gwynn's highest single season batting average and the association doesn't stop there. AleSmith has a Tony Gwynn museum on the far side of their tasting room, which is an attraction in and of itself. Great beer. Great museum. If you were hungry there were two food trucks.
Anyway.
First stop, AleSmith, the highest rated of the San Diego breweries. I went with the .394 Lager, their flagship beer. .394 is Tony Gwynn's highest single season batting average and the association doesn't stop there. AleSmith has a Tony Gwynn museum on the far side of their tasting room, which is an attraction in and of itself. Great beer. Great museum. If you were hungry there were two food trucks.
Back out on Miramar Road every so slightly before darting back into the warehouse district for stop number two - Ballast Point, #61 and a brewery that has done as much as any to build the San Diego microbrewery scene. Their beer is available for sale throughout Pennsylvania. Their tasting room is more restaurant than brewery scene. I stuck with their flagship beer, a Sculpin IPA.
Through the warehouse district to Mikkeller Brewing, the #65 brewer who has a less ambitious tasting room. I think I captured the entire tasting room in the photo below. But they did have the best logos.
Stone Brewing was the final stop and while I was thirty minutes north in San Marcos I was still in warehouse district land. Stone's complex is off the charts. It felt more like a lounge, from the stone walled path leading in to the swanky interior, this was unlike any microbrewery I've ever visited. And the beer was good too. I opted for a salt and lime lager and it was refreshing.
That wrapped up round one of the San Diego microbrewery tour. Fortunately each of these microbreweries provided sample sizes so in total I drank 34 ounces of beer in total over three hours.