Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Breweries
405
Hopping Around in San Diego
Brews by the Beach
San Diego, California
Let Northern California have its wine indus-
try. Down south in beachy, casual San
Diego, beer's the drink that warrants gour-
met attention, with a whole crop of tal-
ented local craft brewers scooping up
prizes every year at events such as the
World Beer Cup and Great American Beer
Festival.
San Diego has a longer brewing history
than you might expect, starting in 1896
with the huge
San Diego Brewing Com-
pany.
Although the original company
closed down during World War II, the label
was revived in 1993 as a craft brewery,
located in a strip mall near Qualcomm Sta-
dium (10450-L Friars Rd.;
&
619/284-2739;
www.sandiegobrewing.com). Seven small-
batch beers are brewed on premises; the
bestseller is the coppery San Diego Amber,
though the Friars IPA and Old Town Nut
Brown are also remarkable. Windows in the
convivial bar afford a great view of the
brewing apparatus; fresh beer flows directly
from the vats into the bar taps. With 50 taps
operating, the brewpub also features a
host of interesting “guest beers.”
San Diego's best-known brewery is a
half-hour's drive up I-15, in the North County
suburb of Escondido. Founded in 1996,
Stone Brewery
(1999 Citracado Pkwy.,
Escondido;
&
760/471-4999;
www.stone
brew.com) offers tours and tastings at
its new state-of-the-art, solar-powered,
55,000-sq.-ft. (5,110 sq. m) brewing plant.
The adjacent
World Bistro and Gardens
is a cavernous, lively indoor brewpub with a
rambling garden strewn with boulders. The
bistro's adventurous menu, founded on
Slow Food philosophy, garners mixed
reviews. But there's no quibbling about the
quality of the craft beers, including varieties
such as Arrogant Bastard Ale and Stone
Ruination IPA. They serve a huge menu of
draft and bottled beers from local competi-
tors as well, not to mention an impressive
range of imported brews.
Southern California's largest distribut-
ing microbrewery, the
Karl Strauss Brew-
ing Company
(www.karlstrauss.com)
was founded in 1989 by two college
friends, Chris Kramer and Matt Rattner.
Chris signed on his uncle, a skilled German
brew master (the eponymous Karl Strauss)
to oversee the brewing process. Though
Strauss's seven signature beers are on tap
at many local bars, the best place to enjoy
the label is at the company's four San
Diego brewpubs—1157 Columbia St.,
downtown (
&
619/234-2739
); 1044 Wall
St., La Jolla (
&
858/551-2739
); 9675 Scran-
ton Rd., Sorrento Mesa (
&
858/587-2739
);
and 5801 Armada Dr., Carlsbad (
&
760/431-
2739
). Try to stop in on the first Thursday of
every month, when they tap a keg of spe-
cial cask-conditioned real ale.
Across the majestic Coronado Bridge
on the resortlike Coronado Island, family-
friendly
Coronado Brewing Company
(170 Orange Ave., Coronado;
&
619/437-
4452;
www.coronadobrewingcompany.
com) serves an eclectic range of its own
brews—golden pilseners, nutty brown
ales, robust dark porters and stouts, unfil-
tered wheat beers, sweet malty red ales,
and intriguing seasonal specialties. Wood-
fired pizzas, burgers, and of course San
Diego fish tacos are all on the pub-grub
menu.
Two other local microbreweries are
superlative.
AleSmith Brewing
(9368
Cabot Dr.;
&
858/549-9888;
www.ale
smith.com), led by acclaimed brew master
Peter Zien, has won over 400 awards for
unpasteurized, handcrafted European-style
ales. Tours of the refreshingly small-scale
brewery take place the last Saturday of
