Best San Diego Brews (to Visit)

I know there are a ton to choose from, but please share your top 3 to visit. Preference goes all over the board but I drink more IPA than other styles. Unique, local, and can only get it in SD are the next key criteria for picking the 3.

This prior thread should help -Breweries to visit in San Diego? - Beer and Spirits - WineBerserkers

Favs from my visit were Pure Project, Eppig, and Modern Times. Also enjoyed Societe hoppy beers at various restaurants.

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What part of town will you be in?

Modern Times should be numero uno for your preferences, they usually have 15-20 different IPA/DIPAs on tap and if your lucky you can get cans in the mini mart that don’t see distro. I highly suggest you make it out to Pariah as well. Pizza Port is legit, more west coast styled IPAs and they have really good pizza, it’s a fun hang out and every hop head needs to drink super fresh Swamis IPA off the tap.

Cheers,

Bud

Depending on where you are in San Diego…Wild Barrel brewery is in San Marcos is almost impossible to find outside of the brewery. A ton of yummy sours and Hazy’s.

Near Gaslamp, but I have a rental car so can get around a bit.

Thanks all!

I’m a native of SD, but haven’t lived there since brewpubs were invented :wink: Do still visit family couple of times a year, so recs here are useful. Looks like Modern Times have 3 locations within pretty easy distance from downtown. I got slagged in another thread for going to 10 Barrel while in Bend, but really enjoyed it. There’s one not far from Gaslamp. Beers were good, food very good for a brewpub. Bunch of small ones I see in North Park, those are probably pretty eclectic.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. Here is my top 10 from what tried over five days and some general observations. We tried to focus on beer we can’t get back east, so we did not try any Stone, Ballast Point, Green Flash.

  1. Eppig Festbier. We tried a decent number of German style beers, given that we were there for part of October including the Modern Times/Heater Allen Tentbier. Eppig stood out as the best in this category.

  2. Karl Strauss Aurora Hoppyalis stood out as the best and seemed to have the best of both worlds flavor profile (E and W coast IPA) and stood out among Boat Shoes (hazy), Tower 10 West Coast, and Frank the Dank, probably the second best name we saw.

  3. Gentle Reminder. Pizza Port/Modern Times (MT). IPA, incredibly quaffable with some structure in the back end and haze in the front.

  4. Societe Pupil. Tried a few beers from flights and this stood out as the best. Showed up on a lot of restaurant lists and is worth seeking as a go to SD brew.

  5. Astral Prism, MT (Special Release). Bud’s description re-pasted below was spot on, so I need not say any more.

Hopped with Nelson, Mosaic and Amarillo. 9% ABV.

“This is my favorite hoppy beer from the October on-line/league special releases. I love this hop bill combo. The earthy vineous nose is from the heavy Nelson Sauvin additions. The flavor profile is white grape, crushed sweet pineapple, mango, passion fruit and stone fruits. This is all carried on a lighter than expected spritzy body that stays clean and crisp and finishes very dry and long with lingering white flower notes. There is zero booze factor evident, this drinks like an IPA in the 6.5-7.5 ABV range. Scary crushable.”

  1. Fraxos (MT). Citra, Simcoe-based. 7.2%. Delicious.

  2. Skyburst. Sapwood/MT Collab. Galaxy Citra-based. 9% As Bud said aptly for Astral Prism, “There is zero booze factor evident, this drinks like an IPA in the 6.5-7.5 ABV range. Scary crushable.”

  3. Swami’s. Pizza Port. West Coast 6.8%. Reminded me of a kinder, gentler Heady Topper. Would be great for watching college football. Worked pretty well on the golf course, too!

  4. Ghost Mountain. MT (Special Release). Galaxy, Citra, El Dorado. 7.5%. Really hit the sweet spot for me and was able to bring some of this and #s 8 and 4 above home from the mini-mart.

  5. Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear. Other Half/MT Collab. TIPA @ 10.2%. Citra Cashmere-based. Just hit all the high notes for me. 10.2% and drinks like 6.8, with more flavor than a 6.8 could ever dream of. Brewed in PDX. I typically stay away from brews higher than 8.2%, but this one kept calling my name and did not disappoint. If you are near a location that has it, check it out before it … Suddenly Disappears.



    We regret not tasting Le Bron Haze. Great, name. label and description but we did not see it in stores and could not get to the Brewpub.

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Brian, stoked you got to taste some Eppig, IMO they are doing the best Lagers in So Cal. Looks like you were able to experience some of the best local brews in your time in SD. Happy you got to sample Astral Prism, that’s a great one. And having fresh Swami’s and The Pupil checks the box’s for a couple of SD’s all time best west coast IPA’s, BTW, fresh Aurora Hoppyalis is one of our best shelf beers on the west coast IMO. Why Do Birds… is a dangerous TIPA but damn delicious without getting to sweet. Sounds like you did very well for yourselves beer wise. Where did you guys dine ? Did you grab a slice of Pizza from Pizza Port to enjoy with the Swami’s ? RE: Pariah, it’s off the beaten path just a bit and opens later so it’s difficult for me to hit on my weekly biz trips down to SD, let me see if I can pull together some of their stuff and send some back your way, they’re brewing some of the finest hazy beers not just in SD bit IMHO So Cal and I think you’d love them.

Cheers,

Bud

Did SD BeerCation 3 years ago…amazing visit. Pure Project was on fire

Glad the Ghost Mountain turned out for you; it didn’t show all that well when I hit it. I’ve got a few four packs of MT headed this way on Friday, as well as a Pliny/Blind Pig train coming tomorrow if family can get through the Siskyous.

Enjoyed “The Land of Boz” yesterday at Georgetown’s new tasting room. Good stuff, as was their Westy IPA!

BUMP. Headed to the SD area this coming weekend and it’s Fresh Hop season. Where would you suggest I go (now 4 years past this thread) to get the best IPAs? Our house is in Rancho Santa Fe but, with proper “motivation,” we can travel. TIA!

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Quite a few breweries around Miramar rd. In Mira Mesa.