Though I didn’t know until I plan to visit San Diego, there are countless breweries here. It is the biggest producing area of craft beers not only in USA, but also in the world! San Diego is called as “the mecca of craft beers”. It was too late to visit here!
The biggest purpose of my visit here was to watch Padres games at Petco Park, but I decided to visit as many breweries as possible during my stay in San Diego. As the result I could go to five popular breweries in the center of San Diego city, so I’ll introduce them in this story.
Stone
Stone is very famous brewery. It was found in 1996, and it has been so popular and it is counted as one of top 10 breweries in USA. The beers are chosen many times as “Best California Brewery” “Best Place to Grab a Beer”.
The location is so convenient for tourists. It is close to Amtrak station, and you can access by tram also. I walked from my guesthouse in Gaslamp but it took less than 20 minutes. In early May in San Diego, it was not so hot and comfortable. It is good to work up a good sweat, which makes beer tastes the best.
You can find many kinds of beers in the counter. This brewery offers strong hop beers.
I asked a reception staff about the most popular beer, and I chose stone IPA as recommended. This is typical IPA, which has strong flavor and bitter taste. I heard foods are also delicious with locally-produced ingredients, but I didn’t order because I would go to another brewery. I couldn’t be full before that.
Of course you can enjoy eating/drinking in a restaurant, but you should stay outside. Under the sun, you can relax at the open terrace.
Totally, this brewery was excellent! The beer was tasty, and the staff was friendly. You can’t miss it when you visit San Diego.
Carl Strauss
Carl Strauss is also popular brewery in San Diego. It was found in 1989, and it has the oldest here. As the sign explains in front of the restaurant in San Diego downtown, it is the FIRST craft brewery! It is convenient as well as Stone, and tourists can access on foot without cars.
I walked from Stone and it took only 5 minutes. I am not sure whether it is safe even in the night, but it is okay at least in the evening. I visited around 5:30pm and not so many people are yet in the brewery, so staffs were so kind to teach which beer would be suitable for my preference.
Generally, talking of Carl Strauss, the most popular beer is Red Trolley. As long as I checked this is not sold in Japan now, so you must try when visiting San Diego! It has good flavor and mild taste, and it maintains the quality even if the temperature is not cold.
The brewery offers many kinds of beers other than Red Trolley, and everything has good tastes. In particular, one of Japanese women tourists recommends Windansea Wheat, and I was looking forward to enjoy it.
I chose this as the first beer here, and as the second beer I ordered Red Trolley with french fries with Mexican style. Staffs also said that is good idea!
San Diego has the border to Mexico (Tijuana), so the foods are affected by Mexico.
FYI, Carl Strauss has branches outside San Diego. One of them is in Anaheim, right in front of Angel Stadium of Anaheim. I didn’t know that, so I remember I was so excited when I found it on the way to the stadium a few days later.
Ballast Point
Ballast Point is also popular brewery. It was found in 1996, the same as Stone. Three people including UCLA students started with small scale by expanding a home-brewery at the first phase, but it won many prizes and it is well-known by craft beer lovers in the world.
It is located in Little Italy, where you can walk from downtown though it’s a little bit far. I went there by tram and went back on foot.
It is not close from tram station so you must walk over 5 minutes to the brewery, but it is also fun to walk along Little Italy street. San Diego is an interesting town which has a variety of cultures; USA, Mexico, Italy…
When I visited here after 3pm, I was so hungry because I didn’t have any lunch. I was so busy to search for the ticket of Padres on the day. Thus I ordered not only beer but also Mexican Nachos.
Should I have ordered Italian foods because this brewery is in Little Italy? Anyway, this nachos was so excellent taste and the matching with beer was also great!
I spent my time at the terrace outside along the street, but the brewery is big and there are many seats available inside.
Societe Brewing
Societe Brewing was found in 2012. It is comparatively new brewery, but it already won many prizes in World Beer Cup, San Diego International Beer Festival, Great American Beer Festival… I hear the name “Societe” means that they have respects to beers which connects everyone over the differences of culture, religion, race, age etc.
This brewery is located in old city of San Diego. It is difficult to visit on foot from the current city, but you can access easily by tram. You can reach to this brewery from the tram station through Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, an interesting sightseeing spot, so it is a lot fun to visit the area with good craft beers.
I visited before noon, around 10–11am. It was not so crowded, but even in the time some local people already started to enjoy beers. If seats outside at the terrace had not been occupied I would spent time there, but I got seated inside.
Staffs were friendly to share recommended beers. I chose “The Pupil” for 8 USD, the most popular IPA here. This glass was too big without foods.
https://www.societebrewing.com/
Modern Times Beer
The last one is Modern Times Beer. The appearance looks like a factory, but the inside is so stylish and even instagrammers will be happy. The feature of this brewery is that they offer coffee too. Though I didn’t try it, some beers use coffee as one of ingredients.
It is not so convenient without cars, but it is not impossibe. Actually, I walked from old-town tram station, after enjoying a glass of beer at Societe Brewing.
For your information, you can find In-n-Out Burger near this brewery. It is so popular in California, but there are no restaurants in Japan. I could try it here after drinking a beer at Modern Times Beer.
Summary
I introduced five breweries; Stone, Carl Strauss, Ballast Point, Societe Brewing, and Modern Times Beer.
During my stay in San Diego, I did only three things; enjoy watching baseball games at Petco Park, enjoy craft beers in breweries, and have a break in a guesthouse. Beers were important factor for my traveling, and it strongly affected my impression to San Diego. Perhaps I will come back here again, and that time I want to search for other breweries far from San Diego city also.
Additional Information
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