California
SAN DIEGO
RECOMMENDED BY Greg Koch
One quality that many great beer towns share is slightly dreary weather, at least for a portion of the year. Such cooler, wet weather, the thinking goes, drives people inside to places like pubs. People who frequent pubs drink more beer, come to appreciate more interesting styles, and hence provide a ready and eager market for would-be brewers.
San Diego turns this theory on its head. The city enjoys 146 sunny days and 117 partly sunny days, with an average temperature of 70.5 degrees. San Diego's limited water resources are wisely channeled toward brewers, it would seem, as there are some forty breweries in the city limits, as of this writing, and over one hundred in San Diego County.
Greg Koch—CEO and cofounder of Stone Brewing—traces his craft beer epiphany to 1987 and a pint of Anchor Steam beer in Los Angeles, where he was living at the time. "It was the first beer that gave me the idea there could be something beyond the yellow fizzy stuff we see in commercials, and I was intrigued. When I discovered the existence of brewpubs, I went down the rabbit hole. I became a beer enthusiast. Eventually, that led me to take a brewing class at University of California, Davis, and it was there that I ran into Steve Wagner—my partner in crime for Stone Brewing. I was an uber beer geek and Steve was an avid, talented homebrewer. We started talking about our mutual passion and realized we were coming at it from different angles but to a similar point. That was where Stone got going. Steve was also living in Santa Monica at the time, and we began hatching a plan. I think we were the first brewers in San Diego to show you could go your own way and it could be successful. At the time, most brewers were doing tame things. We wanted to break out and do more creative beers, more hop-forward and bigger character."
Considering San Diego's brewing history, the city's rise to prominence as a craft beer hotbed is not surprising. Several notable breweries operated in the city before Prohibition, including the San Diego Brewing Company, Mission Brewery, and Aztec Brewery, just across the Mexican border in Mexicali. (Aztec was well-positioned to serve thirsty San Diegans once Prohibition arrived, as was Tijuana, which added nearly two hundred cantinas to meet demand.) Once the Twenty-First Amendment was enacted, several brewers returned, providing a substantial portion of the beer brewed in the state of California. But as in so many other markets, the expansion of the national behemoths slowly suppressed local production until the early fifties, when commercial brewing in San Diego ceased. Though commercial efforts may have been squashed under giant Clydesdale hooves, the region harbored a subculture of homebrewers, including clubs like QUAFF (Quality Ale and Fermentation Fraternity) and Foam on the Brain. (By the early nineties, San Diego's homebrewers were greatly abetted by Home Brew Mart, a supply store that eventually spawned Ballast Point Brewing Company.) It took San Diegans a few years to embrace the brewpub trend once California legalized the concept in 1982, but with the opening of Karl Strauss's Old Columbia Brewery and Grill in 1989, the door was edged open. Once Stone came on the scene in 1996, the door was kicked off its hinges.
There are many fine brewers thriving in the bright San Diego sun. Ballast Point, Green Flash, AleSmith, and Port Brewing Company/The Lost Abbey (among others) have all received great acclaim. But no brewer has received more praise than Stone; BeerAdvocate magazine has named Stone "All-Time Top Brewery on Planet Earth." Given this, any beer traveler visiting the area should place a stop at Stone high on their itinerary. You won't be alone. "Our Escondido location is the third-most-popular visitor attraction in north San Diego County, behind Legoland and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park," Greg continued. "People come from all over the world to visit their mecca, which is extraordinarily flattering. We give more than fifty-five thousand guests our tour each year. It costs three dollars; after the tour, visitors have a tasting of four Stone beers and receive a keep-sake taster glass. One dollar from the tour fee goes to a local charity." Most visitors will linger at the adjacent Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens for a bit more tasting (thirty-six beers on tap) and some of the kitchen's organic fare.
Given the size of San Diego County and its brewery abundance, a few strategic visits to local beer bars might be in order to maximize your tasting experience. "One of my favorite places to hang out is Neighborhood [in the East Village neighborhood]. It's a great little gastropub and was one of the early leaders in craft beer bars. [The current list boasts nearly thirty local brews.] There's also Craft & Commerce, another great place in Little Italy." Toronado, the famed multitap house hailing from San Francisco's Lower Haight Street neighborhood, also has an outpost in the North Park neighborhood.
San Diegans enjoy being outside—who can blame them with that weather—and Greg Koch has envisioned Stone's eclectic farm-to-table restaurants as places where visitors can enjoy both great beer and fresh air. This philosophy extends to the Liberty Station location in the Point Loma neighborhood, once a naval training center. The almost 55,000-square-foot space includes several indoor and outdoor dining areas and bars, a bocce ball court, a movie courtyard, and an immense garden. "We have forty taps at Liberty Station," Greg said, "and a lot of guest taps. I find the outside areas a very relaxing place to have a beer. I usually prefer a classic West Coast IPA, something with 6.5 percent to 7.2 percent ABV. Crisp, refreshing, distinctively bitter, with floral, piney, and citrus overtones.
"Some people argue this style of beer should be called a San Diego pale ale."
GREG KOCH is CEO and co-founder of Stone Brewing, the ninth largest craft brewing company in the United States. An avid craft beer enthusiast and world traveler, Koch can often be found among imbibers across the planet.
If You Go
Getting There: San Diego is served by most major carriers.
Best Time to Visit: You'll find fine weather in San Diego pretty much all the time … though May and June can see some clouds. San Diego Beer Week ( is generally held in early November.
Spots to Visit: Stone Brewing (760-294-7899; www.stonebrewing.com) in Escondido and Liberty Station; Neighborhood (619-446-0002; www.neighborhoodsd.com); Craft & Commerce (619-269-2202; www.craft-commerce.com); Toronado (619-282-0456; www.toronadosd.com).
Accommodations: The San Diego Tourism Authority (619-232-3101; www.sandiego.org) lists a range of lodging options.