My brother moved up north of San Diego to Encinitas which is a really cool community. It happens to be fairly close to Stone Brewing, and is sandwiched in between two Pizza Ports. After my conference I got picked up by my brother and we proceeded to spend the next two days spending time with his family, drinking beers, surfing, and lounging cali-style!
My Beercation started on Friday afternoon when the conference finished. At that point my brother drove down from Encinitas (North County) and picked me and my boy Lucky up from the Hard Rock. Our first stop...The Best Damn Bottle Shop in Downtown San Diego! This place is amazing. I bought a ton of great beers from Green Flash, Russian River, Logsdon, Upright, The Bruery, Pizza Port, and The Lost Abbey! I'd say my biggest scores were Red Poppy and RR Supplication.
We decided to then high tail it right to my brothers place in Encinitas to see his wife and two girls and have a nice Spaghetti Diner. My family has a Spaghetti and Meatball recipe that has been in the family for 70 years and you can only get it if you marry into the family. It's just one of those things.
The next day started off with Surfing at Beacons (one of the local Encinitas breaks) and then going to Stone Brewing for lunch! Stone is a bomb ass - trend setting brewery with some amazing beers. They built a "Destination Brewery" a few years back and I must say...they did it right! When we pulled up to the brewery it was hopping! I mean...we thought there was some kind of fucking special event because the place was so packed. Turns out...it was just an average Saturday afternoon. After seeing that, I get why Surly is pushing so hard to have a place like this to call their own! I had an oaked Arrogant Bastard, Ruination, and their Barley Wine.
The Stone Brewery is an amazing place. The feel is intimate yet expansive, industrial yet organic. Really cool atmosphere! The gardens out side are absolutely beautiful. The place was packed with so-cal hipsters, families, and all walks of life.
That night we were deciding on what to eat...Mexican or Pizza...Pizza or Mexican. I made the executive decision to head to pizza at Pizza Port - Carlbad. Pizza Port has some bomb ass beers. My favorite is their Mongo DIPA. To me, it's one of the best DIPA's on the market! It actually reminds me a bit of Surly Furious. Pizza Port is noted for having won numerous awards at the GABF, year after year. They went as far as opening up a sister brewery, The Lost Abbey. Anywho....Pizza Port was a great time...it has huge family style seating which was a bit stressful with a 2 and 5 year old in tow. The pizza was OK, but they had Pliny on Tap. Yes, they had Pliny the Elder on tab. Oh my god...they had Pliny the Elder on tap! Pliny is a good beer...it's very well balanced. It isn't abrasive, it's not especially huge, it's not that bitter really, but fresh it was just about as well balanced of a DIPA as I've ever had. I've had it before, I'll have it again, and it is a very finely crafted hoppy beverage!
That was about it for my San Diego beercation and work conference trip. We drank a ton of beer, we caught a few waves, schmooze downtown with business peeps for a few days, read books to my neices, and had a nice spaghetti dinner. The only thing that I didn't do was hook up with my "brother in funk", Jeffrey Crane. Good thing is...I'll be back.
Stay classy San Diego!
It sounds like you got a good San Diego experience.
ReplyDeleteI'm still feeling stupid for missing your message. On the bright side, you'll be back and I'll have even more sour beer to share.
No worries man. I ended up hanging with some potential clients the rest of that night anyways. probably was a good thing you missed my text, and I stuck around!
ReplyDelete