Pizza Port Ocean Beach
1956 Bacon St, San Diego, CA 92107
pizzaport.com
Pizza Port Ocean Beach is cute. It's exactly the atmosphere you'd expect from a brewery in the heart of a California surfer neighborhood. We started our trek here because Carl had heard they have an excellent sour program. Unfortunately, there are five Pizza Port locations and this particular establishment was not the one that specialized in sours, but we were happy with our selections. The tap list was extensive, with at least 35 beers on tap. About half were Pizza Port originals while the other half had a good mix of other local and national brands. We didn't eat food, but it looked and smelled amazing. This boston terrier, however, did not agree.
The Beer
Pizza Port didn't do flights, so I ordered the Catalina Wine Mixer and Carl opted for the Salsipuedes. Both were barrel-aged and mildly reminiscent of Surly Darkness. I loved the Catalina Wine Mixer. The Barrel-aged brown has a nice long, chocolate finish with subtle fruit notes from the Sauvignon Blanc wine barrels it's aged in. At 5.5%, it's one of the few barrel-aged beers I've had that actually bordered on refreshing. You could drink this on a patio on a warm summer night and not feel heavy.The Salsipuedes is closer to what I'd call a typical barrel-aged beer. It's a boozy (12.5%) blend of an Imperial Stout and Quad with raisins and blood oranges. You can taste the fruit, but I found it syrupy and hot. It was still ok, but I didn't like it nearly as much as Carl did.
In Summary
I would recommend this place to anyone stopping in Ocean Beach. We look forward to trying another location next time we're in the area.
Taproom: Restaurant
Patio: No
Dog-friendly: Yes
Flight size: n/a
Beers on tap: 30+ Patio: No
Dog-friendly: Yes
Flight size: n/a
OB Brewery
5041 Newport Ave, San Diego, CA 92107
obbrewery.co
About two blocks from Pizza Port was OB Brewery. The brewery was trying hard to give a club-like atmosphere with lots of neon and the lights turned way down low. The brewery had three floors, but we stuck to the main floor, which had large garage doors open to a very small patio and a few other Minnesotans drinking nearby. OB did flights of four 3oz pours on a cute surfboard flight board. The real draw to this brewery, though is that was steps from the beach.
Our favorite:
Easily the best beer on our flight was the Roll Wit It. It was citrusy without being too sweet, smelled amazing, and left a beautiful lacing on the glass. This is the only beer we had here that I'd come back for.
Our less-than-favorites:
The Long Time Coming Cream Ale was bitter for a cream ale. It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't particularly memorable. I'd drink it again, but I wouldn't seek it out. I had a hard time distinguishing it from the Hop On Board IPA. I actually think the cream may have been more bitter than the IPA, which was surprising. I appreciate the fact it wasn't ridiculously overhopped, but it's still an IPA which is one of my least-favorite styles. Carl seemed to like it well enough. The most disappointing beer of the flight though was definitely the Night Moves porter. It wasn't an undrinkable beer, but this was a California porter, not a hearty Midwest porter. It was thin. It was bland. It did not taste like the oatmeal that was supposedly hiding in its mash. I think the only thing that made this beer a porter is that it was too dark to be a brown.
The Long Time Coming Cream Ale was bitter for a cream ale. It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't particularly memorable. I'd drink it again, but I wouldn't seek it out. I had a hard time distinguishing it from the Hop On Board IPA. I actually think the cream may have been more bitter than the IPA, which was surprising. I appreciate the fact it wasn't ridiculously overhopped, but it's still an IPA which is one of my least-favorite styles. Carl seemed to like it well enough. The most disappointing beer of the flight though was definitely the Night Moves porter. It wasn't an undrinkable beer, but this was a California porter, not a hearty Midwest porter. It was thin. It was bland. It did not taste like the oatmeal that was supposedly hiding in its mash. I think the only thing that made this beer a porter is that it was too dark to be a brown.
In Summary:
Looking at pictures of the top floor, it looks like there's a phenomenal view of the ocean from the rooftop patio. We definitely missed out by not going up there. The beer wasn't bad, but also nothing spectacular. I'd go back if in the area with people who wanted to, but I think I'd rather go down the street to Lighthouse Ice Cream and just get a Belgian waffle ice cream sundae instead.
Taproom: Restaurant
Patio: Yes
Dog-friendly: Unsure
Flight size: 4
Beers on tap: 4Patio: Yes
Dog-friendly: Unsure
Flight size: 4
Stone Brewing (Airport location)
Terminal 2, Gate 36
stonebrewing.com
Ok, so this stop didn't technically count as "date night" since it was in the airport on the way home, but it was worth a mention, mostly because of how disappointed I was in it. Stone is supposed to be this legendary craft brewery. Stone's special edition collaboration beer with Surly is the reason we're going back out to San Diego next year. The airport location was spendy, even by airport standards, and despite boasting 18 or 20 things on tap plus bottles for dining-in or taking with you on the plane, nearly everything that wasn't an IPA was unavailable. I can't do IPA's, as tasty as they may or may not be, especially right before getting on a plane. I have a hop allergy, and overhopped beers make me incredibly stuffy. Everything on the tap list was overhopped or sounded like it should have been.
The Beer
Carl opted for the Stone Mocha IPA. It was significantly better than my porter and had a nice balance of coffee and hops. At 9%, it lands somewhere between Imperial IPA and Imperial stout. It's too dark to be a true IPA and too light to be stout. Stone's description says it's "definitely all IPA," but I don't think it's hoppy enough to earn that title.
The airport location didn't do flights, but there was only one beer that sounded like I could drink it anyway. I opted for the Stone Smoked Porter. It was heavy on the bittering hops, so heavy that I didn't really start to taste the smoke until I was halfway through the galss. I don't know if it was served slightly too cold to get a good smokey aroma at first, but I wasn't thrilled with this beer. I'd drink it again, but not at airport prices.
In Summary:
This brewery felt like a sister space to Surly's new space in Saint Paul. I haven't seen it, but I expect the main brewery in Escondido has a similar vibe. It's clear that Surly took a lot of inspiration from this place. If you don't mind paying a small fortune (two beers and an order of three medium-sized pretzels cost us $35) and like your craft beer heavy on the hops and demonic logos, you'll probably enjoy this place. For me, it didn't live up to the hype.
Taproom: Restaurant
Patio: No
Dog-friendly: No
Flight size: N/A
Beers on tap: 18, plus bottlesPatio: No
Dog-friendly: No
Flight size: N/A
Food trucks: N/A
Closed: None! Open every day
Other Beer!
We did hit the local grocery store and come back with three other fun things to try. The first was Mother Earth Brew Co's Cali' Creamin'. This is the best cream ale I have ever had. I loved it. It tasted like cream soda. It was sweet and malty with a good body and creamy mouth feel. Beautiful color, and a fun logo screenprinted on a pretty bottle. I'm regretting that we didn't bring the bottle home for the collection.
We also picked up a four-pack of tall cans of The Dudes' Brewing Company JuiceBox Series Blood Orange Amber Ale. I really liked this beer too. It was packed with blood orange flavor and cocoa nibs, so it was like a chocolate orange in a glass. I ended up drinking three of the tall cans, and at 6.5%, that was enough to feel pretty good about anything.
Our last noteworthy beer of the trip was Acoustic Ales Brewing Experiment's Willow Wolves IPA. This beer was unique in an interesting way. It used Simcoe hops, which is always a nice change from the centennial and cascade that overpower most West Coast IPAs. The flavor profile was pleasant, but a bit confusing. It's official description boasts of melon, caramel, and pine. That's a lot going on in one beer. I gave it a 2.5, which about as high as I give any IPA on untapped. It's definitely worth a try.
We did hit the local grocery store and come back with three other fun things to try. The first was Mother Earth Brew Co's Cali' Creamin'. This is the best cream ale I have ever had. I loved it. It tasted like cream soda. It was sweet and malty with a good body and creamy mouth feel. Beautiful color, and a fun logo screenprinted on a pretty bottle. I'm regretting that we didn't bring the bottle home for the collection.
We also picked up a four-pack of tall cans of The Dudes' Brewing Company JuiceBox Series Blood Orange Amber Ale. I really liked this beer too. It was packed with blood orange flavor and cocoa nibs, so it was like a chocolate orange in a glass. I ended up drinking three of the tall cans, and at 6.5%, that was enough to feel pretty good about anything.
Our last noteworthy beer of the trip was Acoustic Ales Brewing Experiment's Willow Wolves IPA. This beer was unique in an interesting way. It used Simcoe hops, which is always a nice change from the centennial and cascade that overpower most West Coast IPAs. The flavor profile was pleasant, but a bit confusing. It's official description boasts of melon, caramel, and pine. That's a lot going on in one beer. I gave it a 2.5, which about as high as I give any IPA on untapped. It's definitely worth a try.
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