Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
When craft beer fans in Los Angeles make the highway trek to San Diego, you need a good reason to go or a marquee event to attend and I think I just might have one for you….
…courtesy of San Diego Beer News. If nothing else, there will be a happy atmosphere around.
When the San Diego Beer News makes a recommendation, I tend to listen. And listening is the key word as there were two recent podcasts highlighted….
I found I Like Beer in my Overcast app and you can check out the Beer for Breakfast show HERE.
I am a beer traveler. When I go to a destination, part of my prep is a list of breweries to visit. That list will always be too long. Part of the reason why is that there are guides like San Diego Beer News that put a lot onto a plate.
And since fall is a great time to travel with fares down from summer highs until the holidays hit, you should check out the guides again since I have already told you about them before.
There are new ones out though!
You can start HERE with the local San Diego breweries.
Then head HERE for the rest of the U.S.
Heading north now to Escondido and the Jacked Up Brewery. Where we will start with two of their core (and canned beers) before adding a few others to fill out the taster tray.
El Gato Lager – “El Gato Lager is our newest addition to our core four beers. This light and airy lager is an easy drinking, but still unique in taste.”
Hazy Talk – “The juiciest hazy IPA that you’ll find. This beer is crafted to perfection, giving an orange juice like appearance.”
Then try the Seven Accusations Pale Ale, the Dragon Fruit IPA and then finish with Gallus Scottish Red Ale.
Cribbing from the Winners column from the recent San Diego Beer News Awards, let’s travel to the greater San Diego area and sample some award winning beer, starting with Hoponymous Brewing.
Hoppin’ Pils NZ Pilsner – “a NZ Dry-Hopped Pilsner that leaps with lively hop character, blending New Zealand’s unique hop varieties into a crisp, refreshing pilsner with a twist of bold aromatics and a clean finish.”
Leaving Without Saying Goodbye – “an Irish Red Ale, combines a smooth, malty flavor with a hint of caramel for a quietly complex farewell.”
Gal Fawkes NZ West Coast IPA – “by the Hop Girls, is a revolutionary brew that ignites with vibrant New Zealand hops, offering a spark of tropical and citrus flavors against a backdrop of crisp, clean bitterness.”
What You Need West Coast IPA – “delivers a crisp, hop-forward journey, balancing piney bitterness with a clean, dry finish—the quintessential brew for those seeking the essence of the coast.”
San Diego Beer News held their 2024 awards at Stone – Liberty Station a couple days ago with the theme of Celebrating the Next Generation.
Here are some takeaways from the event…
Burgeon, Pure Project and GOAL brewing won the most medals
I love that there are not only awards for beer but for customer service, expansion and interior
I was heartened to see that each medal was “presented by” a business which augurs well for an industry beset of late.
You can get the full recap HERE
I have given shout outs to San Diego Beer News and Brandon Hernandez a few times on this blog and have used his brewery travel guides to help when visiting a beer inundated part of the country and now he has a new guide up appropriate for hop season, Walla Walla.
One of my beer bucket list items, climate change permitting, is to visit that major hop growing area during harvest, and I will book mark the Walla Walla via San Diego page for sure.
San Diego Beer News wrote about an interesting project for Beer Paper LA about the recently opened CoLab.
Three breweries, a winery and a Baby’s Badass Burgers under on roof on the Hop Highway of Vista.
I have long advocated for something similar in L.A. Personally, Hollywood seems the right area since it is pretty devoid of breweries in comparison to downtown. I like the idea of three breweries as well with different aims. One new, one barrel aging and one a second taproom.
Time to look to the south of L.A. to see who won at the San Diego Beer News Awards last night…
Let’s do the numbers….(rather, summarize the winners)
Eppig won the most combined medals for first, second and third place finishes amongst the 26 beer style categories.
Burgeon won most votes for best brewery with regional winners including…
North – Pure Project
Central – Societe
East – Stone
South – North Park Beer
Finally, Tomme Arthur won the first ever Vanguard Brewer Award.