For those of us living in San Diego proper, the northerly nether-community of Valley Center is a bit of a mystery. I’d been there several times before—pumpkin-selection at Bates Nut Farm, band gigs, casino visits—but none of those missions included any real local flavor. So I was excited to get a taste of some in tandem with some locally produced craft beer on my first trip to Valley Center Brewery (28960 Lilac Road, Valley Center). After some backroad meandering, I arrived at what looks like (and is formatted like) a full-on restaurant. In a day and age where so many tasting rooms are tiny and cramped, it was nice to have an abundance of space all devoted to imbibing. What would normally serve as an eatery’s waiting area provides comfy, mixed indoor seating preceding the main bar. The place isn’t super-fancy, but it has its rustic, down-home charms, plus friendly, welcoming service. I felt instantly at home even in this foreign land.
After ordering a dectet of tasters and having them served up via the suddenly en-vogue muffin-tin delivery system, I decided to drink them al fresco. There were a variety of ways to do so thanks to the great amount of attention that went into the outdoor areas. Directly outside is a large, shaded patio with tables, corn-hole and a separate bar with its own taps. Beyond that, a partially shaded area that is like being in a back-country yard with a Big Thunder Mountain Ranch aesthetic. It was downright darling and proved a comfy spot for sampling Valley Center Brewery’s beers, of which there were many.
There were more than 20 beers on tap, a number of them holdovers from a recent barrel-aged beer celebration during which 20 single-barrel sours were on tap at one time. After reading some interesting descriptions written on the menu by one of Valley Center Brewery’s owners, I selected four of varying pH power (sours are listed as either mild, medium, high, extreme or OMG in reference to their tartness). But I’ll save my assessment of those for the end. Let’s start out with more traditional styles.
Overall, I wasn’t all that impressed with Valley Center Brewery’s standard beers. There were two lagers, a “blonde lager” called Cool Valley that was passable, and an “amber harvest lager” named after Lake Wohlford that was a bit muddled rather than clean and crisp. The biggest problem with both was an uncharacteristically astringent bitterness in the finish. A cream ale tasted like cream soda. Though no mention of vanilla was made, it was comparable to Mother Earth Brew Co.’s popular, vanilla-infused Cali Creamin’ cream ale. A hefeweizen was extremely cloudy and lacked effervescence, but had big citrus flavor and was passable.
On the just-plain-disappointing side was Cumbres “Rusty Pail” Ale, a “rusty red” that wasn’t red (more orange than anything, somewhere between eight and 12 on the SRM scale). The beer had bubble-gum accents and a medicinal bitterness similar to ground-up aspirin. Just, no. A smoked black India pale ale was nearly devoid of any hop presence and, with a non-alluring, leathery, meaty smokiness, was more rauchbier in nature than IPA.
On the sour side, I’ll be frank—it’s clear there are a whole lot of bugs running rampant at Valley Center Brewery. That said, some of the beers were quite alright even though most of them are too acetic. Blending would be recommended, but as explained above, the point of the event the brewery held was to let people sample beers from individual barrels. Each was named by the number of the barrel from which it was extracted. The owner described the aroma and flavor of Barrel #1 as ginger, lemongrass and Atomic Warhead. In actuality, it tastes like a decent Flemish-style red ale that’s just a notch too tart. So, the summation was dead-wrong, but the beer was surprisingly good.
Other descriptions proved more accurate. Barrel #7 was said to have an apple-cider finish. Truer words have never been spoken. The beer tasted just like Julian cider with a hint of cinnamon. Barrel #14 was the mildest of the bunch, allowing flavors of wood and, as billed, “bourbon and walnut” to come through. But alas, Barrel #17 was a disaster. I had a feeling it might be when the owner gave it the OMG pH tag, but wanted to see if the “sweet, smoky aroma”, SweeTarts flavor and caramel hint in the finish would show up. Answer: absolutely not. The acidity is all white vinegar, as is the beer’s bouquet. All I could smell was the familiar scent of my grandma deep-cleaning her coffee-pot. Worst of all, the beer smells and tastes of sour milk. Total drain pour and an obvious sign of a raging bacterial infestation.
I wish the beer had lived up to the environment at Valley Center Brewery. It’s clear the family that owns this business cares about giving their hometown a good experience, but so far that comes almost exclusively from the furnishings and bar staff.