The first two stops on my #southbayuprising tour in Chula Vista were to breweries that had been open less than a year. Neither were stellar, but some forgiveness can be applied to such youthful operations. In my opinion, Bay Bridge and Novo Brazil aren’t ready for prime-time, but there’s hope that they’ll improve their processes in the near future.
The same considerations cannot be applied to Border X Brewing Company (2181 Logan Avenue, Barrio Logan). This business, which brews in Otay, has been in operation since the beginning of 2014, and has operated a Barrio Logan-based tasting room since the first-quarter of that year. In short, they’ve been around long enough that all fine-tuning should be completed, and all excuses should have gone the way of early shortcomings.
Just five beers were available on the day of our tour, so we ordered one of each and ran through them in a logical order. First up was Gran Hefe, an unfiltered German-style wheat ale. It had very little flavor, aroma or carbonation. The best part of hefeweizens are generally the yeast-borne flavors of banana, citrus and/or clove—none of which showed up in this beer. Next up was a golden stout with a slight hint of nuttiness. For the most part though, this beer was just sugary and grainy. It lacked the roasted malt or coffee bean presence needed to make this light-colored beer drink or taste like a stout.
An India pale ale dubbed IPA #001 was peachy but also a bit sweet. Its hoppy nose was its best feature, but as far as taste goes, it would be a challenge for this beer to hold up against the county’s legendary IPAs. I also had high hopes for Abuelita, an 8% alcohol-by-volume chocolate stout, but even with all its roastiness and dark malts, butter permeated the beer’s finish.
Our top pick of the day was Border X’s hibiscus-reddened Blood Saison. Earthy and floral, its flavors of pomegranate, cherry and cranberry were lovely. Still, one solid offering out of five isn’t good, especially for a business that’s been brewing for two years.
On the aesthetic front, Border X boasts a great-looking facility. Seriously, with artistic touches everywhere — many paying homage to the culture, businesses, figures and creators within the local community — it is pretty close to perfection from a micro-regional perspective. One could spend hours examining the chalk-style art on its black walls, the hand-crafted items bearing Border X’s skull logo, the colorful main bar-top and the guest art in the rear seating area. It’s creative, stunning and fun. And if art appreciation isn’t one’s cup of tea, there’s a nice little outdoor area out back with space for lounging and a grill setup to bring tasty, Barrio-friendly food into the equation.
I must say, though, that the service during our visit was disappointing. When we entered, the place was nearly empty, and we went straight to the bar. One other patron had been served, yet we waited two or three minutes to even be greeted. The bartender had presumably seen us, as we were standing just feet from him. Maybe the service is better on other days, but we felt selectively ignored.
As much as I want to believe in and tout the #southbayuprising, right now I can only laud props on the bars that are fueling the region’s craft beer fire. The breweries involved in this uprising are trying to mount a revolution armed exclusively with weaponry and ammunition manufactured by Nerf. For now, I’ll keep my fingers crossed in the hope that the best of intentions and clear passion will soon translate into better products from South Bay’s breweries.
Disclosure: In his day job, Brandon works as the marketing manager for Miramar’s AleSmith.