The big news in SOCCER — or football — this year is that Stone Brewing Co. is the official kit sponsor for SD Loyal’s debut season at USD Torero Stadium. Stone beer (alongside other craft curations) will be available at each home match, the first of which is March 7. Here are more home dates: Saturday, March 14; a friendly against Xolos de Tijuana on Saturday, March 28; Saturday, April 4; Saturday, April 18, plus several more through the beginning of October.
Our local RUGBY club, Legion, also plays at USD, and while you can’t always expect local beer at the games, there is at least one brewery that hosts watch parties. Kairoa Brewing in University Heights, with its New Zealand roots, loves rugby and offers discounts to guests wearing Legion gear. Find more watch party details at SDLegion.com/pages/where-to-watch.
Did you know that San Diego has a LACROSSE team? The Seals LAX play at Pechanga Arena (or “Sports Arena” for natives) and their official craft beer partner is Coronado Brewing Co. The home game “party pack” includes two tickets and four beers (rotating between either Orange Ave. Wit or Salty Crew Blonde Ale; you can find tix at this link). Here are the Seals’ upcoming home games: Saturday, March 7; Friday, March 20; Saturday, April 4; and Saturday, April 25. On game days, Coronado offers fans who wear Seals gear 15% off their tab. Additionally, the brewery hosts watch parties for select away games, the next of which is March 28.
San Diego Gulls HOCKEY also play at Pechanga, where there’s generally a good selection of local beer. To pre-game, consider Bay City Brewing Co. across the street, which usually has food trucks on-site (you can check their website the upcoming food truck schedule).
One particular Gulls event this month will be special: The 3rd Annual “Pucks & Pints” event on Saturday, March 21. $50 tickets, available through Eventbrite.com, include a brewery hockey game at 1 p.m., food from Phil’s BBQ and craft beer from local breweries such as Thorn, Stone, and Societe from 3-6 p.m., and admission to the Gulls game at 7 p.m. Proceeds benefit a few local non-profits including the SD Brewers Guild.
To loosely coincide with a certain collegiate BASKETBALL tournament, Kearny Mesa’s Common Theory Public House is firing up another year of “Brew Battles” this month. Guests purchase a flight of four tasters (two from two breweries) and blindly rank them from most to least favorable.
Voting commences on Wednesdays (and continues on Thursdays while supplies last) with week 1 contestants Abnormal versus Alpine on March 4. March 11: Mikkeller vs. Pariah; March 18: El Segundo vs. Pizza Port; March 25: Melvin vs. Modern Times; April 1: Burgeon vs. Belching Beaver; April 8: Amplified vs. Societe; April 15: Fall vs. Pure Project; and April 22: Bells vs. Thorn. Round one winners move on to round two, which begins on May 6. The championship will be held on July 1; the winning brewery earns a dedicated tap handle for the next year, plus bragging rights.
February and March mean spring training for Major League BASEBALL, so on February 21 Bitter Brothers Brewing Co. released a collaboration beer with legendary Padres closer Heath Bell called, fittingly, The Closer.
Bitter Brothers’ head brewer Tyler Tucker tells the story: “Our contract designer, Kory Maine, helped redesign the cans for Heath Bell’s company, Seven Cold Brew. Kory was in the brewery and we were chatting about the Bitter Brothers can design, when he said he had developed Heath’s brand. I asked if Kory thought Heath would want to do a beer with us. About a week later, we had a meeting with Heath and we came up with the idea it should be an IPA first, keeping it light, clean, and around 6% ABV. Everybody had ideas. We went back and forth, then settled on this IPA recipe. The beer has big, tropical notes of papaya, guava, and pineapple. It also has citrus, grapefruit, and mango notes from the hops. The Closer is an easy-to-drink IPA with a light body and dry finish, and has a slight bitterness that hangs on. The Kveik Hornindal was a wonderful yeast strain because of its tropical notes that play well with the Citra and Mosaic hops.”
Speaking of the Padres, here are the 2020 Beer Fest dates held before these Friday games at Petco Park: April 10, May 1, May 15, June 26, August 21, and September 4.
And while technically not baseball, our local over-the-line organizers OMBAC will host a beer festival at Mariner’s Point on Saturday, May 16 to coincide with the first day of their 2020 bat-and-ball sport tournament. Details including a brewery, cidery, and distillery list, can be found at OMBAC.org/BeerFestOTL.
Do you like your YOGA with a side of beer (or wine)? You have a variety of options throughout San Diego County: Saturdays with Evolve at Culture Brewing Encinitas; Saturdays with Movement Lab at Culture Brewing Solana Beach; Sundays with Hoppy Yoga at Culture Brewing Ocean Beach; fourth Sunday of the month with Hoppy Yoga at Green Flash; Rooftop Yoga at Kairoa Brewing on Saturday, March 7; Vine-yasa at Orfila Vineyards on Saturday, March 14; Beer + Yoga at Pure Project Balboa Park on Sunday, March 29; and the Waterfront Social Run + Yoga at Eppig Brewing Point Loma Sundays March 29 and May 17. Not extreme enough for you? San Diego Metal Yoga takes place at Societe Brewing on Saturdays March 21, April 25, May 30, and June 27.
For the decidedly outdoorsy, look into BOULDERING with Pure Project Brewing team members on Saturday, April 4 in Santee. The event is free, with climbing guides from Grotto Climbing and Chillino Rock Climbing assisting those of all skill levels; if you’re a beginner, consider attending the indoor bouldering event at Grotto on Thursday, March 26. Attendees will receive discounts on pints and flights at Pure Project’s new Balboa Park tasting room after April’s event.
Get that heart rate up by joining a local RUNNING club. On the third Saturday of every month, the Societe Brewing Running Club assembles for a guided, free 5K en route to Road Runner Sports (where there’s a hydration station) and back. All runners get $1 off all beers purchased that day. The next iteration is March 21.
For the weekday warriors, look into the Hoppy Beans Running Club that meets every Thursday at Second Chance Beer Lounge in North Park at 6 p.m. Local roasters Parabola will serve up coffee before the three-mile run, and special beer deals greet finishers afterwards.
And you have plenty of time to prepare for the Road Runner Sports “Craft Classic” half marathon that ends with a beer garden at Green Flash Brewing (there’s a 5K option as well). That takes place Sunday, July 12, and registration is now open.
BIKE-geared brewery Rouleur in Carlsbad and Pure Gravel have joined forces for Sunday morning “Shredtastic-ness Rides” that finish around noon (when the brewery opens).
And lastly, for the particularly OCEAN-MINDED, on Thursday, March 5 Coronado Brewing will host a screening of Salty Crew’s “Thrill Seekers & Risk Takers” (you can watch the trailer here). The party goes from 5 – 9 p.m., no tickets needed, including all-day Happy Hour on Salty Crew Blonde Ale, tacos, live music by Karlos Paez featuring members of the B-Side Players, and the movie premiere. Below is a look at the film’s subject matter:
In the 1950’s things were a bit different than they are now. The sea hasn’t changed. Men have. Back then men earned their reputation in real ways; they fought big wars, sailed big seas and climbed big mountains.
They did all this without the civilized world backing them up. No GPS, no cell phones, hell, no real gear to assist the climb or the dive.
The unknown world was rapidly disappearing. So these thrill seekers aspired to conquer that which had never been done, strike off into the unknown. Dive deeper, surf bigger waves, try new equipment and explore uncharted territories.
They wanted to see what they were made of… See what nature was made of. And see who was the meaner of the two.
This mindset seems to have disappeared from our present culture. The unknown is shrinking, but it still exists. The thrill seekers and risk takers are fewer, but they’re still around. And they’re still out there pushing the limits and finding their own type of enjoyment. And they’re not doing it for you. They’re not doing it for their own recognition or fame. They’re doing for themselves. They’re doing it for the sea, for the next dive, and the next wave; and that’s why they choose to stay salty.
Did we miss your event? Let us know via info@westcoastersd.com so we can include those details on our website’s event calendar and future round-ups like this.