{"id":12445,"date":"2015-12-09T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T16:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=12445"},"modified":"2015-12-09T09:39:55","modified_gmt":"2015-12-09T17:39:55","slug":"beer-touring-bay-city-brewing-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2015\/12\/09\/beer-touring-bay-city-brewing-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Beer Touring: Bay City Brewing Company"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"baycity_03\"<\/a>I was one of the first to find out about Chris West<\/strong>\u2019s new brewing project. I visited the site of said brewery numerous times before it had any beer at the ready or its doors open to the public. Yet, once the business went live, it took me way too long to get back to check it out, even with the positive buzz that, despite me trying to keep from hearing, I couldn\u2019t help but catch wind of. So, it was with great pleasure\u2014and more anticipation than usual\u2014that I finally had the chance to try West\u2019s wares at the recently opened Bay City Brewing Company<\/a> <\/strong>(3760 Hancock Street, Point Loma)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I will disclose upfront that the night I was there was the same night of a fundraiser hosted by Bay City for the Beer to the Rescue<\/strong><\/a> lupus awareness campaign I set up earlier this year. That said, the company\u2019s generosity in no way swayed my views of West\u2019s beers. In fact, the special Coffee Pale Ale he conjured to help raise funds for the Lupus Foundation of Southern California<\/a><\/strong> drives home the main thing I took away from Bay City. This newbie’s beers are best when they aren\u2019t messed with! Allow me to explain.<\/p>\n

\"baycity_02\"<\/a>The aforementioned pale ale (which was infused with beans roasted down the street at Swell Coffee Co.<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s Point Loma roastery) had plenty of java potency that was deliciously in sync with the beer\u2019s hop bill when served on CO2. For fun, the tasting room served the beer on nitrogen. The result was a beer with a fantastically soft and coating mouthfeel, but far less vibrant flavors. Diminishing taste and aroma returns is the lament of anti-nitro imbibers. I happen to believe there are plenty of right times, places and beers for nitro technology to be employed, but the fall-off was so severe in this case that sticking with a standard delivery method did the Coffee Pale Ale far more justice.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Bay City\u2019s Session IPA (no silly, clever, fancy or stupid monikers here, West and company simply label beers by their style) may be my favorite low-alcohol India pale ale in a county, nay, a country<\/em>, overflowing with this trendy style, but only in its original form, which comes packed with bright piney, tropical fruit flavors and aromas brought on via Chinook and Equinox hops. But a version of the SIPA altered by the addition of cucumber and basil was easily the worst thing I had all night. It rendered the beer pickle-like in nature and took it to a nearly undrinkable place for me, leaving me pawing for more of the original version.<\/p>\n

\"baycity_01\"<\/a>While improvisations were mostly unsuccessful, one experiment was rather fruitful; an Experimental San Diego Pale Ale to be exact. Huge scents akin to melon and peach give way to similar flavors. A Southern Hemisphere Pale Ale brewed with Wakatu and Helga hops is well rounded with a surprising bit of bubble gum in the mid-palate. A Vienna-style lager was the best surprise of the night next to the SIPA; a poundable beer delivering plenty of the yeast character that lager fans crave. Admirable, but not quite as fine-tuned as I\u2019d have liked, was a pair of sour ales that feel like first drafts and offer hope for future creations as well as flavors that go beyond the typical tart scope.<\/p>\n

Bay City lived up to the hype and provides a great option for pre- and post-game and concert fun at Valley View Casino Center<\/strong> across the street. Though easy to find from the freeway\u2014the logo-swathed building looks out onto Interstate 8\u2014one must venture deep into the industrial sections of Lomaland to get to the actual tasting room. But once there, a fenced-in outdoor patio provides a nice buffer from the traffic. A similarly pleasant respite can be had in the sleek if not a tad stark (it\u2019s still a work-in-progress) indoor tasting bar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was one of the first to find out about Chris West\u2019s new brewing project. I visited the site of said brewery numerous times before it had any beer at the ready or its doors open to the public. Yet, once the business went live, it took me way too long to get back to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[368,370,1],"tags":[1353,1850,376,1456,442,2266,2262,390,1457,2265,2263,1439,2184,2185,2264,1637],"class_list":{"0":"post-12445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-beer-news","7":"category-beer-travel","8":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","9":"tag-sdbeer","10":"tag-bay-city","11":"tag-beer","12":"tag-beer-to-the-rescue","13":"tag-brandon-hernandez","14":"tag-c02","15":"tag-christ-west","16":"tag-craft-beer","17":"tag-lupus","18":"tag-nitro","19":"tag-patio-group","20":"tag-san-diego","21":"tag-sports-arena","22":"tag-swell-coffee","23":"tag-valley-view-casino","24":"tag-west-coaster","25":"entry","26":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-3eJ","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12445\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}