{"id":12651,"date":"2016-01-07T08:00:12","date_gmt":"2016-01-07T16:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=12651"},"modified":"2015-12-31T15:24:43","modified_gmt":"2015-12-31T23:24:43","slug":"a-taste-of-hillcrests-brew-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2016\/01\/07\/a-taste-of-hillcrests-brew-project\/","title":{"rendered":"A taste of Hillcrest’s Brew Project"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A sampler flight at The Brew Project in Hillcrest<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am as guilty as anybody who truly loves to write. Being fans of language and constantly in search of the most interesting way to communicate something (regardless of how verbose\u2026sorry faithful reader), I\u2019ve been known to go on and on about the aesthetics of a venue, subjecting those who consume my prose to paragraph upon paragraph of adjectives, quips and word-play that, in my case, usually comes in the form of puns and alliteration. All of this eventually leads to the all-important question: But how does it taste?<\/em> It\u2019s true, I can talk about how a brewery or restaurant looks and feels until I\u2019m blue in the tips of my keyboard-striking fingers, but what you\u2019re mostly here for is to find out how good (or otherwise) the beer and food being served at these places is. The last time I was at recently opened The Brew Project<\/a> <\/strong>(3683 Fifth Avenue, Hillcrest)<\/em>, all I talked about was the suped-up house structure the business occupies. This time around, we\u2019ll focus on the bar-and-restaurant\u2019s food, drink and promise to provide \u201ca San Diego brewery tour under one roof.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s tackle that last one first. In all my time writing about San Diego beer, something that means far more to me than it probably should (it\u2019s a legitimate obsession), I doubt I\u2019ve come across anyone who is not in the beer industry but cares as much about every brewery in our county as much as Beau Schmitt<\/strong>. Two years ago, Schmitt founded The SD Beer Project, a bar offering 31 taps, all outfitted with beers from different San Diego breweries. And we\u2019re not talking the ubiquitous Sculpin, Arrogant Bastard, Speedway Stout and West Coast IPA. Far from it. Schmitt reveled in showcasing one-offs, rare styles and hybrids from the tiniest of nanobreweries and furthest flung of the no-namers. He was such a champion for these operations that he would often email me to tell me when a brewery I\u2019d panned in my reviews seemed to have improve so I could come check them out at his place or pay that business another visit. Now that\u2019s devotion unlike any I\u2019ve seen from anyone trying to make money in the bar business.<\/p>\n

\"Macaroni<\/a>
Macaroni and cheese with chorizo, pasilla chilies and caramelized onion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That business has since closed, but Schmitt has moved on to create the beer program for the Gaslamp Quarter\u2019s Quad Ale House<\/strong><\/a> and, now, this full-on eatery version of his previous concept, where he is once again spotlighting as many local breweries as possible. But is drinking there really like taking a tour of the county\u2019s ale- and lager-makers? That\u2019s a tall order. The answer is yes. I showed up on a random night and there were beers from all four corners of the county\u2014Kali Kush sagebrush pale ale from Oceanside\u2019s Breakwater Brewing<\/strong><\/a>, Archives 1933 Milk Stout (nitro) from ChuckAlek Independent Brewers<\/a> <\/strong>in Ramona, a pair of lagers from Coronado Brewing Company<\/a> <\/strong>and a coffee-studded version of East Coast brewpub URBN St. Brewing<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Mazagran Triple Brown. Plenty of other breweries, most small- and medium-sized interests, provided infill covering San Marcos, Vista, Poway, Scripps Ranch, Miramar, Kearny Mesa, Grantville, North Park and more. What was missing were beers from Stone Brewing Co.<\/strong><\/a>, Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits<\/strong><\/a> and Saint Archer Brewery<\/strong><\/a> that one can order nearly anywhere. The Brew Project sums up what a brewery tour in San Diego is really all about these days\u2014finding something new to love, not going back to the same old thing (though there\u2019s nothing wrong with that).<\/p>\n

\"Carne<\/a>
Carne asada fries and New English Pure & Simple IPA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And it would seem that Schmitt\u2019s brewery-touring adventures end much like mine do\u2026with food that is decadent, filling and leans toward the realms of slow-cooked meat and SoCal-style Mexican influence. Read: carne asada fries. I\u2019m more of a nachos-with-everything guy, but crispy potatoes are more than fine. The Brew Project\u2019s iteration of this classic, sinful San Diego dish is gussied up visually, but my favorite part about it was the quickly browning guacamole. That seems an odd compliment, but I knew that creamy and delicious condiment was real and free of preservatives, something you can\u2019t always count on, especially when you opt to get your guac\u2019 outside of a taco shop. TBP\u2019s carne asada is cut small but potent in its saltiness and a salsa made from grilled tomatoes adds nice zest. Mac\u2019 and cheese, a staple of any hip resto these days, is not only nice, but thanks to a four-dollar addition of chorizo and roasted pasilla chilies, different from the versions being served all over town. My only knock was that it could use some salt. And if you\u2019re looking for the imperial stout version of a sandwich, look no further than the Havana, which is packed with tender, shredded, slow-roasted pork, Applewood-smoked bacon and Swiss. This take on a Cuban sandwich trades in the classic pickled cucumbers for pickled zucchini. I was skeptic, but they are tangy and more substantial than cukes. I think I might even prefer them.<\/p>\n

So, plenty of local beer\u2014better yet, local beers that are more obscure\u2014an abundance of food that is of good quality and plentitude, and a cozy, domesticated spot to enjoy them both. This project is a success in this writer\u2019s book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am as guilty as anybody who truly loves to write. Being fans of language and constantly in search of the most interesting way to communicate something (regardless of how verbose\u2026sorry faithful reader), I\u2019ve been known to go on and on about the aesthetics of a venue, subjecting those who consume my prose to paragraph […]<\/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":[368,369,1],"tags":[1353,300,52,1484,376,442,1878,1486,2372,1966,1784,390,669,1010,1485,875,1439,2371,2297,1841,1473,1474,1347,1637],"class_list":{"0":"post-12651","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-beer-news","7":"category-beer-styles","8":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","9":"tag-sdbeer","10":"tag-arrogant-bastard","11":"tag-ballast-point","12":"tag-beau-schmitt","13":"tag-beer","14":"tag-brandon-hernandez","15":"tag-breakwater-brewing","16":"tag-brew-project","17":"tag-carne-asada","18":"tag-chuckalek","19":"tag-coronado-brewing","20":"tag-craft-beer","21":"tag-hillcrest","22":"tag-ipa","23":"tag-quad-alehouse","24":"tag-saint-archer","25":"tag-san-diego","26":"tag-sculpin","27":"tag-speedway-stout","28":"tag-st-archer","29":"tag-stone-brewery","30":"tag-stone-brewing","31":"tag-urbn-st","32":"tag-west-coaster","33":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-3i3","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12651","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=12651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}