{"id":15922,"date":"2016-12-14T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T16:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=15922"},"modified":"2016-12-21T11:50:47","modified_gmt":"2016-12-21T19:50:47","slug":"2016s-most-improved-breweries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2016\/12\/14\/2016s-most-improved-breweries\/","title":{"rendered":"2016 Recap: San Diego’s Most Improved Breweries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I laid out what I believe are the best new breweries to have opened in 2016<\/strong><\/a>. Today, in part two of my three-part retrospective series on breweries in San Diego County, I\u2019m listing the half-dozen operations I think most significantly upped their games over the past 12 months. It\u2019s important to note up-front that being on this list in no way implies that these brewing companies were doing a bad job or making subpar\u00a0beer until this year. It just means that, even if they were already good, they are doing even better now.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Karl Strauss team celebrates at this year’s Great American Beer Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Karl Strauss Brewing Co.<\/strong><\/a>, Pacific Beach<\/em>:<\/strong> Uncle Karl\u2019s crew has been churning out quality beer for decades, but in recent years they have put the pieces in place to reach all-time highs. Hoppy offerings like Mosaic Session IPA and Aurora Hoppyalis IPA are legitimately among the best of San Diego\u2019s hoppy stock, and the brewery-restaurant chain’s portfolio is so stout with good beer, Karl Strauss was named Best Mid-Size Brewery at this year\u2019s Great American Beer Festival<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Council Brewing Co.<\/strong><\/a>, Kearny Mesa<\/em>:<\/strong> I named this husband-and-wife aspiration one of the best new breweries to open in 2014. Back then, the business\u2019 line-up was pretty solid, but nowadays the hoppy beers are dialed in, and its\u00a0eclectic barrel-aged, bottled offerings are interesting and reliably delicious. They strive to do lots of things and are finding ways to successfully juggle all of it while providing an inviting atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Toolbox Brewing Co.<\/strong><\/a>, Vista<\/em>:<\/strong> Many thought this business was done for after it\u00a0parted with its original head brewer, but since\u00a0picking up a hippy fermentationist\u00a0with a scientific bent, this operation is not only making its 100% wild operation work, but rocking things out with intriguing, outstanding beers that are more cohesive than what came before. It\u2019s an unlikely, but very welcomed outcome.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>32 North Brewing Co.<\/strong><\/a>, Miramar<\/em>:<\/strong> In three years, this operation has had just as many head brewers. After having brought on the majority of Fall Brewing Co<\/a>.<\/strong>\u2019s brewing and sales personnel this year, the beer-quality is at an all-time high. That\u2019s good timing, as 2017 finds 32 North making a big push to become better\u00a0known and more successful via increased distribution of cans and kegs.<\/p>\n

Groundswell Brewing Co.<\/strong><\/a>, Grantville<\/em>:<\/strong> A small system and lack of experience kept this business from realizing its potential, but after landing now-closed URBN St. Brewing Co.<\/strong>\u2019s former head brewer, the beer has improved to the point where Groundswell\u2019s ownership felt confident purchasing the large Santee brewery and distillery abandoned by defunct Twisted Manzanita Ales & Spirits<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I laid out what I believe are the best new breweries to have opened in 2016. Today, in part two of my three-part retrospective series on breweries in San Diego County, I\u2019m listing the half-dozen operations I think most significantly upped their games over the past 12 months. It\u2019s important to note up-front that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":15958,"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":[1353,3442,3450,376,1436,3441,442,1537,391,1528,466,1462,467,1297,2483,79,926,1757,880,1006,3449,15,170,1622,1652,1439,1832,3269,1253,44,1637],"class_list":{"0":"post-15922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-beer-news","8":"category-beer-styles","9":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","10":"tag-sdbeer","11":"tag-3442","12":"tag-32-north-brewing","13":"tag-beer","14":"tag-beeramar","15":"tag-best-of","16":"tag-brandon-hernandez","17":"tag-council-brewing","18":"tag-craftbeer","19":"tag-fall-brewing","20":"tag-gabf","21":"tag-grantville","22":"tag-great-american-beer-festival","23":"tag-groundswell-brewing","24":"tag-indiebeer","25":"tag-karl-strauss","26":"tag-kearny-mesa","27":"tag-manzanita-brewing","28":"tag-miramar","29":"tag-modern-times-beer","30":"tag-most-improved-breweries","31":"tag-north-park","32":"tag-pacific-beach","33":"tag-pb","34":"tag-point-loma","35":"tag-san-diego","36":"tag-toolbox-brewing","37":"tag-twisted-manzanita-ales","38":"tag-urbn-st-brewing","39":"tag-vista","40":"tag-west-coaster","41":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/karlstrauss-gabf.jpg?fit=2125%2C1156&ssl=1","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-48O","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15922","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=15922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}