{"id":2961,"date":"2011-11-03T09:30:05","date_gmt":"2011-11-03T16:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=2961"},"modified":"2011-11-03T07:45:13","modified_gmt":"2011-11-03T14:45:13","slug":"americas-finest-beer-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2011\/11\/03\/americas-finest-beer-city\/","title":{"rendered":"America’s Finest Beer City"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s hard to believe the first issue of West Coaster<\/em> came out one year ago. In that first issue, I wrote about the general state of the craft beer community in town, so we thought it would be fun to take a look back at some of the highlights, as well as preview the new breweries and craft beer-focused bars coming up soon.<\/p>\n

Just last month, San Diego breweries brought home 20 medals from the Great American Beer Festival \u2013 winning more than every state<\/em> in the US except its own, and Colorado. The awards for both Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year as well as Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year went to Pizza Port Ocean Beach and Pizza Port Carlsbad, respectively. This award was the third in a row for Pizza Port Carlsbad, proving San Diego\u2019s staying power as a nationally celebrated craft beer destination.<\/p>\n

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Aztec Brewing on opening day. Photo: Ryan Reschan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The momentum isn\u2019t slowing. Three new breweries opened in the last 12 months and there\u2019s eight more in the planning stages. On-The-Tracks Brewery in Carlsbad quietly opened in May with a handful of beers and while they haven\u2019t made a huge splash yet, their loyal following suggests only time will change that; El Cajon Brewing Company\u2019s soft opening in October debuted four house beers with more to come; and the latest incarnation of Aztec Brewing Company debuted in Vista last August. The brand\u2019s history stretches back to the early 1900s, and is perhaps the only brewery to ever migrate from Mexico to the US. Blending our shared geography, brewers will focus on Mexican style lagers and California style ales like their Chipotle IPA and Agave Wheat. Their sister brand Seven Nations operates out of the same facility and focuses on English style ales.<\/p>\n

Latitude 33 Brewing Company is expected to be the first of eight breweries opening in coming year. Located in the old Green Flash brewery in Vista, it\u2019s led by Kevin Buckley formerly of Backstreet Brewery in Vista, and Alpine Beer Co. before that. If all goes according to plan, they\u2019ll have a soft opening towards the end of November.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Scot Blair (Hamilton\u2019s Tavern, Small Bar, Eleven) the East Village got more craft beer when Monkey Paw opened in late August. Blair\u2019s latest venture and first brewpub will be producing its own ales soon; equipment is installed, and celebrated homebrewer Derek Freese will be at the helm for what is to be his first professional brewing gig.<\/p>\n

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Monkey Paw, East Village<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another bar with plans to go the brewpub route is The Bailey BBQ in Julian. Run by two guys that know beer \u2013 Tom Nickel of O\u2019Brien\u2019s Pub and Vince Marsaglia of Pizza Port \u2013 it sounds like a recipe for success. Nickel isn\u2019t new to brewing; before he took over O\u2019Brien\u2019s Pub he brewed at Oggi\u2019s and Pizza Port. Brewing at The Bailey BBQ is tentatively scheduled to begin sometime in November.<\/p>\n

With all the excitement of new places opening up, let\u2019s not forget all the expansion news from the last year that includes some of San Diego\u2019s longer-reigning breweries. Green Flash opened their new Mira Mesa brewery in June with an initial capacity of 45,000 barrels and room to grow up to 100,000 barrels per year, and Mission Brewery debuted its vast facility complete with 3,000 square foot tasting room and event space back in April.<\/p>\n

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Stone announced their $26.2 million expansion in May<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stone Brewing Company and Coronado Brewing Company have both announced big expansion projects for the coming years. Coronado will open a new production brewery and tasting room in the Linda Vista area; Stone announced earlier this year a major expansion in Escondido which will increase capacity, allow for more barrel aging and they\u2019re even delving into the hospitality industry by opening a hotel right across the street from the brewery. They\u2019re also hard at work on a restaurant and pilot brewery at Liberty Station in Point Loma, which is scheduled to open in Spring of 2012.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Liberty Station \u2013 Slater\u2019s 50\/50, an Orange County-based burger joint known for its half and-half ground beef and bacon sandwiches celebrates their soft opening November 1st. With 111 total taps featuring a fair mix of local and mainstream brews, the new-to-San Diego restaurant will be taking part in San Diego Beer Week events like the Brewers Guild Festival, and more announcements as dates approach.<\/p>\n

San Diego\u2019s craft beer scene is growing at a rapid rate, and it doesn\u2019t seem to be slowing down any time soon. Stay tuned for what\u2019s to come, and West Coaster\u2019s<\/em> continuing coverage of the evolution.<\/p>\n

Editor’s note: This piece is from the November issue. View\/download the entire issue here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s hard to believe the first issue of West Coaster came out one year ago. In that first issue, I wrote about the general state of the craft beer community in town, so we thought it would be fun to take a look back at some of the highlights, as well as preview the new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-LL","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2961","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2961\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}