Beer stores in San Diego

[alers22]

I will be in San Diego for 2 days next week and want to bring some beer back to the east coast. Any recommendations of places to buy bottles other than BevMo?? Was hoping for a place with unique CA craft selections and some Russian River.

Thanks!

 

[Coldies]

What part of San Diego? If in North County try Pizza Ports bottle shop and about 4-5 blocks East on the same road Carlsbad Village Dr is Texas Liquor, they have a good selection as well.

 

[cram]

+1 on Pizza Port's bottle shop in Carlsbad. Downtown, there's the Best Damn Bottle Shop. In Poway, the Distiller's Outlet is awesome. It should be easy to source the Russian River lineup. I can get all of the sours, for example, at a local produce store...
But more specifics on where in San Diego might give the locals a better idea of destinations. Obviously, there's a ton of brewery tasting rooms to be found, too.

 

[nvr2low]

I will be there Saturday and was about to ask the same question. I will be headed to Stone and Pizza port to check out their beers.

 

[alers22]

I will be working downtown at 701 B Street and staying in Fashion Valley. Id love to get to Pizza Port

 

[cram]

The Pizza Port in Ocean Beach is the newest location and closest to downtown. The Solana Beach location is the original and my favorite. The one in Carlsbad is the most family-oriented and has the bottle shop next door.
Note that Ballast Point has a tasting room and homebrew shop off Morena Blvd close to downtown, which might be worth checking out. And Green Flash's brand-spanking new brewery in Mira Mesa is a thing of beauty, plus they have about twelve beers on tap to taste. Stone is a little bit of a drive from downtown but it's something to see and the garden area is a pretty cool place to drink some good beer (and not necessarily one of Stone's). There's a ton of breweries in the area.

 

[Balue]

+ 1 to ballast point / home brewmart they have a 15 tap line up of mostly specialties some you can only find there. They sell their bottles as well a few days ago they had victory at sea and sea monster bombers available.

 

[terrapinj]

if you have time and really want a treat head east to Alpine Brewing Co

 

[Jwood]

i must be one of the only ones who hasn't been that satisfied with the pizza port bottle shop. I really don't see anything special there that i haven't been able to find anywhere else.

The best bottle shop i have been to is Clem's Bottle House and Deli right off the 15 at Adam's Avenue.

They are a little overpriced but it is hands down the best selection, and russian river is almost always in stock.

 

[Ultrazord]

You seem anti Bev-mo, but they have great selections of micros and really good prices.

As for micro's, definitely check out Ballast. Their Sculpin is amazing, along with most of their other stuff. Stone brewery is a great dinner place, not just for beer, their food is great too. Coronado is nice and has a brewery and I think Strauss is someplace close too.

 

[keesh]

If you want to buy beer, YOU HAVE TO go to Best Damn Beer Shop! in downtown on 7th. Literally amazing selection! They have a huge wall of make your own 6 pack craft beers, and a great bottle selection. They also have a homebrew section which is pretty good, and they sell some hard to find hops like citra and simcoe right now. Seriously, you have to go.

 

[Bradzukie]

if you have time and really want a treat head east to Alpine Brewing Co

I totally second that

 

[hexXedBrewing]

Bevmo's pitfall is cuz they refrigerate all the BMC's but they leave craft on the shelves to rot. Other than that... Bevmo's a great place to find new beers.

 

[scrambledegg81]

Texas Liquor in Carlsbad. Hands-down one of the best bottle shops in the county. Probably spent a bit more $ there than I really should have, but IT WAS WORTH IT. :rockin:

 

[bigljd]

i must be one of the only ones who hasn't been that satisfied with the pizza port bottle shop. I really don't see anything special there that i haven't been able to find anywhere else.

The best bottle shop i have been to is Clem's Bottle House and Deli right off the 15 at Adam's Avenue.

They are a little overpriced but it is hands down the best selection, and russian river is almost always in stock.

Thanks for the tip - I'm in SD right now on vacation and was having trouble finding RR Sours. Clems had Supplication, Consecratation, and Temptation in stock. They were $15 a bottle, but I got 2 of each to take back to NC with me. No Pliny though.

I also hit Alpine Brewing, since my brother lives a few miles from Alpine and I was in the area. Their kriek is amazing, and I tried their Duet IPA too and I was good. It's not a fancy place, but the beer and food are great and the staff is very friendly. It's worth a stop if you don't mind a 30 minute trip east to the foothills.

The Best Damn Bottle shop is good too, but they only had Supplication for RR sours. The selection of other craft brews was excellent.

 

[tc33133]

Pacific Liquors in North Park. Not worth a special trip, but has a bunch of interesting stuff. Plus you can pick up a racing form and some porn!

 

[realjd]

Pizza Port in Carlsbad (30 miles north of Downtown) has a great bottle shop. Also, Beverages 4 Less in Santee (intersections of 52 and 128 fwys) has a great selection.

Downtown, The Best Damn Beer Shop in 7th has a great selection of bottles. It's on the edge of the bad part of SD, but is well worth the visit.

 

[Genjin]

As Ultra said, if you have time I really recommend going up to Stone. It is a world class brewery and the food at the bistro is as adventurous as the beer. One of my favorite things to do was to grab a pint at the bar and stroll through the garden. If Stone beer isn't your favorite they always have a wonderful selection of guest brews.

 

[keesh]

Thanks for the tip - I'm in SD right now on vacation and was having trouble finding RR Sours. Clems had Supplication, Consecratation, and Temptation in stock. They were $15 a bottle, but I got 2 of each to take back to NC with me. No Pliny though.

I also hit Alpine Brewing, since my brother lives a few miles from Alpine and I was in the area. Their kriek is amazing, and I tried their Duet IPA too and I was good. It's not a fancy place, but the beer and food are great and the staff is very friendly. It's worth a stop if you don't mind a 30 minute trip east to the foothills.

The Best Damn Bottle shop is good too, but they only had Supplication for RR sours. The selection of other craft brews was excellent.

Huh they usually have a good RR selection, if you couldn't find it I am sure they'd have ordered it for you. Oh and if you didn't try Nelson at Alpine, for shame! You should still try to pick up a bottle of it, I've heard someone say they liked it better that way. It is my favorite beer, ever, of all time.

edit: Oh I see you're an east coaster. Oh well. Glad you made it out!

 

[scrambledegg81]

As Ultra said, if you have time I really recommend going up to Stone. It is a world class brewery and the food at the bistro is as adventurous as the beer.

Meh, it might be that I became placid to their menu, but after 8-9 months of weekly visits (and several growler fills to boot), their food seemed to be overpriced for what was being offered. Everyone raves about their onion rings, etc, but I've had at least 3/4 of their menu (as of 2010) and I always thought the food wasn't up to par with what they were asking for it.

 

[nvr2low]

Meh, it might be that I became placid to their menu, but after 8-9 months of weekly visits (and several growler fills to boot), their food seemed to be overpriced for what was being offered. Everyone raves about their onion rings, etc, but I've had at least 3/4 of their menu (as of 2010) and I always thought the food wasn't up to par with what they were asking for it.

since I was there today I will comment. the menu was minimal, apparently the kitchen was being remodeled. the food they did have seamed expensive, very expensive, but it was good. nothing I would rave about but better than average.

the beer selection was spectacular and the brewery was really nice so I didnt mind paying a little extra for food.

 

[AndrewNSachs]

I would also recommend checking out Bottlecraft. They've got a lot of local San Diego brews, as well as other craft beers that you don't really see many other places.

 

[scrambledegg81]

since I was there today I will comment. the menu was minimal, apparently the kitchen was being remodeled. the food they did have seamed expensive, very expensive, but it was good. nothing I would rave about but better than average.

the beer selection was spectacular and the brewery was really nice so I didnt mind paying a little extra for food.

Remodel aside, that's pretty much how it was when I lived in Carlsbad. Nothing spectacular, but the fare matched well with their beer selection. I was never completely "dissatisfied" with the food itself, and even though their prices were somewhat ridiculous, it was OK in my book considering that my $ was mainly going toward local co-ops and farmers.