How to Plan a Beer Tasting

A Tourist Destination

Few people know that San Diego is the America's craft beer capital. This is because the beer culture hasn't yet caught up to the young beer scene, which started in mid-90's and exploded in the late 2000's, producing 90 breweries. For this reason a brewery tour is the perfect activity for visitors and locals alike.

It's Like Winetasting

Most breweries offer 4oz tasters (usually $1-$2 each), so ordering a flights of 4 will let you appraise the brewery's merit while only consuming one pint of beer (16oz). 

Planing Tips

• Pick 3-4 Breweries within 5-10 minutes of each other. Check brewery hours on each brewery's website (Yelp and Google often list wrong hours)
• Bring water and food (like supermarket sushi, beef jerky, cheese, crackers, pretzels, etc.) to cleans your palate and stay hydrated 
• Take a guided tour of one of the breweries to learn about the brewing process: check a brewery's website for tour times and days
• Bring a designated driver who can still take a few sips of your beer but won't drink a lot. 

Sample Tour (Miramar Road)

1. Green Flash
2. White Labs
3. Alesmith 
4. Ballast Point

Sample Tour (San Marcos)

1. Stone
2. Lost Abbey
3. Belching Beaver
4. Aztec

Sample Tour (Kearny Mesa)

1. Societe
2. Helm
3. Quantum
4. Council