Breweries unbeknownst to me

[billvon 3,098]

I have long known that Stone Brewing was up in Escondido, about 20 miles from me. I didn't like their beers very much; overhopped for my taste, and their advertising campaigns always annoyed me. When I heard they opened a new brewery (with a new restaurant) a few miles down the road from their old place, I went by to check it out, and it is very nice indeed:

http://www.stoneworldbistro.com/

Decent food, a lot of local beer on tap, and a great outside area.

While there I kept seeing a few local breweries listed in the menu. One (Lost Abbey) was nearby, so we stopped by one day after skydiving. We discovered a tiny bar wedged in the back of an industrial building. It's a great little place as long as you get along with whoever's behind the bar. Some days it will be the Jim the CFO, some days it will be Sager, some days it will be Molly the non-bartender. Her website:

http://www.mybeerpix.com/about

They had two of the best beers I have ever tried - Angel's Share and Older Viscosity, both of which are conditioned in brandy/bourbon barrels. Both are around 11%, so you have to figure out who's driving _before_ you get here. They also make a great Mexican-style beer; similar to Pacifico but with a lot more flavor and a better hop balance. And to think this place was less than 20 miles from my house, and I never knew it!

http://lostabbey.com/home.php

While there I was talking to Molly one day and she mentioned Alesmith, another brewery that sounded good. I had always liked their beers as well, but they are hard to find in stores since they make very small amounts of beer. I looked it up on a map, and discovered that it was 1.2 miles from my house. How did I miss this one?

When I went there I realized how I had missed it. It's one section of a dingy industrial complex, of the type that sprout like weeds in any commerically zoned area in California. The brewery is even smaller than Lost Abbey, and has a bar squeezed between a refrigerated storage room and one of the brewkettles. You can fit maybe four people in there. Same deal - you can try whatever they have on tap (usually 6-8 beers from stouts to porters to belgians) and they sell growlers and some bottled beer. Another place with a lot of 10-12% beers so you have to pace yourself. On the plus side, when a brewery is 1.2 miles from your house, driving becomes less important.

They have a great stout (Speedway) that clocks in a 12% and has the strongest coffee/chocolate tones I've ever tried. Their nut brown is also a good one. It's mild enough that it might make a good "first local beer" for a bud/heineken drinker to try.

http://www.alesmith.com/

[Jumpervint 0]

Unfortunately, the Lost Abbey one is only 1437.59 miles from my house. Sounds good, though.

Vint

. . . . .
"Make it hard again." Doc Ed

“A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free” Nikos Kazantzakis

[wildblue 7]

mmmm.... Arrogant Bastard....

I missed the double dry hopped arrogant bastard though

Sigh... one more reason to hate Bill I guess.

it's like incest - you're substituting convenience for quality

[Shotgun 1]

Quote

I have long known that Stone Brewing was up in Escondido, about 20 miles from me. I didn't like their beers very much; overhopped for my taste, and their advertising campaigns always annoyed me. When I heard they opened a new brewery (with a new restaurant) a few miles down the road from their old place, I went by to check it out, and it is very nice indeed:

http://www.stoneworldbistro.com/

Decent food, a lot of local beer on tap, and a great outside area.

This place sounds nice... Will have to check out their Tapas Tuesdays sometime. The food sounds interesting. Not sure about the beer though; beer is gross.

[ltdiver 3]

Bill,

Of the few beers I sampled on that day after the DZ I really found one I liked at Lost Abbey.

In looking at their selection I -thought- the one I liked the best was Red Poppy, but I distinctly remember it having apricot in it, not cherry.

Would you happen to know which one it was?

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[bluntsage 0]

I remember you guys coming into the Lost Abbey (I'm Sager). A little jumping out of airplanes in the morning; a little diving into pint glasses in the afternoon -- nice combo!

A little background on Lost Abbey -- that "tiny bar in an industrial park" is actually Stone's old facility before they moved to those new digs in Escondido. (Imagine them brewing all that beer in that space.) We've been in there almost 1 year -- in fact our first birthday party is Saturday, May 5th and we're pulling out a whole bunch of beers just for the party. If you like Angel's Share and Older Viz, you're going to love the two year-old barrel aged versions we'll have available that day. We'll also have a whole bunch others from the secret stash in the barrel-aging room.

(Note: bring a driver -- the only diving you'll be doing that day is most likely pavement diving.)

Beer Molly has the details here: http://www.mybeerpix.com/details-lost-abbey-port-brewing-1st-anniversary-event-new-releases/

Also, for other breweries you might not know about, toodle west down the 78 to Vista and go to Green Flash (http://www.greenflashbrew.com/). They -- like the rest of us -- are in a non-descript industrial park, but the beer is fantastic.