I read a lot on the beer newsgroups about Stone Brewing Co., but I wonder if anyone has heard about our other local beer, Karl Strauss. In my opinion, they don't have as much to offer as Stone and I'm not even sure they have any distribution outside of the county. There is a third smaller company called Ballast Point, but I've rarely seen any of their product in stores.
You probably haven't heard of these lesser brews unless you live in SoCal or Arizona. Stone is distributed in eighteen states. There is another local brewery I never heard of AleSmith.
From a February article:
"Of the 10 highest-rated beers on RateBeer.com, which has ratings for 28,123 beers, three are from San Diego, including the top spot."
You've got more than those two locally. Alesmith. Port. Ballast Point. Off the top of my head.
Karl Strauss, pretty boring.
Alesmith, very interesting, at times very good.
Port (the brewpubs are Pizza Port), usually good to outstanding.
Ballast Point, not enough experience to judge, but I have had some good-not-great stuff from them.
They have a brewpub in Costa Mesa. I can buy bottles at BevMo in Orange County. And they have a bar in Terminal 7 at LAX.
I've bought their stuff at either Hi Times in Costa Mesa or BevMo in Irvine. Maybe even both. Alesmith at both as well.
-Steve
Not a bad brewery, just nothing too exciting. Another brewery that produces a very nice American-style pale ale is Alpine Brewing Co. Or is it Alpine Brewery, can't recall the exact name, but they make a very hoppy beer called Alpine Pure Hoppiness. There is also the Coronado Brewery which is now bottling its product, saw some at BevMo the other day. Green Flash in North County bottles, too. Never tried either though. The bottle the usual golden ale/red ale/brown ale variety. On Tap in La Jolla makes several nice beers, including an authentic Dusseldorf-style Alt and a nice Koelsch clone.
--Dan E
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