Beer, Wine, Mescal, Peanut Butter: Let’s talk about booze San Diego!

The craft beer industry in San Diego is for serious.

Armed with a sense of adventure and a massively underdeveloped palette, I set out to fall punch drunk in love with whatever liquids San Diego had to offer.

We started at one of San Diego’s finest, Stone Brewery. Determined to push myself out of my comfort zone, I ran the full gamet of light to dark, hoppy to lazy.

We did two sets of flights each at Stone (in our defence, we did sorta mix it up by moving from the gorgeous, green, fire-pitted, water-featured patio to the indoor industrial and modern bar at one point during the evening) and I even tried a peanut butter stout – yum!!!

Next stop was another San Diego staple, Ballast Point. This was a more rough and tumble, non pretentious spot in Little Italy where lumbersexuals poured your beers and openly told you in what order to drink them. (I’ll take all the help I can get!)

The Ballast brews were more to my taste overall with a random Thai Chilli Beer delivering a surprisingly delicious kick!

Because of the old adage, ‘beer before liquor, never been sicker’, we opted for wine and liquor options on other days but they were equally as delicious.

The wine selection at Wet Stone is a truly beautiful lineup and Christian (the owner) is happy to guide you through the menu to discover the best choice for you. Have you ever even heard of a sparkling Malbec? They had one! And to start off a lovely Sunday afternoon with friends, they also had a killer sangria.

What they have more than anything else is class. Elements of art, nature and craftsmanship come together in their food and wines as well as in their timeless, beautiful space.

Our final night in San Diego…we actually spent in Tijuana. This resulted in my first tasting of Mescal – and grasshoppers but that’s covered in my SD food blog. It was pleasantly smokey and surprisingly smooth – the mescal that is.

I was expecting the Tequilla burn but I guess in Mexico the standard bar fare Mescal is better that the highest quality Tequilla I’ve ever had. Mind you, my standards are pretty low.

From peanut buttery stout to spicy Thai ale to fresh orange slice chasers, thanks for upping my game, San Diego.

Cheers!