Modern Times Beer Review (San Diego Breweries)

Pricing:

$5 for pints, $8 for a set of tasters.

Distance:

In Point Loma.  Directly off of Rosecrans from the 5 freeway.  The proximity to the freeway makes it an easy drive.  25-30 minutes for most Encinitas residents.

Thoughts:

Hands down the most interesting beer taproom I've been in yet.  The comic book murals were awesome.  The atmosphere felt a bit Spartan but the effort that went into all the decorating was not lost on me.

The beer was good.  The only drawback being that there were only four regulars on tap and one special release.  Considering that we live in suds county, this number is a tad low.  A brewery of this size should have eight to ten taps minimum.

But... quite a bit of care went into these beers.  Their coffee stout easily ranks in my top five.  They roast their own coffee to flavor the beer and the attention to detail shows.  The IPAs were above average.

Definitely a brewery to keep an eye on.  They're a young brewery and it shows.  But the potential is certainly there.

Iron Fist Brewing Co. Review (Vista Breweries)

Pricing:

$5-7 for pints or you can have four 3 oz tasters for $5.

Distance:

Based in Vista.  You can take the freeway and exit Palomar Airport Rd. or go on El Camino Real.  About a 25 minute drive from Encinitas.

Thoughts:

Iron Fist is located in Vista among a cluster of microbreweries off Sycamore Ave.  It's been around for longer than some of the other microbreweries that have been cropping up and you can feel it as soon as you walk in.  It's slightly bigger and definitely more crowded.  Not that these are bad things.  It's just that the standing/loafing room is a little more competitive.

They have quite an impressive beer selection at this particular establishment.  It should be noted that there is no food served.  There are twelve different brews on their menu ranging from dark to light.  But what stood out to me about this place was the variety is the actual beer.  Most places usually offer a standard stout, an amber, an IPA and a pale ale.  All universally appealing flavors.

 Not so with Iron Fist.  All the beers have a twist to them.  Instead plain ol' stouts they have an imperial oatmeal stout.   They have a dark belgian with sour cherry flavors.  They have two different saisons to choose from.  They have beer aged in wine barrels.  You get the idea.

Personally, I liked this confident approach to flavor.  It creates a truly unique beer drinking experience.  So if you like to be experimental, definitely a place worth checking out.

Aztec Brewing Co. Review (Vista Breweries)

Pricing:

About $6 for a pint.  You can taste four of their beers for $5.  Each "taste" is about 3 oz of beer.  

Distance:

Located in Vista.  Takes about 25 minutes to drive there.  You can either take the freeway or go on El Camino Real.  El Camino would be faster if there's traffic.  

Thoughts:

So I've decided to continue my microbrewery tour of San Diego.  I did this once before back in 2010 but in the last two years the microbrewing business seems to have exploded.  Apparently we are now beer country.  You'll get no complaints from me!

Aztec, like many other microbreweries, is a taproom rather than a sit down restaurant.  There was a food cart there but don't expect to see it every time.  But don't feel like it's a waste of a drive!  It's actually in an area where there are several other microbreweries and it's within spitting distance of San Marcos restaurant row.

They have eight different beers on tap at Aztec.  A few of the flavors do rotate in and out but there seems to be an emphasis on wheat and IPA beers.  I'm not generally one for IPAs.  So for my taster line-up I tried their one amber ale, two wheats and their blonde ale.  


None of the beers were very dark but I was impressed with how much flavor each one packed.  Their wheat beers were especially interesting.  Both of them had strong floral/herbal flavors laced through them making the taste very unique.


The atmosphere is laid back and fun.  Aztec is definitely a brewery worth checking out if you have no Friday or Saturday plans.  

Stumblefoot Brewing Co. (San Marcos Breweries)

Pricing:
The beers are all around $6 a pint.  Comparable to most beer brewing places if not a little cheaper.


Distance:
Very close to the Rancho Santa Fe Rd. and Melrose Dr. intersection.  About a fifteen minute drive for Encinitas locals.


Thoughts:
Make no mistake: this is not a restaurant.  It's basically a tasting room like you would see in the wine country... only for beer.  There is a food truck that stops by on some of the days but Stumblefoot is mostly a free pretzels and beer type of environment.

Considering the fact that it's located in a storage facility, it's a surprisingly popular hangout on Fridays and Saturdays.  Personally I think the storage facility kind of adds to the ambiance.  You can't help but think that you've discovered some sort of underground club.

The beer is quite good.  The owner has been a home brewer for many years and finally decided to make this first step to going public.  Most of the beers offered are stouts and IPAs.  But I imagine there will be more variety as time goes by.

Compared to places like Wine Steals where it feels like you have to fist fight the other patrons for standing room and only fashionable singles from Orange County are allowed, Stumblefoot is kind of a breath of fresh air.  Everyone is extremely friendly and the atmosphere is laid back (how posh can you really be in a storage shed?).  This is a perfect place to start out your weekend or have a pre-dinner drink.

Oggi's Pizza and Brewing Company Review (Encinitas Restaurants)

Pricing:
Most of their single-serving dishes are in the $10 range.  Their pizzas are $10-25 depending on size and number of toppings you get.


Distance:
Right by the Encinitas Blvd freeway entrance/exit.  So about a 10 minute drive for most Encinitas residents provided that you don't get stuck in the sea of lights.


Thoughts:
With the TVs blasting ESPN outnumbering the windows, this is definitely not a quiet dinner for two type of restaurant.  It is a great way to simultaneously watch football, soccer, basketball, golf and baseball all at the same time.  You know, in case you didn't want to miss anything.

I like Oggi's.  It's not a bad take-out pizza option and it's a fun place to dine in.  While they do offer burger and salad options they're not nearly so good as the deep dish pizza they serve.

Oggi's is a brewing company so they do have a few (six I think?) house beers to choose from.  The beers range from light to dark and are distinct enough to make it worthwhile to sample them all at some point.

The overall atmosphere is laid back and comfortable.  There are even a few arcade machines to one side of the restaurant making it both a fun family option or a place to go scream at your favorite team with your friends.

Karl Strauss Review (Carlsbad Restaurants)

Pricing:

There's actually a wide range on their menu.  Most of the burger/sandwich/pasta dishes are about $10-15.  But you can definitely go all out with steak which ranges from $25-32 depending on the cut.  The beer is about $6 a glass.  Every Thursday is cask night and the price of beer is reduced to $4.

Distance:

There are several locations around San Diego.  The most convenient one for Encinitas residents is the restaurant in Carlsbad.  It's not too far off the Palomar Airport Rd. exit.  Right past the flower fields.  Provided there is no traffic, it takes about 15-20 minutes to get there.

Thoughts:

I love this place.  The food is always just so consistently good.  The laid back "brewery" environment  makes for a fun going out to eat event.  The Carlsbad location always has people in it, but there's almost never a long wait.  Compared to Stone Brewery where you have to kick your heels for well over thirty minutes on any given night, I find this to be an excellent feature.

While pretty much everything on their menu is good, the steak outshines them all.  When I want a good steak, I go to Karl Strauss.  They actually cook the steak the way that you request it.  No medium-rare that looks suspiciously like a medium-well situations.  Plus they have a really tasty beer-based steak sauce they drizzle on top.

The beer is a little more expensive than if you were going to a bar and ordering a Bud.  But that's because the beer they serve actually has flavor and alcohol content.  Most of the beers served on tap are tried and true classics that you can also purchase in the stores: Amber Lager, Red Trolley, Endless Summer, etc.  On any given night they will also have what's called the "tenth tap" which is their seasonal special.  In addition to the tenth tap, they will do cask night every Thursday.  The cask beer is served until it runs out (one night, basically).  If there's any cask beer left by Saturday, you're either very lucky or the beer wasn't a hit.

So while Karl Strauss lacks the enormous beer selection that Stone Brewery sports, I find the experience as a whole to be a much more enjoyable one.  No wait, better food and good beers.  

Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens Review (Escondido Restaurants)

Pricing:

While you can find a few bargain dishes, realistically you are looking to spend about $12-25 per plate for dinner.  The beer averages about $8-10 a glass.

Distance:

An Escondido restaurant.  Takes about 30 minutes to get to from Encinitas.  If you go on a Friday or Saturday night, expect freeway traffic.

Thoughts:

It should be clearly understood that Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens (Stone Brewery) is an event, not a restaurant.  This fact is blaringly obvious from almost the first moment you open the door and enter their gift shop, not the dining establishment itself.  Racks of Stone Brewery paraphernalia from sweatshirts to shot glasses must be passed by before one could even consider putting a name down for dinner.

If you manage to make it out of the gift shop unscathed, putting your name on their waiting list should be done with all possible haste.  Since reservations or call-ins are not allowed at this venue, the wait is about forty-five minutes to an hour on almost any given evening.  On a Friday or Saturday night, expect an hour and a half wait.

Once actually seated, the dining experience has both good points and bad points.  Stone Brewery obviously put great care into creating their atmosphere.  Lush foliage, romantic lighting, rustic furniture and beautiful stone walls coupled with the ever present hum of conversation makes you feel like you’re actually “going out on the town.” 

The menu presents a variety of dishes but is somewhat baffling to read.  In an effort to be creative and funny, the menu writers decided to forgo the traditional section titles such as “appetizers,” “entrees, or “desserts.” Instead, they clump together your selections like classified ads and head them with confusing labels such as “things you could eat before other things” or “things you could eat after some other stuff or maybe with stuff.”  This is amusing for about ten seconds.  But once everyone has chuckled over the novelty and the low blood sugar starts to set in, you really just end up wishing you knew where to look to order a substantial meal.

With options such as burgers, pasta, and cheese plates, Stone Brewery could best be described as American cuisine. I have had a cheeseburger and tomato-mozzarella pasta there.  The food is filling and tasty but not especially memorable.  It is also a bit on the pricey side, but not obscene.  Expect to pay about twelve dollars for a burger.

This brings us to the beer.  Unlike the food menu, the beer menu is abundantly clear.  There is absolutely no question in your mind as to what Stone Brewery has to offer in this arena.  For a local brewery, the sheer number of house beers that they offer is very impressive.  In the stores, Stone only offers about five or six different types of beer for purchase.  The restaurant offers well over twenty.  If not for the food, this alone would be a good reason to visit Stone Brewery more than once.

After one or two of their beers, any agitation you may have felt about how long it took for you to get a table or for a server to come and take your food order usually melts away and you find yourself enjoying the experience.  Even the Stone Brewery golf balls start to look more appealing as you weave your way back through the gift shop.

Stone Brewery could be compared to Casa De Bandini or The Cheesecake Factory.  Quite simply, you go to these types of restaurants because they are a crowded ordeal.  There are plenty of places where you could walk in and be instantly seated.  If speed is a concern, there are always drive-through or pick-up food establishments.  You eat at Stone Brewery to have an evening activity.