The Beer Company, Monkey Paw Brewery, and Mission Brewery

While in San Diego, Mark and I took advantage of a day with no plans to find some new breweries.  I went to the San Diego Brewer's Guild website to see if we could find some close places to go.  We found 3 breweries all in downtown San Diego or just outside of downtown.  2 of the 3 of them we had never heard of so we were excited for some new brews!

We started at The Beer Company on Broadway Street.  This was a brew and pub so we decided to have lunch here as well.  Looking at their website left us slightly confused about whether they brewed their own beer or just had guest brews on tap.  The website listed happy hour specials for cocktails and included their martini list.  However, there was no mention of a single beer on tap!  A brew pub with no beer on it's website?  Minus one point for poor advertisting.  The lack of beer listing didn't stop us from trying and we headed down to downtown San Diego.  Upon arrival, we realized we would have to pay for parking.  $8 for parking later, we were finally at the restaurant.  Minus one point for parking payment.  The Beer Company had 8 brews on tap.  Their sampler worked where you chose 4 4 oz. pours so Mark chose 4 and I chose four.  Usually, I refer back to the website to remember specific names and varieties but since I can't do that, I don't have a lot of specifics to write about for this place!  The server didn't know the order that the bartender poured Mark's in so we had to do a bit of tasting to figure out what was what.  The pale ale was good as it was nice and hoppy but not too offensive.  The IPA had a floral smell to it but it wasn't one of Mark's favorite.  They also had a sour on tap that neither of us was excited about and it tasted exactly as we expected.  Sour.  Overall, their beer was enjoyable and had some good flavors and tastes but nothing was too noteworthy.  The food was really good though!  If I was local, I would go back for lunch or dinner and a pint sometime. 

Then we headed over to Monkey Paw Pub and Brewery which was only half a mile away.  With free parking!  This was alreay a better start.  The inside of the pub was more like a bar with wooden table benches for seating and just a few pub items on the menu.  It was a place that if I was a local I would go for a few drinks on a weekend night.  They had a number of guest brews on tap and 4 of their own.  They don't do samplers so Mark and I each got a pint.  Mark got the Pineapple X-Press Xtra Pale  Ale with an ABV of 5.2%.  He liked this beer but it was a little to mild for him.  There wasn't enough bitterness or hoppiness that he enjoys in a pale ale.  It was just a little too sweet.  I got Santa's Pet Monkey Holiday Ale a Choco-Vanilla Imperial Porter.  This beer boast an ABV of 9.0% so it comes in one of the goblet glasses.  I really liked this beer! It was sweet with the vanilla flavor but still big in taste.  I thought that Mark wouldn't enjoy this one but when he tried it he really liked it!  I think he liked mine better than his.  I would like to go back to Monkey Paw and see if their brews rotate.  They also have a lot of event nights with other breweries. On December 13th it was Ballast Point Tiki Night with keep the glass Tiki glasses and refill specials.  On December 30th, it was cask night with Stone Smoked Porter with Coconut.  Monkey Paw seemed like a great local place with good beer.

Finally, we went over to Mission Brewery.  Mission Brewery was located in an industrial part of town so this made it difficult to find.  Their warehouse was really big with a long bar, lots of seating, a shuffleboard table, and a foosball table.  Definately one of the fancier warehouse breweries we've been too.  Here you paid for samples individually, $1 each.  I like this way of doing samplers.  It lets to try them one at a time so the last ones don't get warm.  For $7 you could also potentially try all of their beers.  Not too bad pricewise either!

They had 7 brews on tap so Mark and I switched off ordering so we got to try all 7.  We enjoyed the Amber.  It had a nice balanced flavor to it and would have been enjoyable to drink outside on a warm day.  The Double IPA was big, hoppy, and bitter and Mark liked that one.  The Dark Seas was a nice dark beer to round out the samples.  Overall, the beer at Mission had some good flavor and we enjoyed what we had.  By the 3rd brewery though, you begin to forget some of the specifics! 

That was our day in San Diego.  We got to add 3 new breweries to our San Diego brewery travels and definately had some good ones.  It was then time to head home for some food to balance it all out.