New York Times San Diego for Beer

If you’re reading this blog it’s not news to you that San Diego is known for beer, but it’s nice to get some national recognition.

In the recent The 45 Places to Go in 2012 list in the New York Times Travel section San Diego gets a mention at spot number fourteen, but not for our near perfect weather, sunny beaches or delicious Mexican food. Instead they point out what makes San Diego really great: our brewers and beer culture.

Even in times of tight budgets, finely crafted beer remains a relatively approachable luxury, and few American regions have more brewing momentum than San Diego County. Maybe it’s time, then, to think about building a beer safari in the land of sunshine, fish tacos and hopped-up American IPAs.

On the brewery side Karl Strauss, Stone Brewing Co. and Hess Brewing get shoutouts. On the retail/bar side our friends at Bottlecraft along with the Pizza Port Bottleshop get mentiioned with Hamilton’s Tavern, O’Brien’s Pub and Local Habit.

And no talk of San Diego beer would be complete without mentioning San Diego Beer Week.

It’s worth noting that San Diego is one of only four US cities to make the worldly list. I don’t know how many people follow the recommendations of the NY Times Travel section when planning their vacations, but I’d be willing to be beer tourism is still on the upswing in this fine town of ours.

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San Diego Beer Events July 7th – July 13th

If you know of anything that isn’t on the events calendar, please email events@sandiegobeerblog.com to get it added.  Not all of the beer events happening in a given week make it on the list below, I pick one or two per day to avoid information overload. Make sure to check out the Events page or the calendar below this post for all the week’s events. As always, events are subject to change, check with the venue putting on the event before hand for more details.

Friday is the beginning of the grand opening weekend at Local Habit, a new farm to table restaurant Hillcrest. They have a heavy emphasis on craft beer and will be doing beer stuff  all weekend. To kick things off they’ll be pouring  Grazias Vienna Cream Ale on cask starting at noon, which is the first ever cask beer from Hess Brewing Company. Saturday will see Stone Brewing Co. employees on hand at noon to tap a cask of Double Dry Hopped Stone Levitation Ale and Sunday they’ll be finishing off the weekend by highlighting beers from Iron Fist Brewing Co.

There’s a whole lot going on Saturday, but two standout events are Second Saturday at Hamilton’s Tavern with Green Flash Brewing Co. and Best Damn Beer Shop’s 2 Year Anniversary tasting at The Tipsy Crow. Click on the entries on the calendar below for more details on each event.

It’s not often that one gets to dine on the roof of Pizza Port Ocean Beach, but this Sunday they’re giving people the chance with a six course rooftop beer and champagne brunch. Check out more details on Facebook.