San Diego, Part I: Stone

Stone: points awarded for the signage.

I have to say, I've returned to home territory with a better appreciation of San Diego's beer scene. While I was only able to hit two locations with the limits on time (family, as much as they would believe otherwise, does outrank beer), both gave me an idea of what brewpub life is like down there. General conclusion: worth the trip.

First visit was to Stone Brewing up the road in Escondido. Stone is pretty familiar to beer drinkers, with their IPA, Bastard series, and Vertical runs near the top of the, "Yep, had that" list. They've grown anywhere between 20-30% every year, with the exception of '09. But even if the percentage of increase dips to single digits, they'll cross into the 100K-barrels-a-year territory in 2010. Their HQ is a combo of a bistro & beer garden attached to the brewery with a gift shop right in the front door.

The Garden, aka The Back Porch, aka The Only Place There Was Room

The brewery tour was heavily packed and looking at a 2-hour wait. We decided to opt out of that and hit the outside bar since the weather was pretty spectacular. My first glance at the beer list - 36 or so on tap, double that in bottle options - was to check and see how many Oregon beers were listed. This wasn't coming from a superiority angle; I honestly wanted to see what, if any, they had. Only one from Oregon was listed on draft, but they made it a good one: Fred! Always a plus to see HOTD as a selection.

Of the beers I tried, the best one wasn't even from Stone - Black Lightning Porter from Lighting Brewery out of Poway, CA. It's classified as a Baltic, but it was nothing like any Baltic porter I've every tried. Nothing in any description can account for the near-sour backbone to this stuff, but I really enjoyed the contrast. All the typical porter notes are there - tobacco, chocolate, etc - but it's almost like they used wild yeast (brett, maybe?) in an attempt to live dangerously. Great stuff.

Since I wasn't going to be able to visit Ballast Point during my trip, I made my second beer from their lineup: the Dorado Double IPA. Helluva nose on this - piney, definitely hoppy, definitely what you would expect. I found the back end of the beer to be bitter as it clears your tongue, but the flavor is a nice shot of pine and it's smooth all the way around. There are no sharp dividers on the open/middle/close - it transitions nicely with very little alcohol burn. That's kind of surprising for 9.6%, but it definitely was a good pick. BP will be on the list of visits during my next trip down that way.

The food was on the pricey side. This should not have been a surprise: they were advertising their New Year's party on billboards up front and - even with a nice lineup - tickets were $150 per person. Stone is well designed, but very California. The feel of the place was different than I expected. It's just . . . corporate? Maybe 'upscale' is what I'm looking for. I don't know, the attitude of the Bastard series is just on the opposite end of the spectrum from the bistro that serves it. Transplant it side-by-side with wineries in Napa and it would be right at home. Visit, enjoy good brew brewed six feet away from where you're drinking it, bask in the sunshine. But don't be surprised at 'duck tacos' on the menu with a $15 price tag and something from a Top Chef appetizer competition arriving at your table.

Inglorious? Not quite.

Bad spelling. Strong beer.

Ah, Arrogant Bastard. Stone's unapologetic strong ale with a name that fits better than most. I suppose Obnoxious Twit, Condescending Jerk, and Inconsiderate Dick were all taken, but it's still pretty well identified. They've done the occasional variant (Oaked and Double), but today, we're trying the just-recently-released blend of all three: Lucky Bastard.

Finding info on this beer is difficult, least of which because Stone likes to get cute and attach "CLASSIFIED" to the basic stats, publishing the alcohol amount and that's about it. So we can't target the hop variety, the IBU's, the gravity, or even the type of blending that went on. I've poked around and online searches have done nothing to help. Minus the 8.5%, the bottle itself has a typewriter-esque rant on the back with intentional misspellings everywhere. I would've appreciated a bit more info to go on.

It's definitely from Stone: hop smells galore, predominantly citrus with a pungent, almost musty-scent. There is the occasional whiff of sweetness, but you only start picking that up as the beer warms in the glass. It's a beautiful shade of red, this stuff - the color completely matches what the devil on the front would be sipping.

The taste is a front-end shove from the alcohol. I admit to some surprise - with my taste buds, I tend to pick up heavy alcohol toward the finish of the beer, not the start. But this is the reverse: malty burn to start, but like a wave receding into the ocean, the burn fades and leaves an incredible amount of hoppy oils on your tongue. Excellent finish on this for an ale. Try it, but pack food along for the ride. It does a good number on cutting out the flash of booze and leaving the rest of the flavor.