San Diego Brewery Tour

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IMG_2008Have you ever thought about brewing your own beer? I can’t say that has ever been on my list, but after a day touring breweries in San Diego, I understand the appeal. We recently celebrated a benchmark birthday for Other Half with an Outback steak dinner and a San Diego Brewery Tour. Fun day and yep, he’s entering his seventh decade going strong.

IMG_1964We started the tour at the Historic Wonder Bread Building. It turns out bread and beer are close cousins. Our guide reminded us that beer is just liquid bread. Sounds good to me.

IMG_1980The Wonder Bread Building became the Mission Brewery some time in the late 2000’s. According to their website, Mission Brewery was originally started in 1913. Prohibition gave it the kibosh. In 2007 a beer loving guy named Dan Selis re-established the brand. We’re glad he did.

IMG_1974We each enjoyed a flight of beer. My personal favorite was the Hard Root Beer. That stuff is dangerous. You can easily forget you’re consuming alcohol.

IMG_1983Our second stop was Pizza Port Brewing Company. It was more about pizza than beer. Well not exactly. We did drink beer with our pizza, which was good. After the equivalent of a lot of beer at the Mission Brewery, we needed food. The pizza was perfect and the beer names were fun.

IMG_2001Our third stop was Ballast Point Brewing and Spirits. This place includes the Home Brew Mart. The Home Brew Mart gave me a new appreciation for the art of brewing beer. You can get any ingredient you might fancy for your personal home brew. And there’s a lot more to yeast then I ever knew was possible.

IMG_1985By the third stop our little six person tour group had become buds. There was Christine, a 21-year old from Orlando who hates Disney and only drank the “lightest beer possible.” She asked me if my name was really Kris. That was a strange question. It’s not like Kris is an exotic name. She wanted it clear she did not like the name Christine. We were to call her Tine. Ok. (Hmmmm, wouldn’t it have been easier to just introduce yourself as Tine?)

Tine was accompanied by Pam, her Mom’s best friend. Pam was a non-stop talker. Her conversations started with, “When I was in Paris or Tokyo or London or Australia or Rome.” You get the gist. After a few beers polite smiles turned to blatant eye rolls.

A young couple, Justin and Aleysa rounded out the group. They were graduating seniors from Arizona State. Justen, 24, was dealing with an overbearing Dad who insisted on knowing his whereabouts at all times. Aleysa, 22, loved working at Starbucks. Both of them had an impressive knowledge of beer. Go figure. 

IMG_2009They also both guessed Other Half’s age a decade younger. Made his day.

We ended our brewery tour with an Uber ride back to Mission Bay RV Resort. This was our first Uber experience. It was great. Have to say knowing we had a DD, designated driver, added to the day’s enjoyment. And it sure beat the “I can to drive” debate we’ve had once or twice in the past.