The First Present of Christmas!

The wait is over. Santa came early this year!

What am I blathering about?

Ballast Point Miramar has opened it's restaurant!!!!!

Get your reservations by calling  858-790-6901 or at their website. 

Honey grab your coat, were going OUT!

Menu: Click the letter M on Menu at the left to see the menu. (M for ummmmmmmmmmm!)

Culture Brewing

Having been opened since only February 2013, Culture is certainly cranking out some high quality beer with many styles available, most notably their limited sours and nitro offerings. An oaked imperial stout, coffee IPA, and milk stout ALL on nitro? Oh hell yes, maybe there actually is a god.

Like their original location, which is itself expanding, this brewery -- still in its infancy -- has just opened a satellite tasting room in Ocean Beach earlier this month. Both locations currently have rustic, minimalist atmospheres without kitschy advertising or anything beyond the core essentials for craft brewery authenticity: instead of chairs, you sit on kegs; instead of tables, you rest your brews on barrels.

Staff there is knowledgeable, laid back, yet attentive and friendly as any other brewery I've visited. While they don't bottle (yet), 32 oz and 64 oz growlers are available for off-premise consumption at very reasonable price points.

Tyler says get your ass over to Culture ASAP, and that's a command.

Helm's 2nd Anniversary this Saturday, the 15th - Tickets Limited!

26 available beers. Unlimited tasters 12:30-9:00 PM for $35. Lots of unique rarities, plus bacon-wrapped hot dogs, Killer Street Tacos, Amore Cheesecake, and raffles for Helm's merchandise. 

UPDATE 11/15/14: THE DRUNK DRIVER IS OFFERING AN AWESOME RAFFLE PRIZE AT THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY, AN OFFER SO RIDICULOUSLY SWEET THAT THE LUCKY WINNER WILL RECEIVE THREE HOURS OF FREE  BREWERY/EVENT TRANSPORTATION IN ONE OF OUR VANS ALONG WITH NINE OF HIS/HER FRIENDS. (UPDATE 11/15: the raffle was won by an exuberant lady who we look forward to giving her and her friends an exciting tour not to be forgotten).

TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE BREWERY. DON'T FORGET YOUR ID, AND PLEASE USE SOUND JUDGMENT BY SECURING A DESIGNATED DRIVER. 

Tentative, scheduled list subject to unforeseeable alterations (UPDATE 11/5: We succeeded in having everything available, as listed below):

*Captain's Pale Ale                           *Wicked as Sin IPA

*Hop the RIPA                                   *Summer Equinox Session IPA

*The Black Pearl Black IPA              *Batten Down Brown

*The Black Pearl on Hop Rocket     *Beeruccino

*Goosefoot Ginger                            *Samuin Harvest

*OG Wheat                                         *Black Rye Double IPA

*Decimation Triple IPA                      *Messin' With Saazquatch

*En Garde (Bier de Garde)                *The Shinning (Scottish Ale)

*Chocolate Night Stout                      *Barrel-Aged Chocolate Night

*Barrel-Aged Beeruccino                   *Raspberry Chocolate Stout

*Peanut Butter Cup Stout                  *PB & J Stout

*Honey Nut Brown Cask                         *Jalapeño Wicked as Sin Cask

*Hickory Cranberry RIPA Cask            *Coffee Samuin Harvest Cask

San Diego Beer Week 2014

The second week of November, running from the 7th through the 16th, is a very special and celebratory time to be a beer enthusiast. Currently we are just shy of one hundred craft breweries in San Diego, meaning that for you and your beer-loving friends there is no better time or place to experience and indulge in our local craft beer scene. With so many beer-centric events, you'd be wise to take advantage and responsibly explore what this great industry and city have to offer.

For more info, please click here for an extensive SDBW schedule, and here for the San Diego Brewers Guild list/map of breweries.

If you're interested in putting together a custom brewery event tour, do not hesitate to contact us at jsbsandiego@gmail.com. We'd love to be a part of your beer adventures! 8)

Thanks for the Brews Cruise!

"Walk up to the club like, "What up? I got a big..."

Yesterday's San Diego Benefit Brews Cruise on the Hornblower Adventure Yacht was a fantastically amusing and carefree event. With eight (or was it nine?) breweries' brews represented, the beer flowed freely. This became increasingly evident as the party progressed, as more and more people (see Steve above) drunkenly danced/stumbled around to the likes of the Ass Pocket Whiskey Fellas on the top deck and the rave music blasting from the lower level. 

One thing that was pleasantly surprising to me was the demographic -- it wasn't a total sausage-fest. So many beautiful women! 

The man in the middle enthusiastically kept the top deck updated on the Chargers-Raiders game; that's Breanna on the far left; and I believe the guy with the outstretched arms in the back is the organizer of Bacon Fest.

If anyone would like to share their photos, experience, or provide feedback about the cruise, please feel free to share on social media or through email at jsbsandiego@gmail.com.

email from Tyler regarding working for The Drunk Driver

BELOW IS AN EMAIL SENT TO THE DRUNK DRIVER FROM POTENTIAL NEW DRIVER, I THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY ENOUGH TO SHARE:

My resume is missing The Drunk Driver under the Professional Experience headline, plus it could use some revision to make me sound more professional and shit. I'm really tempted to ask for your help with that first part. 

I am actually putting serious thought into driving drunk people around and making those baller ass fat stacks of cash (by my current standards, anyway). Could be fun, and the 'adventure' of it to me seems exciting.

Anyway, I'm gonna shower, not comb my hair, then head to beer skool fer sum lernin.

-Tyler (the main guy at Helm's)

(resume was attached, but not shown on this blog for Tyler's privacy)

Stay tuned for more blog posts from Tyler.

One more question.

Everyone knows that IPA is the acronym for Indian Pale Ale. But do you know why this most popular style of beer came to be? and in what century?

Brews Cruise!! Round 2!

Buy Tickets  GO to event website

Riddle me this, Beerman. . .

Beer trivia question numero uno.

In what prominent San Diego county craft brewery will you find the words,

"IN ILLA BRETTANOMYCES, NOS FIDES", posted above a barrel aging room?

Second question:

What does it mean?

Answer correctly and you will receipt a VIP Cooler upgrade to use on your next brewery tour.

"Please, Ballast Point, may I have another. . ." Location that is.

Wow! This just in. Ballast Point, the people who produce Sculpin, arguably the best IPA known to humankind, is in the process of opening a 4th Brewery very soon. It will be located at 9045 Carrol Way, in the Miramar area. This location will increase potential production by 3 times! There will be a tasting room and even a restaurant! Slated to open the last part of this year, I can hardly wait.

The Wet 'N Reckless Brewery is on Fire.

Wet 'N Reckless Brewery is on Fire!

Or more accurately, was on fire. Yesterday, July 27, 2014, Fire broke out in the back area, hours after the owner, Dave Hyndman, had been welding. There were no injuries and damages are yet to be determined. I think I speak for everyone at The Drunk Driver, (I dont), when I wish them swift repairs, and I sincerely hope no beer was lost in this incident. SMOKIN'! wetnreckless.com

Twisted Manzanita Open Since 2010!

It is hard to believe, but Manzanita, I mean Twisted Manzanita, has been in business for over 4 years! Watch out Stone. If you have not tried their selection of medium to high alcohol content brews, you should. And they are open till 10pm on the weekends.  Twisted Manzanita

San Diego Brewing Co

These people are open till 12am


San Diego Brewing Company's name and tradition began long before this Linda Vista brewery was established. The original manufacturing facility with the same name opened in 1896 amid great fanfare by A.E. Horton, the father of San Diego. The San Diego Brewing Company of today has come a long way from the original brewery, which was powered then by a 25-horsepower engine that operated the elevator, barley mill and mash tun. The modern-day rendition of San Diego Brewing Company hopes to carry on the legacy of the original brewery by keeping artfully crafted brews flowing from its brewhouse. On tap are fifty house and guest brews, including some time-honored classics like the Grantville Gold, Old Town Nut Brown and Infinitude IPA.