A good beer is a good beer. I know what a good beer tastes like because I like it. I don’t need to pretend these hops and that yeast are a better combination for this Brown Ale. Nope, a good beer just feels right on my palette. I have a good understanding of the process of making beer, how can I not? This is San Diego, arguably the mecca of craft beer. But unlike bearded beer connoisseurs sniffing their own hoppy farts at the discussion table at any local brewery, I don't take my beer too serious. I respect people who do, people who are experts at their craft, people who have paid their dues and put in the work. People who have passion and have dedicated their lives at honing and evolving their recipes. Thank you, you are what makes San Diego a delicious boozy experience. I am not talking about them. I am talking about the guy who fixes motorcycles but thinks he can brew a better batch of IPA than Mike Hess. I am talking about theguy who claims his career is cross-fit but he is also a brew master at night at his mom’s garage. Or the local barfly who lives in North Park and despises every beer he drinks as “over rated” but claims his buddy’s pilsner is gonna be the next big thing. You know who you are.

In many ways beer is like design or comedy, or music, or art, or anything creative for that matter. Everyone has an opinion about it, and everyone has a preference.Some people like stouts others brown ales, although I do not understand San Diego’s obsession with IPA’s, regardless of taste everyone can agree that most breweries are not known for good design. That is not a bad thing, they should be known for good beer not for looking pretty. But as much as I hate to admit it, San Diego needs to step up the architecture of breweries in order to succeed.



Stone brewery was a huge success because there was nothing like it around at the time. I used to live in North County and I remember going to Stone when the tasting room was in their warehouse in San Marcos. Some chairs, a bar, some barrels laid out to serve as tables, they were handy to lean on once you had a few arrogant bastards. The main clientele consisted of thirsty blue collar workers getting off work. But fortunately, or unfortunately depending how big of a micro brewery purist you claim to be, Stone Brewery was bound to grow. They had decent beer and they understood the concept of experience. They threw some money at the design of their new facility, called it a bistro, put some shitty fusion interpretation of tacos on their menu and boom! Now it is packed with soccer moms and house wives sucking down bottles of wine at noon. Who the fuck orders wine at a brewery? Any how, I’m not a Stone hater, I love what they did with the garden, I was a customer for many years before I moved out of North County. But to be fair I got over the Stone hype fast, I went to Stone to drink their guest beers, they always had good non-stone beer on tap.