Celebrate San Diego Beer Week with local breweries

This year’s San Diego Beer Week will bring together San Diego County’s more than 150 independent craft breweries for the 11th annual celebration of the region’s innovative brewing culture. The 10-day event begins on Friday, Nov. 1 with a countywide virtual toast at 7:30 p.m. — fans can take part by sharing photos on social media using #SDBEER and #SDBW.

The beer-centric festivities continue through Sunday, Nov. 10. Check out what’s happening at some local breweries:

New English
Sorrento Valley’s New English Brewing is locally-owned by Simon and Nina Lacey—the couple lived in Carmel Valley for 12 years and has lived in Del Mar since 2009. The brewery is home to award-winning IPAs, brown ales and stouts.

New English is planning a tasty beer release for beer week: Tangereign IPA. The collaboration beer with Automatic Brewing is” bursting with juiciness,” brewed with 60 pounds of organic tangerines.

On Friday, Nov. 8, they will host the annual Beer to the Rescue event with 10% of tasting room proceeds going toward curing lupus. On Saturday, Nov. 9, they will host a Barrel-Aged Beer event.

“We love running a brewery in San Diego, especially in the Carmel Valley/Del Mar area, as it’s given us an opportunity to create community locally. People ride their bikes into our tasting room on the weekend, come in after work and make new friends,” said Nina Lacey. “Everyone is welcome. And you get to enjoy world-class handcrafted beer right here. Our aim is for you to come as you are, enjoy yourselves and leave happier than when you arrived. Come visit and say hey!”

Located at 11545 Sorrento Valley Road, suite 305.

California Wild Ales
Located in Sorrento Valley, California Wild Ales is the only all barrel-aged sour brewery in town. “We decided with all the other styles being made in such abundance we wanted to focus on a particular style that wasn’t readily available and just try to make the best beer we can,” said co-owner Zack Brager of the brewery that opened in 2018.

The brewery ferments its golden ale for 12 months in oak barrels to produce tart flavors, fruity notes and a funky character.

The “monster flight” at California Wild Ales.

(Karen Billing)

“We love working with local farmers and neighbors with backyard fruit trees,” said co-owner Bill DeWitt. “Sourcing local ingredients is one of our top priorities because it creates less of a carbon footprint, it promotes community and is unmatched in quality and freshness.”

For Beer Week, they will release six sours with limited bottles starting with Absolutely Apricot and Spicy Gose Loco on Nov. 1., Carlsbad Blueberry on Nov. 3 featuring fresh blueberries that sourced locally from The Flower Fields in Carlsbad, Peach on Peach Cobbler on Nov. 6 and Echoes of Muscat on Nov. 9.

For Veterans Day on Nov. 11, they will release GI Gose-a Real American Wild Ale and 25% of bottle and keg sales will support veterans’ rights.

“I love running a brewery in San Diego because of the people in the industry,” said DeWitt. “San Diego is such an amazing place and it seems to attract the best people from all over. “

Located at 4202 Sorrento Valley Road, suite L.

Culture Brewing
Owners John Niedernhofer, Steve Ragan and Dennis Williams opened the first Culture brewery and tasting room in Solana Beach in 2013, followed by satellite tasting rooms in Ocean Beach in 2014 and Encinitas in 2017. The only way to enjoy Culture beer is to have a pint at one of their tasting rooms.

Culture’s goal has always been to create more than just great beer — with monthly art shows, local pop-up shops, film premieres, fundraisers and more. Culture is one of the more active local breweries with weekend boga (beer +yoga) every Saturday in Solana Beach at 10:30 a.m. and a weekly run club on Mondays at 6 p.m. with three, four and six-mile options.

Every Monday, Culture offers 25% off beer to go and $1 off pints. Check out Taster Tuesday on Nov. 5 and get three tasters for $3.

Located on 111 S. Cedros Avenue, suite 200.

Harland Brewing
Carmel Valley’s Harland Brewing, created by Saint Archer Brewing Company alums, opened in One Paseo in July and recently opened a second tasting room in Scripps Ranch (a grand opening will be held in time for SD Beer Week on Saturday, Nov. 2).

For beer week, Harland has lots of activities and new brews planned:

• 11/1- Special Hazy IPA tapping

• 11/5- $8 flights

• 11/6 - Guess The Hops! $5 Beer When You Guess Correctly! Beer Class at 6 p.m.

• 11/7 - Maple Pastry Stout release

• 11/8 - Special Stout tapping

• 11/9 - BlackBerry Cobbler can release with limited glassware release

• 11/10 - $5 Pints

Bonus: The newly-opened Urbn Pizza in One Paseo offers free delivery to the brewery.

Located on 3718 Paseo Place, suite 1300.

Viewpoint Brewing
The Viewpoint logo, when flipped upside-down, reads “good beer.” The idea of Viewpoint, Del Mar’s first brewery, on an enviable spot overlooking the San Dieguito Lagoon, is that it’s all about unique perspectives from the brewing and culinary communities.

Celebrate SD Beer Week on the San Dieguito Lagoon with Del Mar’s Viewpoint Brewing.

(Courtesy)

Celebrate Beer Week with Viewpoint Brewing’s Penitent Man IPA, brewed West Coast style and dry hopped with Simcoe and Amarillo for a fruity aroma and strong clean pine finish. Pair it with Chef Gunnar’s special house-made Bratwurst & Pretzel Plate available Nov. 1- 11.

Guests can also enjoy $4.50 pints during Viewpoint’s late-night Hoppy Hour Sunday -Thursday 8 p.m. to close, and Friday - Saturday 9 p. m. to close.

“San Diego has a ton of breweries, what I thought would be a challenge ended up being more of an embrace from our local breweries like Culture and Pizza Port,” said Charles Koll, co-founder/brewer. “Where we stand apart is that we are not focused on the distribution model, but rather the neighborhood brewpub model. This works well for us because we can keep creating new beers and menu items without having to think about a core beer line up or a permanent menu. If we don’t like something, we change it. This also works for our guests. They get upset with us when we don’t put something new on the menu so in turn they also keep us accountable.”

Pro tip: Walk or run to the brewery on the San Dieguito River Park’s Coast to Crest Trail. It’s about a mile and a half to the brewery from the trailhead on San Andres Drive.

Viewpoint is located at 2201 San Dieguito Road.

Mason Ale Works
Carmel Valley’s Mason Ale Works represents the first satellite tasting room for the brewery—the beers are brewed out of facilities in Oceanside and San Marcos.

The bar’s 20 taps are in constant rotation starring Mason’s core beers and limited releases. Mason’s core beers include the Willy Time Belgian style white, the Respeto Mexican-style lager, American IPA Jambi, the rich hoppy red IPA Charley Hustle and coffee stout Cash. The tasting room is also a spot to pick up Mason cans like their award-winning triple IPA The Duke.

A casual dining menu pairs with the beers, featuring pizzas, sandwiches, salads and shared plates like pretzel bites with housemade beer mustard and pork belly poutine.

Located at 5550 Carmel Mountain Road.