HOW SAN DIEGO BECAME ONE OF AMERICA’S CRAFT BEER DESTINATIONS
There are few things better than great weather and great beer. Thankfully in and around San Diego, CA, there is an abundance of both. The San Diego beer scene is one of the best known in the country, with over 100 breweries and tons of great bars to serve that beer. And for those that travel to the area for work in either its burgeoning engineering sector or one of the region’s several military installations, a good beer is always close at hand.
San Diego hasn’t always been the craft beer destination many regard it as today. In fact, much like the rest of the country, San Diego struggled after prohibition to reclaim the beer scene it once had. That changed after homebrewing was legalized in 1978, and California subsequently became one of the more forward-thinking states — allowing brewpubs to operate as early as 1982. Then in 1989, San Diego opened its Karl Strauss’ Old Columbia Brewery & Grill, creating the catalyst for San Diego’s craft beer rise.
From Karl Strauss, you can trace the San Diego beer scene, with several of the original employees of Strauss opening some of the more well-known breweries in the area, including Pizza Port Brewery (which spawned Port Brewing and Lost Abbey, among others) and the Home Brew Mart, which gave rise to Ballast Point Brewing Company. It’s also said that current Russian River Brewing Company owner Vinnie Cilurzo invented the Double IPA just north of San Diego in Temecula at the now-defunct Blind Pig Brewery in 1994. With the help of Chris White, owner of White Labs (which opened in 1995) one of the world’s preeminent yeast labs was right at the brewer’s doorstep, creating “unprecedented access to world class yeast” and “custom yeast strains.”
Today, entire sections of the city have been revitalized by the craft beer scene, which has “propelled more than $1 billion into the local economy.” Areas such as North Park now have tasting rooms from popular breweries, and some of the most well-known and noteworthy bars in California, Toronado and Coin-Op Game Room.