The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [48]
PHILOSOPHY
Beer creates community.
KEY BEER
Ask about the barrel aging projects. And the flowery, tangerine-y Double Dry Hopped Sculpin IPA (7% ABV) offers an aromatic blast of citrus and flowers.
HAMILTON’S TAVERN
1521 30th St. • San Diego, CA 92192 • (619) 238-5460 hamiltonstavern.com • Established: 2006
SCENE & STORY
Almost end to end, San Diego’s 30th Street has turned into a craft beer lover’s avenue in recent years, with Hamilton’s anchoring the quiet, residential southern reaches near the southeast corner of Balboa Park. Formerly a dive bar known as Sparky’s, and site of the oldest liquor license in San Diego (first listed around seventy-five years ago), Hamilton’s is the brainchild of owner Scot Blair, who cleaned it out, hung the ceiling with a wild collection of tap handles, and added a sandwich and burger café next door.
There are 28 taps, 150 bottled options, and 2 cask on all times, with a strong focus on California specialties like Russian River, AleSmith, and Firestone Walker, and a few especially interesting choices from small European brewers.
PHILOSOPHY
Come on in. Hamilton’s is a friendly neighborhood bar with a superb beer list and great food next door. Herman Hamilton, a teetotaling elderly U.S. Marine who lives in the neighborhood and for whom the bar was named, despite having no taste for drink, is said to have spent a fair amount of time visiting and telling stories with the bearded Blair and his friends, who keep the bar hopping—but seldom slammed to the point of annoyance.
KEY BEER
Brasserie Ellezelloise’s Quintine Blonde, an 8% ABV Belgian strong pale ale on the sweet side, with honey, bread, and herbal notes.
ALPINE BEER CO.
2351 Alpine Blvd. • Alpine, CA 91901 (619) 445-2337 • alpinebeerco.com • Established: 1999
SCENE & STORY
From downtown San Diego, it’s about a forty-minute drive into the Coast Range foothills on Interstate 8 toward Yuma, Arizona, to get to Alpine Brewing Company, where Pat McIlhenney, a former full-time fire captain, and his son Shawn built their own little corner of heaven: a small-production brewery and BBQ café in an old TV- repair shop, with copper-sided kettles running a few times a week. Or at least, that’s how it was supposed to be. Now, thanks to the fast-spreading fame of their IPAs in particular, they’re brewing and bottling practically dawn till dusk, adding fermentation tanks and a cold storage room and a BBQ café next door to boot. All of it was built by hand.
It seems to be working. “I cannot make beer fast enough,” says the elder McIlhenney. His twelve tap and eight bottled brews enjoy cult status, heightened by their rarity—and a slew of laurels, like a gold in 2010 in American-style strong pale ales for O’Brien’s IPA, beating fifty-eight other contenders. Simply put, you have to drive up to Alpine or—at the very least—find a great beer bar in San Diego County to drink the good stuff.
PHILOSOPHY
The McIlhenneys keep it simple: “Drink Alpine Beer or Go to Bed!”
KEY BEER
Duet IPA (7% ABV), full of the fresh, floral flavors of Simcoe and Amarillo hops, two rare varieties.
THE LINKERY
3794 30th St. • San Diego, CA 92104 • (619) 255-8778 thelinkery.com • Established: 2005
SCENE & STORY
You know you’re in a good spot when you can not only eat house-cured bacon as part of your meal, but take some home with you after dinner as well, since it is sold separately to take home by request. The bacon in question is Berkshire pork from Eden Farms, a nearby co-op of independent farmers raising hogs with pedigree, and it’s the source of the kitchen’s ham, sausage, and charcuterie. The handmade, organic approach applies to everything else as well, from wine (forty by the glass, many biodynamic small producers) to garden vegetables to house-baked bread, mustard, sauerkraut, and ice cream. If