We really fell in love with Mother Earth Brewing Company. What a refreshing find up in Vista. It has a great mellow 70s rock thing going on. In addition, they are a homebrew supply store, and they have some pretty good stuff. Oh wait, and I tried a sampler of their Kona coffee and vanilla bean porter and IT. WAS. EXCELLENT. Like, Nestlé quick in beer form. Amazing. Go there.

The Del Mar fair homebrew competition is huge. I’m pretty sure it is San Diego’s biggest local competition of the year with over 850 beers entered (I’m not going to bother fact checking this, but it seems like a lot to me all the same). This was our first year entering and after a day of pessimism and fried food, we ended up taking home four ribbons. We received second place with our Brown ale, second place in wood/barrel aged with our bourbon stout, third place in IPAs, and fifth place for what they said was one of the biggest categories with over 90 entries with our Porter. We are pretty confident that we’re making some really good beer, but it is pretty awesome to have that validated in a competition like this!

We made a stopover at the new Green Flash Brewery after it first opened to check out the new digs in Mira Mesa. First thing, it’s enormous! The sheer size of the place and enormity of the space they have to grow into is very impressive. I have to say, I felt a little bit empathetically giddy inside for the owners and employees who now really must feel like they are part of something big. The old Carlsbad location was definitely one of the more primitive tasting room setups, especially for one of San Diego’s most widely distributed craft beers. This place is the big time. Now let’s see what they can do with all of the leg room and fancy new equipment.

It so happens that on many Saturday afternoons where we find ourselves without any set plans we end up beer tasting. Such was the case a few weeks ago when we were driving without a destination and decided finally to test out Manzanita brewing Company in Santee, CA. Located away from the majority of San Diego beer destinations out in the east of the county, Manzanita’s tasting room was definitely inviting albeit busy. This was a midday on the fly adventure and neither of us was really looking to do any heavy drinking, so we just decided to try one of their tasting flights. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in love with their beers. I somewhat enjoyed their IPA, as it was pleasant and a good departure from your typical San Diego West Coast style. Aside from that, we had previously tasted and liked the Gillespy Brown, and Andy enjoyed the Porter they were pouring. As for the rest, well, I wouldn’t order another tasting set. I do really think they have a great sense of style when it comes to their labels and print marketing. I look forward to seeing and trying more from them around town.

We have been brewing up a storm, but I have been busy finishing some case studies and a never-ending marketing project for school. Alas, I am done. We have four fresh taps: Visually impaired swine (blind pig taste-a-like), two different IPAs (one Cal 5 and one dry yeast), and a southern English Brown. There is a double IPA fermenting, and another oatmeal stout brewed yesterday. I think we are going to do something experimental for the next batch. Should be interesting!

With nothing better to do Saturday we made some impromptu visits to Hess and Alesmith. We had some great beer and conversation at both. The nanobrewery status of Hess keeps the selection small, but they always have really great stuff on tap. At Alesmith I tried my first Old Numbskull by way of a recommendation, and it was excellent. I tend to shy away from barleywines, but the hop flavor really comes through here and it is not overpowered by the usual hot sweetness of this style.

Obama was serving up some of their English nut brown that afternoon, and it was quite tasty also.