With more than 100 brewhouses in San Diego, hundreds of new beers are produced throughout the county each year. I have the good fortune of sampling a great many of them, and the following is a list, broken down by style, of the 50 local brews that really stuck with me in 2014. Some simply represent the best tasting beers I had all year, while others win points for innovation or tackling lesser celebrated styles, and doing it with style, precision, and a quality deliverable. No matter the beer, be assured that I proudly stand behind the selection of them all and highly recommend each one. Cheers to those who produced them. San Diego is a better place because they’re here.
India Pale Ales & Hoppy Beers
- 32 North Nautical Mile IPA
- Alpine Bine & Vine 3rd Anniversary IPA
- AleSmith Pale Ale 394
- Amplified Smokin’ Kiwi Smoked IPA
- Aztec Hop Serpent Double IPA
- Aztec Simrilla IPA
- Ballast Point Grunion Pale Ale
- Fall Spirit of 77 IPA
- Karl Strauss Mosaic Session Ale
- Mike Hess North Park IPA
- Nickel Hopster Douchebag Double IPA
- Pacific Octo Rye IPA
- Pizza Port Big Deal with Passion Fruit
- Pizza Port Citra-R-Ama
- Rip Current Hop Wine Quadruple IPA
- Societe The Bachelor: Sorachi Ace
Stouts & Brown Ales
- AleSmith Barrel-Aged Vietnamese Speedway Stout
- Bagby Upside Down Frown Brown
- Ballast Point Rye Barrel-Aged Victory At Sea Coffee & Vanilla Imperial Porter
- Belching Beaver Horchata Imperial Stout:
- Chris Banker/Stone/Insurgente Xocoveza Mocha Stout
- Coronado/Cigar City Jurata Baltic Porter
- Council Pirate’s Breakfast Imperial Oatmeal Stout
- Iron Fist Rum Barrel-Aged Dark Days Imperial Stout
- Mikhail’s Odd (2013 Stone ESPRESSO Imperial Russian Stout aged in Bourbon Barrels)
- Modern Times Monsters Park Imperial Stout
- O’Sullivan Bros. Catholic Guilt Smoked Porter
- Pizza Port 2014 Strong Ale Blend
- Pizza Port May The Port Be With You Imperial Porter
- Saint Archer Coffee Brown
Belgian-style Ales
- Benchmark Table Beer
- Council Tart Saison
- Culture Sour Grape
- The Lost Abbey Veritas 014 Ale
- Mother Earth Triple Swag
- Rip Current Double Point Break Dubbel
- Societe The Gleaner Saison
- Stone Bang Bang (Red Ale aged in Bourbon Barrels)
- Toolbox Tart X
- URBN St. Saison
Other Styles
- AleSmith Decadence 2014 Wheat Wine
- Bolt Pilsner
- Fallbrook Java Hill Coffee Cream Ale
- Green Flash Sour Blonde
- Green Flash Treasure Chest Barrel-Aged Saison with Plums
- Indian Joe Mango Sour
- Intergalactic 1st Anniversary Black Barley Wine
- Monkey Paw Javier! Javier! English Strong Ale
- Monkey Paw/Nickel Wrathchild Smoked Doppel Weizenbock
- New English Barleywine