South of the 56 Sighting...

Ryan, Andrea, Megan and myself did a little lunch and brewery hopping this past Friday. Lunch @ Callahan's, A stop off @ Ballast Point for some Sculpin IPA on Nitro and then a quick stop off @ Hess Brewing with a visit from Dr. Cory Rank. Good times guys! Ryno...Good to see you buddy. I forgot to tell you...I check your blog everyday.

Hess Brewing...

Saturday afternoon we stopped in to check out the Hess Brewing facilities. Which was not as easy to find as it first seemed...the 15 minutes of torrential downpour as soon as we started to get close definitely wasn't helping. San Diego's first licensed nano-brewery...Small hand-crafted batches...51 Gallons each batch. I didn't retain that knowledge...I grabbed it off their website. For $10 you get 4 larger tastings in a Hess Glass that you get to take home. We had Claritas @ 5.8% ABV(Kolsch), Grazias @ 6.3% ABV(Vienna Cream Ale), Intrepidus @ 8.5% ABV(IPA) and Ex Umbris @ 9.8 ABV (Stout). The last two were a kick in the teeth...a very enjoyable kick in the teeth. I would have to say so far the Claritas was my favorite. I am ready to give them all another try just to double check. Mmmmmm beer.

San Diego Brewing Co...

Bear Republic Racer 5...You are my only friend.

Meggy and I stopped in on Friday for some lunch and a beer. The special sounded good...Open-faced Prime Rib Sandwich...so I went for it. I should know better by now...I have been burned so many times by a mediocre specials @ Callahan's.

The beer and the company were stunningly beautiful...made up for the not-so-special special.

Brew Hop...

For Valentine's Day Meggy got me a Brew Hop Tour. It's a three hour tour of your favorite or soon to be new favorite San Diego breweries all inclusive with luxury transportation provided. Knowing that we had 3 hours we chose the breweries closest to home so we could enjoy more drinking than travel. Awesome time! Our tour guide was named Summer...and she rocked it! Picked us up @ our place...cruised a whopping 2.2 miles to Ballast Point...Tasted, Toured and off to the next locale...Alesmith a whole 3.4 miles away...Tasted, Toured and hoped back in our transport for the 1.8 mile trip home. Totally recommend it...time flew by! Thank you Meggy!

Bob Baker Vintage VW Spring Festival...

Sunday we cruised up to Carlsbad to check out the 17th Annual Bob Baker Vintage Volkswagen Spring Festival...Presented by Strictly Vintage 2's. It was a cool little VW show...all set up in the front lot of the Bob Baker VW and Subaru...Decent turn out...nice variation in vehicle types, styles, restoration levels, quality.

As soon as we arrived I ran into one of my co-workers Ron Padua...he had his vehicle on display...it is the black 356 Porsche Speedster in the photos...awesome little ride! Chris, Nicki and Maddie met us @ the show...we cruised it...did some conversing...and decided it was time for beers and some grub.

Chris took us on a scenic driving tour of North County inland then dropped Whiskey off @ The Lewis Manor for some quality time with Lily. Then we snuck away to try out the San Marcos Brewery & Grill. Pretty tasty food...we tried out a few of their house beers...Pretty solid all around.