This Beer is Delicious, but it is Filling
Opening Day is coming, Mekelberg's is closing, and San Diego's beer scene is still impressive
I’m back from a trip to San Diego last weekend that involved a lot of tacos and quite a few new-to-me breweries — 21, to be precise. And despite all the gloom and doom in the beer industry these days, a trip like this to what is seemingly a region that is oversaturated with breweries gave me reason for hope. San Diego County has such a mature scene that a lot of the newer places I visited leaned into a niche — not a gimmick — to make them stand out in a crowded market.
There was the brewery that prided itself on its upscale Mexican food and suggested beer and taco pairings. There was the brewery-inside-a-winery that shared a boisterous tasting room and had a diverse crowd. There was the brewery-inside-a-brewery where you got two sets of taps for the price of one. There was the Vegas-themed brewery that hosted a piano bar with a lounge singer. There was the golf-themed brewery that included an indoor putting green and golf simulator (plus a Belgian Dubbel called Dubbel Bogey). There was the brewery with a brewer who pulls from his own heritage to create fascinating concoctions with ingredients like ube, pandan leaf, and coconut.
There were still plenty of run-of-the-mill, forgettable places that I visited, but they were the exception to the rule this time around. If this is the future of beer, I’m excited for it.
A Sampler Tray of NYC Beer News
Would you hate me if I ordered a flight right now? No? Okay, then. Let’s run through a flight of beer goings-on in New York City.
Bat Flip Day is Back
Baseball season is just a week away in New York, and that means that the return of Torch & Crown’s celebration of the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd: Bat Flip Day. The party next Thursday will feature their classic souvenir refillable beer bats filled with Bat Flip, their Spring Ale, plus baseball on the screens all day long starting at 1pm (the Mets kick off at 1:10, the Yankees at 4:10). A $25 ticket gets you admission, a pint of beer, the souvenir bat to take home, and a loaded hot dog.
All-Lager Brewery Coming to Brooklyn
A bit of a teaser of what’s to come: a new brewery is under construction in East Williamsburg, and like the breweries of the area 120 years ago, its focus will be all lagers, particularly classic European styles. Work on Eckhart Beer is underway on Johnson Avenue, a few blocks north of the Jefferson Street L Train stop. The brewery will include a 10-barrel brewhouse and a 2,500-square foot taproom with overhead serving tanks, a mezzanine, and a small, simple kitchen when it opens late this summer. You can hear more about Eckhart from owner Nick Meyer on the latest episode of Beer Sessions Radio, and follow Eckhart Beer on Instagram to keep tabs on updates as they build out.
Mekelberg’s Announces Closure of Clinton Hill Location
Mekelberg’s on Grand Avenue in Clinton Hill is closing at the end of the month, the shop and bar announced yesterday on Instagram. The spot opened in 2015 as a novel concept: a beer bar, deli, and specialty grocery all folded into one. I often called it the mullet of beer bars — business in front, party in the back. “We’ve loved every minute of being in this amazing community, from our phenomenal staff, the thousands of pounds of chicken we’ve fried, our regulars, the trivia nights, all of 2020, that one time someone made a hot chicken commercial just because they loved it so much, and especially to those who just wanted a great beer and tasty food at the end of the day,” management said in their goodbye message.
A portion of the shop will shift across the street to Guevara’s, and Mekelberg’s second location, on Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, will remain open for your chicken and beer fix.
Hey! It’s (Another) Homebrew Tour!
15 years ago, beer writer Josh Bernstein started the novel concept of bringing tour groups from brewery to brewery in New York City — but at an extremely small scale, as these were in people’s homes. After all this time, the Homebrew Tours are still alive and kicking, with a different guide, but with the same concept: you’ll visit three homebrewers, learn about their processes, and sample their beers. The 15th Anniversary Tour will be held on Saturday, May 4th at 1pm in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. Tickets go on sale today at noon and are $30.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 3,375
Total breweries visited in 2024: 91
Total breweries visited in California: 279
Total breweries visited in San Diego County, California: 100
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #766, North Park Beer Co., San Diego, California (Visited 5-Feb-2017)
There are a lot of cities where I get asked for brewery recommendations simply because my friends are overwhelmed by the sheer number of options. San Diego is among the most common. The amount of breweries in San Diego County is head-spinning — it has over 140 breweries and brewpubs currently, plus another few dozen satellite tasting rooms. But on every trip since it opened, I’ve been back to North Park Beer Co. to enjoy their stupendous hazy IPAs and delicious house lagers. On my visit last weekend, I went with the Crispy-Fu, a West Coast Pilsner that really brightened my day with old friends at their taproom. I’m also a sucker for Art Deco design, and the nice fixtures and dark wood touches inside the taproom align with the look and feel of North Park’s branding.
My first visit was back in 2016 when North Park was just another local spot in an area chock full of breweries, seemingly specializing in the hype-beast styles. But this brewery has found a way to spread their wings and carve out a niche in their namesake neighborhood where breweries have come and gone. If you’re going to San Diego and don’t go here, you’re doing something wrong.
The Doom and Gloom Tracker
At least 2 breweries I’ve visited closed or announced their closure this week:
Brewery #1134, Off Track Brewing, Bedford, Nova Scotia (Visited 6-May-2018)
Brewery #1731, Stone Angel Brewing Co., Winnipeg, Manitoba (Visited 19-Oct-2019)
The Weekly Reader
A profile of New York’s first female Certified Cicerone [Anna Rahmanan, Time Out]
A Rochester brewery steps in to offer clean water to its neighborhood [Gino Fanelli, WXXI]
There’s an effort in Congress to save draft beer [Dave Infante, VinePair]
A story about the “nicest man in beer,” who was very nice to me when I visited his brewery in 2022 [David Jesudason, Pellicle]
One Last Thing
So yes, as you saw above, I’ve now been to 100 breweries in San Diego County. Ahead of my trip last weekend, I crunched the numbers, wondering if I had hit that milestone in any other county in the country. The answer is yes: it’s the Consolidated City and County of Denver, Colorado, where I have also been to exactly 100 breweries. That 100th in Denver also happened to be my 250th in Colorado. There’s another county in the running where I’m close to 100: King County, Washington, where I’ve visited 90 breweries. Guess I’ve got a new goal for my next trip to Seattle.
Cheers,
Chris