SD Brewery Tour: Hess North Park

I have been a big fan of Hess Brewing for a long time. San Diego's 1st Nano Brewery, it makes the rest of us homebrewers think "Hey! Maybe I can do that too!" If you are so inclined...

Personally, I'm happy making my own small batches and sharing with friends. Not interested in turning my hobby into my job. Not to mention the fact that, my beers are not nearly the quality for mass production!

This is certainly not the case with Hess. As I said, I've been a fan for some time, having visited their Miramar location many many times. It doesn't hurt that they are super close to my office. So when I first heard that they were moving production to a new location in North Park I was worried. Getting my Purrowler fills will not be so convenient now! But fear not! Two things about this... First, they are not closing the Miramar location (yet) and since I first heard the news I have moved a little bit closer to the NP location. Yay for me!!

And even better yet, the new location is Really Cool! I love how, when you first walk in, it's basically an overhead walkway through the brewery. Right away you see the brewhouse and then the massive fermentaion vessels all lined up. I hope they give tours some day, because I really want to see the inner workings down there!

Then the pathway leads you to, what else?
The beer!

This was the Soft Opening, and they had 9 beers on tap! Unfortunately, they didn't have one of my favorites, Deceptio Black IPA on that day, but many other fantastic beers. I had the Pallidus, a Belgian Pale which I had never had from them before. Very tasty! I also sampled the Brunus Robustus, a Robust Porter. Also, very good.

With limited time, I wasn't able to sample too many on this day, but these are not new beers to me. If they are to you, I highly recommend stopping by this new brewery/tasting room.  The Grand Opening is this Fri/Sat, August 9/10, and as of this posting there are still tickets available for the Sat 1pm session. The $30 includes a commemorative glass and all beer during the event(excluding growler fills). Looks like they are going to have 12 or 13 beers then.
So, check them out! Yet, one more of the fantastic San Diego breweries that we are spoiled with!!