Beer in San Diego County, California

San Diego County, California, has been called "the Craft Beer Capital of America".

[4][5] Based on 2016 sales volume, three San Diego County breweries – Stone, Green Flash, and Karl Strauss – rank among the 50 largest craft brewers in the United States.

[10] Mission Brewery, located in the Middletown neighborhood of San Diego, opened in 1913 and closed due to Prohibition.

During Prohibition it helped to supply Americans with the beer they could not legally buy in the United States.

It featured a large Rathskeller, or basement beer hall, decorated with murals, paintings, and woodcarvings by Jose Moya del Pino.

In the formerly small town of Tijuana more than 180 cantinas were built to serve American visitors, and the city's population grew tenfold between 1920 and 1930.

[18] In the mid-1990s a second wave of craft breweries appeared, led by Pizza Port, Stone and Alesmith.

[20][21] Other festivals were added, and in 2009 the San Diego Brewers Guild launched an annual Beer Week.

[24] At the 2015 Great American Beer Festival, San Diego County brewers brought home a total of 20 medals (6 gold, 2 silver, and 11 bronze).

[17] In 2024, in an annual competition hosted by USA Today, O'Brien's Pub was named the Best Beer Bar in America.

[37] The pub, founded in 1994, is located in the Kearny Mesa area of San Diego and is co-owned by Tom Nickel and Tyson Blake.

[40][23] Brewing has been one of the fastest-growing business sectors in San Diego, with seven new licenses issued in 2010, fifteen in 2011 and eighteen in 2012.

San Diego Beer Week, launched in 2009, is now a ten-day county-wide festival, held in early November and aimed at both local residents and tourists.

[22] It showcases the local beer scene and fosters knowledge about the area's brewing heritage.

[51] Located in Escondido in San Diego's North County, it is known for hoppy, high-alcohol beers and an in-your-face attitude.

")[52] Arrogant Bastard Ale is regarded as a "watershed beer" that "put San Diego on the craft brew map.

[54] In 2014, Stone announced plans to open brewery restaurants in Richmond, Virginia and in Berlin, Germany.

Pizza Port started brewing commercially in 1992; in 1994, it became the first-ever San Diego brewery to win a medal at the Great American Beer Festival.

[18] The Great American Beer Festival named Pizza Port's Carlsbad location the "best large brewpub" in 2009, 2010 and 2011.