Just Another Little Trip to San Diego

Any time we have a reason to travel to San Diego, we take it. The past few times have been for weddings and this time was no different. We try to extend our trips as long as possible so we can spend time with as many friends and family we can, and so we have time to check out the breweries.

Duck Foot Brewing Company
This was our first time to this new brewery. From their Facebook page they state they are “A new approach to beer consumption: great tasting specialty beers that just happen to be accessible for the gluten­ intolerant.” That’s right, they cater to the gluten-sensitive.  According to their website, they use a natural enzyme to break down the proteins in gluten, making it digestible to most people who are sensitive to gluten; even those with Celiac disease, like their co-founder, Matt DelVecchio. This enzyme is flavorless and odorless, but clearly not useless. It has no effect on the beer’s taste.

The Beers: The Double White IPA was the best one we tried. Beard loves all IPAs, Broad likes most but loves white IPAs. They state its a hybrid of a White Ale and West Coast IPA.  There were notes of Spice, Citrus, and Pine in the aroma. It was extremely drinkable despite its high alcohol content. The “Looker” Cali Blonde Ale was also quite tasty; it was light and delicious, but full of flavor, with some floral and citrus notes.

Mikkeller Brewing
Oh boy, what a surprise! We did not know Mikkeller opened its first brewery in San Diego. That’s right, the first one. If you didn’t know, they are a gypsy brewery meaning they do not operate an official brewery. Instead, they collaborate with other brewers to produce their recipes or experimental one-off brews. They make some pretty exceptional beer. Come to think of it, I don’t think we’ve ever had a beer we didn’t like from there. We will definitely be doing a full post just on this brewery because the history is fascinating and the beer superb.

The Beers: ALL of them were delicious. We tend to gravitate toward their sour beers so our favorite was the Berliner Weisse. Tart, refreshing and amazing.

Maker’s Mark Whiskey Tasting
This event was a bit different for us especially since Broad is fairly new to whiskey. One of her favorite drinks is a whiskey sour, as well as whiskey and ginger beer cocktails, but she doesn’t usually want to drink whiskey straight. Needless to say, she wasn’t 100% on board with a whiskey tasting. But, our friend Justin was chauffeuring us around SD and had an invite to this so we decided to tag along.

The event was held at a swanky, fun joint called Soda & Swine and sponsored by Maker’s Mark. The purpose of the event was education. We did an in-depth tasting and had a discussion about Maker’s Mark, then deconstructed the old fashioned in terms of tradition vs. efficiency, we also made sure to try all the food that was offered, the https://eleganttouch.com.au/ did a great job at catering. It was educational and fun.  We won’t go into details or the history of Maker’s Mark or even about old fashioneds, but I’m sure we will cover both in a separate post.

The representative had us try three versions of Maker’s: Maker’s original, Maker’s 46 and Cask Strength. We were told to try and note the differences and figure out which we liked best. Both Beard and Broad liked original best. Broad was surprised. She normally did not count Maker’s as one of her favorite brands (Bulleit and Templeton are her favorites). We then had to state what we think makes a good old fashioned. Then, the rep talked about what Maker’s thinks goes into the perfect old fashioned: balance, strength, simplicity were of the utmost importance. Finally, there was a contest to see how many old fashioneds the contestants could make either by the traditional way (muddling a sugar cube with bitters) or efficient way (using simple syrup). We both preferred the traditional.  Overall it was a very cool, different experience. It definitely opened up our eyes and challenged our palate a bit.

We Olive & Wine Bar
We stayed in La Jolla with Beard’s family. It’s an amazing town and we always enjoy walking around and exploring. This trip we walked the main strip and stopped by one of our favorite joints Cody’s for some bubbly cocktails and a snack. We then wandered into We Olive.  What first grabbed our attention was a sign that said “ocean view wine bar.” Broad was in the mood for some Rosé (always is) so we stopped in.

From their website: “We Olive is the premier retailer of artisan California olive oil. California growers cultivate some of the world’s finest extra virgin olive oils. We Olive was created to give these dedicated growers a common home where shoppers can enjoy a unique olive oil shopping experience.” We Olive La Jolla was the first location to expand beyond the olive oils and feature an ocean-view Wine Bar, “showcasing small-production California wines, local craft beer, and a menu of olive oil inspired small plates”.  There’s multiple locations, mostly in California, but one is actually in Cincinnati, OH as well.

This place is fantastic. They had samples of almost everything from olive oils, balsamic vinegars, spreads etc. The wine bar was located in the back and they had a small patio. We ordered samples of champs, rosé and white wines. We fell in love with this place. The staff is so friendly and very helpful. Everything we tried from food samples to the wine was SO tasty. We enjoyed this place so much that we went back the next day with friends. We normally don’t go to the same place twice during our trips but this place was special!

Hot Tub Cruisin’
One additional fun thing we did in SD that was not brewery related was hot tub crusin’. We enjoyed a hot tub on a boat with four of our close friends. It was our friend Hailey’s 30th birthday and since we would all be in town for a wedding, our friends Sean and Daria snagged this Groupon and invited us on this adventure. We had one hour during which we sailed around this small boat, sat in a hot tub, and drank giant bottles of champs and Mexican beers. It was amazing, since we always have love boats, and we’re even thinking into assisting to the Newport Beach Boat Parade 2020 where you can see a great variety of boats in this celebration.

One thing to note: anyone can drive this thing. You just need to be over 18 and have a valid driver’s license. There actually isn’t even an option to pay someone from the company to drive it.  You can also bring any booze and snacks you want, you can rent the boat for up to 4 hours, and you can also have up to 10 people aboard the boat. The hour went by so fast. We highly recommend doing this if you’re in the area and want something fun and unique to do.  But, we also suggest bringing along someone who has at least mild experience with driving a boat.  If not, a person could end up, say, slightly grazing another docked boat…or the actual dock; so we’ve heard.

Broad Note: Ladies, the adorable, gorgeous swim suits you see in the above pics are designed by our friend Hailey. Go check out Paper Sails if you’re interested!