I went to Stone Brewery for the first time a couple years ago, and I loved it! As you could imagine, I jumped at the chance to stop by there for lunch a few days ago. We conveniently were driving to San Diego for dealer visits from LA and were hitting that area right around lunch time.
The thing I think is really cool about Stone is that everything there is really nicely done. They have a lush garden in the back, a trailhead right next to the brewery, their menu serves top notch ingredients, and everything there is clean and modern. I didn’t do a brew tour this time (but I did last time).
Jeff and I enjoyed lunch in the garden.
They had a long beer menu…it was so hard to choose just one!
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my Colorado Breweries, but I can appreciate other ones. Stone and Deschutes are some out of state favorites.
I got a glass of the Stone Cali-Belgique IPA. I have never had this one from Stone, or noticed it anywhere. It was really good! HERE are some notes from Beer Advocate on it. I enjoyed it a lot! I also couldn’t leave Stone without doing a taster of the Oaked Arrogant Bastard. A taster was enough for me. I’m not a huge fan of this beer for some reason (it seems like people love it!). I figure if I keep trying it, I’ll appreciate it more. That’s how I started to like IPA and now I love it.
Now, onto the food. I usually try to make very healthy choices when I go out to eat, but this time, I simply couldn’t pass it up. I had an internal struggle, and the glutton in me won. Read the description. I love the smoked porter and I love cheese… how could I refuse?
I think their menu is a bit on the pricey side, but oh well.
It was delicious and very rich. Good thing I had Jeff there to help me eat this. You could really taste the beer in the aftertaste.
I have a feeling this place is always busy!
I mean, they have growler refill parking spots!
Then, it was onward to San Diego.
