58 BCBusiness JUNE 2015
has become the epicentre of a move-
ment that has taken North America by
storm. While most associate the Paci‹c
Northwest with craft beer (Portland,
Seattle and, of course, Vancouver,
which celebrates its own craft beer
week the ‹rst week of June), San Diego
County alone has nearly 100 brewer-
ies, microbreweries and brewpubs
(more than all of B.C., and up from just
37 in 2011), with a craft-brewing scene
that dates back more than a quarter-
century. As a writer for the New York
Times put it, beer "has become as much
a part of the San Diego identity as surf
and sun."
One of the local hotbeds for micro-
breweries is the trendy North Park
neighbourhood, which lies just to the
northeast of iconic Balboa Park. This
is where we ‹nd Greg Hess, one of the
brothers behind the ‹ve-year-old Mike
Hess Brewing Company. "I think this is
the number one town in the world for
craft beer," says the blond, curly-haired
Hess, who looks the part of a surfer
but handles sales and distribution for
the fast-growing company. A trained
electrician and machinist, Hess helped
build the current location (open since
August 2013), where most of the beer
is brewed and the tasting room (where
I'm acquainting myself with the deli-
cious coee-infused Grazias Vienna
Cream Ale and the award-winning
Umbrix Rye Imperial Stout) is located.
Many of San Diego's craft brewers,
like the Hess brothers, started o as
home brewers. But the still-collegial-
feeling scene is increasingly big busi-
ness. A local think-tank, the National
University System Institution for Policy
Research, estimated craft brewing's
economic value to the region doubled
between 2001 and 2014 to some $600
million annually, with yearly sales
approaching $850 million (up from
$681 million in 2011). Today, brands like
Stone and Ballast Point can be found
in bars and restaurants across North
America and beyond.
"You've got some great brewers
when you look around San Diego," says
Hess. "You have Pizza Port. You have
Alesmith. You have Ballast Point. You
have Stone. You have Karl Strauss. You
have all these big breweries that are not
only producing great liquid and every-
thing else; they're training other brew-
ers, and those brewers are branching
o and starting other breweries here.
"Once you're in San Diego," he says,
pointing out to the patio and the mid-
day sunshine, "you don't leave."
f
Vancouver Brew Tour,
by Wildside Vancouver
(wildsidevancouver.com),
offers a similar experi-
ence locally: $69 to visit
three craft breweries,
which includes a driver and beer guide, and a flight
of four 4-oz tasters at each of the breweries).
f
Brew Hop (brewhop
.com) offers 2.5-hour
tours of San Diego's craft
beer scene for individuals
and groups, starting at
US$75 (which includes
transportation, a host, private tours and all your
beer samples at every brewery).
BaR HOpping
Brewery tours are a popular
way to sample San Diego's
best craft beers
