Every year I do a party bus with a bunch of friends for my birthday where we go to many of the local breweries here in San Diego. Since usually three is all the breweries that we can handle, this is the magic number. This year's bus had a good crew, and we went to three brand new breweries that are less than six months old.
Breweries:
Circle 9 - First stop
Longship - Second stop
Protector - Third stop
(This picture was actually from our second stop, but I wanted it to be my post thumbnail, and it's the only pic that shows the whole group)
I had a huge issue with my initial bus company and they bailed on the event, so previously in the day I was frantically trying to get something. Thankfully, a friend helped me locate an available bus and we ended up having a great event.
This wasn't our standard bus as they are usually limo seating, but this still had plenty of room to stand and talk or dance or whatever, plus the fun accessories of a bigger party bus.
Circle 9 was the first spot. They basically only did IPA's which was a little rough for some of the people that went (ahem, sorry wifey). There was one other beer on draft which was a barrel aged Imperial stout which was actually pretty decent. They even had it on nitro.
I'm the beer snob Untappd fan, so yes, gotta get them badges!
Since I always do my research ahead of time, I contact the breweries and make sure we stop at ones that give me free flights for the bus and my birthday. Most are usually pretty good, so it works out pretty well!
(My other beer snob friend...I mean fanatic enthusiast)
Second spot we stopped at was a new place called Longship Brewing. The theme was based on Vikings and such. There were helmets and swords around the facility with some cool branding and themes. The environment was good and the tasting room was fun.
The beers weren't anything crazy impressive (that's probably just my San Diego spoiled self talking), but the one Belgian Tripel they had was great! I'm a huge Belgian beer fan, so it's great to find a Belgian beer done well.
Last stop was a little of a blur. Our intended brewery ended up having a wedding at it so we went with the initial option prior which ended up working out great. It was a new spot that is actually owned by all former Navy SEALs (hence "Protector"). They specialize in only doing organic beers. I'm pretty sure this was the first time I've ever tried organic beer, so this was a new concept.
The beers were pretty decent on the whole and definitely better than Longship. In addition, the staff was extremely friendly and sociable. We all had a great time.
Boozing games are great at the end of the night...or anytime.
Heading home on the bus, this is about how my vision looked...
The bus dropped us off at the pickup/dropoff spot which was strategically chosen to be in front of a pub down the hill from my house, called "The Library". We definitely did some studying.
Overall it was a great night, and this year feels off to a good start!
Cheers!