Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

No rubber burnt getting to candy bar beer

Carmel Mountain chocolate-coco concoction at Hillcrest Brew Project

The Mounds Tabula Rasa by Second Chance Beer Co.
The Mounds Tabula Rasa by Second Chance Beer Co.

San Diego County's over 4500 square miles. I'm not sure how it measures north to south or east to west, but I know it's too far to Uber. I also know there are a lot of miles between the hundred-plus breweries scattered from Oceanside to Ramona, from Julian to Coronado, and driving to them means somebody has to drive back sober from them.

Place

Project Bar & Grill

3683 Fifth Avenue, San Diego

Trying to keep up with breweries across the county can be fun for a weekend here or there — and I love that Beer News gives me an excuse to do it — but most of the time drinking local means within a couple miles of home. Which is why it makes my life easier to have the Brew Project open up in Hillcrest.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The locals-only bar, restaurant, and bottle shop focuses exclusively on San Diego breweries, making it a reliable place to find beers I might normally have to drive 30 miles to taste. This is particularly helpful for special releases. According to most breweries' Twitter accounts, there are interesting limited releases every weekend in some far-flung end of the county or another — Vista, Miramar, Chula Vista — I just don't typically have the time to go try them.

Place

Second Chance Beer Co.

15378 Avenue of Science #222, San Diego

Case in point: the Mounds Tabula Rasa by Second Chance Beer Company out of Rancho Bernardo. Or is it on the Carmel Mountain Ranch side of the border? Either way, it's a long ride from my place in South Park for a special release, and like so many interesting beers it could come and be gone before I make my way to North County.

Featuring cocoa and coconut, Mounds is clearly named for the candy bar. It debuted on the Brew Project's opening day tap list, and bartenders counted it among the most popular. Second Chance is also new — hardly two months old — but I'm already a fan of the standard Tabula Rasa, a nicely balanced porter made with toasted oats and pleasing chocolate notes.

But the cocoa in the Mounds really takes the chocolate to the next level. Its aroma evokes hot chocolate, and the first sip delivers in spades. The coconut establishes a bigger presence as you continue to drink but remains relatively subdued, content to sit below the surface of the darkly rich chocolate.

This was a great beer to catch on tap a short distance from home. Beside it were other tasty selections from Oceanside's Bagby, Sorrento Valley's New English and Abnormal Beer Co. (that one's definitely in Rancho Bernardo).

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Now what can they do with Encinitas unstable cliffs?

Make the cliffs fall, put up more warnings, fine beachgoers?
Next Article

Poway’s schools, faced with money squeeze, fined for voter mailing

$105 million bond required payback of nearly 10 times that amount
The Mounds Tabula Rasa by Second Chance Beer Co.
The Mounds Tabula Rasa by Second Chance Beer Co.

San Diego County's over 4500 square miles. I'm not sure how it measures north to south or east to west, but I know it's too far to Uber. I also know there are a lot of miles between the hundred-plus breweries scattered from Oceanside to Ramona, from Julian to Coronado, and driving to them means somebody has to drive back sober from them.

Place

Project Bar & Grill

3683 Fifth Avenue, San Diego

Trying to keep up with breweries across the county can be fun for a weekend here or there — and I love that Beer News gives me an excuse to do it — but most of the time drinking local means within a couple miles of home. Which is why it makes my life easier to have the Brew Project open up in Hillcrest.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The locals-only bar, restaurant, and bottle shop focuses exclusively on San Diego breweries, making it a reliable place to find beers I might normally have to drive 30 miles to taste. This is particularly helpful for special releases. According to most breweries' Twitter accounts, there are interesting limited releases every weekend in some far-flung end of the county or another — Vista, Miramar, Chula Vista — I just don't typically have the time to go try them.

Place

Second Chance Beer Co.

15378 Avenue of Science #222, San Diego

Case in point: the Mounds Tabula Rasa by Second Chance Beer Company out of Rancho Bernardo. Or is it on the Carmel Mountain Ranch side of the border? Either way, it's a long ride from my place in South Park for a special release, and like so many interesting beers it could come and be gone before I make my way to North County.

Featuring cocoa and coconut, Mounds is clearly named for the candy bar. It debuted on the Brew Project's opening day tap list, and bartenders counted it among the most popular. Second Chance is also new — hardly two months old — but I'm already a fan of the standard Tabula Rasa, a nicely balanced porter made with toasted oats and pleasing chocolate notes.

But the cocoa in the Mounds really takes the chocolate to the next level. Its aroma evokes hot chocolate, and the first sip delivers in spades. The coconut establishes a bigger presence as you continue to drink but remains relatively subdued, content to sit below the surface of the darkly rich chocolate.

This was a great beer to catch on tap a short distance from home. Beside it were other tasty selections from Oceanside's Bagby, Sorrento Valley's New English and Abnormal Beer Co. (that one's definitely in Rancho Bernardo).

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Eating dinner while little kids mock-mosh at Golden Island

“The tot absorbs the punk rock shot with the skill of experience”
Next Article

Pie pleasure at Queenstown Public House

A taste of New Zealand brings back happy memories
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader