Top 10 Breweries to Visit in San Diego

Go Big. AleSmith Brewing Company has recently opened a brand new, 25,000-square-foot tasting room, the largest in San Diego.

A short drive to the mountain town of Alpine is worth the journey for the juicy hopped brews from a former firefighter in a tiny brewery.

A favorite among locals, this brewery doesn't yet bottle, so bring a growler or simply enjoy a range of tasters in their large, bustling tasting room.

A pioneer in the San Diego craft brewing scene, Green Flash has has a variety of award-winning brews at its main brewery, and Cellar 3, a separate, newly opened facility focused on barrel aging and wild yeast experimentation.

A favorite among hop heads, Modern Times describes itself: "We focus (non-monogamously) on aroma-driven, complex, flavorful, sessionish beers. We often brew hybrid styles, combining the features we like from established categories to create new, Island-Of-Doctor-Moreau-style mash-ups."

Two Brewers in One Stop! Named "Best Small Brewer" at both the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup. Lost Abbey beers are brewed in the monastic tradition of Belgium. Meanwhile the Port Brewing beers are more West Coast/American in style. Best of all you can sample them side by side.

As a border city, San Diego has it's own barrio district with some of the region's best Mexican food and the area's first Latino-owned and influenced brewery.

A kick ass brewery that also makes kick ass pizza? There are a half-dozen Pizza Ports in San Diego, but Ocean Beach location comes with 50% more beach goers and bikinis.

Just bought for a cool $1 Billion, you can't find a bar in San Diego that doesn't serve Sculpin. Except for really bad bars. And at each of their breweries, BP seems to be always experimenting with bold, new flavors.

I've met people from all over who've been blown away by BB's Peanut Butter Milk Stout. But their other beers aren't bad, winning 6 gold medals at the World Beer Championship.